Abstract
Indian lifestyle brands need to understand the importance of their retailing distributionchannels in relation to their overall brand image, products / categories they offer, targetconsumer group and their implications on the overall brand profitability and consumerperceptions over the brand image rather applying standard thumb rules, assumptions andmisconceptions followed by other generalist brands or even short-term lucrative deals offeredby distribution channel partners. It is evident that only few Indian brands are able to createtrue lifestyle brand image in their employees, investors, competitors and consumers mind andtrueness level of majority of Indian lifestyle brands is still a question. Majority of developingand developed Indian lifestyle brands assume that the success of a lifestyle brand is measuredbasis the revenue or profit they generate through having presence across wider distributionchannels and are impatient / unaware of implicit long-term strategical benefits of creating atrue lifestyle brand image in consumers mind using a rational distribution channel mixstrategy. It is true that India is one of the countries with consumers belonging to the widestrange of Religions, Regions, Languages, Sub-Cultures and Economic backgrounds whichmakes it very difficult for any lifestyle brand to have their presence across the country throughvarious distribution channels as each one of them have their own pros and cons for the brand.This makes it furthermore important for lifestyle brands in India to be more careful andefficient in ensuring the adaptation of rational distribution channel mix. It is observed that themajority of Indian lifestyle brands believe they have adopted the right distribution channel mixand it is yielding the best possible revenue and profit. This belief / assumption always distractsthem from analysing the pros and cons of each distribution channel with respect to the overallbrand image and they rather spend most of their time in finding sales channels which are newor latent in nature to be added to the existing distribution channel mix. In this research, wehave analysed twelve months actual sales data across various distribution channels availablein India of few select lifestyle brands and drawn insights to recommend a rational distributionchannel mix for lifestyle brands in India.
Highlights
1.1 Store location choice determines most of the lifestyle brand’s operating costs, be it fixed or variable in nature viz., distribution channel partner’s sales commission, retailer’s minimum guarantee, rent, common area maintenance (CAM) costs, number of sales personnel, house-keeping charges, maintenance costs, security related costs, etc
Indian lifestyle brands need to understand the importance of their retailing distribution channels in relation to their overall brand image, products / categories they offer, target consumer group and their implications on the overall brand profitability and consumer perceptions over the brand image rather applying standard thumb rules, assumptions and misconceptions followed by other generalist brands or even short-term lucrative deals offered by distribution channel partners
Majority of developing and developed Indian lifestyle brands assume that the success of a lifestyle brand is measured basis the revenue or profit they generate through having presence across wider distribution channels and are impatient / unaware of implicit long-term strategical benefits of creating a true lifestyle brand image in consumers mind using a rational distribution channel mix strategy
Summary
1.1 Store location choice determines most of the lifestyle brand’s operating costs, be it fixed or variable in nature viz., distribution channel partner’s sales commission, retailer’s minimum guarantee, rent, common area maintenance (CAM) costs, number of sales personnel, house-keeping charges, maintenance costs, security related costs, etc. Every lifestyle brand needs to have their presence in different locations to have a strategic and competitive advantage as far as brand’s image in consumers, competitors and employees mind are concerned and it is inevitable for lifestyle brands to open few stores in premium locations and tie-up with costly distribution channel partners. It is estimated that more than 300 Global lifestyle brands have plans to open their stores in India this year [4] In addition to this humongous population, exponential growth in a number of working women, double income families, middle-class consumer segment, increasing disposable income, rapid adoption of fashion, urbanization, overall size of Indian retail industry, more and more unorganized retailers becoming organized, emergence of modern retailing formats and most importantly enormous increase in internet penetration / usage, caution existing and upcoming lifestyle brands to revisit their brand building strategies.
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