The Indian wear market is a 5,000-year old segment estimated to be worth \u20b950,000 crore a year and growing at a compound annual growth rate of 6 to 8 per cent. Sarees account for 80 to 85 per cent of its sales, with kurta sets, blouses, and lehengas comprising the rest. Yet, despite the size and growth, there is hardly any nationally known brand in this segment, with Nalli Silks being one of the notable exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Titan insiders say the company believed sarees to be a natural extension for it, given its past success with design-led lifestyle brands. They say the company organised an internal competition to see who came up with the best expansion strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result is a bouquet of design-differentiated products \u2014 primarily sarees and kurta sets \u2014 made from pure natural fabrics sourced from all over India. The company put together more than 100 craft clusters representing the diverse weaves. These include the Banarasi sarees from Uttar Pradesh, Kanjivaram from Tamil Nadu, Chanderi and Maheshwari from Madhya Pradesh, and Jamdani from West Bengal. The output is a mix of contemporary ethnic wear for women across life stages and occasions \u2014 college, office wear, party wear, festivals, and weddings, with bridal sarees being the speciality. The prices range from \u20b91,000 to \u20b92,00,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Tata group\u2019s ventures have always been consistent with their approach \u2014 they stay the course beyond initial hiccups and eventually scale up the business. This is very much how Titan and Tanishq worked their way from initial struggles to eventually scale and become nationwide brands,\u201d said retail expert Devangshu Dutta, CEO at Third Eyesight.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To say that Taneira has had initial hiccups would be an understatement. Three years after its launch, the Covid-induced lockdowns and restrictions brought the entire retail sector down to its knees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baptism by Covid<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPandemic restrictions and high Covid-19 anxiety among the people kept socialising and weddings at a very low level of activity over the past couple of years. For Taneira, being a nascent brand with a yet-to-be-established customer base, the operating environment has been particularly tough,\u201d Titan Company said in its FY22 annual report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taneira used this time to realign its strategy of connecting with customers. Thus, during 2021-22, which braved the second Covid wave in its first quarter \u2014 the dreadful Delta \u2014 and saw the third wave creep into its fourth quarter, sales at Titan\u2019s Indian dress wear division grew by 55 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Narayan, the CEO, attributes this growth to initiatives that included staying close to the customer through e-commerce. \u201cWe really drove e-commerce out and reached out to our customers through video calling and try-at-home activities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As consumer sentiment started to improve, Taneira already had two collections ready \u2014 wedding weave and the summer collection \u2014 which boosted sales. During 2021-22, it also increased its store count to 20 by adding six more. During the fourth quarter, Taneira sales rose 4 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, there are 27 Taneira stores in 11 cities across India. It plans to expand to Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities in the first phase and then to Tier 3 in the second phase of its store expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Vishal Gutka, vice-president of research (consumer and retail sector) at Phillip Capital, said: \u201cTaneira follows the same principle Titan used for Tanishq, where it entered an unorganised category and expanded it. But it is still early days to gauge how Taneira will pan out. Also, the company needs to give more clarity on the unit economics of each store.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Weaving an expansion plan Titan\u2019s annual report talks of a robust expansion plan for Taneira this financial year: \u201cWe plan to grow at an exponential rate and make our store count around 60 by the end of the current fiscal year and open overseas stores in markets having an Indian diaspora such as the US.\u201d It adds that Taneira will become a more significant contributor to the overall revenue of Titan in the medium term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of this grand ambition lies the humble weaver. Taneira now has close to 1,200 dedicated looms and has a programme called Weaver Shala to support them with technical expertise and in modernising their facilities. It has introduced frame looms along with basic workspace facilities for the weavers in collaboration with the localised weaver-led organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The brand has closely worked with the weavers in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and Champa, Chhattisgarh, and aims to take Weaver Shala to other parts of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taneira leverages Tanishq\u2019s brand strength; mannequins at Tanishq stores, for instance, are dressed in Taneira sarees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Narayan said Taneira and Tanishq will not be sold under the same roof because Titan wants to establish Taneira as a distinct brand in its own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thirdeyesight.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/taneira-2022-1024x399.jpg\")
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