Case Study Challenge

Marketing Strategy for “Options - The Fashion Mall”

Background Overview:
In the evening of 31st December 2018, when the whole world was cozying up for a party at
a beach or resort, an unusual board meeting was happening at the Options headquarters in
Mumbai.

The directors were scanning, chopping and slicing the latest MIS reports. To their utter
dismay, it was found that the footfalls at their five stores were almost stagnant. There were
many indicators of changes in consumer behavior, which they had never anticipated like
competition from online players, falling sales due to high discount offerings in malls,
exhibitions organized by individual designers.

There was a unanimous resolution in that meeting; Options, a leading retail brand in the
premium apparel segment must think differently and come out with a new blueprint for
improving sales. The directors chalked out a detailed action plan to enhance the footfalls
multifold.

Meanwhile, a senior member of the board proposed that the management must explore
fresh ideas from younger minds who could be students in some of the best management
colleges of the country. Subsequently, Options management came in touch with NMIMS
and the case below is the outcome of this initiative

Industry Overview:
India’s growing domestic market offers the prospect of significant growth opportunities in
the apparel market. In real sense, the Garment industry developed in India from 1970
onwards. From a modest beginning in the ‘70s, it has grown into a gigantic industry spread
over the entire country. It contributed significantly to employment generation and export
earnings besides meeting the domestic demand for clothing. Economic liberalization was
initiated in India in the year 1991, commencing the process of de-licensing, de-
bureaucratization and de-reservation. The far-reaching changes included increased exports
of all the commodities and more specifically lead to the rise in the growth rate of
Readymade Garments

Recently, the fashion and lifestyle industry in India is witnessing a surge with key drivers
that include major shifts in consumer preferences due to increasing disposable income,
brand awareness and increasing tech-savvy Gen Z population. Another key driver is policy
push by the government in the form of FDI in single and multi-brand retail.

Apparel sales increased from INR 674 billion in 2003 to INR 3.7 Trillion in 2018. With a CAGR
of 13.4% from 2012 to 2017 and 14.1% from 2017-2022(Exhibit 2) There is also a gradual
movement from the unbranded and unorganized market towards the branded and
organized apparel market. The leading top players within the Indian apparel market during
2017 were domestic Indian players such as Future Lifestyle Fashions, Aditya Birla Fashion &
Retail and Arvind. These players have a range of brands such as Fbb, Louis Philippe,
Excalibur, Van Heusen, Peter England and Allen Solly, amongst others positioned at various
price points to ensure they are able to capture both the mass end and premium end of the
market. Domestic players have been investing in increasing their online presence and
promoting their brands through social media
The inflow of international brands has steadily increased, with brands such as H&M, GAP
and TopShop amongst others entering the market. (Exhibit 1) Competition for domestic
players is set to increase as more international apparel brands enter the Indian market.
Consumers now have more options in terms of range, quality, style and pricing to shop for
apparel products.

About the company:

Patel Brothers started a general store in 1987, catering to dry fruits and confectionary
business. Having realized the huge prospect in the garment business, Patel & family
launched Options Fashion retail store in Mumbai in 1990. The first store sold cutting-edge
designer menswear, women’s wear, newborn infants and young kids was a huge success
and was welcomed by the customers widely. Customers having no access to foreign
brands, flocked the Options store. The store walked an extra mile in delivering quality and
variety to its customers. The customers overwhelmed by the variety available often
expressed their desire for a bigger store. Soon, Options started expanding and opened a
second store, segregating menswear and women’s wear. By the year 2000, the store area
covered by Options had grown by a hundred times; from a single 300 square feet store in
1990 to five different stores with a combined area of 35000 square feet. The two main
stores were fashion malls, one with an area of 7500 square feet and another with an area of
8500 square feet. Options was a favorite amongst its customers. It was a preferred choice
for A-list designers like Manish Malhotra, Rocky S and Falguni Thakur amongst others. At
its heart, Options was a customer-centric company with a philosophy of offering an
exceptional service and exclusive style whenever any customer was shopping in any of their
stores. Wherever a customer shops with Options, a personal stylist was always on hand to
help in any way he can. The company promoted by Patel Brothers had employee strength
of two hundred and a customer base of close to fifty thousand.

Currently, Options plays along four verticals viz Green bell, Baby Bell, Boy London and
Options.

 Options

Target group: Age 30 years and above

Decision makers: Self, friends
 Baby Bell
Target group: Age 4 - 12 years
Decision makers: Parents

 Green bell
Target group: Mothers to be, 0 to 3 years
Decision makers: Parents and grandparents

 Boy London

Target group: Age 16 – 30 years

Decision makers: Self, friends, Parents

80% of buyers are from age group 30-50 years

The brand Options contribute to 60% of the total revenue, other business verticals i.e. Baby
Bell, Green Bell, and Boy London contribute 18%, 13% and 9% respectively. Options
specialized in boutique brands, which are sold at a relatively less cost compared to the
foreign imports. It is also famous amongst its customers for the high quality of products
they sold. The portfolio at Options included almost all the categories ranging from all types
of Casuals, Formals, Party wear, Indian wear, Ethnic wear to Wedding wear. It was one stop
solution for all the customers’ apparel needs.

About the Customers:

As the disposable income levels started to increase in India, Urban consumers became
increasingly fashion conscious and were willing to spend on branded products. Consumer
shopping behavior over the years has also been influenced by growing exposure to social
media trends related to fashion and fitness. Consumers are showing the willingness to
spend on apparel products to stay in sync with the prevailing fashion trends. There has
been a gradual shift from the unbranded and unorganized market towards the branded and
organized apparel market.

Options particularly catered to a niche segment of customers who were majorly from
business families. These were from elite class with well-maintained life style; mostly within
a radius of 5 15 Km from the store located in Juhu. However, over the years the customer
base has expanded to more well off areas of Mumbai, including places like Colaba, Bandra
and South Bombay. Average total footfall for the company in stores is close to 50,000
people per year. Men account for about 80% of the total customers, 60% of which is for
casuals, formals or party wear and 20% for wedding collection. The balance 20% of the
customers are women shopping across all categories. A loyal customer used to visit the
store approximately 4-5 times in a year. Most of these customers knew the owners by first
name and they had maintained good relationships with them over the years.

The Challenge:

The turnover for OPTIONS in the last financial year i.e. 2017-2018 was INR100 crore. Your
primary objective is to formulate a strategic plan to achieve a topline of minimum INR 500
crore by December 2021.

(Budget is restricted to a maximum of 3% of the topline every year; you have to provide
justification with return on expenditure of all the financial proposals and also provide a
yearly timeline of implementation of your solution)
Some of the key expectations, but not restricted to the ones below, to be dealt with are:
1. How to increase the per capita volume of business from the existing customers? i.e.
increase the average ticket size of the existing customer from the current Rs. 8000
2. How to increase range selling and cross selling, that is making the Options customer
buy more range of apparels and also to buy from Green Bell, Baby Bell and Boy
London?
3. How Options and its other verticals can attract customers of competitors in the
same catchment area?
4. How can Options create and attract new customers who have hitherto not heard of
Options?
5. Should the company aim at geographical expansion? If yes, propose an
implementation plan for the same. If No, provide a reasoning for the same
6. Suggest positioning strategies for the various sub brands of Options including brand
descriptors, taglines, etc.
7. How would you use the ATL or BTL route to increase footfall at all stores ? Provide
an innovative/differentiating campaign idea for both.
8. What are your proposals for marketing through digital media? Provide rationale, a
brief implementation plan and a basic campaign theme.
9. Suggest a differentiated strategy for influencer marketing and E-Commerce
expansion.
10. Suggest PR strategies for the Options group

PS: You can visit https://optionsfashion.com for more details on the business
Rules:

 Teams will submit a case analysis/solution document comprising of 8-12 pages of

single-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font (including illustrations/pictorial
representation and excluding TOC, Cover page).
 The first page of the document must comprise of an executive summary of the solution
suggested by the team. The executive summary should be limited to one page only.
 There is no predetermined structure to analyze the case. Participants are free to use any
format which best illustrates and provides convincing arguments supporting their
solutions.
 Wherever necessary, the participants must refer to the sources of information and data.
 Case presentations will be judged based on the following criteria:
– Creativity and Innovation
– Uniqueness of the idea
– Feasibility of implementation
– Sustainability and scalability of the idea
– Fit the organization’s vision and the manner in which it can leverage its strengths
– Thoroughness of research, analytics and economic logic used to defend viability and
execution of the idea.
 Last date for submission of case solutions is 23rd February 2019. Teams must upload
their entries to the submission link mentioned in the mail.

For any further queries on the case or event details, contact iipcell@nmims.edu.in
Exhibits:

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2