HOUSE OF

The SIMON Carter Story

It all started with a trip to the Chelsea antiques market in 1985….
Enamoured by the London of 1960’s and 1970’s, Simon rummaged through the market to
find a few brooches. And this was the start to an extraordinary journey. He started
designing brooches and the business grew as cufflinks, watches and glasses got added to
the selection. This soon earned him the title, that he is still proud of – “The King of
Cufflinks”.
Over the next 20 years, Simon Carter, the brand, became stronger and ubiquitous, with
addition of menswear apparel, accessories, footwear and luggage. A truly international
brand, it is now available across 5 continents – Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and
Australia – through exclusive stores and premium department stores.

Journey of the brand in India

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. (ABFRL) emerged after the consolidation of the branded
apparel businesses of Aditya Birla Group comprising ABNL's Madura Fashion division and
ABNL's subsidiaries Pantaloons Fashion and Retail (PFRL) and Madura Fashion & Lifestyle
(MFL) in May 2015. Post the consolidation, PFRL was renamed Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail
Ltd.
ABFRL as a brand caters to a diverse group of consumers with offerings ranging from brands
like Peter England Allen Solly, Van Heusen etc. Louis Philippe was positioned as a premium
brand and The Collective was incorporated as a luxury brand, India's largest premium
international brand. However, the brand needed a bridge between its premium and the luxury
segment in order to increase penetration in the apparel industry.

Simon Carter (SC) was licensed to be sold in India in the year 2016. SC was already a premium
brand in UK with its boutique Men’s wear stores, personalised and designed by Simon himself,
however with the Indian marketplace in mind, the brand had to create its own value proposition
to attract the Indian consumers. With the ‘bridge to luxury’ proposition in mind, the brand now
had to build its own retail identity with the essence of the international brand but offerings
suited to the Indian consumers. After a year from procuring license, the first store was launched
in Chennai.

The brand identity and its Target group

The target consumer for the brand is an urban effluent male above the age of 30. One can define
the average SC consumer to be risk taking, considering the fact that the brand with its quirky
design has no parallel in the market and such designs are very new to the Indian population. SC
was positioned in the market as a brand for someone who wants to stand out from the crowd
and also is looking to find his true identity.

Each design that the brand has to offer is unique and on a larger context, has a story attached to
it. One will not find apparels with the same design in multiple colours in the product range,
which is a deliberate attempt to build uniqueness into the brand’s value proposition. For
example, The Spring summer’19 c ollection was based on Time travel, where Simon and his
imaginary dog Gervaise go back to past, drawing its designs from animals, birds that have gone
extinct. They then travel into the future and see how the world has changed.

When the brand was initially launched, it was realized that the pricing of the brand was not in
alignment to the Indian consumers. Hence the pricing strategy had to be modified. This helped
in increasing the customer base which was initially skewed towards men in the 35+ age bracket.
The current target group for SC largely lies in the 30 to 40 age range. It was also noticed that
most of the consumers for SC are self-employed with access to higher disposable incomes.
Another interesting behaviour for many consumers was that the purchase of apparels was
influenced by women nudging the end users to try out the unique and quirky brand. A total of
30% revenues are generated form repeat customers.

Age Wise Consumer Composition

14% 16%
<25
26 to 30
21% 31 to 35
27% 36 to 45
> 45

22%

Brand’s Product Offering

Simon Carter uses fabrics from renowned mills across the world, granting the promise of a
splendid sartorial experience. Simon Carter trousers include an eclectic mix of men’s trousers
ranging from chinos to smart formals and regular trousers that bring an authentic British
element into men’s styling. Be it for travelling, corporate lunches, weekend parties, or urban
adventure — the brand believes that the distinguished gentleman needs a versatile collection of
blazers that get him suited up for almost any occasion. Simon Carter also dabbled into Footwear
and wedding segment to start with. Footwear has been discontinued to focus on core products. .

The brand almost operates like a start-up governed by tight budgets and utilizing cost effective
methods of marketing. The current distribution channel is small. The brand utilizes Exclusive
retail stores, The Collective & Planet Fashion select counters and E-commerce channels like
Myntra, Amazon, Ajio. There is also a plan to launch the brand on TATA Cliq. Retail stores
currently contribute to 80% of total revenue, and the distribution stores and E-commerce
together contribute towards 20% of the revenue. Since the brand is a new launch in the Indian
market, the discounting provided is higher as compared to the more matured high fashion
brands.

For details about various product lines and pricing point, you may visit the official websites
‘www.simoncarter.in’ and ‘www.simoncarter.net’
Current Scenario
Simon Carter operates in two niches, its design and pricing of the merchandize. The customers
like SC because of its quirky designs which brings in a sense of exclusivity to the brand and the
apparel is known to be a conversation starter. The customers like the quality and fit of shirts.
The friendly customer service and the store décor are a major crowd pleaser for the brand. Yet,
the brand does not score too high on being ‘worth the money’ and ‘variety’. Also, unlike the
likeability of Shirts, the T-Shirt’s and bottom wear have not been doing as well. Simon Carter has
been positioning itself as a premium brand and the price points sometimes act as deterrents in
exponentially increasing sales (An average Simon Carter shirt costs around 3000 Rupees and
ranges anywhere between 2500 to 6000 Rupees).

The brand aims at scaling up operations in the next 2 years with a significant effort on
improving profitability. Simon Carter is currently suffering from low brand presence and equity
which has resulted to low number of walk-ins at its retail outlets. The brand needs more
visibility and even more so, a targeted marketing strategy that will not bring the operating
margins down. Since the brand has still not garnered high recognition in the Indian market, the
malls in which the outlets operate, demand higher rentals. In order to create the perfect in-store
experience, the brand needs to hire staff at higher cost as compared to other sub-premium
brands in the market. The higher operating costs and salary overheads has a direct effect on the
profitability of stores.

Pre-Submission Task
Each participating Team needs to conduct the following tasks before submitting their final
submission to us:

a. Conduct a survey to identify the buying preferences of consumers

b. Conduct a one on one or focused group discussion with at least 10 potential
consumer.

Questions
1. Basis your survey, suggest probable consumer profiles/segments that Simon Carter
should focus on to increase its relevant customer base
2. Create a cost effective marketing strategy for the brand to increase SC’s brand equity
and walk-ins to the stores which will ultimately lead to 100% growth in revenues in the
next 2 years while maintaining its stature of being a niche brand
3. Suggest various products that the brand could focus on in alignment to the brands
current offering
4. Suggest a distribution channel strategy for the brand (Optional)