Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/74664
associate vice president of retail and consumer products at Indian consult- ing firm Technopak. Such a percent- age amounts to a sizable number in a country of 1.2 billion. "There's a lot of product positioning around people who are just finishing college and getting em- ployed or who have just started work," Bisen said. "It's no more about the fam- ily, but the young professional." And fans are plentiful, it seems. "Quirky names are good," said Harish Bijoor, a brand expert who runs his own consulting firm. "They make customers sit up. When you say 'God is in retail,' it attracts, and when you say 'Anti-estab- lished in 2003,' you are saying things differently. It attracts as well." The latter- referenced happens to be Happily Un- married's slogan. Interestingly, Bisen says the name was actually quite risky, considering the stigma attached to the unmarried in In- dian society. Marriage is a hallowed insti- tution in India, and any perception that it was being slighted could have doomed the brand to rejection and failure. Obvi- ously, that did not happen. The partners invested most of the money they got from the laptop on posters and visiting cards and anything that would help build brand recogni- tion. When they began shopping their eccentric ashtray around to company cafeterias and lunch canteens, they found quite a few takers and an instant connection with the country's retail-and- brand-hungry young population. "India is emerging to be a brand-conscious country," Bijoor said. "From a genera- tion that grew up with commodities in every sphere, today's Indian, particularly the urban Indian, is a brand-besotted animal." All of Happily Unmarried's products are manufactured domestically. The company has four in-house designers but works mainly with freelancers who are paid up front on a project basis and then also earn royalties. Anand says he gets a few résumés a day from interested designers. "We don't fall in the typical format, because we work with different people," he said. "We are a design col- lective of fun ideas." The company plans to open about 30 more franchise units over the next five years. Anand says the company scouts places that allow for impulse buying. Coffee shops, movie theaters and similar high-footfall spots are a big attraction. The stores typically measure about 250 square feet, though the small- est of them, in New Delhi's busy Khan Market, measures 72 square feet. Big spaces and malls are not top of the list, Anand says. "The next five years will be amazing because of the population size," Anand said. "When something actually moves, it moves so fast and so sudden that ev- eryone is left mesmerized." SCT 24 SCT / AUGUST 2012