The Indian unit of French clothing firm Lacoste hopes as much as 10 per cent of its sales to come through ecommerce channels, including its own recently launched portal, in the next 18-24 months.
The company, which currently doesn’t sell its products on any third-party online platforms in India, is also in talks with ecommerce firms as part of its strategy to tap the online opportunity, Lacoste India chief executive Rajesh Jain said.
It is in advanced talks with at least two major e-tailers to open exclusive Lacoste stores on their platforms. Lacoste would start selling its products on only those marketplaces that can offer it a premium, no discounting environment, he said.
According to Jain, the French company expects 3 to 5 per cent of sales coming from the it official website and 5 to 7per cent from the e-tailers with which it would tie up.
Sports & Leisure Apparel, the licensee company of Lacoste in India, manufactures 95 per cent of apparel at its Noida facility. The remaining 5 per cent is imported. The sports-inspired brand is looking to expand through franchise network.
It has 49 brick-and-mortar stores. About 10 of these are franchised outlets and the rest are company-owned. In the past financial year, Lacoste opened seven stores out of which four were set up partners. In this financial year, all the six stores it plans to open would be through the franchise route. It also wants to expand beyond the metro cities, Jain said.
