Acme Clothing to set up 30 Provogue retail studios  ( August '8,2001, FE)

In a bid to spur the Rs 2,500-crore readymade garment market, Acme Clothing Pvt Ltd has embarked on setting up 30 ‘Provogue’ retail studios in conjunction with major retailers such as Pyramid, Ebony and Shoppers’ Stop, by the end of 2002. According to Acme Clothing managing director Mr Nikhil Chaturvedi: “The move is aimed at creating and developing a retail environment within the studio.

While Acme Clothing has invested Rs 10 crore as the capital outlay on brand building and financing the merchandise expansion, the retailers (Ebony, Shoppers’ Stop and Pyramid) have agreed to allocate larger retail space of 1,500 sq ft for each studio.”

...e-provogue in Sept
Acme Clothing is all set to implement a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce Website, ‘e-provogue’, targeted at dealers in September this year. The move is aimed at keeping track of the amount of goods purchased and sold by dealers on a day-to-day basis through the Internet. According to Acme Clothing managing director Mr Nikhil Chaturvedi: “The company has a network of 150 dealers at present. With the initiation of the B2B Website, each and every dealer will go online and buy products from the company.” Acme Clothing manufactures and markets ready-made clothing at the rate of 60,000 pieces per month.
Adds Mr Chaturvedi: “We have already set up a Provogue Design Studio alongwith ground-level activities and Provogue loyalty programmes at Pyramid and Ebony in Mumbai, two weeks ago. The retail space at Shoppers’ Stop will be available to us next month.”
In addition, the Rs 23-crore Acme Clothing plans to add casual suits, jackets and sweaters to Provogue’s existing range of ready-to-wear garments in October this year, under the umbrella brand ‘Provogue’.
As regards the marketing strategy, adds Mr Chaturvedi: “The new productline is targeted at tapping the Rs 300-crore premium casual wear market which is growing at a rate of 30 per cent at present.” Provogue’s casual shirts will be available at Rs 1,500-Rs 5,000, casual jackets at Rs 1,500-Rs 4,000 and sweaters at Rs 1,000-Rs 1,500.

Acme Clothing targets its marketshare in the ready-to-wear segment to double by the year end 2002, from the current 10 per cent. The company targets its sales turnover to touch Rs 40 crore by the year-end 2002.

Acme Clothing plans to release advertisements for Provogue’s range of ready-to-wear garments in the electronic media in September. The company has invested Rs 5.5 crore on advertising this year compared to Rs 4 crore last year. Bollywood actor Fardeen Khan has been signed as brand ambassador to endorse the Provogue range.