FTV integrating Indian DNA with international one

One of the world`s largest fashion and lifestyle channels FTV has premiered into salon segment in the country, after Real Estate and hospitality. At the moment the brand is in the process of creating various verticals for FTV that would complement its persona, revealed Rajan Madhu, President, Fashion TV India.

What is your go-to strategy about taking FTV to Indian market?

We started with hospitality. Currently, we already have four outlets: Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Chandigarh. During this year in 2016, we will open another six to eight outlets. Indore and Jaipur are planned to be open next month, and after that Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and many other important cities would follow. Regarding salons, we have just launched two of them, and we feel that first three or four months are required to stabilize the market and to learn from it. My take is that in hospitality by 2020 we should have at least 50 outlets and in salon business at least 30 outlets.

What are the challenges that you face while bringing the DNA of FTV as per Indian market?

The DNA of FTV is all about affordable luxury, something that is beautiful, glamorous, fashionable, and something that everybody aspires for. So when you convert that DNA into the Indian market, you have to understand that we have 400 million persons in the middle-income group market, and then we have another 150 million who are in the affordable luxury category. With a population of 550 million that can actually accept the DNA of FTV and its products is a huge challenge, but it’s very exciting and very interesting. It`s only a matter of integrating the Indian DNA with international DNA. So we are working in it.

What all categories have you ventured in and which is the best performing category so far?

There are quite a few categories that we are ventured into. When it comes to best performing, I think each vertical is different in its own way. For example, you can`t compare F Vodka to F Salon business or you can`t compare F Residence to F Accessory business. Each business has its own challenges.

What new categories are being explored for FTV’s expansion?

We are looking to a lot of new categories – F Swimwear, F Luggage, F Crockery, F Furniture. Obviously, we need to identify the main experts in each product so that after a lot of research, design, and development we come up with a product that is acceptable to the Indian and international market.