With the new alliance, what’s the planned growth strategy for Mango in India?

Daniel : Putting the consumer at the center, we are looking at a true-blue online-offline merge. We are establishing this philosophy not only in India but in the rest of the world. Our effort is to use consumer data and trend most accurately and most effectively.
Ananth : We plan to set up 5 stores in the first year and 25 stores eventually in next 5 years. Brands are talking enough about omni-channel but we plan to bring out the real sense of it. We are expecting about 250% growth in coming few years.

Tell us about the store design, consumer offerings and digital innovations inside the store.

Daniel : These two Mango stores (Kolkata and New Delhi) follow our latest concept – The Line, that we launched in Barcelona, Spain last year. The store design uses minimal design and colour palette. With these stores and the forthcoming ones, our best effort will be at allowing access to Mango’s collection all over the world at that precise moment when consumer is browsing through.

Ananth : We plan to bring dramatic change in modern retail. You must understand that omni-channel is a continuous process. Therefore, tech innovations in Mango stores are slated to take place in phases. In the first phase, we are introducing endless aisle, integrated and infrared data technology (consumer data for our understanding on shopper behavior etc). Phase two will be built to offer seamless deliveries. In January next year, we plan to launch exclusive online store for the brand.

With such focus on omni-channel, what kind of sale are you expecting from both the channels?

Daniel : We are building the offline experience for a robust brand recall. At the same time, offline is crucial to interact with the consumers. I think that online will see a double digit growth in years to come.

Ananth: I think that both the channels will contribute equal amount of business in a few years in India.

Will only Indian metros be witnessing the digital innovations?

Ananth : It’s true that the bunch of initial stores will be set up in Indian metros, with Mumbai being the next. However, what’s interesting for us is the consumer data. We plan to do data-driven scouting for locations extensively to coin our retail scaling.

What, according to you, is the future of omni channel?

Daniel : 50 years back, there was no touch-and-feel in retail and in 90s there was a revolution in modern retail where consumers can touch and feel the product. We are sitting in 2017 and we must take it way forward with enough amount of technological advancements in our hand. That, to me, should be the power of omnichannel.

Ananth : The result of powerful omnichannel should be bringing more numbers of customers back and it should be so seamless that they can barely differentiate between both the channels. Also, at the back end, I think the best omni-channel strategies should offer us the least numbers of times we move a merchandise to send it to our consumers.