Columbia Sportswear sees huge potential in India

Chogori is well-known in the business of distributing the best adventure equipment to adventure companies and enthusiasts for almost fifteen years now. Over the years, with a rising upsurge in demand for such equipments, was the backing behind Chogori India Retail bringing the global leader Columbia Sportswear into the country.

Khyati Bhinde, Vice President, Chogori India Retail rightly asserts that the brand reflects a philosophy of being comfortable, free-spirited and adventurous and its products are driven by utility through proprietary technologies developed by Columbia to ensure that the customers are always comfortable and protected in any weather condition. For instance,'Omni-Shade' is a sun protection technology recommended by'The Skin Cancer Foundation' that prevents the user from skin damage due to long term exposure to the sun. Combined with competitive pricing, tremendous utility, design and the modernised technology, Columbia offers its end customers value proposition at all times.

The shopper profile
 
Depending on the location of the store, the walk-ins could range from 50 for new high street stores to over 200 for well-established stores in noted retail spaces. The typical shopper is evidently an outdoor and adventure enthusiast falling in the bracket of 18-50 years from middle to high income stratum.

Retail activations & merchandising

The brand integrates technology, demonstrations and educational components into retail and POP designs, customer service and attention to detail. Besides, by educating the sales staff to keep consumers abreast of game changing technologies of the present day, they can outfit the customers for all their outdoor pursuits.  Moreover, the focus of Columbia is to get people go out and try out stuff. Therefore, in keeping attuned to this philosophy, it organised a virtual rafting contest at Select Citywalk Mall in New Delhi and four winners won a chance to go for an actual rafting experience to Rishikesh. With a presence of an in-house team of visual merchandisers in the country, it works closely with the Columbia Sportswear international retail team in Portland, Oregon on elemental aspects like the store location, layout, design, graphics and interiors.

Challenges

India is an outdoor paradise drawing adventure tourists from across the globe. "Our idea is to infuse a culture here where people go out and explore the real outdoors. For this, we need to educate a larger audience by effectively communicating the'outdoor' philosophy in the Indian setting. We are working towards creating awareness about the value Columbia offers, in making the outdoors more fun and exhilarating. We perceive our challenges as our opportunities, hence our primary aim is to effectively utilise our first mover's advantage in being a true pioneer in the outdoor segment,” asserts Bhinde.

A way forward
 
As part of its endeavour to make Columbia available across India, the brand recently forayed into the virtual business model by launching its official website'columbiasportswear.co.in' and is eyeing on tying up with prominent e-tailers of the country. Elaborating on the expansion strategy, Bhinde said, "The company plans to open up to 120 point of sales, exclusive store and shop-in-shop stores in three years in India. Also, we will open shop-in-shop stores by October next year in select multi-brand departmental stores like Shoppers Stop.”

Global market scenario

According to a Sporting Goods & Intelligence Market Report, "Global market for athletic apparel is estimated to be around USD 6.40 billion, witnessing a 19.4 per cent increase in the past four years. Industry experts predict a drastic growth rate of 18.75 per cent estimating the industry to reach USD 7.6 billion by 2015. US sportswear market proves to be the largest, accounting for 41 per cent of the total sales followed by the EU acquiring a 38 per cent share. Fast growing markets for sports apparel are South Asia with 13 per cent, Middle East with 16 per cent and East & Central Europe with 20 per cent growth.

Athletic wear started as a small sector, has gradually evolved into a mainstream fashion product. With changing lifestyle, emphasis of people on versatility, demand for functional performance of apparels and a growing interest towards fitness outerwear are some reasons influencing the trend towards purchasing athletic wear and is poised to grow phenomenally over the years.