CSK to expand product range, reach

Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the Indian Premier League brand of India Cements Ltd, is in the process of expanding the product range and reach of its merchandise. The activities will start intensifying once the auction is over, said officials.

The company would enter into electronic products and plans to increase its reach from the current 650 outlets to 1,000 during the upcoming IPL season, according to Chandrabhan, general manager — marketing, India Cements Ltd.

“We have to expand our reach with presence in more outlets to make the brand more visible. There will be addition of more products too,” he said. One such effort is to launch headphones of three kinds and three price points reaching up to Rs 1,000 per piece for the top product.

The headphones would mark the brand's entry into the electronics segment. At present, it is selling premium t-shirts, player jerseys, poster calenders, caps, mugs, bags, sport bottle and pen drive. There are also plans to add towels and socks to the portfolio.

The company sold merchandise for a total value of Rs 5.5 crore last year, which mainly consisted of sales of 80,000 pieces of t-shirts, said Rakesh Singh, president, marketing, India Cements. Last year, it launched a cricket kit, which has seen sales of around 4,000 kits so far.

“Our activities usually gets momentum after the auction of the players. We will come out with our plans in detail after that,” he said. The auction for IPL team players is expected to be held on February 12 and 13.

The team owners have retained five players, including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo. Of the 650 outlets it is present across the country, around 340 are in Chennai. It has presence in around 470 stores in Tamil Nadu and also through almost 75 Reebok stores.

India Cements had launched the second edition of The Chennai Super Kings Super Cup, a multi-sport inter-corporate tournament which includes chess, cricket, table tennis, badminton, athletics and snooker, on February 1. These would be held over a period of eight weeks. This is also part of the company's efforts to make the brand CSK active even during the period when IPL is not held.