Bulls & bears come together to shore up the BSE brand

The store's merchandise is taking the exchange's name to the masses

Though bulls and bears are engaged in a fierce battle on the Dalal Street, they have joined hands to boost the image and expand the reach of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) beyond its traditional stronghold of stock market investors.

The concept, a brainchild of Mumbai-based Pride Forever Enterprises, is taking the popular BSE brand beyond its regular product line of shares and indices. You can now buy T-shirts, caps, wallets, mugs, photo frames, and even teddy bears, with BSE logos and the image of the iconic Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers printed on it.

“BSE is a very big brand. The store adds value to the brand globally,” said Ajay Agrawal, founder & CEO, Pride Forever Enterprises. His company runs branded retail outlets in nine campuses across the country, including Manipal University (Manipal), XLRI (Jamshedpur) and Christ University (Bangalore). Globally, exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq sell their branded merchandise, like T-shirts, scarfs, caps, ties, backpacks, ball pens, etc.

According to Agrawal, the main target customers for the store are international delegates visiting BSE, broker members and their employees and students of BSE Training Institute.

Agrawal declined to give the average number of customers visiting his store at BSE, but brokers having offices in the same premises said the response was slow. “The concept is new. It will take some time to pick up,” Agrawal said. On the ‘Bulls & Bears’ name, Agrawal said, “it signifies BSE”.

When contacted, a BSE spokesperson said the Bulls & Bears store was a strategic branding exercise to associate with the youth and connect with various stakeholders. “BSE has many high-profile international delegations, government officials, media, students, employees, investors and other guests visiting it daily. Bulls & Bears is ideal for them if they want to take home a souvenir to remember their visit to this iconic institution,” he said.

According to the BSE spokesperson, several companies and broking firms have approached the exchange to buy merchandise for their employees.

Pride Forever manufactures as well as imports products sold at the store. BSE gives its advice on the products according to its objectives of taking the brand to thousands of Indian investors, the exchange’s spokesperson says. “We get regular feedback from people, visitors, students, companies and members. That is what has helped us add several new items since we launched last year,” he adds.

Both Agrawal and the BSE spokesperson declined to share commercial arrangement between the two parties. However, an exchange official said it was a “revenue-sharing activity”.