Wills Lifestyle to expand network in Tier II markets

Diversified conglomerate ITC is expanding network of its apparel retail chain Wills Lifestyle in tier II markets and is expecting increase of sales through online medium in the coming year from the non-metro places.
The company, which is presently operating with 100 stores, is looking at places such as Jammu, Bareilly, Udaipur, Gangtok, Jamshedpur, Saharanpur and Haldwani in for its next phase of growth.
"The plan is to be able to open 25 odd stores in this financial year. Already we have opened 10 and the rest 15 would come later. The whole idea will be to look at tier II markets, because there the markets are growing there," ITC Lifestyle Retailing Business Division Chief Executive Atul Chand told PTI

Organised retails and malls are coming up in the secondary markets and consumers are getting more affluent and becoming more aware of fashion, brand and choice, which is a good sign, he said.
"We have opened recently in last one month in Bareilly, Udaipur, Jammu and Gangtok. Now we are looking at Jamshedpur, Saharanpur, Haldwani," Chand said.
He said the market is also picking up during the festive season but did not elaborate of the company's sales expectations.

ITC, which has forayed into online sales through its own portal, is expecting increase in traction through the medium.
"Today it would be around 5 to 7 per cent of the total sales, but it is growing. In the last one year, it has grown significantly," he said, adding that through this medium Wills as brand is reaching even in tier III and IV markets.

According to him, today online sales are not only through laptop or computer. Now a consumer has accessibility through smartphones which is fueling the market.
While bullish on the growth of online retail, he said the offline stores would also continue to grow in future.
"It would not only be online. The consumer will also want to integrate his experience between the brick store and click store. The consumer is now wanting the benefit of physical store as well as benefit of online store, which is an omni channel retail model. That is going to be direction forward for us to integrate the two things," Chand said.

Presently, ITC has around 100 stores of Wills Lifestyle and 400 of John players.
"We are increasing our stores for both so that we can reach out more tier II markets," he said.