South Indian Saree Brand Kankatala Expands Into North India For The First Time

The tradition of saree has been going on for ages and saree is the main garment of Indian women. This is being liked a lot even in foreign countries today, and foreigners who come to India also get the feeling of being an Indian by wearing a saree. The tradition that has been going on since ancient times is today available in a variety of colours and designs.In today's era, you will find sarees in all kinds of colours, designs and brands. If you love to wear brand sarees then let us tell you about the 78-year-old Kankatala brand which has opened its first retail outlet in North India and was inaugurated by actress Karisma Kapoor.

Let us tell you that this is a Sound India based brand that has been running for centuries with 12 exclusive outlets in these states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and now it has made its first step in Delhi. Kankatala is present in Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada and represents the age-old weaving techniques.

Describing the journey from inception till now, Mallikarjuna Rao, President, Kankatala said that our journey started in 1942 in the streets of Vizag, where my father Shri Appalaraju Kankatala sold handloom saree on a bicycle. "From the modest lanes of Vizag to the capital of India, the journey of 78 years has been amazing and we are now delighted to launch our first and 13th exclusive retail outlet in Delhi. We want to get the same love from the people of Delhi, which we are getting from other parts of the country," Mallikarjuna said. A wide variety of sarees are available in this store like Kanchipuram, Banarasi, Patola, Ikat, Paithani, Kota, Uppada, Khadi, Jamdani, Organza, Kalamkari, Gadwal, Tushar, and many more.

When Franchise India asked Mallikarjuna whether the brand has any new collection for the people of Delhi, on this question, he said that authentic South Indian sarees for the people of North India Kanchipuram, Uppada, Ikat, Khadi which is missing in Delhi and for 6 months we went to the local store and surveyed what is missing here.

Saree Trends

Nowadays, there is a craze among youngsters to wear sarees and in Kanchipuram, you will not see pastel colours and traditional dark colours were available, but now pastel colours are also coming.

Speciality of sarees

The range of sarees of this brand starts from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 5 lakhs. He told that it is so expensive because these sarees take more time to make, the cost of manufacture is the highest, good quality zari and silk are used. These 3 things make the saree expensive.

Target audience

We are definitely targeting North Indians but will also cater to South Indians as they give great importance to their tradition, and Delhi doesn't have that many shops, so we have to cater to them too.

Outlet Area Required 

The area of ??the outlet is 3000 sq ft to 4000 sq ft.

Pandemic Effects On Sale 

Our sales were also affected in the pandemic period, last year in 2020 our sales declined by 65 percent and in the next year, 2021 saw a decline of 52 percent.

Digitization

Since the pandemic, all businesses are turning to digital, in such situation, Kankatala President Mallikarjuna said that people from all over the world are buying saree from our web and we are exporting to 19 countries and every state of India is buying from us. 

Omni-Channel Experience And Marketing Strategy?

Speaking on Digital, Anirudh, Managing Director, Kankatala stated that Omni-Channel experience is something very important. "Coming to Delhi and the new market, we depend heavily on our digital strategy to see where the attraction is coming from, where is the orders coming from, where is the traffic coming from," Anirudh said. In fact, it is impossible to get 10 pieces of handloom saree as each takes 30 days and once a 30-day saree is done in 30 days. So, this is the challenge of the handloom industry, and if this is where a multinational company wants to invest and settle, it is not possible as the industry is very unorganized. 

Adoption of technology

"We are using the ARP system to help us understand which weave clusters are in high demand, which colours are moving forward, accordingly the technology we are using," said Anirudh. "We're using the website's Google analytics and heatmap analysis to understand what colours people are interested in."

Franchise Model

On Franchise, Mallikarjuna said that we do not have any franchise model and I do not think that we will do any franchise in future in my generation. "Till now we are running our own."A franchise is such a work in which you sell the product of a brand in your shop or showroom so that you can earn profit from it. Because the company from which you are going to take the franchise, the same franchise owner will provide you all the facilities, just you have to sell his goods with his franchise.

Expansion And Future Plans

Mallikarjuna said that after Delhi, now planning to expand to other cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. "We are also looking at going international in the coming future. All these stores are company owned-company operated. We do not want to lose the uniqueness of our chosen products and the personal touch we give to our valued customers," Mallikarjuna said. 

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