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In 1995, Pantaloon Retail had about 72 stores, many of them franchised. Now the company has around 40 outlets of which 14 are company-owned in order to have alignment with the company's vision of creating its own brand equity. The route for the same was chosen by the management was to have its own outlets.

Pantaloon has decided to open up regional warehouses in the four major metro cities of the country. The retailer has a central warehouse in Mumbai. As the officials think that Warehouses are getting important as they increase the number of outlets. There is need to monitor inventory movements, and to manage them efficiently. However, at present, this does not seem to be the norm in this industry. They are among the very few retailers who make serious and optimum use of barcodes and ERPs.

Buying & Merchandising

As resources for their dresses they have firms like: Anna Sui, Betsey Johnson, Co. of Unorganized People, Donna Karan, Helmut Lang, Hugo Boss, Jared Gold, Kate Spade, Kenneth Cole, Lloyd Klein, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Oscar de la Renta, Patricia Field, People Used to Dream, Ralph Lauren, Sean John, Tommy Hilfiger, Agnes B.A.P.C., Balenciaga Bless, Bruuns Bazaar, Celine, Chanel Christian Lacroix Christian Dior Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, Kenzo, Louis Vuitton Lucien, Pellat-Finet, Sonia Rykiel, Yves Saint Laurent.

Pantaloons have jeans from Bare at Rs. 695 and above. Newport, priced at Rs. 599, was the cheapest pair of jeans in the market. So, they contacted Arvind Mills and asked if they could give jeans at Rs. 299, if we were willing to take 100,000 units a month. That is where Ruf-n-Tuf came in. The brand had been discontinued when Pantaloon first contacted Arvind. From now on, it will be available only through Pantaloon. There is a similar deal for T-shirts.

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* Contributed by -
Manasi Panigrahi,
Pursuing MBA, Batch of 2006,
ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad.