HRX by Hrithik Roshan aims for Rs 100 crore online revenue

HRX by Hrithik Roshan is the Bollywood star's lifestyle and fitness brand, recently launched on online retailer Myntra.com. The joint venture between Roshan, Exceed (the company that manages him) and The Wild East Group (a brand management and brand extension agency) aims to make HRX a Rs 100-crore online brand in the next three years.

Besides Salman Khan's Being Human, HRX is perhaps the only other celebrity-backed brand launched with a long-term vision. Celebrity-crazy as it is, India still lacks a billion-dollar celebrity brand like, say, Britney Spears's line of fragrances.

The reason is that no Indian celebrities have focused on creating long-lasting brand equity for themselves. Otherwise, one would have heard of actor Shilpa Shetty launching a fragrance soon after she won the Big Brother title, her one-off yoga DVD, or Sachin Tendulkar's Sach brand, launched through Future Group and part of the group's private brand profile.

"Talent management and representation in India is hardly a decade-old business," says Exceed CEO says Afsar Zaidi. "That's the reason you find half-hearted attempts at creating celebrity brands."

Unlike the Being Human model, which gives a portion of its revenue to charity, Zaidi says his success will be defined by the balance sheet. "We have launched our casual wear collection, which will be soon followed by the active (sports and gym wear) range. We are also getting into women's and kids' wear very soon."

The brand aims to be the Indian alternative to international names such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Puma, which account for nearly 80 per cent of the sports and fitness market in India. With prices between Rs 299 and Rs 2,000, HRX aims to be a value-for-money alternative.

"There is no reason why HRX cannot sponsor the next chess champion, or the next football player, or the next Indian Olympic team," says Sid Shah, President and CEO, The Wild East Group. "The vision of HRX is to support and celebrate next-generation achievers."

Come April 2014, HRX also plans to retail out of standalone brick-and-mortar stores and large multi-brand retail stores. But brick-and-mortar fashion retail isn't easy, cautions Harminder Sahni, retail consultant and Managing Director at Wazir & Co, especially in a country such as India, where real estate costs account for more than 50 per cent of a retailer's costs.

"HRX will definitely have the initial advantage of being Hrithik Roshan's brand, but going forward, minute details such as distribution strategy have to be thought through. Venturing into brick-and-mortar retail at such an early stage could be a risky call."

Sahni wonders how much of Being Human's revenues would come from its standalone stores. Manish Mandhana, Managing Director at Mandhana Industries (which markets Being Human) claims that the bulk of the brand's sales are through its 20 standalone stores, but he also says that almost 10 per cent of sales every month come through online partner Myntra.com.

"We are now going to retail out of other online stores, such as Jabong, Flipkart and Koovs. Once this happens, I see almost 25 per cent of our sales coming from online."

Celebrity marketers say almost all leading Indian celebrities are serious about launching their own brands. So expect a lot of action in this space in the coming months.