Luxury booming

The 56-year-old family-owned Spanish Porcelain Figurine Maker Lladró has chosen an interesting time to expand its business in India. In the midst of a slowdown that has seen many companies shutter stores, Lladró has opened its latest retail store at the swish UB City in Bangalore and is scouting for space to open more shops in India, says Rosa Lladró, President, Lladró.

The firm has recently expanded its footprint into mass markets malls such as Ambience Mall in Gurgaon. “In these difficult times, we believe buying a Lladró product makes you feel good,” she says. To give an idea of the kind of money being talked about—the recently launched Queen of the Nile figurine costs Rs 1 crore.

Company executives say the India business grew at 75 per cent last year. Crystalware maker Swarovski, too, is on an expansion binge. “We have 17 exclusive stores and will open new ones across metros in the next six months,” says Sukanya Dutta Roy, Country Manager, Swarovski CGB-India, whose products, Black Diamond and Darigold, cost between Rs 57,000 and Rs 1,40,000. Swarovski’s business grew 25 per cent last fiscal.

Similarly, art d’inox has introduced its expensive Amethyst Collection and Firangipani—candle-stands with women-centric designs. By the end of the year, they will have 29 outlets across India and 41 multi-brand outlets, says Veer Kaul, CEO, art d’inox. “We plan to open four exclusive showrooms in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata as well,” he adds.

	Lladró	Swarovski	art d’inox
Product	Porcelain	Crystal	Home Lifestyle
Presence	18 exclusive stores and shop-in-shop outlets	17 exclusive stores	29 exclusive stores and 41 shop-in-shop outlets by year-end
Expansion	Focus on metros, widen retail presence	4 new stores in six months	4 new showrooms in tier-I cities