Women are the big spenders in modern retail in India. Retailers want to embrace the Indian women in every part of her day and every phase of her life.
Shoppers Stop was the first to realize about the $300 mn opportunity for pregnant moms and roped in Mothercare from the UK for maternity wear and accessories. However, localization is very essential especially in apparels and to plug the holes Pune based Uzazi fashion came into existence specially to cater to pregnant mothers. Uzazi is currenly looking for Private Equity investments for expansion. Xitij Joshi of Uzazi said,
We plan to roll out 10 to 12 brand stores across India and are also looking at the shop-in-shop format with large scale retailers and baby kids stores.
Delhi based 9months retail is another retailer in this vertical with localized product offerings. They have their stores operational as a shop-in-shop in Kids-At-Home, Kailash Delhi, Apple of my-I, Indiranagar, Bangalore and Little Kangaroos, Mumbai. Ms Aparna Jain of 9 months said,
Women are moving towards looking good and being in style while pregnant. Nowadays they are happy to flaunt their bellies rather than hide it away in a tent like clothing.
9Months also retails online. This market is growing close to 30% YoY and retailing is still in nascent stages.