Customer Success Story
Pantaloon
Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. is a
dynamic apparel retailer search-
ing for ways to maintain its nearly
fifty percent annual realized sales
growth. That means more styles,
faster turnaround times, a rapidly
expanding organization, and, of
course, automation.
Retail India Ltd.
India’s largest retailer has
a vision for the future and
a plan to get there.
Pantaloon Retail India Ltd., a publicly
held, US $300 million company, is the
fastest growing retailer in India with 90
stores located in 24 cities throughout
the country, occupying about 2.2 mil-
lion ft.2 (204.4 m2). It operates depart-
ment stores, hypermarkets, food
bazaars, malls and even boasts a gro-
cery home delivery business.
Midday on a recent Saturday in
Mumbai, Mr. Sunil Biyani of Pantaloon
Retail India Ltd., talked about the com-
pany’s plans for growth and vision for
the retail business in India. “We’ve
learned what we have by trial and
error; retailing is truly an emerging
industry in India.”
That’s why Pantaloon has estab-
lished a retail management degree
program in collaboration with one of
India’s most respected management
institutes.
“The average employee in Pantaloon
is 27 years old,” said Mr. Biyani. “Our
company’s chief operating officer is
only 36. We’re developing our own
professionals.” The company em-
ploys a total of 12,000 people with
plans to grow that figure to 17,000 in
the near future.
“Pantaloon offers value for money. We
estimate that 35 percent of India’s 1.1
billion people are our prospective cus-
tomers and we want a portion of each
of their disposable spending dollars.”
The company is looking to the newly-
emerging young and well-to-do seg-
ment. Studies show fifty percent of
India’s population in the next ten years
will be in the 15-35 age segment.
Members of this demographic are
extremely fashion savvy, have a grow-
ing disposable income as well as a rav-
enous appetite for the latest trends.
In addition to the Pantaloon brand, the
company markets fashion under 50
private labels, each targeted at a spe-
cific market segment: from an exclu-
sive line of executive wear trousers
and shirts to a range of t-shirts, shorts
and shirts for kids up to 14; to a line of
party and lounge wear for “club hop-
ping, disco going” male consumers.
“In the next year we expect to manufac- Pantaloon’s 45-member design team
ture and procure a total of 4.5 million works to create innovative fashion for
garments a month. We currently have seven seasons during the year: sea-
seven factories: two of which are locat- sons two, three, and four cater to buy-
ed in Bangalore and five in Tarapur,” ers during the “festive period” from mid-
added Mr. Biyani. Our future growth August to mid-January when most “Our future growth can only be
can only be managed by working differ- weddings and festivals occur. Season managed by working differently
ently – by increasing efficiencies and five occurs in the lunar season when
– by increasing efficiencies
reducing costs. The only way to do this most Hindus curb their discretionary
is through automation.” spending habits, and seasons six and and reducing costs. The only
seven are summer-wear seasons. way to do this is through
Pantaloon is using Gerber Technol- Forty percent of the company’s lines
ogy’s AccuMark pattern design, grading are considered “classics,” which
automation.”
and marker making software, remain largely unchanged from year
Mr. Sunil Biyani
Silhouette systems for pattern develop- to year; sixty percent are ever-chang- Pantaloon Retail India Ltd.
ment, an Infinity GERBERplotter and ing, trendy fashions.
has recently purchased a
GERBERcutter GTxL for automated Getting styles to market faster is criti-
material cutting with an attached cal with such demanding seasonal
InVision system for automatically constraints. Recently, the company
matching checks and stripes to maxi- implemented Project Metamorphosis,
mize fabric utilization and achieve or MPS (margin-product-speed) which
thread-to-thread accuracy of cut parts. cites 25 days as the target time to
market.
“With so much to accomplish, we
haven’t time to waste and we can’t Mr. Biyani concluded, “What sets us
afford to make the wrong business apart from the giant foreign retailers
decisions. We make intelligent deci- knocking on our doors is our intimate
sions very quickly by researching our understanding of Indians. We under-
options and moving forward. We chose stand the Indian consumer intimate-
the automation provider that would ly, what drives him or her to buy, and
stand by us with local service and what may deter that same person
spare parts,” said Mr. Biyani. from purchasing. That’s not knowl-
edge that comes easily to outsiders.”

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