Dubai: It may have taken all of 102 years for this Indian ethnic clothes retailer to make a move out of its home market for a first overseas location. But Kalyan Silks is not about to let age come in the way of putting out a new marketing strategy or two.
For the first location it has chosen Dubai's Karama, a neighbourhood with a predominance of Indian residents. For its prospective second and third stores, the retailer is considering the relative merits of Al Ghusais and Deira.
This strategy is at odds with what it follows in its home base of Kerala where it has created shopping destinations of 40,000 to 125,000 square feet. In comparison, the Dubai store measures a relatively minuscule 6,000 square feet.
Selective approach
"The smaller format works to our commercial and marketing advantage given that we are going for select neighbourhoods in the UAE," said Mahesh Pattabhiraman, executive director at the family-owned business. Kalyan Silks has been operating a wholesale base in Dubai for 12 years.
After being set up in 1909, the brand had long been associated with wedding trousseau unique to south India but has more recently built up a fashion clientele.
"What we hope to achieve is get our shoppers in the UAE — especially those looking for ethnic party or wedding wear — to do their buying here rather than do so at the Indian outlets during their vacations," said Pattabhiraman. "That's exactly why we have kept a like-for-like pricing here compared with what we have in India."
