When t2 met up with Shashwat Goenka, the sector head of Spencer’s Retail, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, was feeling “bullish”. 

Spencer’s has been housing apparels for how long now?

Apparels have been part of Spencer’s over the last 10 years, but in the past we have always treated it like a stepchild. It has always been food at an very high level, for the very evolved customer, but our apparels section has been focused at much lower price points... in competition with the other hypermarkets. So, we’ve never really done justice to our food customers who might want to buy apparels of the same quality that our food is.

So, the idea was to launch a new apparel brand. It is not a private label at all. This we are going to retail exclusively through Spencer’s stores for the first few seasons. So, it’s going to be in a controlled environment because we believe our Spencer’s customers are highly evolved. They are used to high fashion and they possibly are brand conscious and socially conscious in terms of what they wear. We want it to be an Indian fashion brand which has a lot of edginess and yet a lot of comfort and is affordable.

Tells us about 2Bme, starting with the name...

I was sick and tired of people telling me that why don’t you look like this one or that one… I was like why cannot you be yourself… that’s where the name came from. We went through a series of 200 different names.

About 35 per cent of our range changes every three weeks. There will be a “Trend Alert” sign on these products. At any point when you come into the store, you will always see a new collection and new range. There will always be that sense of freshness that’s going to be there. And 60 per cent of the range changes every six weeks.  The remainder... 35-40 per cent is the core, which is more your core basic wear, everyday items which don’t change season on season and it is for the consumer who is not that evolved from a fashion perspective. That’s by and large where we came from. It’s about being you. 

What triggered it?

There were a series of triggers. Ever since I have started working with Spencer’s, we kept working on improving the food assortment a lot, but our apparels didn’t cater to everyone who came to our store and we needed to make it go there. Apparel is something I am very passionate about, independently. It was a combination of the need of our core Spencer’s consumers and my passion for it and also possibly the need for a fashion brand in the country itself which is in this space... slightly adventurous, slightly edgy, slightly whimsical, slightly stimulating… all of these put together. And not directly aping trends but drawing inspirations from them and yet remaining true to the Indian core consumers. 

How much of an impact did your travelling have on the collection?

When I walked into Spencer’s I was very happy buying food, but I was never happy buying apparels. Today I am wearing 2Bme. It was like if I am not wanting to wear, how can I sell it? That’s where it came from and as the idea evolved over two years, it went from being a Spencer’s brand to actually being a stand-alone fashion brand. We are building a new brand. We are just going to house it in Spencer’s initially, use it for our learning, see if it works with our target consumer… 

Who is your target consumer?

A 25-to-40-year-old woman of the house, a mother of two possibly, a working woman… 

Not the man?! We see so many men at Spencer’s!

Absolutely! The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and a woman helps in that, right? She is the primary influencer and decision-maker. That’s really where we came from. That’s also our target for the apparels line… a 25-to-35-year-old woman, a mother, a working woman and someone who is exposed to international trends, edgy fashion and yet at her very core is an Indian. 

While your women’s wear has a lot of variety, your menswear is far more basic… 

With women you have a lot more flexibility in terms of styles, cuts and prints and patterns. With men, we were a little unsure, do we want to go really edgy? We have a limited range for three of our cities (Hyderabad, Delhi, Calcutta) where we would be experimenting with a smaller range. For women, 60 per cent would be edgy and trendy and 40 per cent core. For men, it’s 50:50. We have casuals, formals and semi-formals for men, women and kids. We have an infant wear range too.   

It’s an in-house brand. We have a core team of 54 people. Our office is based out of Gurgaon. We have a sourcing team, design team. A team of 10 design professionals helped us create this. 
The first cycle, because it’s spring summer, is themed on Havana, the Cuban city. It’s bright and spicy. The patterns are inspired from the foliage and the blossoms. 

How have you priced your products?

The ethos is a combination of Zara and Uniqlo where Zara comes in with edgy fashion, which changes every few weeks and Uniqlo is slightly more core, which keeps it consistent. We have taken inspiration from their business philosophy, as to why it works and we have tried to combine them and present them to our consumers.

We are very confident. We have done a lot of research… internationally, we have got people involved who have helped us design the range and we understand the Indian consumer. So, we have amalgamated the two. We are confident that it should work because we have something for everyone. We didn’t change our prices to be honest with the view of demonetisation. The moment you start reducing prices in the hope that people will buy more, you start compromising on quality which we said we will not do. 

And finally, what did your parents — Sanjiv and Preeti Goenka — have to say about this initiative?  

Dad shares the same passion. So, he has been quite core to a lot of decisions we have taken over the last two years as well.... We are only selling from Spencer’s today, but we are going to be competing with any other fashion brand. There was that portion that don’t restrict yourself. Think big. Think different. There was that input which came.... 
I showed mom a lot of samples that we were doing six months back. She was like, ‘I would totally wear one of them’. Very encouraging. We have done several trial runs. Quality, stitching, fabric, wash, fits…. 

Rs 129 to 1,299

• 2Bme launches on February 15 in the east in eight stores followed by the NCR region, Hyderabad, eastern UP and the rest of India
• There will be 2,200 clothing options for men, women, boys, girls and infants to choose from. Casual wear, formalwear, active wear, sleep wear, innerwear; clutches, totes, belts, wallets, shoes, printed backpacks, sling bags, belts and wallets
• Starting price point: Rs 129 for innerwear, Rs 199 for kids, Rs 249 for womenswear, Rs 299 for menswear. Prices go up to Rs 1,299 for men’s denims
• A 100 per cent pure cotton range for kids in knitwear (shirts, T-shirts, polos, shorts, dresses, tops)
• A special range of organic innerwear for men

Shashwat’s 2Bme picks for his family… 

Dad: Slim khakis with comfort stretch
Mom: Digitally-printed kurta on polyster-crepe. It has a fluid, straight and slim silhouette with prints on the neckline and border. Inspiration is from the concept of Rangrez, the ethnic line that draws inspiration from Pakistani truck art
Shivika: Asymmetric, “exotic tropics”-inspired silhouette top, a subtle abstract geometric-print dress in royal blue 
Myself: Cotton T-shirt in yellow paired with a pair of ice-washed multi-dip indigo jeans

I think most people see Spencer’s as a one-stop shop where you get everything. I go there for all kinds of needs, from toiletries to car fragrances. Adding this great collection of clothes to the line-up is a big plus… affordable clothing which looks great — Gaurav Chakrabarty

I think this is a great initiative. Spencer’s is a place where people buy everything, so why not clothes?! And you are getting everything under one roof.... I am a Spencer’s regular. I am a casual dresser and their casual wear is very nice. The best part is even though the clothes are affordable, they haven’t compromised on quality — Ridhima