Walt Disney Co is reportedly planning to open retail stores in India in collaboration with DLF Brands, a subsidiary of real estate firm DLF Limited, the Economic Times reported, citing senior industry executives.
Disney plans to tap the ever-increasing demand for branded kids clothing and accessories. The entertainment company would operate the retail stores on a licensing and franchisee basis. Disney may go for some large flagship stores having an inbuilt area of approximately 10,000 square feet, however, most of the stores, while focusing on apparel and toys, would have an area of 1,000 square feet.
DLF Brands CEO Timmy Sarna said the company already had a licensing deal with Disney it sold children's clothing in the country through retail stores under the Mothercare brand.
"DLF Brands will initially open around 50 Disney stores in the first phase and is already scouting for locations. Walt Disney Co could also explore owning or turning the licensee agreement into a joint venture with DLF depending on the performance," the ET reported, citing one of the executives.
Walt Disney is one of the world's largest retail brand licenser and recorded $13.5 billion in revenues during the fourth quarter, the figure was in line with the Wall Street estimate. Net income during the same quarter was pegged at $1.6 billion, Forbes reported.
In India, the California-based company maintains 3,000 "stock keeping units (SKUs)" of its characters such as Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse in almost a million stores and through e-commerce websites such as Flipkart and Amazon.
The children's apparel market space in India is believed to be at Rs 95,000 crore and is likely to expand at a growth rate of 20 percent every year. However, the segment remains largely controlled by "unbranded units."
[1 lakh = 100,000 | 1 crore = 10 million | 100 crore = 1 billion]
