Mr. Kavindra Mishra, CEO of Pepe Jeans India, visited IIM Indore, Mumbai Campus to interact with PGP students on 29
th September.
Mr. Mishra pursued his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He started his career with Madhura Coats Limited and then worked for brands like Allen Solly, Tommy Hilfiger and United Colors of Benetton. He is also co-founder of Zovi.com, the first online apparel and lifestyle platform. After having two year stint at Zovi.com as an entrepreneur, he is presently the CEO of Pepe Jeans India and has been instrumental in designing effective strategies and embedding them tactfully in the broad spectrum of global strategy.
Mr. Kavindra Mishra spoke about the current scenario of retail and also about the tremendous scope of retail in the future. The myth of competition between e-retail and traditional retailing was clarified by him in a very simple way. He said that at Pepe Jeans India, they believe that e-platform has its own strengths like accessibility and quick reviews about the product and latest trends. He also felt that brands can use the online platform in tandem with other channels and thus follow Omni-channel strategy.
He also briefed on pricing strategies which decide the type of market that a product is entering and highlighted the nuances of seasonal discounting and type of consumers targeted. He strongly believed that there is an opportunity for every single strategy in fashion retail sector, as it is still in nascent stages in India. His answers to students’ questions also revealed the challenges faced by Indian retail segment in terms of infrastructure, perception towards fashion, and sale-on-discount and how Pepe Jeans India is committed to overcome those challenges. As fashion is immeasurable and abstract, he said that their company strongly focuses in forecasting the demand and understanding changing trends in fashion.
He also shared his entrepreneurial experience with Zovi.com which made him understand better the needs of the consumers in the fashion industry. He brought in many experiences from his career to answer questions of participants. Answering a question on branding, he emphasized that brands can be built by user experience and psychographic campaigns such as ‘Made for Mischief’, ‘Solly at Work’. The session left the participants with useful insights about the trends and practices in the fashion retail sector from an expert of the industry.
Follow IIM Indore Mumbai at
iimindoremumbai.insideiim.com
