New Delhi: Lululemon Athletica, a Canadian athletic apparel retailer known as the inventor of yoga pants, plans to enter India to cash in on the surging demand for fitness and athleisure wear.
A global team of Lululemon was in India recently to scout for locations where it could open stores, two officials told ET.
“They will most likely enter on their own and are not keen on partnerships with Indian companies,” one of the officials said.
“They have spoken to a few malls in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore,” the person added.
The other person said the Lululemon team held a meeting with mall developers and enquired about the new mall development in the metro cities.
“Many international brands are in discussions and want to be part of the retail growth story of India,” the person added.
Lululemon did not respond to ET’s email query as of press time Thursday.
Three years ago, the Canadian company opened a tech hub in Bengaluru, its first outside North America, to push global growth by using data science, machine learning, and full-stack cloud engineering to support merchandise planning and product and location information management.
Lululemon Athletica is a designer, distributor, and retailer of athletic apparel, footwear, and accessories.
According to the company’s 2023 annual report, it operates in over 25 countries and it delivered strong net revenue growth across regions including 12% in the Americas, 67% in China Mainland, and 43% in the rest of the world.
It opened 56 new company-operated stores last year, contributing to a 15% increase in square footage, while total company-operated store net revenue increased 21% and ecommerce net revenue increased 17%.
With a population of 1.4 billion, India is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for companies.
Most global brands have been around for more than two decades in India and have grown by virtue of pushing their wares partnering cricket and other sporting activities. The newer entrants, however, have been positioning themselves as comfortable lifestyle and regular athletic wear brands.
In India, sales of nearly half a dozen leading sports brands have sprinted in the past two years, during the pandemic and since.
Brands such as Puma, Decathlon, Adidas, Skechers and Asics have all grown 35-60% year-on-year since FY21, posting combined revenues of Rs 11,617 crore in FY23, according to regulatory filings sourced from the Registrar of Companies.
Two years ago, these brands had sales of Rs 5,022 crore put together.
Demand for fitness wear and sports equipment for disciplines other than cricket grew as people prioritised health with the onset of Covid-19.
About two dozen international brands entered India with their stores in 2023, encouraged by a post-Covid consumption surge, up from one global brand in 2020, three in 2021 and 11 in 2022. Before the pandemic, about 12-15 brands used to enter India every year.
