Promart Retail says ‘Discount is in fashion’; to add 100 stores in CY ‘13

Discount retail chain Promart Retail has unveiled a new brand campaign and logo along with the tagline ‘Discount is in fashion’. The new identity has been created by McCann Worldgroup India .
The campaign will straddle print and digital media. The chain, which has over 50 stores across 11 states, plans to open another 100 stores by the end of calendar year 2013. The brand is planning a TVC in the ‘near future’.

Campaign India caught up with Punit Agarwal, promoter and chief executive officer, Promart Retail, ahead of the launch of the new identity, for more on the new positioning, marketing objectives and the expansion agenda. Edited excerpts:

What were the reasons for creating a new brand identity?

We wanted to do a makeover of Promart. Since we have already crossed 50 stores in India, there could be no better opportunity to unveil the new brand identity. When we had taken over the brand from Provogue, we did not have much time to orchestrate change. In the old format, there is more use of the colour Red where sales/ discount are denoted by red.

Now as we are going in to smaller cities, we wanted to convey that Promart is not only a discount model but stocks fashionable wear as well. Along with McCann, we thought of a tag line ‘Discount is in fashion’. We required a different identity for people who normally venture in to stores with sales at the end of season, as compared to people who are regulars at discount stores.

Could you comment on the association with McCann?

We associated with McCann as it is a global agency and we are very impressed with the work of Prasoon Joshi. We had met three or four other ad agencies but selected McCann as they hit the nail on the head and were talking of the same philosophy that we were also thinking for the brand.

Who is the TG for the brand?

Currently, Promart exists in 47 cities across 11 states and two union territories. We do not have any presence in tier 1 but are present in tier 2 to tier 6 towns and cities. We define the city depending on the population, infrastructure, accessibility etc. We plan to go pan India and open approximately 100 stores by this calendar year. The strategy will be to have more stores in a State so that logistics become easy.

We are present in cities such as Dharwad, Chirawa, Barabanki, where fashion is not known. Our TG is the youth that aspires to buy brands but cannot afford them and they may not even have access to the brands as fashion is not easily available in all the cities in India.

What marketing objectives do you plan to achieve with the new campaign?

The new makeover will further accelerate and deepen our relationship with the customers. We have positioned ourselves as a store that says ‘Discount is in fashion’. So Promart will not only be looked at a store where discounts are available but where fashion is offered 365 days. We will also be different from the other players that are there in the market. In the one year of our presence in this category, we realised that when people came to Promart they would compare us to our competitors (Loot, Cantabil) who are shutting shop. It was very difficult to make them understand why we are different from them. This identity will help us make our position much clearer in the market that we are not only a discount brand but offer fashion at a lower cost.

What is the size of your brand portfolio? Would there be an increase in the future?

Currently we have 100-plus brands in our portfolio but it is difficult to maintain them in all the stores because our store size is small (1000 to 2000 sq. ft.). We are not going to increase the portfolio as we now want to concentrate on just 50 to 60 brands; this will help us get better discounts from the brands as well. This will enable people to get more variety from a single brand than having different brands stocked in the store but offering very little variety. 

How do you plan to compete with online fashion portals?

Offline, no one can give better discounts than those offered by Promart. Very soon, we are going to launch our own portal Promartretail.com where we are not only going to offer discounts but also give them more value through promotions. For example, during Diwali, we did a promotion where we said shop for an X amount and get a mobile from us for free. So we plan to give them such offers that will make us stand apart in the crowd.