Sneha Nichani - FT13174 - French Connection

                               

After a tiring week of studying it was now time to head to the city to replenish necessities and also to have fun. Express Avenue is the latest and biggest mall in the city of Chennai, thus I decided to visit the mall to make purchases. The mall as always was filled with multiple stores and housed several national and international brands. I then noticed the French Connection UK store. As it is one of my favourite Fashion Apparel brands and I decided to enter the store and find out more about the brand.

While at the store I was fortunate to meet the Brand manager, Mansi Zaveri who happened to be there. She provided me with insight on the brand and its global presence.

About Brand French Connection UK and its Global Presence

French Connection is one of Britain’s leading hi- fashion brands. With more than 1,500 outlets across 25 countries worldwide, French Connection is truly a global fashion brand.

Commenting on the brand Ms. Mansi Zaveri said, The French Connection brand operates in the fashion-orientated market place offering a fashion-forward range of quality products at affordable prices. Our customers, typically aged 18-35, appreciate that the brand is at the leading edge of high street fashion and offers quality and style in its products. We design ranges of products for both men and women from underwear to outerwear, casual wear to suits, denim, accessories and children’s wear.

Our design teams are based in London and we arrange for the products to be manufactured in specialist facilities in Europe and Asia. The Group retails garments through a network of retail stores on high streets and in shopping malls across the UK, Ireland and North America and through concessions within leading department stores such as House of Fraser and John Lewis. We also operate highly successful e-commerce sites through which our products are available for home delivery in the UK, Ireland, Europe and North America.

The full range of products is also offered for sale at wholesale through our showrooms in London, New York, Paris and Hong Kong to selected customers operating department stores, multi-brand fashion stores or e-commerce sites around the world.

To further extend retail distribution we have granted franchises and licences to quality retailers allowing them to operate French Connection branded retail stores in the UK, Middle East, Asia and Australia. These customers are supplied through our wholesale channels in the UK and Hong Kong. Our licensees operating stores in Hong Kong and China are 50% joint venture businesses operated by our local partners in those territories.

French Connection In India – BMI

Brand Marketing India (BMI) is the holding company for the French Connection Business in India. They are the exclusive license for FCUK in India, introduced the brand to the Indian market at the Lakme Fashion Week in April 2007 and has opened 36 points of sale across 15 cities. BMI has ensured that the brand in India emulates the same global strategy with respect to timely seasonal launches, competitive pricing and the highest standards of in-store service. 

French Connection launches its 1st stand-alone store in South India

After the brands resounding success across India, the brand opened its first stand-alone store in Chennai at the Express Avenue Mall in August 2010. This store is the only French Connection stand-alone store in the whole of South India. It spreads over 2000 sq ft of shopping space offers an unprecedented level of service for fashion conscious consumers.  The brand decided to launch in Chennai as they saw a huge market potential. Contrary to belief, Chennai has recorded maximum consumer demand and purchase potential when compared to the other tier one cities in South India. Also Chennai acts as a buying market to the people from tier 2 cities such as Coimbatore, Salem etc.

French Connection Spring Summer 2012 Collection

For the Spring Summer 2012 Campaign French Connection decided to create a work of art - encapsulating the collection in one image. The collection encompasses a human collage of clothes and people in perfect harmony that not only is strikingly beautifully but also captures the spirit of the Spring Summer collection, with all its color, flowing luxury fabrics and energy. The price range of the products begins from Rs.3000 for apparels and accessories.

Future Plans

The brand plans to strengthen and focus on its E-commerce business that is already thriving well. Also it plans to continue to nurture and develop a number of younger brands further; it aims at extending the reach of the French Connection brand through additional licensing in new product segments and territories and supports the existing ones.