Luggage-maker Samsonite is looking to roll out new products at lower prices. The products, primarily travel luggage, will be pricedaround ₹2,200, lower than its mid-segment brand American Tourister which falls in the ₹3,000-10,000 price-bracket.
Apart from travel luggage, the company’s offerings include backpacks and sling bags. These are priced around ₹1,000.
According to EP Suresh Menon, CEO, India and Middle East, Samsonite South Asia Pvt Ltd, the new product line is expected to be in stores in the second half of this year.
“The new products are expected to be launched around June this year. They will target the price conscious users who look for offerings for around ₹2,000,” he said.
With the new products, Samsonite will compete with the likes of VIP’s Alfa, Skybag and Safari.
Market sizeAccording to Menon, the company will target users in the ₹800-3,000 price segment. The market for this is ₹400-500 crore, while for the total luggage segment (including backpacks and bags) it is around ₹10,000 crore.
Apart from entry-level brand High Sierra, which focuses on backpacks and outdoor gear, the company offers high-end products under the eponymous Samsonite brand, and, super-premium ones under the Hartmann brand.
Focus, Menon said, would also be on shoring up revenues. The company is expected to clock revenues of ₹800 crore this year.
In 2013, Samsonite reported a sales of ₹650 crore, of which, 75 per cent came from American Tourister and the remaining from the Samsonite brand; it had just these two brands in India then.
While High Sierra was launched in India in December last year; Hartmann’s first store is expected to come up around April.
Contributions from these brands are expected to give revenues a leg-up, Menon said.
Samsonite will look to set up 15-20 High Sierra stores in India by the end of this year.