Has anyone noticed that India is suddenly the object of every international brand's affection?
Every foreign brand worth its dollar (or euro) has been eying India these days with claims that "India is a very important market for us". Yeah, right! Wouldn't it be if no one from the rest of the world is buying your product?
So far, most of these top 'exclusive' luxury brands had royally snubbed India. And very conveniently, post a second economic slowdown, India has magically appeared in their marketing strategies.
The 64-year-old chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton Yves Carcelle, who has been heading the bag brand for 20 years now, has been reportedly quoted in a story saying, "We began working on our first store in India 10 years before we launched it in New Delhi in 2003."
So effectively, he's saying that the brand has made a conscious decision to enter India in 1993, which sounds ridiculously untrue.
Mr Carcelle is not the only CEO to have made such claims. Very quickly (and this is just the tip of the iceberg with the latest FDI in retail and aviation coming into effect), CEOs of top international brands are scouting for a little space in not just tier I but even II and III cities. And the reason for this is not difficult to find.
Car and bike makers, luxury hotels and a host of brands like Armani and Brand USA are rushing in to make hay while this Indian subcontinent sun, with its billion-plus people, is shining.
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