Destination Maternity launches store in JV with Mahindra Retail

One of the biggest worries for the majority of the female gender is whether they have gained weight or not. The concern is closely followed by the fear that they are not wearing the right set of clothes or well fitted apparel. However in the case of pregnancy, while the first worry is overpowered by the overall jubilation surrounding the news and the natural progression of events, the second concern does not find much respite due to the lack of attention being paid to the issue.

However, understanding the problem, Mahindra Retail tried addressing the problem through its maternity specialized stores running under the brand name of Mom & me. Selling everything needed for would be mothers, the retail store that started operations in 2007 today stands at a mighty 77 store figure. An achievement considering the nascent and immature market that it caters to. However, not being satisfied by the pace of progress, the organisation has now tied up with Destination Maternity, a global leader in maternity apparel based in US, to open exclusive stores of the brand in India in a master franchisee model.

The store shall cater to the luxury and upper high category of the maternity clothes segment and thus shall bring in its own premium labels such as Pea and Pods, Motherhood Maternity, and several others to meet the market needs. Edward Krell, CEO, Destination Maternity speaking on the occasion explained the need for having a separate store for Destination Maternity due to the lack of space in a shop-in-shop format and due to the distraction posed by the adjacent lying baby care products. At Destination Maternity, expectant mothers can experience the joy of shopping as per usual even during their pregnancy due to the full fledged fashion shop that they have launched. However, he clarified that the coming of full scale stores does not mean an end of the shop-in-shop stores and that both shall coexist.

It is expected that stores on similar lines shall soon be launched in other leading metro cities of India though no concrete plans are in place at the moment; (meanwhile, Mom & Me, which has been expanding since its inception and currently stands at a 77 strong store strength shall reach a total of 120-130 stores by the end of this fiscal year).

Talking about the marketing aspect of the newly launched store and the segment in general, K. Venkatraman, CEO, Mahindra Retail said that they were adopting a different tactic to increase the awareness of the category by tapping the watering holes where expectant mothers are likely to go first. Naturally the doctors, hospitals came first in the list. Information dissemination through word of mouth is another aspect that they are targeting immensely and rightly so since the one thing that to-be-mothers are never short of and get a lot of is free advice. Well we also would like to give you one, if you expect to become a mother soon but don't want to settle for clothes made out of bed sheets, check the store out, who knows you may just like it.