India's Rich Get the Personal Touch

(page 2 of 2)

Reaching Out

In India, though, they have found that nothing works as well as intimate consumer contact. As Mumbai-based image consultant Chaya Momaya, dressed for work in a Roberto Cavalli shirt, Dolce & Gabbana jeans, a Valentino belt, and Stuart Weitzman sandals, says: "I like to be fussed over."

Such pampered clientele is still limited to the rich, who in the past made their luxury purchases while traveling to the brands' home markets of Paris, London, or New York. But the market is gradually opening up to the aspirants and the middle classes, who may not wear the brands every day, but yearn for bespoke Louis Vuitton luggage for trousseaus, Dom Perignon at wedding receptions, Hermès scarves, Boss suits and Jimmy Choos during honeymoons.

So the stores are adapting for India. The Moschino store in India, for instance, displays both the top end Moschino brand alongside its less expensive variant, Cheap and Chic. In all the big markets, the Moschino brands are housed in separate stores. A big middle-class favorite at the Murjani store is Gucci. While $5,000 bags get the big displays, there are also small-ticket items like $50 mobile-phone straps and key chains, and $200 ties for the aspiring middle class.

Well Suited

Whenever Hugo Boss boutiques receive new suit styles, the staff call on their clientele of businessmen and upwardly mobile professionals at their homes and offices. Salespeople help the customers select styles and colors while expert tailors make adjustments then and there. "The Indian luxury market is not yet mature, so we still need to seek customers," says Harish Chandra, country head of Hugo Boss in India. He claims that the consumer insights that arise from such encounters are useful to source fabrics and styles, further enhancing the client relationship. When Hugo Boss entered India in 2003, it got a set of suits from each of its 15 international style cuts. It soon realized that the average Indian male is heavier than his overseas counterpart, and does not fit into most cuts. Boss now imports about nine styles including the much preferred two- and three-button, double-vent suits. It also began with cashmere suits for people in both Delhi and Mumbai. It has now restricted cashmere for the colder Delhi, with lightweight fabric for tropical Mumbai.

The Swiss skin-care company La Prairie organizes ladies-only lunches to show its products in women's homes. And every couple of months, La Prairie invites regular shoppers at a department-store chain in Mumbai to receive free facials. "We are constantly working at ways to get closer to our consumer," says Beena Patel, the director of La Prairie India.

In some cases, that means traveling to small, wealthy towns far from India's massive urban centers. Fashion brands are organizing trunk shows where people of means in places such as Jallandar and Chandigarh in northern India can try on the latest designs. Mercedes takes road trips, too, regularly dispatching invitations to the elite in towns around the country to attend local car meets. There, would-be buyers can test-drive Mercedes' entire portfolio of cars, ranging from the C-series to the top-end $1.7 million Maybach. Moreover, they can ask questions of Mercedes executives—all in one go. "You build a rapport with people and find out what they need and want," says Manas Dewan, deputy general manager of Mercedes. He's been to five cities in the past eight months.

For more, see BusinessWeek.com's slide show.

Lakshman covers India business for BusinessWeek.