Asda Introduces Indian Fashion Line

Retailers always talk about location as their secret sauce. Yet for the most part they fail to exploit the preferences and anomalies in their local market. Walmart's ASDA is doing the obvious. Three cheers for them.

I have often sat in meetings at retailers headquarters, three deep with merchants. The prevailing wisdom is that their way of responding to local tastes is through replenishment. They are assuming of course that their assortment is worth replenishing. Much more insight would be gained if they correlated the stores with the lowest conversion rates with their local ethnic, demographic, and lifestyle mix. My guess is that outliers on both would reveal assortment problems.

The primary of job of the retailer is to serve the needs of their customers. Local needs reflect the makeup of the local population. Good job, ASDA.

Bill Robinson, Principal Consultant, Bill Robinson Associates

Retailers that cater to the local marketplace have what I call 'Merchant Mentality'. And that's how you differentiate yourself from the competition. I'm not a big fan of Walmart but kudos to the UK side for expanding their lines. Will we see it here in North America? I can tell you that it would be a hard sell in the Toronto area. There are so many specialty shops catering to every different kind of culture that Walmart would have to dedicate half the store to compete with the smaller guys.

Doron Levy, President, TheMortgageMachine.ca

Let's not confuse fashion trends with smart retailing. ASDA is introducing the Indian clothing into 21 of their stores, not all of their stores. Without looking at any studies, I can certainly tell you that the trading area around these stores has a very high ethnic Indian concentration.

The previous comments by Bill and Doron are exactly correct. The consolidation we have seen in retailers has produced a national framework of marketing at the expense of being sensitive to local customer needs. This again is a very smart move by Wal-Mart (ASDA). They establish a competitive advantage by providing what the local customer needs and do it with a product line that they don't have to cut their margins to promote. This decision is not a whole lot different than opening Mercados in Texas.

It is particularly interesting that there are even discussions that come out of these customer-centric decisions. Isn't that the way all retailers should be operating? The fact that most national retailers are everything but customer centric makes these discussions worthwhile.

Gene Detroyer, Entrepreneur, Advisor, Consultant, Professor, Independent

The answer lies almost purely in demographics and immigration. Canada is a good example, where the foreign born population is currently growing at a rate four times that of the domestic population. The majority of that immigration is coming from Asia and South Asia. 70% of new Canadians move directly to 4 of the largest cities Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal--the heartland of retail distribution.

The retail response up until now has largely been driven by small to mid-sized ethnic retailers who have stepped up to serve the needs of these communities. However, Loblaw Company's purchase last month of Asian T&T markets was a clear indication that big players recognize the significance of this market.

In the US, Asian and South Asian immigration is also a force, albeit a fraction of Hispanic immigration. Nonetheless, retailers will have to adapt to the needs of these consumers. If you're going to grow, you better understand and appeal to ethnic markets.

Will North Americans begin wearing Asian and Indian inspired clothing? I think we are and will continue to see a fusion of sorts, driven largely by savvy gen 1.5 business people who appreciate their heritage and understand contemporary style.

Doug Stephens, President, Retail Prophet

When will this come to the States???

Cathy Hotka, Principal, Cathy Hotka & Associates

To our surprise, an informal survey of two non-Indians here found that one adult and one teen would definitely consider wearing items similar to those displayed on the Asda site. Both said they were unlikely to purchase them from Wal-Mart, however, preferring to go to authentic Indian fashion stores in the nearby Edison, Iselin and Woodbridge, NJ areas that have a large number of businesses catering to people from India and Pakistan.

George Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Publisher, RetailWire LLC

Walmart launched its "Bollywood" line in Vancouver and Toronto which featured nine different styles of traditional Indian suits, all priced at less than $80. This is really just localizing assortments in apparel so it would make perfect sense to add traditional clothing to demographically appropriate locations in the U.S. ... Maybe even chain-wide. As dull as fashion has been lately, perhaps these options would resonate with other shoppers as well.

Carol Spieckerman, President, newmarketbuilders