Men discover the inner side of women

CHENNAI: Thorsten Allenstein, MD of Triumph, a leading lingerie company, narrates an interesting story. On the day of their store opening in Chennai’s Express Avenue mall, their second customer was a man. “He walked in confidently, congratulated us on opening a store and proceeded to pick up — completely unassisted — a whole bunch of stuff for his wife, whose birthday it was the next week,” says Allenstein.
Five years ago, Allenstein would’ve never imagined this happening.“The few men who would come to our stores were extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed. Besides, they would just say, my girlfriend\wife is ‘size medium’ and we had to send them back saying ‘size medium’ or ‘small’ meant nothing to us,” he recalls.
Today, men account for about 5% of the customers of not just Triumph, but also brands like Enamor and Amante. With the spread of exclusive outlets of lingerie companies, multibrand outlets like La Lingerie in Delhi or Mermaids in Chennai and departmental stores like Marks and Spencer, Shoppers Stop, Westside and Lifestyle, lingerie retail has literally come of age. And this has given rise to a whole new customer base — men.
“Men aren’t as shy or awkward as they used to be. It’s fairly common to now see couples shop together for lingerie and men coming in alone and asking for the latest in nightwear or in their favourite colours and have it gift wrapped,” says Kabir Lumba, MD of Lifestyle. “Our staff has been trained to put customers at ease — no embarrassed smiles or awkward gestures, be it a man or a woman.”
Shopfloor staff are learning quickly to adapt to this new breed of customers for a good reason — men are high value customers. “While women buy more items, they tend to buy functional, everyday wear. Their average spend is around Rs 450 to Rs 600 per bra,” says Venkatesh R, CEO of Amante. “Men, on the other hand, go in for fashion and spend around double the amount.”
The displays help men decide much better. Since lingerie today is displayed, instead of being folded away in boxes, men can look, touch and feel what they want to buy. “The percentage of male customers is likely to double in the next three years,” says Allenstein.
But for those who’re still squeamish about walking into a store, there’s always the internet. Although Venkatesh could not give an exact figure, he says that Amante reports robust sales among men on their online sales via Indiatimes.com. customer base — men. But for those who’re still squeamish about walking into a store, there’s always the internet.
“Around 30% of our e-commerce transactions are done by men,” says an Enamor spokesperson. “In our experience, men tend to buy a single product unlike women, who buy six or seven. But the average bill value of a man is around Rs 2,000.”
Amante is also planning to get e-commerce up and running on their website by next year. “And this is definitely keeping men also in mind. Unlike women who need to touch, feel and try on lingerie, men go almost entirely by visual appeal,” says Venkatesh R, CEO of Amante.
Sales of lingerie typically peak around the wedding seasons and Valentine’s Day. But the industry has to learn some lessons fast.
“Companies need to introduce more inventive lines, and more frequently,” says Kabir Lumba, Managing Director of Lifestyle.
“Also, they need to achieve greater standardisation in their sizes for the Indian woman so that men can walk in and buy something confidently, even if it’s their first time. This will boost sales volumes.”