Opportunities For Entrepreneurs In The Booming Luxury Industry

Abhay Gupta, Founder & CEO – Luxury Connect & Luxury Connect Business School.

The word entrepreneur originates from the French word, entreprendre, which means "to undertake." In a business context, it means to start a business. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary presents the definition of an entrepreneur as one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.

What is entrepreneurship?

A business model in which you create your own business entity and perhaps hire a few people is entrepreneurship. Over and above all, entrepreneurship is a mindset which makes you think beyond the normal. A craving, a desire and a ambition to break past the set norm and create a unique identity for oneself and his enterprise.  Entrepreneurship is also a process of new venture creation.

Who is an entrepreneur?

•       Someone who wants to self employed and also generates employment for others is an entrepreneur. Someone who wants to be his own boss is an entrepreneur. Someone with a vision, a passion for his product or service and a deep determination to succeed against all odds is a entrepreneur. So we can summarise that

-   ‘ An entrepreneur is someone who organises, manages and assumes the risk of a business entity, enterprise and or identity in either goods or services sector’.

-    ‘Entrepreneurs are people that notice opportunities and take the initiative to mobilize resources to make new goods and services.’

-   "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods".

What are the typical qualities of an entrepreneur?

•  A tendency to break away from the regular and be different.
•  Spot the needs / problems / challenges and convert them into opportunities for success by      being solution oriented.
• A determined mindset to innovate, create value and be continuously growth oriented.
• A Original thinker.
• A Risk taker.
• Takes responsibility for own actions
•  Feels competent, confident and capable
•  Sets high goals and enjoys working toward them even with high personal sacrifices

What is Luxury?

Luxury is a often misused term in today’s world ! Almost everyone and everything claims to be ‘Luxury’. So what really is the meaning of ‘Luxury’ ??

If one tries to Google the word luxury, one is thrown up with innumerable meanings in a split second ! This only means that ‘Luxury is relative & subjective’ – meaning ‘to each his own’.

In the words of the famous Coco Channel, ‘Luxury begins where necessity ends’.

We can thus summarise that luxury is much beyond need – it is a desire that fuels our emotional appeal. Something which defines our social status to others besides just providing us material comfort, great quality, unquestionable functional benefits and makes us feel a part of a social set normally called ‘The Elite’.

So what then is Luxury Entrepreneurship?

Someone who has a burning desire to create a business venture or a product or a service which services this sector directly or indirectly is a luxury entrepreneur. A individual with a uncanny eye for detail and excellent customer service can be a successful luxury entrepreneur.

What are the sectors one could explore within the Luxury domain?

Unfortunately, most people link and restrict luxury to fashion and ramp shows due to the glamour attached. There is no doubt that fashion is a essential part of luxury and is in every way the fulcrum point, but luxury extends way beyond fashion, giving a entrepreneur options to choose from areas like jewellery, watches, fitness & wellness, beauty and skin care,  real estate, home and interior, aviation, yachting, automobiles to also travel, tourism, hospitality and events etc. Luxury is a complete lifestyle and defines the usage pattern of the affluent class.

If one is a fashion designer, or has a inclination to be beautician, traditional jeweller, boutique owner, travel service provider or event a wedding planner, it is possible for him to position himself in this niche space.

What are the Growth opportunities in the Luxury sector?

Luxury in India has been growing continuously at a pace of 20 – 25 % PA for past several years. Currently at about 18.5 b USD, it is expected to touch 50 b USD by 2020 and 180 b by 2025. (as quoted by Amitabh Kant in February 2016). The ‘make in India’ movement is expected to fuel the domestic design industry towards this sector. Recent success of young Indian designers is a case in example of this rising phenomena.

How is Luxury Entrepreneurship different and how can one become one?

In the luxury space, the depth of the vision, the originality of the creative designer, the brand building process, the marketing & communication as well as the customer service orientation is completely of a different level. The aura of the brand, the magic around the intangibles, the romance & mystics behind the product which is accentuated by the impeccable service play the key role.

Let us say that the basics remain the same, but the treatment is entirely different.

The best way of course is to undertake a short course on ‘Luxury Entrepreneurship’ to clear up ones concept and knowledge of this sector and study in depth the nuances involved in handling such a business

Then on, if one is a creative person he can begin on his own. If one is a moneyed person, he can have his idea developed by a creative team. Alternately, there is a plethora of national & international luxury brands across sectors that are keen to reach out to the Indian luxury consumer and the fast growing market here. One is open to explore franchise opportunities with them.

A MIND THAT IS STRETCHED BY A NEW EXPERIENCE CAN NEVER GO BACK TO ITS OLD DIMENSIONS

Luxury connect business school believes in practical knowledge as every now and then, they organize experiential industry connect!

This time we got a chance to meet Mr. Divam Jain, General Manager, limeroad.com. The session started with brands and their identity, we discussed logos and heritage of the brands. He broadly taught us about how Branding goes way beyond just a logo or graphic element. When you think about your brand, you really want to think about your entire customer experience, everything from your logo, your website, your social media experiences, to the way your customers experiences you and your brand. When you look at branding, it can be a bit overwhelming to think about what is involved in your brand. In short, your brand is the way your customer perceives you. We learnt that It is critical to be aware of your brand experience and have a plan to create the brand experience that you want to have..a good brand doesn’t just happen..it is a well thought of, out of the box plan.

In the middle of session, we asked many doubts and talked about every aspect of branding in the growing market. In the end, he also threw light on e-commerce, how it works and what are the features and demands of this market.

In a nutshell, the wonderful session covered a comprehensive spectrum of topics that had something of interest for each of us. Therefore, on behalf of the students I thank Mr. Jain for sharing his ideas and expertise about the branding, and LCBS for giving us another rewarding experience.

                                                                                     by Richa Singhal Luxury Professional 

                                                                                                                                            (PGDLBM: 2016-17)                            

                                                                         

Industry Connect Session

“KNOWLEDGE IS OF NO VALUE, UNLESS YOU PUT IT INTO PRACTICE”

Luxury Connect Business School always promotes practical approach towards learning of theoretical lessons. That’s the reason that we have so many industry connect people coming in the college to share their knowledge in luxury sector. On 16 September, 2016 we had opportunity to meet Mr. Pankaj Sikka, chief visionary and brand strategist of Invision Brand Consulting. In this Industry Connect Session, he shared his opinion about luxury marketing with students during this session.

He told us about the various marketing strategies opt by many brands for their success. We got a deep insight of Marketing segmentation, targeting and positioning methods used by companies for effective marketing. Although we have studied all these approaches in our classes, but to give students a pratical hand in this, the college organized that session with Mr. Pankaj, the expert of Branding and Marketing. He engaged with us by asking questions relating to our perception about marketing and also cleared our set of doubts by giving live examples of companies. In nutshell; we had to have vision to see marketing strategies from a new angle, i.e. more in practical way.

                                                                                                    BY:  SONALI KHANNA

                                                                                                             Luxury Professional
                                                                                                            (PGDLBM: 2016-17)

                                                                                                             

Pankaj Sikka, Brand Strategist at Invision Brand Consulting visits LCBS

“A brand is worthless if it doesn’t CONNECT with a right audience in a correct way.”

The key is to understand that it is important that the people start using your brand as a verb. In today’s time if your brand is not spoken about than it only remains as a commodity in the market. Along the same lines, we had the privilege to interact with Mr. Pankaj Sikka, the brand strategist at Invision Brand Consulting, who comes with 15 years of accomplished and results-driven experience in the industry. His company is involved in building, creating and extending a brand. They have worked with some of the best clients like, the Universal, the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Yash Raj Group, and much more.

He spoke about his professional journey along with his recent project that his company was working on, the HRX brand, which is India’s first celebrity brand. Mr. Pankaj took us along the journey of establishing the HRX brand in India with a special mention on the importance of Segmenting, Targeting, and Positioning while entering a market with a new product category. We now understand that the right approach to align your products with the right customers is by having your STP strategy in place. Marketing starts with and ends with the customer. Unfortunately, many businesses get their marketing strategies wrong in the real world because they discount this fact. He was also kind enough answer our questions with regards to the Brand Licensing and Franchising. As per him, Brand licensing, although is the most underused tool in the strategic brand marketing toolkit today, it has the power to build a brand’s equity and strengthen consumer connections.

A fruitful and enriching session indeed! Thankful to Mr. Pankaj Sikka for sparing his valuable time and coming and igniting our minds and also LCBS for broadening our horizons by organizing these Industry Connect sessions often!

                                                                                              By-  Mehak Sareen  

                                                                                                     Luxury Professional

                                                                                                     Student - PGDLM 2016-17

    

Courses in fashion sales

Fashion, the catalyst of beauty, is a life member of our society. It has been with our ancestors, it is with us and will be with our next, next...generations. Fashion sale is really a joy, an atmosphere of celebration, always a festival of colours, new designs, Jewelleries real and artificial, but all beautiful, it is enough to keep everyone happy. Who are the persons behind the curtain that makes this festive mood happen? The professionals and the institutes that make them. Focussing on the institutes, Luxury Connect Business School of Gurgaon in Delhi NCR is the first and only institute in India for Luxury Brand Management Courses exclusively. Other management colleges also offer such courses but not exclusively these only. So Luxury Connect Business School is the pioneer in India. They offer Courses in fashion garment management, courses in retail operations, courses in retail sales, courses in fashion sales and much more for the glittering world.

The relation between garments and fashion is unquestionable. Garments are the first and major accessory of fashion. Fashion design makes the style. So Courses in fashion garment management and courses in fashion sales have a huge demand, and employment opportunities are also many. Courses in retail operations, courses in retail sales of fashion garments makes you eligible for employment in one of the Fashion retail outlets of world famous fashion brands like Armani, Prada, Chanel, Dior, Mark Jacobs, Versace and many others.

For admission in Post Graduate Diploma in Fashion & Lifestyle retail Management in Luxury Connect Business School you have to be:-

• ·         A Graduate.
• ·         A person of decent personality.
• ·         Good in English.
• ·         A person with a taste for fashion and style.

This is a two years course.  You can apply online or submit an application to the institute. You will have to appear for aptitude test and interview. If you get admission, you have crossed one important milestone in your career.

Post admission, LCBS will do everything for you honestly; but the extra mile, it is your responsibility. Do it and you will be on the path to a successful career in the fashion world.

Masters Degree In Luxury Brand Management

Why masters? When we have Diplomas and graduates in luxury management. You see, you are already late in making qualified personnel for the luxury brand sector. Diplomas and graduates are busy managing the luxury brand sector; it is a herculean task in itself; it is managing people and their desires. Managing people, the toughest job; predicting peoples’ behaviour most uncertain. To understand these things and come out with innovated ideas and the process to apply them needs a lot of deep learning and research. This is where we need masters, not only in luxury brand management but in every field. Therefore, the luxury sector needs some talented people with deep analysing mind and vision take ahead the luxurious journey by doing Masters degree in luxury brand management. Many a time style innovation starts with a silly idea and ends with hot style. It’s all about patience and playing with ideas.

Basic requirements for joining master’s degree in Luxury brand management are: -·  

•      Graduate degree in any stream with a first class score or first class in Luxury brand               management program.

•      Good communicational skill.

•      Good proficiency in the English language.

•           Good analytic skill.

•          Good vision of and aptitude for luxury and style.

•          Approx. 10 to 15 years of experience in the luxury business.

At present, one can do master’s degree in Luxury brand management from abroad only. One can apply through Luxury Connect Business School; they are the India partner for Monaco Luxury Brand Management School of France.This is a two years’ program. They offer three different areas of specialisation. Luxury Event management. Retail store management. Luxury goods and luxury services management. Any specialisation will take you to the upper layer of the champions of luxury Business in respective sectors. Some champion brands that we may meet and work for are - Mercedes, Royal Enfield, Jimmy Choo, Audi, The Grand, Google, Facebook, Rolex, let’s stop no use making the list long.My suggestion, dream of joining a big luxury company, join Monaco via Luxury Connect Business School of India, excel in your program and meet your beloved company. Just leave 1% to destiny, 99% is on you.