Condé Nast is ready to follow the September launch of the Indian edition of Vogue with other upmarket titles as the global fashion and luxury retail industry looks to cash in on the country’s growing affluence.
The publisher is seeking or has obtained regulatory approval for magazines such as Glamour, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller, Vanity Fair and niche publications such as Wired, the technology-focused magazine.
“We’d like to get the Vogue launch right first and soon after that start kicking off some of these other launches,” said Alex Kuruvilla, managing director of Condé Nast India.
India is emerging as one of the world’s biggest “millionaire factories”, with a study by Cap Gemini and Merrill Lynch showing it was second only to Singapore in terms of the growth in the number of people with net assets of $1m or more.
But the luxury retail industry still faces hurdles in India from a lingering cultural and political aversion to conspicuous displays of wealth, with many people still living in poverty. It also faces challenges from high taxes and a lack of suitable malls for luxury retailers.
Mr Kuruvilla said Vogue would launch its first edition with an October cover date on September 22 with a target print run of 50,000 copies, taking on titles such as Elle, L’Officiel and local magazine Verve. But he said these magazines had targeted a middle-market audience, while Vogue was looking to cater for the new class of high-net worth consumers emerging in India.
He said the magazine was expecting advertising yields of four to five times the existing competition and to capture 50-60 per cent market share of fashion-related advertising revenue in the first year.
In China, Vogue broke even in its first year, capitalising on the rise in the affluent classes. “I don’t think we’d be too far behind in terms of financial achievements albeit with a smaller model,” Mr Kuruvilla said of the Indian operation.
The launch of Vogue follows the entry into India of luxury retailers, such as Ermenegildo Zegna, the high-end men’s wear company, and Hermès, the luxury goods maker.
Mr Kuruvilla said India’s luxury retail market was heading for a “tipping point”. It was only a matter of time before “it all explodes into a combination of the purchasing power, fuelled by mall access points and, most importantly, by the fact that there are so many of these luxury players coming in right now”.
