Welspun target to double its textiles sales at $2.5 billion by 2020

Welspun Group, India’s largest home textiles manufacturer headquartered in Mumbai and also the single largest player in the $17 billion American home textiles space with a 5 percent market share, nets one-third or $ 1 billion of its group revenue of $ 3 billion from the textiles business now, has set target to double its revenue to $ 2.5 billion by 2020.

The company expects the higher growth will again be driven by the US market as it plans to increase its focus in the world’s largest textiles market further. The US contributes around 65 percent of the total sales now.

When they entered the US in 2007, the Indian companies were fringe players as Chinese marketers dominated the market. But, over the years, they’ve been successful in changing the lines of the US home textiles market with their innovative products and added customer focus.

Dipali Goenka, Welspun Global Brands managing director said that today, Indian companies together dominate the US market with 11 percent of the total $ 17 billion of the home textile market.

As they increase their focus in the US market, with a direct online presence with an e-commerce portal, from which they see 25 percent of their total sales to come from by 2020, they have set a revenue target of $ 2.5 billion by the turn of the decade. Though they see a major growth in Indian sales, bulk of sales will still come from the US.

On the innovation side, Goenka said that around 31 percent of total sales come from innovative, patented products like Hy Grow cotton, and though the company is present in 50 countries it manufactures all its products at its two Gujarat plants at Anjar and Vapi. The company aims this to touch 40 percent by 2020. The company has 12 patents pending with US authorities.

Goenka also said that though Welspun’s branded products account only 11 percent of sales, with focus on e-commerce portal, for which it has opened a large warehouse in Ohio in the US, employing 90 people, it has set a target of taking the overall branded sales or direct sales to end-users to 25 percent by 2020.

Indian companies have increased their market share in the lucrative US market with increased customer focus and innovation, thus snatching away business from the Chinese and other Asian players. In 2009, the share of Indian players was only 30 percent which jumped by 7 percentage points to 37 in 2014 or 20 percent in seven years in the overall US textile market, while the share of China has only increased by 3 percentage points to 26 percent.

Today, according to Goenka, five out of the top 15 home textiles suppliers in the US are from India and Welspun has been ranked as the No 1 supplier by Home Textiles Today for three consecutive years.

And its innovation and customer focus has seen the company become one of the largest suppliers to the world’s biggest retailer Walmart, and premium American retailers like JC Penny and Macy’s.

Welspun is also the supplier of the official Wimbledon towels after it bought out the British terry towel brand Christy’s a few years ago.

Its home textile business includes terry and bath towels, beddings which it launched a couple of years ago, rugs and branded and non-branded hospitality items and other utility textiles.

The global home textiles market is around $ 34 billion and the US accounts for nearly 50 percent of the total trade, as per industry data. Asia accounts for nearly 70 percent of the global exports of home textiles, with India’s share in global home textiles trade being around 8 percent.

India accounts for 36.5 percent of the total terry towel imports into the US (where Welspun accounts for around 16.5 percent), followed by China at 25.9 percent and Pakistan at 22.7 percent and in the total cotton sheet set imports in the US, India commands 46.9 percent, (where Welspun commands nearly 10 percent), followed by China at 23.3 percent and Pakistan at 16.5 percent.

The US home textiles market is around $ 17 billion, of which bedding accounts for 56 percent, and bath accounts for 25 percent. Bedding includes sheets/pillowcases, bed covers, bed ensembles and other bedding. Bath includes linen and accessories.