Getting up to a Nokia N Series mobile phone alarm, a bath in Designer bathroom with Dove soap and Garnier shampoo, wear a Marks and Spencer’s ensemble, apply a Christian Dior perfume, put on liberty shoes, take a Hidesign bag, take up the Sony laptop and heading to office in the Chevrolet Optra, and when coming back from office shopping at nearby Reliance Fresh for daily groceries, watch shows on the LG plasma TV and after a hectic day taking a good sleep on ‘Sleepwell’ mattress.

This is the face of new India, “Branded India” who eats, drinks, wears and sleeps brands and to validate this fact is the survey result from ‘Nielsen Global Luxury Brands Study’ which has placed India on third position after Greece and Hong Kong among ‘most brand conscious’ countries. According to the survey, 35 per cent Indian respondents agreed to buying designer brands. A fast growing economy and a rising number of affluent consumers have pushed India into the league of most brand conscious countries globally, says the survey.

Today, Indians are on a shopping spree. The growing affluent population, rising incomes, largest young population, increasing working women population and rising customer aspiration is driving consumerism in India. The markets are flooded by premium, super-premium and luxury brands and their demand is rising.

Perception reigns supreme and being seen in the right brands has become important for today’s generation. They value quality over price and are not compromising on spending little extra for the quality and feel which the brands are offering. To be the style icon in the society, need to get accepted in the peer group, increased exposure to western trends and products through TV, films and magazines combined with frequent international travels are some of the reasons fuelling this demand. There are more than 1 million luxury consumers in India who are spending US$ 9000 every year on luxury/premium goods and the segment is steadily growing at 14% annually. This trend is making the high end domestic and international retailers see green and exploit the potential the market is offering.

The people of this class want the best and want it now and which has driven the real estate company DLF to construct an all and all Luxury mall “Emporio” in Vasant Kunj, Delhi where one can shop for the luxurious brands under one roof. How this mall would fair in future is yet to be seen but seeing the latest trends and surveys, this move by DLF is surely making sense.

But I still feel the chunk of this premium class is too small and retailers will find it quite difficult to change the value conscious Indian customer to quality driven branded customer. Indians still believe in value for money formula and won’t go easily for high end product just for the sake of it.

*Pitch, April 2008