Elaborating on Max's USP and marketing strategy, Vasanth Kumar, Executive Director, Max said: "We have positioned Max as a branded fashion player. We have two types of markets in fashion in India - the premium segment (Lifestyle, Shoppers' Stop, etc.) and the value segment (hypermarket labels). We are carving out a niche in the area between a premium department store and a value hypermarket store. Other brands in this space are Westside and Pantaloons. The difference between us and the other two is that we are international and we position sharply so that consumption can be driven by us."

From an overall perspective, the total market size of the value fashion segment is growing at eight per cent per annum. Within this, the organised sector, in which MAX competes, is expected to grow at a 30-35 per cent CAGR, primarily due to an increase in mall developments. To cash in on this potential for growth, MAX will be laying more emphasis on its BTL activations. Where brands in the fashion industry tend towards 12 per cent of their turnover towards promotions, MAX maintains a fixed percentage model wherein 3-4 per cent of the budget is set aside for promotions. This leaves a major chunk of funds available to provide maximum value to customers through other avenues.

Elaborating on their budget allocations, Kumar said: "As a concept, we don't resort to traditional media advertising. We go in more for BTL activations, web initiatives, mall activities, etc. In this segment, we want to give maximum benefit to the consumer by optimising cost and also leveraging the walk-ins which are anyway coming to these locations. Ours is predominantly the mall model. If we are relevant to the local catch vendor, that is adequate. In malls, there are automatic walk-ins. We are not distributed wide; we are distributed limited. In those markets, we do local communication to attract customers, apart from marketing inside the malls."

Max organises events targeted at its customers every quarter. This month, the events are being held in three Tier II cities. Commenting on the same, Kumar said: "An important vehicle of brand building for us is events such as the Miss Bangalore event, ‘Fashion Idol' in colleges, ‘Little Icons' in schools, and ramp shows for children in stores; all of which are mainly BTL brand building. We mainly focus on experience since we have a store space of 15,000 sq. ft. stocking close to 70,000 pieces of merchandise. We also give a lot of emphasis to visual merchandising and customer service."