Saks Fifth Avenue Sets Up 1,000-Seat Centre In India

Saks Fifth Avenue Sets Up 1,000-Seat Centre In India

Saks Fifth Avenue is setting up a 1,000-seater technology centre in Bengaluru, following in the footsteps of other global retailers like JC Penney, L Brands, women's specialty brand Ann Taylor. The company's top executives have made several trips to the country to finalise the details of the centre.

The centre has started functioning with a few employees. A note on the India website of its parent firm Hudson's Bay Company says the centre in Bengaluru will build a corporate team that will play an important role as HBC executes its strategic plan. “This centre will house approximately 450 highly talented individuals in the first two years and the office has potential to expand as the business grows. We will begin to build our team in Bangalore focused on information technology, information security, finance and account for the diversified retailer across North America and Europe”. HBC owns brands like Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor, Gilt, Saks Off 5th, Galeria Kaufhof, the largest department store group in Germany, and Belgium's only department store group Galeria Inno. HBC has 480 stores and 66,000 employees globally.

Since 2000, Saks has opened international locations in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico City, and Canada. There is speculation that the retailer is in talks with the Aditya Birla Group to open its first India outlet in New Delhi.

Several of the technology centres in India are focusing on creating an omni-channel model that integrates physical and online stores, and develop analytics models that can better understand customers, and more efficiently manage the supply chain. Michael Witty, director at research firm Information Services Group (ISG), said the main drivers for the new captive centres is demand for analytics talent.