Why India's Luggage Market Is the Hottest Bet Right Now | Fynd Out with Ragini

Inside India’s Luggage Business: Swiss Military, Alpine Club and the Online Discount Trap

Anuj Sawhney was a Bollywood actor between 2003 and 2010. He is now the Managing Director of Swiss Military, a company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, and is building it toward a Rs 1,000 crore travel gear business.

The mindset shift from acting to running a listed company is, in his words, not as different as people assume. In films you are performing for an audience, managing creative egos and waiting for the market to judge you on opening weekend. Running a consumer brand means performing for investors and customers every single day, managing a different kind of creative process and waiting for sell-through numbers to tell you whether your instincts were right.

What makes the Indian luggage business hard to get right?

Picture a shopper standing in a store with a suitcase in one hand and a phone in the other. The online price is only a search away. For the store, that comparison can decide whether a sale happens. For the brand, it raises a bigger question: will retailers still want to carry the product if the online offer regularly undercuts them?

Then there is the product itself. A trolley bag has to suit the customer’s budget and taste, but those preferences can shift between regions and over time. Buying stock against last season’s demand can leave a team with the wrong bags in the wrong places.

How does Swiss Military decide which trolley bags to launch?

Anuj says the work begins with research: who the bag is for, which price segment it belongs in, what competing products offer and where the market has a gap. His team looks at regional buying patterns too. A colour or design that works in one place might have a different audience elsewhere.

The research does not stop when the bag reaches a shelf. Anuj visits stores, watches competing products and listens to dealers. That feedback helps the team see whether customers actually want the features it has built, and whether the price makes sense when shoppers compare options side by side.

Why did Swiss Military launch Alpine Club?

Alpine Club gives the business a way to serve a more accessible, mass-premium segment while keeping Swiss Military’s premium positioning. Anuj describes different audiences and product roles for the two brands. A customer who starts with Alpine Club may eventually choose Swiss Military.

The distinction has to show up in what each brand makes, who it serves and how it is sold. If customers cannot tell why two products carry different names and prices, the distinction loses meaning. Anuj says the business is still early in Alpine Club’s journey and can, for now, work through shared distributors while finding the right dealers for each range.

What happens when a luggage brand keeps discounting online?

A 60–70% offer can look irresistible. Anuj’s concern is what repeated discounts teach the customer. If a brand regularly sells at that price, the sale price becomes the one people believe; the printed price starts to feel less credible.

Speaking about brands that routinely run such offers, Anuj describes a problem that becomes visible when shoppers enter physical stores. A shopper can find a product from the same brand in a store and ask the retailer to match the online deal. The retailer still has rent, staff and inventory costs. Over time, deep discounting can make it harder for a brand to build those store relationships.

How can a luggage brand grow online and offline together?

Anuj describes physical retail and general trade as the foundation of the business, with ecommerce becoming more important. His team considers which products belong in stores, on marketplaces and in quick commerce, instead of assuming the same assortment works everywhere.

That matters because channels influence one another. A shopper might discover a bag online and buy it in a store, or inspect it in person and order later. Each interaction shapes what they think the bag is worth. For a luggage brand, distribution and pricing are connected decisions.

What did Bollywood teach Anuj Sawhney about business?

Before returning to the business full time, Anuj spent years pursuing acting. He says he went through close to 2,500 auditions. He had already worked in sourcing at Swiss Military, but Bollywood put him on the other side of constant judgment: show up, give your best and hear no, sometimes repeatedly.

Those years taught him to keep showing up after rejection. He brings a similar patience to business decisions: a bad result deserves attention, but the next move still needs thought.

What should a founder do when demand changes?

Anuj uses a motorcycle to explain the cost of reacting in panic. Pull every brake at once and you may lose control. The same instinct can show up in business when a competitor discounts heavily or a product stops moving and the immediate response is to slash prices.

His advice is to understand the change first. Speak to dealers, look at what customers are choosing now and work out whether the problem is the product, the market or the price. The faster response is not always the better decision.

Listen to the full conversation with Anuj Sawhney on Fynd Out with Ragini.