Now, etailers look to ramp up offline presence
A slew of e-commerce startups including Ratan Tata-backed Teabox, fashion retailer Myntra, cosmetics firm Nykaa — even names that are just over a year old, like custom-made men’s clothing brand Stylior — plan to experiment with offline stores in an attempt to establish a deeper customer connect and as part of their omnichannel strategies.
The offline strategies vary —Nykaa is looking to open 30 stores while Myntra, which opened its first physical store in Bengaluru in March, plans to open a couple more.
“The good thing we have seen is if 10 people come and try a product, four are pretty much instant converts,” said Kaushal Dugar, founder and CEO, Teabox, a Bengalurubased startup that sells premium tea across the globe
Teabox currently operates a physical shop-in-shop (leasing space in someone else’s store) in Cinnamon — a highend destination for designer lifestyle products housed in a bungalow in Bengaluru. The firm expects to open four of its own experiential stores over the next two years — one each in Bengaluru and Mumbai, and two in the NCR.
Myntra opened its first physical retail store in March for its private label, Roadster, in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar area. The firm plans to open stores for two of its other private labels—all About You and Hrx—over the next year or two, and will take a call on whether it ought to open more Roadster stores in six months.
“As brands reach a certain scale, it’s important for them to have an offline presence so that you can start to touch and feel the product and you can give the consumer a 360 (degree) experience. In the first month we’ve had almost 35,000+ footfalls (in the Roadster store). Of the 35,000 people who showed up, a lot more people spent more time in the store,” said Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan.
Stylior, a bespoke men’s clothing brand that offers customised formals, has only been in operation since 2016 and is already getting into the offline world, with its first store set to open in Bengaluru next week.
The firm plans to open six stores by next year, said Riyas K, director and co-founder of Stylior.
Nykaa, which opened its first physical store in suburban Mumbai’s Infiniti Mall last week, is also contemplating an additional physical retail format, chief executive officer Falguni Nayar said