Fashion as a category in India hasseen the entry of many new brandsin recent times, all leveraging the offline retail space to get closer to their customers.  The trend is interesting,in that it reflects the post-Covid trend that moved from online spike to offline and finally to a plateauing effect. This was accompanied by the growing need to have both offline and online co-existing in their own respective niches, but in close synergy. Many of these are D2C brands who began in the online space and are fast expanding offline.  

Brand Accessorize London began in the offline space way back in 2006 and then moved into the online space and is today bullish about offline, while also acknowledging the fast growth in online sales.  As Kumar Saurabh,CEO, Planet Retail Holdings Pvt Ltd (Accessorize London), told Retail4Growth in this exclusive interaction, “We are very bullish about offline and are signing up new properties, reclaiming some properties that we lost during Covid. But then online is also growing.In fact, the online growth rate is higher when compared to the offline business.”  

But then as he points out, the online base is smaller.Also, post Covid there has been a shift in terms of more number of people adaptingto online shopping in a bigger way. The fashion industry is also reaching a wider market with their online space.  

Kumar, however, is quick to clarify, “Both online and offline will continue to play their own important roles. Growth rate for online will remain higher, at least for us, as the reach is wider and hence the numbers will be higher, but both will grow in a healthy manner and there’s no cannibalisationand are not replaceable by each other. Online is likely to grow faster for the next 3-5 years and then it will possibly plateau.” 

For Accessorize London, which currently has close to 32 stores across India, the offline presence is mainly through exclusive brand outlets (EBOs). Most of these are locatedat malls, high-streets etc.  

The brand is looking at opening 7-10 stores in the coming 12 months with Delhi-NCR being the prime target market, besides cities like Hyderabad. There are also plans to expand to tier 2-3 markets, although the brand already has a reach in these markets through its online platform.    

The brand is also quite bullish about airport retail. As Kumar says, explaining the potential of airport space, “Every airport is a potential store for us. Airports are also fairly easy to get estimatesregardingsales through passenger traffic data. Many airports in smaller cities will become relevant in future, with air traffic set to grow fast in India for the next many years. New investments are happening in airports;so we are very upbeat about airports and are looking at airport stores in cities like Ahmedabad, Goa, Kochi, Pune, Kolkata, etc.”  

The brand currently has 5-6 airport stores and is looking at adding more in this spaceacross cities. Speaking about the differentiated approach the brand takes in the airport space, Kumar says, “Of course the product offerings themselves are slightly different in airport stores with greater focus on gifting and alsomore targeted at male shoppers. So, the store design and product displays take these things into account and get customised accordingly.”  

So, for a brandvery clearlyfocused on offline expansion, are there specific challenges when it comes to store roll-outs? Says Kumar in reply, “While there are no challenges as such, we do have to be constantly aware that retail stores come with an investment and the decisions we take have to be right for the brand. So the assessments we make in terms of the markets we go to and the consumer profile that we targethave to be right. By doing that we can minimise the challenges.”  

Finally, speaking about the key focus areas in future in terms of store investments, Kumar sums up, “It will be a combination of many areas – from store upgradation (which we do every 5 years) to continuous investments technology in terms of understanding consumer behaviour – which will be the focus areas.”