'A great combination of offline & online is strategically critical'

In an exclusive interaction with Retail4Growth, Satish Singh, CEO, and Maya Varma, Chief Brand & Product Officer of Joker & Witch, discuss the brand’s growth roadmap, omnichannel focus, and expansion in India’s accessible watch and fashion accessories market. 

Joker & Witch, a new-age watch and fashion jewellery brand for Gen Z and millennials, offering chic, globally inspired styles at accessible prices, has fuelled its strong online popularity over the past decade. The brand recently marked its offline debut with the launch of its first store at Lulu Mall, Bengaluru, and now plans to expand to over 40 physical locations across India, with a long-term vision of reaching 100+ stores within the next 3–5 years.

In an exclusive conversation with Retail4Growth, Satish Singh - CEO and Maya Varma - Chief Brand & Product Officer of Joker & Witch, share insights on the brand’s growth outlook, omnichannel strategy, and its approach to building a strong presence in India’s emerging accessible watch and fashion accessories market.

What was the vision behind launching your first offline store after 10 years in online retail?

Starting around 2009, e-commerce and online retail gave wings to many brands, where the initial capital required was significantly lower to discover product–market fit. Over the last decade, Joker & Witch has grown to cross INR 100 crore in ARR and is now approaching INR 140–150 crore. The brand has been consistently profitable from its very first month, resulting in a strong balance sheet, positive cash flows, and a largely bootstrapped journey for most of its existence, with partial dilution only occurring recently.

However, long-term industry patterns show that purely online brands plateau eventually. This is a trend observed even among heavily venture-funded companies that want to scale up rapidly through capital infusion.

To move beyond this ceiling and achieve greater scale and stability, after reaching a three-digit revenue mark, an offline presence becomes important, as growth from INR 100 to 1000 crore cannot be achieved online alone. So, a great combination of offline and online is strategically critical for the next phase of our brand’s journey.

How does the store experience reflect the Joker & Witch brand DNA?

For the last 10 years, we have built a strong brand image and identity online. Our brand aesthetics and style of communication were something that we wanted to translate to the store, also.

Joker & Witch is a very young, minimal, playful, but still very chic, with something for everybody, and I think that's what we wanted the store to reflect. A sense of joy and fun vibe comes with elements such as ‘spin the wheel’, similar to the website, which people love. We have taken inspiration from a lot of playful things like the playing cards, carousel & roulette table displays and the chessboard-like flooring. So, we wanted people to walk in, explore the brand and feel the joy.

Did the offline experience translate the online persona of the brand?

This was an important factor, and we feel that it has been achieved with our first store. When briefing our design agency - Restore, we emphasised the need to retain the brand aesthetics and brand identity while translating it to an offline experience. Also, we didn’t want it to look like a typical watch store where you have the products behind glass cases. We didn’t want to create a sense of intimidation, but encourage customers to touch and feel the product, which we could not achieve online for the last 10 years. We wanted open displays, where products are felt and experienced.

Going further, we introduced a roulette table in the centre where you can mix and match your bracelet with your watch. So, I think, the store experience is very interactive that way.

What has been the response and key learnings from your first store?

We’ve seen people recognize the brand from our online presence, and there is excitement to see Joker & Witch as an offline store. They are also driven by the look and feel of the store itself.

Another key insight we’ve observed is that while we primarily target Gen Z, followed by Millennials, our audience extends well beyond that. We’ve had customers in their 30s and 40s visiting the store, including parents shopping with their kids, as well as older customers purchasing four or five watches at a time.

Through our first store, we’ve realized that the brand isn’t limited to a younger demographic. People across age groups are drawn to the category, the accessible price point, and the sense of fun and joy that the brand represents.

What in-store technologies do you plan to adopt in your stores going ahead?

The brand is still in the early stages of its offline journey, but we intend to move toward an omnichannel model, which is expected to be the biggest technology integration in the future, likely around the sixth store. This will involve a significant investment and the right external partner, as the solution will not be proprietary. The goal of technology remains to support the backend while allowing customers to engage with the brand beyond what they see in-store, through digital tools and interactions that enhance the overall experience.

While the brand remains focused on keeping the store experience minimal and chic, there is interest in experimenting with interactive elements such as digital facades, touch-enabled or selfie screens to engage even non–walk-in customers. However, there are factors on feasibility, guidelines, and cost considerations that play a role. These interactive touchpoints are seen as future opportunities to create engagement, where Joker & Witch leave a lasting impression, and can potentially convert passersby into store visitors as the offline presence grows.

Tell us about your offline expansion plans in terms of stores, geographies and formats.

Joker & Witch envisions itself growing into a strong, competitive watch and accessories brand. We see offline expansion providing substantial revenue and a stronger market position in the segment, where we probably see FastTrack as immediate competition in the given price range. Staying focused on watches complemented by peripheral fashion jewellery, the goal is to steadily build scale by expanding offline into 40–50 locations in metros, tier-1, and tier-2 cities with 100–200 stores over the next 3–5 years. While faster growth could be achieved by raising large amounts of capital, the company remains deliberately cautious, recognising that it took us a decade to reach this stage and that the next phase of growth will likely happen over the next five to six years.

The brand is actively exploring expansion into Tier 2 cities, recognizing strong potential due to limited supply of branded products in its category and price range. Insights from other brands and developers suggest that several Tier 2 markets, across both northern and southern India, are performing well for offline retail. With demand already coming in from across all states, the brand does not intend to restrict expansion to a handful of regions, instead planning a broader, more inclusive geographic presence.

The initial expansion strategy will follow metros and Tier 1 cities, with a gradual move into Tier 2 locations through a mix of mall-based and high-street stores. Early stores will be company-owned to maintain full control over the brand experience. However, growing interest from large franchise groups and individual partners signals that franchising could be introduced at a later stage to remain capex-light and accelerate growth. While it is still early days, franchising is seen as a future lever to significantly speed up expansion once the model is refined.