Clovia targets 50% growth from offline channels

Indian lingerie brand Clovia which recently has ventured into offline retail with its first store in Delhi targets 50% growth from offline channels by financial year 2017-2018 besides it plans to set up 15 exclusive stores in next 3 years.

Clovia said it currently gets close to 15 percent of its business from offline channels and the brand’s offline outreach programs include shop-in-shops, airport installations, international exclusive brand outlets etc.

Pankaj Vermani, CEO & co-founder, Clovia  said “Clovia will be dedicating a substantial amount of resources in building the offline business. While we cannot share the exact budgets kept aside, we will grow this business like our online business, profitably and on back of low-burn, high-ROI methodology.”

Vermani said offline started for the brand as a marketing / brand outreach program. The intent was to make product touch-points that can be brand builders and self-sustaining at the same time. “However, the response the program got, enticed us to add offline as part of our core strategy. While online continues to grow profitably, offline helped us capture a completely complimentary user base, while continuing to build the brand.

Clovia wishes to continue focusing on Tier II, III cities as its prime growth drivers, along with the inevitable metros. It said offline has proven to be a phenomenal growth driver for the brand, making Clovia products available to customer for trying and giving feedback before they purchase.

According to Vermani when the overall apparel is growing at 8-9% CAGR, lingerie is pegged to grow anywhere between 15-22% annually. The currently $4bn market (and the projected 8bn by 2020) is still so nascent that the top 10 brands put together are not even addressing 7% of the overall market.