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Sports goods and apparel brand Fitsoul, a venture backed by cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, ex-Reebok honcho Sajid Shamim and entrepreneur Parvinder Singh, is looking to find its feet in the sports goods retailing vertical. Aimed at becoming a mass-market, Fitsoul will retail multi-brand products.
“We have developed both online and brick-and-mortar stores. We will start as a small format, neighbourhood store to cut costs and focus totally on the merchandise,” Singh, co-founder and CEO, Fitsoul, told Business Line.
It may be recalled that Dhoni had earlier invested in Sportsfit, a gym chain, along with Shamim and Pankaj Guliani.
Fitsoul, which was launched seven months ago, has six stores up and running.
“We are a mix of franchised stored and few company-owned company operated stores,” he said. The company said it would be setting up 50 stores by the end of this fiscal. Singh declined to give the total investment made by the company so far.
Most of the brand stores will be in sizes ranging from 500 sq ft to 1,200 sq feet to keep the investments low. Singh said a 500 sq feet store would be set up with an investment of about Rs 20-22 lakh. Fitsoul also has a store in Brisbane in Australia.
Overseas plans
The company said it may also look at overseas expansions.
Singh said Fitsoul would also be introducing its own private label besides stocking a clutch of international range in various sports. “More and more people are taking up sports. There is a behavioural change in society which is driving up the demand for sport-related good,” he said, adding the company will be working on a cash-and-carry model.
Of late, international brands have been following this model wherein goods are procured upright against a minimum guarantee model. Singh said it had also set up 5,000 sq feet warehouse in Delhi.
Fitsoul will have about 2,000 stock-keeping-units in categories such as apparels and sport-related products including footwear. The company hopes to clock revenue of over Rs 300 crore.
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