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At a time when apparel makers are looking to strike a balance between offline and online sales, menswear brand Turtle is using the e-commerce boom to its benefit.
Price parity across stocks (online and offline) and increased visibility through e-tailers are what it is banking on, to target expansion across Tier-II, III and IV towns.
According to Shitanshu Jhunjhunwalla, Director, Turtle Ltd, the company plans to open some 40 outlets over the next 18 months; with many of them in Tier-2 towns. Some of the towns the company is looking to expand to are Bhagalpur, Muzzafarpur, Dhanbad and Patna.
“Over the last year, we have seen increased traction from non Tier-I locations. Online orders have come from areas we do not have a presence in through brick-and-mortar stores,” he told BusinessLine .
Kolkata-based Turtle, which clocked a turnover of ₹165 crore last fiscal and owns the brand London Bridge, has tie-ups with online retailers like Flipkart, Jabong and Myntra and sells through its own website too.
It has brand outlets across East, West and South India; and in Uttar Pradesh.
Jhunjhunwalla explained that the company is consciously is keeping a price-parity. In fact, stocks across both formats remain largely the same; as opposed to the current strategy of having separate ones and a differential pricing.
What this has done is bring down the number of people who order online only because of discounts, or try out stocks in stores and then order them online.
This has managed to curb vendors who put up recent stocks (fresh collections) at a discount on e-commerce sites. The company is also firming up its omni-channel presence – whereby it will have tablet PCs or an interface in stores that customers can use to place orders online.
To be introduced as a pilot in Kolkata, the success of the campaign will determine its replication in other cities.
“We are working on digitising our catalogues and the omni-channel strategy. This will help us sell offerings that are normally not stocked at stores because of space issues,” Jhunjhunwalla added.
Turtle is exploring export opportunities to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Africa. Currently, it exports – under its own brands– to the GCC nations, which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
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