A woman’s handbag is expected to keep all secrets intact, hence often it is referred to as the best friend. And of course for most women it is also a great style statement. Perhaps this is also why Bagzone Lifestyle which owns handbag brand Lavie has grown by leaps and bounds. “FY23 has been an eventful year for us as we finished our first round of fundraising and started our first large factory in Nashik. As India is en route to following the premium model, we launched the Lavie Luxe category to catch up with the trend,” Ayush Tainwala, CEO, Bagzone Lifestyles, told BrandWagon Online.
The handbags market size in India is projected to reach $1416.61 million between 2022-27 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.15%, as per a report by marketing intelligence platform, Technavio. The report further highlighted that the production and population of handbags play an important role in stimulating government spending within the luxury fashion industry, fostering an environment where quality, craftsmanship and economic aspects converge in the global marketplace.
Lavie’s revenue from operations increased 60% to Rs 236.96 crore in FY23 from Rs 148.44 crore in FY22, as per the regulatory files accessed by business intelligence platform, Tofler. The company’s net profit rose 222% to Rs 16.93 crore in FY23 from Rs 5.25 crore in FY22. Moreover, the company increased its advertising and marketing spending by 60% to Rs 19.59 crore in FY23 from Rs 12.32 crore in FY22. “Roughly half our business is online and the other half is offline. Among the offline businesses, we collect 50% of the revenue from our brand outlet and the other 50% from other offline channels,” Tainwala explained. The company further claimed that the brand Lavie accounts for 50% of the sales, 25% from Lavie Sport and 25% from Lavie Luxe. Tainwala further pointed out that advertising spending is equally distributed among digital and traditional mediums, however, the focus is more on digital mediums such as influencer marketing.
Furthermore, the company claims to have partnered with Warner Bros for its brand Lavie Sport. Under Lavie Sport, the company claims to sell backpacks, and trolleys, among other products for all age groups. “We have already launched Batman, Superman and Wonderwoman, however we have a whole set of different characters which we plan to launch going forward,” he said. Also, this merchandise is only available in metros and tier-1 cities. The company claims to plan to launch merchandise in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
Additionally, the company has expanded its product portfolio by foraying into the watches category. “We launched with eight watches and now we are looking at developing our collection with the plans to launch smart watches,” Tainwala added. The company further claimed that the watches category is expected to have one percent share in revenue in FY24.
The company which sells at an average price of Rs 3,500, claims that laptop handbags and the monogram range are most in demand. Further, tier-1 and metro cities remain an important market for the brand. “We get the majority of our sales from the tier-1 cities but tier-2 and tier-3 are the fastest growing markets for us, but it will still take a few years for these markets to become large,” Tainwala pointed.
Moreover, the handbag brand which targets women between the age group of 18-50 years, further plans to collaborate with designers to launch new designs.
The company further plans to expand its retail presence by opening five to 10 stores every month. The brand recently has 300 stores across the country. “Across metros, tier-1 and tier-2, we plan to expand while in the later half of 2024, we will start experimenting with tier-3 cities,” he said.