In line with the trend, ethnic fashion e-tailer, Craftsvilla plans to explore omni-channel distribution with the launch of its private label – Anuswara — Manoj Gupta, CEO and co-founder of Craftsvilla said. Under offline expansion, the company will refrain from opening its own branded store but will be entering partnerships with modern retail stores such as Lifestyle and Shoppers Stop.
In recent times, fashion and lifestyle brands such as Myntra, Zivame, FabAlley, and YepMe have already got on to the omni-channel bandwagon with offline expansion. For instance, Myntra’s private label Roadster has expanded offline through its branded stores. Online lingerie brand Zivame’s private labels — Penny, Cou Cou and Rosaline — are also expanding offline via the franchise route. Similarly, fashion brand FabAlley has tied up with the Central, Future Group’s multi-brand store for offline retail.
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In addition to offline, private labels of Craftsvilla will also be available on online marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart next month onwards. However, online will continue to be a larger part of the strategy and fetch about 75-80% of the total business for the company, Gupta said.
Currently, Craftsvilla has three private labels – Avanya, Jharonka and Anuswara. “Private labels offer gross margin in the range of 50-60% while third party players get about 20% margin on apparels on our platform,” said Gupta. He further added that average selling price of private label is higher at `2,000-2,500 against `1,400 for third party brands.
The company will launch two more private labels under apparels during the year and targets 25-30% of the total business from private labels by FY18. Manish Kalra, chief business officer of Craftsvilla said that women apparels will continue to be a larger part of its focus for now.
In FY16, Craftsvilla Handicrafts reported total loss of R119 crore and revenue of `37 crore, according to company’s filings with the registrar of company. Gupta added that the revenues have increased 10-15% month-on-month in FY17 but he declined to comment on the losses of the company.
