Japanese retailer Uniqlo on Wednesday said that it would launch two stores in Mumbai, as part of its next phase of retail expansion in India.
The apparel retailer, which entered India in 2019, has a presence in the north only at the moment. It has 8 stores in Delhi-NCR, and one store each in Lucknow and Chandigarh. With the two Mumbai stores, Uniqlo’s total store count will stand at 12 at the end of calendar 2023, it said.
While its first Mumbai store at Phoenix Marketcity in the suburb of Kurla will be opened on October 6, the second Mumbai store in Goregaon will be launched on October 20. The company is also looking to get into the southern markets, notably Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, industry sources said.
The retailer is also scaling up its online presence, which currently contributes around 15% of its total sales in the country. The company hopes to do this with trendy fast fashion products at affordable price points. For this, the company is increasing its local sourcing and said that it was on track to achieve 30% domestic sourcing, as per the current FDI policy for single-brand retail.
Under the current norms, 100% FDI is permitted in the single-brand retail trade with a rider of 30% mandatory local sourcing to promote micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The Japanese retailer currently works with 17 sewing factories and 6 fabric mills in India and may increase this number in the future as it expands its presence in the country.
While the retailer has not disclosed its FY23 numbers yet, in FY22, Uniqlo India’s sales stood at `389 crore against `236 crore reported in FY21. This is a growth of nearly 65% year-on-year. On its app, the retailer has seen 40% traffic from Mumbai. While on its website, the retailer has seen 60% of its traffic come from the financial capital.