The casuals approach

To stand out in the e-retailing crowd, one need not follow rules to a T. Or tee. More Henleys, says Freecultr co-founder and CEO Sandeep Singh. For the uninitiated, Henleys (cotton blend, no collar, and three buttons down the neckline) were made famous by 19th-century rowers from the British town of Henley-on-Thames. “Our goal is to equate the casual wear here to Freecultr. If a customer wants a Henley, the first brand on their mind should be Freecultr,” says Singh.

It’s an ambitious dent that the three-year-old company wants to make in one of the fastest-growing men’s wear segments—the Rs 6,070 crore T-shirt market.

Having exclusively sold online in the first month of operations (in late 2011), Freecultr has now opened four brick-and-mortar stores. The idea is to replicate the online purchasing experience in a physical environment, complete with a 40-inch touch screen, product images, and barcode scanners. The company claims that it’s the first Indian apparel e-retailer to adopt this hybrid model.

Says Pragya Singh, associate vice president, retail, at consultancy Technopak Advisors, “Omni-channel is the way forward. Consumers are displaying omni-channel behaviour. It’s not just brick-and-mortar shops going online, a lot of players on the web are going offline to activate sales. In fashion, a lot of people prefer to touch and feel the quality.”

Freecultr’s first store spread across 450 sq. ft. at DLF Place in Saket, New Delhi, showcases about 40% of the entire merchandise. Those, and the rest, can be browsed through the Tapshop application on the store’s touch screen. Not just colours and sizes, the app also recommends merchandise related to orders (suede loafers with chino shorts?). When choices aren’t available, the store promises to ship them soon.

But here’s where the good economics fits in. “In a 450 sq. ft. store, you can’t stock your entire merchandise. But with Tapshop we are able to showcase our offerings as if it’s a 3,000 sq. ft. store. Not only does it increase options for customers, from a business perspective we pay low rentals on a higher yield,” explains Singh.

Since the stores are small, the idea is to keep rental costs—a bugbear for retailers—low. That’s trimmed expenses by 60%. “Last month we managed earnings of Rs 3,000 per sq. ft., where retail brands clock Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000,” adds Singh.

Here’s more business smarts. Rajesh Narkar, co-founder and chief product officer, says when the fabric is chosen, his team is involved right from the yarn and cotton stage. As a result, the brand hardly has any rejects. Freecultr also prefers to be stocked out than have inventory to liquidate. That’s valuable advice courtesy investors Sequoia Capital, which along with Russian venture fund ru-Net pumped in $9 million (Rs 56.4 crore) in 2012.