Firstcry.com, Asia’s largest online baby products portal has announced that it has now got 100 franchisees on board. As part of the vision to create the ultimate parenting eco-system in India, Firstcry now has a presence across Tier I, II and III towns. The 100 stores expand the retailers presence to a staggering 82 cities.
Consistently growing at more than 100% growth rate, Firstcry.com had announced this year to reach 100 stores by end of December 2014. Not only has Firstcry achieved this faster than planned, it has also become the largest e-commerce player with an omni channel business model with a focus on mobile, physical store and web.
All Firstcry.com stores are standardised and display more than 500 brands across 20 categories. The carpet area of stores range anywhere from 1000 sq ft to 2000 sq ft. There has been a franchisee investment of about Rs. 3,000 per square ft in store all across the cities. Continuing to keep the novelty aspect intact, ‘Kiosk innovation’ at Firstcry stores, is a unique concept which acts like a catalogue allowing customers to look through the 70,000 and above products on a 32 inch touch screen in stores, order online on spot, and find the product available at the store in 2-3 days. The Kiosks have enabled to increase conversions by 10% and now by default part of all new upcoming store format across the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Supam Maheshwari, Founder and CEO, Firstcry.com said “Owing to the outstanding success of our offline stores, we have extensively increased our offline presence. With 100 stores, we have crossed a milestone but we have considerable distance yet to travel. At Firstcry, we believe in creating a seamless experience, offering purchasing flexibility for parents through the mobile, web and offline store formats. With the omni channel strategy, we are best placed to build the best relationship with the mother and bring her the largest and most appropriate range of products.”
By making a strong offline presence in baby product market, Firstcry is consistently fine-tuning processes by studying purchasing patterns and demands of parents across all tiers. People in India and around the world display balanced buying behaviour in terms of online and offline. There is a huge opportunity in integrating the two, what is termed as O2O – online to offline or omni channel strategy – and is seen as a trillion dollar opportunity globally.
Thus, holding a clear vision of reaching 400 stores by December, 2017 Firstcry.com aims to be the only one stop solution in this market of baby & kids products.
