Online lingerie brand PrettySecrets to go from clicks to bricks; open first store in Mumbai

PrettySecrets (MTC Ecom Pvt Ltd.), India’s fastest growing lingerie brand, is opening its first exclusive stores at Bandra (West) and Phoenix MarketCity Kurla on Sunday.
Spread over 1300 sq. ft. in Mumbai, PrettySecrets has stepped-up to provide an Omnichannel experience to its customers. The offline stores offer a complete range of 1200+ products across categories like lingerie, nightwear, activewear and swimwear, all at reasonable price points.
The current collection comprises of PrettySecrets’ signature range – Miracle Fit, Breathe, Tempt Me lingerie & Live N It and Sleep Beautiful nightwear – that not only provides great comfort and fit but is also uncompromising on style. The aesthetics of the new stores mirror the brands young, fun and aspirational vibe and offer a personalized shopping experience.
In an exclusive interview, Founder & CEO, PrettySecrets (MTC Ecom Pvt Ltd.), Karan Behal told Indiaretailing Bureau, “PrettySecrets is about four-years-old, started off as online only and now is Omnichannel. We currently retail online at prettysecrets.com as well as on all the large marketplaces be it Myntra, Jabong, Flipkart, Amazon and so on. We also retail through our offline distribution through mom-and-pop stores and large format stores across the country. We have around 350 outlets of those at present and the fourth channel which we are launching is PrettySecrets’ exclusive stores. Starting with our first two stores in Mumbai.”
He further added, “The market size of Indian lingerie and nightwear market taken together is around Rs 20,000 crore. It is growing at a CAGR of about 18-20 per cent from past five years and expected to grow at about 15-18 per cent in the next five. Conservatively that puts the estimated market size by 2020 at upwards of Rs 30,000 crore which is largely unorganised and made up largely of either gray market imports, regional players, local labels and also a few organised large scale brands and that is where there lies the opportunity as there is not only scope to organise this market by virtue of the launching organised brands but also by launching organised retail platforms which the PrettySecrets stores aim to do.”
Expansion Plans
PrettySecrets has planned to spread its wings by franchising 30 EBOs across metro cities this year and an additional 300 by 2019. It will expand its retail footprint in 10 cities and account for approximately 20,000 sq.ft of retail space in 2017. The stores are expected to contribute 25 per cent to the company’s revenues in the next 3 years.
In the first 30 stores, the major cluster will be in Mumbai. So 20 plus stores will be in Mumbai but we are also looking at Tier II and Tier III cities which are currently not serviced well by retail. We have already finalised the store in Manipur, Itanagar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana to name a few.
“These new stores are about 650-700 sq.ft. carpet each and the store sizes will range going forward anywhere from 350-1,200 sq.ft. We will be opening the stores wherever the opportunity is present. The kind of format we are opening at high-streets, malls and neighbourhood markets and everywhere,” said Behal.
He further added, “Only two stores that we are initially opening are company owned stores and rest 28 are going to be franchisee stores. We have also signed upwards of a dozen more franchise stores which are all underway to launch in next 65-70 days.”
The brand has also just signed a deal with Globus and Central for Shop-in-Shops. So, PrettySecrets will be opening first few shop-in-shops in this month and on the basis of that they will branch out in all the other shop-in-shops also by end of this year.
“Offline distribution should also scale and we will be present in around 1,000 plus stores by end of this year and maintain our dominance of the online marketplaces that we are already dominating,” revealed Behal.
Presently, PrettySecrets.com serves more than 19,000 pincodes in India. The brand wants to optimize its omni-channel presence and offer the Indian consumers more than just a click-and-ship marketplace. Thus, it will soon release its Progressive Web App (PWA) in 2017 for an ultra-modern shopping experience.
According to Behal, “We raised the Series B round about nine months ago and the way, the company is structured and the way our plans are going we do not require additional funding to execute these plans.”
The brand is shipping out more than 1,500 to 2,000 units of products per day and has grown at about 150 per cent as compared to the last year.
“Our goal is from now till December we grow at around 200 per cent. So by December, the target is that we are shipping out at least 4,000 units a day,” revealed Behal.
Understanding the Brand
The brand which has online ticket size of around Rs 1,500 with an average unit per transaction of about 2.2, also caters to customers abroad.
“Outside India, we are catering to Middle East market through Souq.com and now to the South East Asia market through Lazada.com,” said Behal.
The product range of the brand comprises of bras with co-ordinated briefs, separate briefs, nightwears, loungewears, swimwear and active wear. In terms of product catalogue the brand runs on two seasons a year – on an average each season PrettySecrets launches around 300 unique products.
“We have multiple product categories where a bra is around Rs 600 – Rs 650, nightwear and swimsuit around Rs 1,000 – Rs 1,100 and panties between Rs 300 to Rs 350,” Behal told Indiaretailing.
He further added, “So we are very young, fun yet reasonably priced brand yet the main essence is the brand is functionality of its products. So, we do not manufacture or market products which are not wearable. We are in favour of the products that are to be worn everyday yet fashionable and stylish. In terms of age group, the broad age group is from 23 years to 35 years with the core TG between 23 years to 30 years.”
PrettySecrets has a 30,000 sq.ft. fulfillment centre in Bhiwandi and all the products are dispatched from there.