Brand Studio Lifestyle, which houses five brands – Tokyo Talkies, Highlander, Vishudh, Ketch, and Locomotive – is entering the international market by opening three stores in the Middle East – one in Dubai and two in Sharjah, Shyam S Prasad, Co-Founder & CEO of Brand Studio Lifestyle, told ETRetail.
It has entered the Middle East market through a strategic collaboration with Raphael Lifestyle.
“The collaboration with Raphael Lifestyle goes beyond retail presence. It sets the stage for deeper market penetration and opens doors to multi-format distribution channels across the Middle East,” he asserted.
“By this fiscal year’s end, we plan to open seven more stores in the Middle East. As far as ROI is concerned, it will take at least six months from the time of opening the stores,” he further added.
The store at BurJuman Mall in Dubai, and at Mega Mall, Sharjah spans across 5,000 sq.ft, whereas the one in Sahara Centre, Sharjah spans across 9,000 sq.ft.
Brand Studio Lifestyle, which already operates 37 stores in India, plans to expand its presence further by opening an additional 38 stores by the end of this fiscal year.
The company, which has store sizes spanning from 5,000 to 6000 sq.ft., follows the COCO and COFO models. Currently, it operates 4 COCO stores and 33 COFO stores.
“Currently, we have a presence in Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP, Karnataka, AP, and Delhi, and by this fiscal year’s end, we are planning to expand our presence in MP, WB, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana.
“Apart from this, we aim to expand the retail presence further by opening shop-in-shops across 600 points of sale through LFS and MBOs,” he further added.
Currently, 60 per cent of the revenue of the company comes from e-commerce, 25 per cent from offline, 8 per cent from its D2C channel, and the remaining 7 per cent is contributed by other channels like distribution.
This fiscal year, it plans to invest Rs 25 crore towards store expansion and marketing.
Brand Studio Lifestyle, which closed the last fiscal year with Rs 1,200 crore in GMV, is planning to close this fiscal year with Rs 1,300 crore in GMV.
