Bag full of opportunities

Combination of online and offline business is working well for Baggit. On one hand the brand is exploiting the sales opportunities on web & on the other side it is scaling up its brick and mortar business format. Vicky Ahuja, Director, Sales and Marketing, Baggit, throws more light on this aspect in an interview with Franchise India.

E-retailing of accessories is witnessing good growth. How are you managing your offline sales?

Yes, e-retailing business for bags has indeed added to volume sales, it is also adding value to increasing brand awareness. Even though online sales has been growing faster than offline sales, majority of the business still comes from brick and mortar business format. Baggit utilises all available retail channels for increasing sales and brand value.

Recently, we have launched our new campaign ‘Play The Life Game’ pan-India with a very strong marketing strategy and have invested hugely on the same. A lot of in-store branding and visual merchandising is being done to give visibility and increase footfalls for all our offline channels. We have received positive response for the same.

What do you do to strengthen your offline business?

Currently, we have very strong presence across India through our exclusive and multi-brand outlets. We are planning to strengthen our offline business by expanding our wings in tier II and III cities. And we intend to do this via facilitating more and more franchisees across India. Open more number of doors so that we can reach to different consumers across India as well as abroad.

What measures do you take to take hold of online space?

We have our own portal . Apart from that we are also present on leading e-commerce websites. We constantly update them with our new collections so that they are on the same space as we are. This has resulted in developing a strong bond between Baggit and those e-retailers.

We also have full-fledged in-house digital marketing team that works continuously to uplift the brand imagery. We make sure to engage with our customers on all our social media handles.

Which business model do you follow?

Currently, Baggit is retailing through all channels viz large format stores, online stores, Multi Brand Stores (MBO’s), Exclusive Brand Stores (EBO’s) (Both franchised and company-run) and also through exports.

What are the latest trends in bags, watches and eye wear market?

The major trend that we see in bags is of different styles like the bucket bag, slings, totes, backpacks and satchels. Another trend is of vibrant hues, women now-a-days prefer bright colours.

What are your expansion plans?

This year we are focusing to grow from 40 to 60 EBOs, however, major focus is to penetrate in different zones in tier II and III cities through distribution network. Online retail is also showing positive signs to grow tremendous this year.