Nothing opens first flagship store in Bengaluru, bets bigger on offline India push

Nothing opens first flagship store in Bengaluru, bets bigger on offline India push

• Nothing opens first flagship offline store in Bengaluru, India
• Store features experiential design and brand storytelling zones
• Expansion depends on Bengaluru store's performance

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Smartphone maker Nothing has sharpened its India focus with the launch of its first flagship offline store in Bengaluru, signalling a deeper commitment to physical retail in one of its largest markets.

The move mirrors a wider pivot among online-first smartphone brands that are ramping up investments in physical retail to strengthen visibility, deepen consumer trust and build enduring brand equity. It also comes alongside larger rival Apple’s aggressive offline expansion in India, with new stores set to open in Borivali, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, taking its total planned outlets in the country to seven.

“We have a couple of stores in the works right now around the world, and India is one of those locations that we’re working on. India is one of our biggest markets. A lot of our users are here. And within India, Bangalore is where most of our users are. So, it’s natural that we started here. There’s also a big tech community here,” Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing, said in an interaction.

Pei underscored that offline is not a new experiment for the company in India. “Offline is already contributing a good amount of our revenue in India,” he told Moneycontrol.

He added that over time, channel dynamics would stabilise. “Long term, the market will normalise, and the best user experience will win. It will always be a mix of online and offline. Some consumers prefer online selection; others want to touch and feel the device and unbox instantly,” he said. “Offline is also about trust.”

While Pei did not disclose the store’s size or lay out a nationwide rollout timeline, he indicated that expansion would depend on how the Bengaluru format performs. “We don’t have anything to announce right now. We’re very excited to see how this more flagship-like experience goes, and then we’ll take it from there,” he said.

Unlike traditional retail outlets focused primarily on sales conversion, the Bengaluru store leans heavily into brand storytelling and experiential design. The two-level space draws inspiration from Nothing’s R&D and factory processes. A conveyor belt installation on the lower floor symbolises the “final leg of the factory”, allowing customers to see their product emerge theatrically before unboxing. Dedicated zones highlight symbolic water-resistance demonstrations, USB port durability checks and scratch tests, visual metaphors for the company’s engineering focus.

Pei said the store was designed to rethink conventional retail metrics. “When we developed the new store concept, we asked: what is the KPI? Maybe sales are not the most important thing. Maybe what matters more is whether people are engaging with the space, are they taking photos, are they sharing?” he said.

The outlet also houses a content studio for creators, reinforcing Nothing’s community-led marketing strategy and its strong digital-native following.

Having started as an online-heavy brand in India, Nothing now appears to be acknowledging the structural importance of physical retail in a market where players such as Vivo and Oppo have long built scale through deep offline distribution networks.

Pei reiterated that stores are about more than transactions. “Offline is already contributing a good amount of our revenue in India,” he said. “But long term, business will normalise. The best user experience will win. It will always be a mix of online and offline.”

Across the industry, even premium brands that built their India playbooks digitally are expanding their physical footprints, betting that brand familiarity, experiential retail and post-sales reassurance will drive sustained growth.