Fashion e-commerce firm Jaypore plans offline expansion

Delhi-based online retail startup Jaypore plans to set up offline stores in a move which is likely to improve its revenue, according to a top executive of the company.

The company had raised USD 3 million in a bridge round from the existing investor Aavishkaar, last October, it disclosed to Moneycontrol.

"We had announced USD 5 million from Aavishkar and then it put in another USD 3 million. It was part of an initial investment only... but Aavishkar did it in two tranches," said Puneet Chawla, co-founder of Jaypore in an interaction with Moneycontrol.

While USD 5 million round was announced in February last year, Jaypore raised another USD 3 million in October.

The company has been experimenting with the concept of open house, which are exhibitions or touch points and plans to set up a brick and mortar store by the end of this year.

The company competes with the likes of Amazon, Myntra, Jabong and offline players such as FabIndia, in fashion ecommerce space.

It targets at least 10 percent of its overall revenue coming from the offline stores by financial year 2019 end.

"We have had our first open-house in Delhi. It is an exhibition or a touch point for our customers to come and experience the brand. It is like a pop up store. We did this for three days in August and intent to take this open house format to some of the big cities over the next few months," said Chawla.

With an average order value of Rs 4,000, Jaypore calls itself a premium brand.

According to Shilpa Sharma, the co-founder of the company, there is a large segment of audience that wants to touch and feel the products.

The company declined to talk about the capex required to set up one such store, however added that it would be around 1500-2000 square feet large store.

(Note: This story has been updated)