Accessorize London, a UK fashion accessories brand, plans to open seven to 10 stores annually in India for the next three years, focusing on the travel retail sector, revealed a top company official.
While talking to India Retailing, Kumar Saurabh, chief executive officer of Planet Retail Holdings Pvt. Ltd., the master franchisee of Accessorize London in India, commented, “We are prioritising targeted retail expansion at the moment, especially since we had to close a few stores during the pandemic. Now, we are set to bounce back, aiming to open around seven to 10 stores each year.”
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Accessorize London runs 30 stores in India
Currently, the company has 30 stores in India in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Goa, and Nagpur. They plan to open more stores in airports. “Accessorise thrives in locations with strong footfall due to its appeal as an impulse-buy brand,” said Saurabh. “The Indian travel retail landscape is fragmented with many contenders and this initiative helps us emerge as a standout brand.”
Established in 1984 by British businessman Peter Simon, Accessorize London opened its first store in Covent Garden, London. Following its success, the brand launched its first international store in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1994.
As of now, the retailer operates in over 56 markets globally with around 900 stores. The brand entered India in 2006, collaborating with Planet Retail Holdings. Its first two stores opened in the National Capital Region at Ambience Mall in Gurgaon and Select City Walk in New Delhi.
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Accessorize London targets up to 20% growth in FY25
Additionally, the company also sells its products through its direct-to-consumer (D2C) website and various e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Myntra, Nykaa Fashion, Flipkart, and Tata CLiQ. “Since we began as an offline brand, our offline sales currently account for about 60% of our business, and the rest is online. While this ratio may shift slightly over time, with online potentially growing a bit larger, we don’t expect any dramatic changes in the next three years,” added Saurabh.
Accessorize London mainly targets women aged 25 to 35, offering around 1,200 to 1,500 items like bags, jewellery, sunglasses, scarves, and hair accessories. They update their products every six months.
Furthermore, the company plans to introduce more categories in India. “One category we are looking to introduce is watches, while we are also actively discussing and evaluating the addition of perfumes. We anticipate seeing these within the brand in the next three to six months,” he said. The spokesperson did not share financial figures, but the brand aims for 15% to 20% growth in FY25 compared to last year.
