Baggit to expand presence by opening 12-15 new stores

Baggit is on a retail expansion spree. The company aims to open at least 12 to 15 new stores in the Northeast region this year. As of now, it operates about 43 stores.

Locations of new stores will be high streets and malls in Tier I and II cities like Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. Average store size would be around 200-250 sq. ft. with an investment of Rs 50 lakh per store. The share of sales from offline stores is almost 94 percent. Now, the company plans to focus on strengthening its online presence by launching its own web-store. The plan is to add men’s bags in the price range of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000, to the brand’s existing portfolio.

Baggit was founded in 1990 to offer a unique concept of bags using traditional handicraft skills with modern designs in non-leather, eco-friendly materials. The label competes with names like Hidesign, Lavie and Da Milano apart from the wide range made available with the unorganized handbag players in India.

As per a study, the size of ladies handbag market in India is estimated at around Rs 2,500 crores. The segment is projected to grow by 15 percent per year, to reach the Rs 4,000 crores-mark over the next five years. The key growth drivers for brands are: increasing number of working women, rising incomes, increasing fashion-consciousness and aspiration levels, and influx of foreign brands.