Online portals expand offline retail presence

Despite a rise in online shoppers and e-commerce platforms, many e-tailers are expanding

their offline store presence. For instance, online portal Firstcry may have the most number of offline baby care stores in the country by the year end. Pune-based Firstcry plans to expand its network of franchisee brick-and-mortar stores from 70 to 125 by the end of 2014. On the contrary, the country's largest baby care retailer Mahindra Retail's Mom & Me has 110 stores.

Apart from Firstcry, others online players like eyewear seller Lenskart and web-only fashion brand DonebyNone are also scaling up their offline presence. Estimated at 2.3 billion dollars (about Rs 14,000 crores) at present, online retail accounts for just 0.4 percent of the overall retail market in India, according to retail advisory firm Technopak. By 2019, the e-tail market is expected to reach between 19 billion dollars (over Rs 1.14 lakh crore) to 38 billion dollars (Rs 2.28 lakh crore), accounting for 2 percent to 4 percent of the overall retail industry.

Firstcry has been focusing on expansion of its retail network in smaller towns and cities like Ambala, Bhilai, Srikakulam and Bhagalpur, where customers prefer buying at the stores than online. The company expects to earn Rs 50 crores from offline stores this fiscal. Also eyewear site Lenskart, which is registering sales of 1 million dollars (around Rs 6 crore) a month, has 20 teams that do eye checkups at a customer's location in the top seven Indian cities. They also have at-home trials, where a buyer can try out five eyewear frames at home before buying one.

Experts point out that hybrid retail model also helps in brand building exercise since consumers tend to trust what they can see and feel.