Zudio, the Tata Group’s value fashion chain, recently launched its biggest store in Jaipur.
The salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Group has for long been India Inc’s bellwether. However, fashion retail became a priority 130 years after the Gorup’s storied origins in 1868.
Tata’s retail arm, Trent, was set up with ₹200Cr of sale proceeds that the conglomerate received from selling a 50% stake in Lakme to Hindustan Unilever.
The first Westside store was opened in Bangalore. It offered branded fashion apparel, home furnishings and decor. By 2016, Westside had scaled up to around 100 stores. It was time to take it beyond Tier 1 cities.
But expansion plans failed. Aspirational positioning hardly found any takers in Tier 2+ cities. Zudio was born, designed as a fast fashion brand.
The new recipe worked wonders. Customers lapped up the proposition of having every item below ₹1000/-. All the stores were EBITDA-positive. By March ’22, Zudio had 233 stores across the country.
By FY23, Zudio had >₹3500Cr revenue, growing 100% YoY. Its asset turnover was 5X, store sales/sq. ft was 1.7X of the industry average and store payback period was 1.5 years.
Can this dream company achieve ₹10K revenue in the next three years?