LimeRoad, a fashion portal hosted by Tiger Global Management, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Matrix Partners India, plans to enter brick-and mortar retailing to broaden visibility in a market where physical presence is known to enhance brand recall.
The first LimeRoad-branded store will come up in Surat, Gujarat in two months. The online firm plans to open 2,000-3,000 LimeRoad stores across the country in the next 2-3 years, and these will be run by sellers. LimeRoad is the latest to foray into offline stores, joining the likes of fast-fashion retailers Myntra and FabAlley, lingerie brand Zivame, eyewear seller Lenskart, and furniture firms Urban Ladder and Pepperfry to enter physical retailing. Now is the right time for signage companies, whose expertise involves in in-store branding and graphic projects, to grab fresh projects in the retail domain.
