How Kazo Continued to Expand to over 170 Points of Sale Across 70 Cities in India

Given the rapid development in the fashion industry in the last two years and multiple trends coming to the fore, businesses have been trying to figure out the right strategies that allow them to thrive and expand. Brands like Kazo seems to have cracked the code and has been able to maintain their expansion spree even amidst the pandemic times. 

“The major success point for the brand has been the entire expansion of the business and taking and implementing the right decisions during the pandemic. The key factors being
negotiations and working and focusing on the aspect of merchandising,” said Deepak Aggarwal, CEO and Managing Director, Kazo. 

Currently, the women’s fast fashion brand, which started with two stores in Delhi NCR, now has over 170 points of sale across 70 cities in India. The company clocks in roughly around Rs 100 crore yearly.

The homegrown brand, which was founded with the aim to fill the gap in the Indian market for affordable high-street, international fashion, has obviously faced severe competition from foreign brands. Zara, H&M, Uniqlo are some of the major fast fashion brands with a large market capture in the fast fashion market. 

Aggarwal stated, "I think India is the home ground and base of the brand, we know India and its diversification better than the foreign brands. Hence, we are making our merchandise mix and building the collection according to the dynamics of the different regions in India which would be difficult for foreign brands to understand."

The service providers and enablers Kazo works with currently are working with international and national brands. In fact, the brand uses the same service providers as its competitive international brands.

"Furthermore, we have control over our manufacturing costs as compared to foreign brands when it is to be sold in India," Aggarwal further stated. 

Globally, the Fast Fashion Market size was valued at $1,000.3 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $1,412.5 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 4.4 percent from 2021 to 2028.

Challenges in Expansion

Nationally, any offline retail brand that wants to expand its reach has always faced a multitude of challenges in logistics, change in demographics, reaching to the right consumers, etc., which varies from city to city, let alone for pan-India. 

Aggarwal shared: “I think some of the major challenges have been finding the right retail space and correct brand mix in malls. As of now, malls already hold established international brands and there has been difficulty in getting recognised as an international western wear brand.”

In order to gain reach and retain its consumer base, the brand's marketing strategy focuses majorly on influencer marketing and on 'word of mouth' in making the best sales. The brand is also currently working on building its social commerce.

“Being a supplier to international fashion brands for a long time, another challenge faced is the understanding the retail business in the Indian market as it has a completely different method of functioning and mindset as compared to what we’ve been doing in private label manufacturing,” Aggarwal further added. 

In 1991, Aggarwal launched a garment export house, BL International which now caters to brands like H&M, Bestseller amongst other high-street European and Indian retail houses. His experience in the export business helped him recognize a gap that prevailed in the Indian market, thus, by opening the first KAZO store in 2007 in Delhi, he envisioned filling the gap in the Indian market for affordable high-street, international fashion wear. 

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Sustainability: The Biggest USP

The need for maintaining sustainability standards has been of tremendous importance especially in recent times, which the brand understands and is thus venturing into it.

At Kazo, the best cotton, recycled polyester, and recycled fabrics are used in the making of products, the company stated. Also, the batteries used for manufacturing are also sustainable, and the brand has claimed to work closely in the supply chain with factories that run numerous sustainable programmes like zero water discharge, solar energy to name a few.

"We strive to use 80 percent of sustainably sourced materials by the year 2025," said Aggarwal. 

"Kazo’s manufacturing units have solar panels installed which reduces energy consumption and promotes renewable energy making it extremely beneficial for the environment," the company shared. 

Future Plans

Going forward also the focus of the company is primarily further expansion of the brand. Last year, it opened 20 EBO’s and accordingly its target for the current year is to open the same number of EBO’s, the company added.