Inside kidswear startup Hopscotch’s journey to scale business

Mumbai-based D2C children’s clothing brand Hopscotch is making a name for itself in the Indian apparel market with a wide range of kidswear for all occasions. One of the older Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands, Hopscotch claims to be uniquely positioned to have seen massive growth on its storefront.

Founder and CEO Rahul Anand said, post-COVID-19, they realised it was important for Hopscotch to be in parents’ every single point of online distribution.

“We spent 2021 expanding partnerships to drive the distribution of third party platforms, and we have seen over a 100 percent growth year-on-year by adding them to our platform,” he said.

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Many third-party platforms were starved of strong selection in terms of kids fashion. Hence, the tie-up with these platforms has been fruitful for both sides. 

Talking about the startup’s plans for 2022, Rahul said, as the child grows, parents need to buy more clothes as their kids grow older. They also need to buy clothes for different activities such as sports, schooling, parties, festivals, etc.

Thus, Hopscotch has decided to go very deep into the selection side of the business.

 “We’re going to keep doing what we were already doing, but we’re expanding our perspective, and going deeper into understanding the consumer, and ensuring that we’ve got the best selection to offer,” he said. 

A year ago, Hopscotch partnered with Amazon, and, in 2021, it kept on expanding its partnerships with several third-party platforms, live on platforms such as Snapdeal and Flipkart.

Hopscotch claims to have an exceptional collection when it comes to fashion for special occasions, including weddings, Diwali, etc., but now, it is working on making everyday fashion exciting for the consumers. 

According to Rahul, the startup is helping people get access to fashion they previously did not have access to, especially in smaller towns of the country. These towns drive close to 80 percent of the company’s revenue.

Rahul said Hopscotch has been a profitable business for the last couple of years. “We’ve been one of those unique businesses that have been to scale our top-line growth while maintaining profitability,” he added. Commenting on the fundraising scenario, he said the company is planning to go out into the market soon, and is working closely with an investment bank to raise $30-40 million dollars. 

In the last five years, Hopscotch has grown from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore company. It aims to scale up to Rs 2,000 crore in the next five years, Rahul shared.