Trendy fashion for Bharat: Kapsons plans to open more multi-brand retail stores in North India

Darpan Kapoor and Vipin Kapoor came from Maharastra to Chandigarh—a small town in Punjab to pursue their education. Later on in life, when it came time to choose their own path, they chose to set up a single outlet in this city.

The business has come a long way since then.

"Today Kapsons Fashion has 25 stores spread across six states in North India," Akshay Kapoor, Managing Director, Kapsons Group, tells SMBStory. 

Kapsons Group—which includes Kapsons Fashion, Kapsons Retail, Kapsons Agencies, Kapsons Entertainment, Kapsons International, and Kapsons Services— clocks nearly Rs 500 crore in annual turnover. 

It also counts some international brands as partners like Armani, Hugo Boss, Forever New, H by Hamleys, Mango, Calvin Klein, and Tommy Hilfiger. It has recently expanded its portfolio to include GAP, Rare Rabbit, BEBE, Mango, Nautica, and Adidas Kids. 

With partners like Arvind Fashion, Puma India, Benetton India, Pepe India, Forever New India in India, it is now eyeing new horizons. 

Expanding beyond its retail business, the group has entered distribution, technology, outsourcing, and service provision as well.

Kapsons Group derives the majority of its revenue from Kapsons Fashion. 

Creating a mark 

At the outset, the brothers operated out of their single outlet in Chandigarh. Here, the duo established a sourcing network in Ludhiana— capitalising on its reputation as a prominent production hub with apparel manufacturing being one of the major industries in the city. 

Banking on the store's success, the Kapoor brothers opened a second store dedicated to kids' fashion in the late nineties. This was named Kapkids. As the business grew,  Kapsons expanded its footprint to Amritsar and subsequently to Jalandhar.

This arrangement of trading goods from Ludhiana and selling them in its Chandigarh outlets continued until 1998, taking them far away from their family's construction business back home in Maharashtra.

“During a visit to Delhi, my father, Darpan Kapoor, and my uncle, Vipin Kapoor, discovered the changes in preferences of the younger generation and college-going kids,” said Akshay  

Darpan and Vipin realised it would be necessary to carry trends happening in bigger cities like Delhi to smaller towns like Chandigarh. 

"There were independent stores of brands, but there was no multi-brand outlet in this region," said Kapoor. The first brand they associated with was Pepe India.  

Over time, it gradually incorporated more global brands into its outlet, phasing out non-branded apparel. This ability to scope out unique and trendy collections has fuelled Kapsons growth, says Akshay. 

Kapsons Fashion caters to all segments, including men, women, and kids. 

Obstacles to growth 

Kapsons set up its website in 2012. “Contrary to our concerns about the ecommerce boom in India impacting our sales, we discovered that it worked in our favor,” said Kapoor. The increased online presence of brands and the ability of consumers to find what celebrities wore in films created awareness and desire. “However, customers still turned to our stores to try and buy these brands due to the trust we had built over the years,” he adds.

Then came the pandemic. While it posed unprecedented challenges to the retail industry,  the Kapoor family saw this as an opportunity for expansion. 

Akshay recounts the discussions held within the family during this time, with his mother suggesting to focus on expanding while other companies were not. This forward-thinking approach led Kapsons to open five new stores in different locations during the period from 2020 to the present.

"Since we have not been operational for all 365 days in the last three years because of lockdowns, we have not been able to meet the full growth potential," says Akshay. 

The company aims to achieve year-on-year revenue growth of 20% and plans to open 5 to 6 new Kapsons Fashion stores in FY24. As a group, Kapsons currently possesses a total of 45 stores, which also encompass exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) as well as discount stores. The group as a whole has plans to open 8 to 10 additional stores in the current financial year.

When considering expansion to other parts of the country—such as South India—Akshay says that Kapsons' winter collection brings in substantial revenue, this could be a challenge in some other markets since the weather does not incentivise investments in winter wear. 

“Moreover, we enjoy the popularity and trust in the regions where we are already present,” he said.  Expanding to new regions would introduce higher costs and increased competition, limiting profit potential.