Nasher Miles to open 20–25 offline stores, eyes quick commerce growth

Economic Times

a day ago

ETtech Lokesh Daga, CEO, Nasher Miles Direct-to-consumer (D2C) luggage brand Nasher Miles plans to open 20 to 25 exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) across India by the end of this financial year as it looks to expand its offline presence beyond online channels.The company currently has five to six launches in the pipeline, including three in Mumbai, two in Hyderabad, and one in Ahmedabad, and is scouting additional locations in tier-I cities. The goal is to scale up to 100 outlets over the next two years, chief executive officer Lokesh Daga told ET in an interaction.
'We are looking for opportunities as they come. The idea is to see whether we can scale to 100 stores over the next two years,' Daga said on the sidelines of the company's offline retail store launch in Mumbai.
Quick commerce bets
Even as it pushes offline expansion, Nasher Miles continues to scale rapidly through quick commerce platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart. Despite trolley bags being priced at Rs 2,000–3,000, the company said quick commerce currently contributes about 8% to total sales.
It expects this share to rise to 15% by the end of FY25, depending on the expansion of dark stores and fulfilment capacity. 'Quick commerce is a very metro-focused phenomenon, and that is one channel growing at a very fast pace for us. Every month, we've been growing — last month we grew by 10%, and this month we will grow by another 10%. We expect the quick commerce run rate to reach 15% by the end of this financial year,' Daga said.To reduce reliance on China and improve cost efficiencies, Nasher Miles has shifted a significant portion of its manufacturing to India over the past 18 months. While it previously sourced 90% of its products from China, today nearly 75% are made in India. The company claims this shift has helped cut costs by 20–25% and improve gross margins.Nasher Miles initially created a sub-brand, Stony Brook by Nasher Miles, to test domestic manufacturing. With supply chains now stabilised, that brand is being phased out, Daga said.The company, which had turned profitable earlier, went into the red in FY24 due to brand-building investments and the cost of testing Indian manufacturing but claims to have returned to profitability in FY25. According to Tracxn, Nasher Miles recorded a net loss of Rs 6.3 crore in FY24.
In July 2024, Nasher Miles raised $4 million in a funding round led by the Singularity Early Opportunities Fund, Narendra Rathi of SoftBank Vision Fund, and Sulabh Arya of Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, among others, at a post-money valuation of $30 million, primarily to fund its omnichannel expansion. The company plans to raise additional funds after the festive season. 'We will actively go into the market probably post-season. The festive season is coming, and 50-60% of sales happen during these three to four months. So, we want to focus on execution first,' Daga said.
Category diversification
Currently, 92–95% of the company's revenue comes from trolley bags. However, it is now doubling down on other categories like backpacks and travel accessories, aiming to push their share to double digits by the end of this fiscal.
The D2C luggage segment has seen growing investor interest. Last year, Mokobara raised $12 million in a round led by Peak XV Partners, valuing the company at $80 million post-money. In August 2024, venture capital firm Accel invested $9 million in Uppercase, nearly doubling its valuation to $60 million.
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