Brand Chumbak steps up biz ladder

Chumbak, the face of Indian pop culture in design, is taking a renewed approach as it transforms into wholesome lifestyle brand.

In a slightly differentiated strategy, the brand will focus on women and cover the entire gamut of lifestyle products ranging from furniture to wallets and apparel to serveware.

“In these many years of learning, we have understood where our core market lies and we have realised the need to do something more cohesive. We found a strong brand-connect with women in the age group of 18 to 30 years, who want to make statement, as the brand offers her a break from mundane,” said Chumbak co-founder Shubhra Chadda.

“Now we know exactly what we want the brand to do, and hereon it will be about building scale,” she said.

As a part of its larger strategy, the company has decided to launch its fashion collections in two installments — Spring/ Summer and Fall/Winter — just as any other fashion house. “Previously, we had launches around the year, and while they were guided by key themes, there was no uniformity. Now we intend to do launches with a single theme across all product categories,” she said.

Secondly, the company has decided to retract all its pop-up stores to launch exclusive brand stores.

On this decision, she said, “Pop-up stores did a good job of getting early adopters to the brand. Now our consumers have graduated to lifestyle consumers and we want to offer a better shopping experience.”

The company plans to set up 25 stores this year, in addition to 17 stores it has across eight cities in India. Bengaluru, which has four stores, will get five more by the end of this year. This year, the company will begin franchising its stores, the first of which has already found its home in Pune about two months back.

With expansion plans underway, the company is set to close its next round of funding in the next one to two months.