Kiabi plans to launch in India with online-first strategy

French value fashion brand Kiabi is gearing up to launch in the Indian market to bring its family fashion offering to shoppers in the country. The brand has evolved its plans to enter India and will focus on an online first approach. 

“They were planning to open stores in metro cities to begin with and were in talks with a host of malls,” an anonymous source close to the development told India Retailing. “But now they have decided to go online first for India.” 

By launching online first, Kiabi will be able to gain market insights concerning popular products and locations with high customer volumes before committing to opening brick-and-mortar stores. Due to the high price of real estate, particularly in Indian metros, online retail requires fewer up-front costs. 

Kiabi is currently holding talks with a number of multi-brand e-commerce marketplaces to partner with to retail its clothing, according to India Retailing’s source. These include Ajio and Myntra and Kiabi intends to begin retailing online in India in the coming months.  
 
Kiabi’s sister brand Decathlon has an established presence in the Indian market with brick-and-mortar stores across the country and a direct to customer e-commerce store. Kiabi is run by The Association Familiale Mulliez, the holding company which also operates Decathlon.