Uniqlo India, which completes five years of existence in India, will be looking to accelerate the pace of its pan-India retail footprint expansion in the country. The Japanese apparel retailer is opening two new stores in Mumbai and New Delhi this month taking its total stores count to 15.
Kenji Inoue, CFO & COO at Uniqlo India told businessline, “We have had a successful five years of operations in India. Our annual sales CAGR has been 59 per cent in the past five years. Even in 2023-2024, growth has been good at over 30 per cent. Over the past five years we have largely been focusing on North India for expansion of our retail footprint. Last year we also expanded to Mumbai. Our sales growth has been higher than expected in Mumbai. So we are now confident of accelerating our expansion across other regions in India.”
Opening new stores
He added that the brand will look at the right opportunities for opening new stores in other regions of the country. Uniqlo is known for its Lifewear design of apparel and is also well-known for its winter wear products.
“India offers strong potential for growth. It is a market where consumers’ disposable incomes are growing, has a large base of middle income households and young demographics. Indian consumers like to feel and touch the fabrics and are quality conscious. This market is one of our key markets which offers huge opportunities for growth. 2025 will be a big year for the brand in the market ,” he added.
In FY24, Uniqlo India posted net revenues of ₹824 crore up 32 per cent as per its RoC filing. It has a profitable business in India and posted net profit of ₹85.3 crore in the fiscal year under review. “ We hope to grow at a similar pace in FY25. We are still very new to the Indian market and still establishing our presence in the country. Unlike other brands we have not seen any drop in sales and our growth continues to be strong,” Inoue stated.
Currently, nearly 15 per cent of the company’s sales in India come from online channel and Inoue said that the company has been expanding with an “omni-channel” approach.
The brand, which entered India in 2019 under the single brand retail FDI policy, is also ramping up local sourcing from the country. “ We are committed to expansion and modernisation of production activities in India and are ramping up local sourcing for global operations,” Inou added.
Asked about winter wear trends, he added that while the onset of winter has been late, the brand has begun witnessing an uptick for winter wear range from this week. “We have been witnessing strong repeat purchases throughout the year. Even in markets such as Mumbai, there is strong demand for our Heattech and Ultra Light Down products,” Inoue explained.