Looking at achieving 100 crores in revenue through Omni-channel retail, over the next 3 years
India, 2021: Cricketing legend, VirenderSehwag’sactivewear and sportswear brand, ‘VS by Sehwag’, announces its foray into online & e-commerce, to acquire five million customers by 2026. The new online store houses the brand’s range of athleisure and cricket equipment products, making it just a click away for millions of Viru fans and fitness enthusiasts across Bharat, to have the products delivered home.
VS, an acronym for VirenderSehwag and also the brand of the same name, was launched in 2020, to offer an affordable line-up in athleisure, while matching or even exceeding the quality and comfort of established global brands. It derives its tenets from the batting maestro’s philosophy and attitude of #uncompromise, thus enabling consumers ‘uncompromise’ on either quality or price and demonstrates that high quality merchandise can be delivered at a fraction of the perceived cost.
In keeping with Sehwag’s legacy, VS wear and gear will be an active player in the ‘mass’ segment, delivering uncompromising quality, performance and style at great value, while striving to swing for the fences and be fearless in its pursuits.
The online launch coincides with the opening up of 30+ products across VS Wear- a collection of Tracks, T-Shirts, Jackets and Shorts and VS Gear- a range of Cricket Bats, Gloves and Pads. The entire collection of the merchandise will only be in solid colours, in line with the simplicity of the brand’s founder. Each style has been launched in 6 colours and made with rich compact cotton, giving a soft touch and strength to the garment and made available at a price range of Rupees 499 to Rupees 1099.
With retail strongly inclined towards digital and e-commerce in the present times, especially across tier 2 and 3 cities, towns and villages, digital presence offers the brand, wider reach and accessibility to a majority of its target customers. The brand is currently present on mobile web and desktop (www.vsshop.in) and has integrated with various payment platforms, including credit/debit cards, wallets and UPI. To provide channel benefit to the customer, It will also integrate with leading e-commerce platforms in the next 3 months.
The brand’s first store was launched in March 2020 in Ahmedabad and has added two more stores in the same city subsequently. It has upcoming stores in Vadodara (Gujarat), Kolhapur (Maharashtra) and Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and has also appointed distributors in Delhi, Faridabad, Bophal, Indore, Sri Ganganagar and Kanpur. With the integration of online to the existing brick and mortar retail, brand ‘VS by Sehwag’ has incorporated an Omni-channel model through technology to serve its customers better. The brand was unveiled under the aegis of Viru Retail Pvt. Ltd., a joint-venture between Sehwag owned World of ViruPvt. Ltd. and Stitched Textiles Pvt. Ltd.
VS has also rolled out its comprehensive loyalty program for its unswerving fans, called UPR-CUT- derived from the ace hitter’s popular game-changing shot. It is a free, open for all program that rewards points right from the start on creating an account, with points for wishlisting, amplification on social media and more.Points accrued by members can be redeemed against cash vouchers that are named with cricket terminologies, such as ‘Free Hit’- for redeeming any amount of points for a cash voucher, or ‘Half Century’- allowing aRs 50 voucher, etc. Other perks include, signed merchandise, mini cricket ball, bat or T-shirt, at no extra cost and aRs 500 cash voucher on birthdays which can be used against any product on the catalogue.
Based on insights the brand has obtained from Sehwag’s fan base, it will initially focus strongly on the HSM (Hindi Speaking Markets) across the country, enabling greater product discovery for online shoppers looking for active/athleisure wear and cricket gear.
Speaking on the launch and online foray of his brand, cricketing icon, VirenderSehwag stated, “VS has been conceived to cater to the fitness and sporting needs of millions of young people across India who need the right material, quality, fit and design in athleisure to go about their regimens, but end up compromising either on quality or price, owing to a gap in the segment. It was either a big brand with quality products and too steep a price or a lesser brand at a lower price band, with subnormal quality- in either case shoppers had to compromise on one factor or the other.
This is where ‘VS by Sehwag’ comes into the picture, offering best quality products at honest and best prices. We have been able to achieve this by not passing on costs that add no value to the customer, on to the customer. The PAN-India launch of ‘VS by Sehwag’ today, through online channels is a significant milestone in the brand’s journey so far and I am extremely proud and elated to have been closely associated with it, carefully inspecting the design and durability of each product till a piece of fabric or kit did not feel ‘3D ready’ to me.”
Added, Mr.Jaimin Gupta, Founder & Managing Director, M/s Stitched Textiles Pvt Ltd and CEO, Viru Retail Pvt Ltd, “I have had the privilege of working closely with Mr.VirenderSehwag since the time we came together to develop the brand as we shared similar beliefs and ideas regarding an ideal athleisure brand for Bharat. We have a winner on hand with ‘VS by Sehwag’, from a product perspective and need to deliver this to the nation and hence the foray online on our own platform as well as in partnership with e-commerce platforms. We are on our path to achieving 100 crores in revenue over the next 3 years.”
Mr. Manoj Kumar, Omni-Channel Vetran at VS said, “We are providing Omni-channel shopping experience to our customers to provide them convenience to buy from any channel or location across the country that they prefer. We have developed the framework for a strong Omni- presence in the country to deliver the ‘VS by Sehwag’ proposition to every possible pin code in the country.”
