How Chumbak is building a design-led lifestyle brand

The colourfully quirky design brand Chumbak has been inching its way towards establishing a pan-India presence with its large-format stores. Started in 2010, with the founders Vivek Prabhakar and Shubhra Chadda selling their flat to raise money as initial investment, Chumbak has evolved from a brand selling fridge magnets, mugs and coasters to include products in apparel, home décor, accessories and collectibles. Chumbak is now set to consolidate its presence in the domestic market, while being keen on establishing a strong foothold overseas as well. Vivek and Shubhra, in a tête-à-tête with Priyanka Golikeri speak of the brand's evolution over the years. Excerpts from the interview:

How has the brand progressed in terms of products and experience?

Though our initial thought pertained to souvenirs and refrigerator magnets, our aim has been to provide products that have a design sensibility and to which our customers, who are not only tourists, but also well-travelled individuals, can connect at a personal level. We have been bringing out new products on a regular basis to keep up the customer excitement and momentum. We are a happy and colourful brand. And now to enhance the customer experience, we have launched products around a theme, like the tropical theme that is adorned with our signature leaf prints, pineapples, flamingo, toucans, florals and other elements that bring in freshness. Rather than merely introducing new product ranges, here we are talking of a theme around which our products have been designed.

How imperative is customer experience to a brand?

Customer experience is as important as the product. Our decision to open large-format stores dealt with providing a good experience. Initially, we had opened pop-up stores in high traffic areas. But as we expanded our plethora of offerings, we wanted to add colour to people's lives and provide a special experience. We wanted our stores to look and feel a particular way and to elevate customer moods. That is not possible with pop-up stores and hence, we closed them down.

You've closed down all the pop-up stores?

Yes. We had 44 pop-ups at one point. They were doing well, but from a brand perspective, we wanted large format stores. We could not provide a holistic lifestyle experience through the pop-up stores. How could we promote products such as footwear, apparel, accessories through the pop-ups?

How are you looking to expand going ahead and what role will online play?

We have 17 large format stores across the country. We are now open towards franchising and we recently opened our first franchisee store in Pune. We are looking to add another three to four by March. And by next year, we will add 25 more Chumbak stores, which will be a mix of franchisee and company owned stores. Currently, 25% of our revenues come through online. We want to reach customers through all channels and provide a great experience. We are investing as much in our online, as we are in our offline.

How do the overseas markets attract the brand?

We did have a presence in Japan earlier, where we had tied up with a company which took us to 70 stores there. It did provide us with some very good exposure. But somewhere we decided to become better focused. We want to reach scale in India first and then look at the international markets through a proper strategy. We want to have our own stores there, instead of merely keeping our products in existing stores. Having own stores does full justice to the brand. We are dreaming to be a brand that is loved and wanted internationally, and has grown out of India. Our products, designs and colours are such that anyone can buy and relate to them. We would love to be in the Middle East, the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong.