Online apparel brands restructure market strategies with new store openings across India

Online-native apparel labels are restructuring their go-to-market strategies by establishing physical store footprints to mitigate rising digital acquisition costs. Under its house-of-brands entity TMRW, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) has expanded its offline store count to 75 locations, pushing brick-and-mortar channels to account for over 15 percent of quarterly segment sales. Transitioning from purely digital acquisition models to physical retail destinations allows direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands to enhance customer lifetime value and lower return rates on fashion orders. A notable example includes casualwear brand Urbano, which scaled from a niche D2C offering into a ₹175 crore run-rate venture after expanding into high-street retail centers.

Capital allocation shifts toward physical footprint productivity

Building multi-channel infrastructure requires navigating front-loaded capital expenditures in commercial real estate and inventory build-up. TMRW’s segment revenues reached Rs 220 crore in Q1 FY27, while operating losses narrowed to Rs 42 crore from Rs 63 crore in the year-ago period, reflecting structural improvements in store-level unit economics. Building integrated offline channels for digital-native brands creates sustainable growth models by lowering online customer acquisition expenses, notes Prashanth Aluru, CEO and Co-Founder, TMRW. Across India’s retail sector, unifying online platforms with physical storefronts provides D2C fashion labels with the inventory turnover and scale necessary to achieve long-term operating profitability.

D2C portfolio ventures

TMRW is ABFRL’s technology-led venture platform acquiring and scaling digital-first fashion, activewear, and lifestyle brands across India. Targeting young digital consumers, the portfolio includes emerging labels such as Urbano, Bewakoof, and Wrogn. TMRW focuses on channel expansion to drive capital-efficient growth across physical and digital retail hubs.