Starting online and opening stores later is still a risky move for many brands, and most hesitate to try it. A few do, and the results are often much more rewarding than expected. East India Retail looks at some of these brands, and today we focus on Kisah. Kisah is a Kolkata-based men’s and kids’ …
Executive Summary: Durga Puja is West Bengal’s largest working-capital event. In roughly 45 days, retailers, artisans, and brands compress what British Council India’s benchmark study once valued at ₹32,377 crore (2.58% of GSDP) into a liquidity spike now estimated by CWBTA and BCC&I at ₹60,000–65,000 crore, with Kolkata contributing nearly 70% of transactions. This is …
Golden Quarter, Fragile Margins: The Commerce Behind Kolkata’s Grandest Stage Read More »
The pure-play e-commerce model that built India’s D2C wave is running into a cost problem. Digital customer acquisition costs have climbed steadily as platforms compete for the same paid-search and social media inventory, pushing brands to look for channels that acquire customers more efficiently and hold onto them longer. Physical stores have re-emerged as that …
Why Digital-First Brands are Betting Big on Offline Retail in the East Read More »
Contemporary Indian womenswear label Virachi opened its first flagship boutique in Kolkata on August 18, at 20/1A Lake View Road, marking the brand’s transition from an occasion-wear label operating largely through exhibitions and digital channels into a dedicated physical retail format. Founded in 2015 by Rita Singhania, with Sidhant Singhania and Priyanka Singhania as co-founders, …
Virachi Expands Physical Footprint with Flagship Boutique Launch in Kolkata Read More »
Raksha Bandhan planning has quietly moved from the calendar to the app drawer. What was once a purchase decision made weeks ahead, with rakhis picked out, sweets ordered, and courier timelines factored in, is now routinely settled the morning of the festival. Consumers are trading catalogue browsing for a ten-minute search-to-doorstep cycle, and retailers across …
Rakhi Season Turns Into a Race Against the Clock as Q-Commerce Rewrites Gifting Rules Read More »
Beside the forests of Similipal, in the quiet town of Baripada, a new story of women’s empowerment is taking shape. In villages surrounding Baripada, women are turning a humble local resource into a growing livelihood opportunity. Supported by the Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM) and strengthened through Self Help Group (SHG) initiatives, women from villages such …
From Sabai Strands to Self-Reliance: The Women Weaving Baripada’s New Story Read More »
Walk down any urban high street in India today and the coffee chains seem to be everywhere — sleek, air-conditioned, Instagram-ready. It would be easy to assume tea, the country’s oldest beverage habit, is losing ground. The numbers say otherwise. The retail reality tells a different story. Coffee’s visibility is a café-culture phenomenon, concentrated in …
Steeped In Success: How Indian Tea Is Winning the Coffee Wars Read More »
Kolkata’s fine jewellery landscape has a new and distinctly modern entrant. Inarra Atelier, the luxury lab-grown jewellery maison founded by husband-and-wife duo Ashna and Mayank Poddar, has unveiled its first flagship boutique at Salt Lake, Sector 1 — marking the brand’s transition from a digital-first journey to a full offline retail experience. The 1,500 sq …
In 1882, a music composer and distinguished Pakhwaj instrumentalist named Mohendra Dutt walked into a commercial premise on Harrison Road — today known as Mahatma Gandhi Road — in Kolkata, and quietly became the pioneer of umbrella manufacturing in India. That combination of artist and industrialist is an unlikely origin story. But it produced something …
While sustainability has become a global conversation, three brands rooted in Eastern India’s cultural and artisan heritage have been living that philosophy long before it became a trend. 145 East, Kadam Haat, and LataSita are each building something distinct — but share a common conviction that commerce can have a conscience. 145 East — Reviving …
