Behind Broadway’s efforts to change the omnichannel path for D2C brands

ABSTRACT

Founded in March 2023 by Vivek Biyani, Rana Daggubati, Anuj Kejriwal, Apurva Salarpuria, Broadway seeks to facilitate the omnichannel transition of D2C brands through its super stores

While the startup launched its first store in Delhi in a mall last month, it is currently building a larger, standalone outlet in Hyderabad, which will be 45,000 square feet

While the Delhi store at Broadway currently offers products from 115 D2C startups, Salarpuria says Broadway will constantly update its brands and catalog.

It’s no secret that India’s D2C story began online, but omnichannel is the way of the future as brands and startups look to get closer to the consumer.

However, as more and more Indian D2C players try to jump on the omnichannel train, they are hitting a wall. Not only are startups unable to find suitable retail space, but there is a clear lack of a bridge connecting online branding with the offline sales channel.

Plenty of D2C brands like Firstcry, Bombay Shirt Company, Lenskart, Rage Coffee, Mamaearth, and Giva are betting on the omnichannel bull market, but once they get there, they realize that shopping malls, modern retail stores, and general merchandise outlets don’t they have the infrastructure that new-era D2C startups want.

And when it comes to high-end brand stores, few startups have the scale and presence to fully leverage the capital expenditure involved. Even taking on older retail and FMCG players is a difficult task as they have an established network with retail channels.

Even though brands love retail and omnichannel modes for the hands-on experiences they enable, there is a gap in the market. And that’s the niche Broadway wants to fill.

Founded in March 2023 and its first store launched in Delhi NCR, Broadway claims to have cracked the modern retail formula for new-age D2C brands.

Created and launched by venture studio Think9, actress Rana Daggubati, CEO of real estate giant Anarock Anuj Kejriwal, and Salarpuria Group executive Apurva Salarpuria, Broadway calls itself “Theatre for Brands,” enabling consumers to look, feel and interact with D2C brands in ways far unexplored .

In fact, Think9, being a venture studio, has co-founded several brands that are among the launch partners on Broadway at Ambience Mall in Delhi, with two more planned for Mumbai and Hyderabad.

In an interview with Inc42, Salarpuria said that while Broadway is the brainchild of Think9 co-founder Vivek Biyani, all four entities bring a unique advantage. Salarpuria’s experience investing in the e-commerce and D2C spaces over the last decade, Daggubati’s star power and approach to investing and creating retail spaces, and Anarock’s experience in real estate all play a key role on Broadway.

What exactly is a Broadway play?

History of creation

Having supported brands such as Paper Boat, Bira, Epigamia and others over the last decade, Salarpuria has closely observed the development of the D2C segment. And of course, he is acutely aware of the problems many of these brands face when going offline.

“There has been a realization that while brands can grow revenues up to Rs 50 Cr using internet alone, the cost of doing business after that becomes quite flat. There is no economy of scale on the sales side, and for brands to operate in a significantly profitable way, they had to ensure that online and offline streams were combined,” he told Inc42.

Online-first brands have a lot to learn when it comes to offline retail. Building on the D2C enablement thesis, Broadway seeks to create an environment that could potentially offer brands the right ingredients for offline success.

As Salarpuria noted, department stores and large shopping malls have not evolved significantly with changing times. With the recent proliferation of online offerings, consumers often leave their homes to gain meaningful experiences rather than just purchase products. D2C brands are aware of this, given that this is how they build their online presence.

However, transferring this to the retail space is not possible without reimagining the concept of the department store. “For new-age consumers, visiting a department store is not as exciting as it was before the e-commerce boom in India. The experience didn’t pick up as much momentum as it could have, and that’s where we felt like Broadway could fill the gap. With this, we strive to create a new era of experiential shopping in India,” he added.

Broadway reimagines omnichannel

Visiting the Broadway outlet in Delhi NCR on its opening day, one could immediately understand why Salarpuria claims to have reinvented the space by creating a mall within a mall. Salarpuria explained that Broadway, at its core, wants to bring a social element to retail, which is why all brand aisles feature screens where brands can highlight their key features and USPs.

Apart from this, there is an experiential element such as a mini food court and in-store bar in Delhi that showcases F&B brands like no other mall or retail outlet in the past. New products can be introduced on stage right in the store, and D2C brands can have dedicated areas on Broadway where mini stores can be set up in that space.

“We are looking at live performances and concerts featuring stand-up comedians, live music and more, where brands can connect with entertainment performances like never before,” Salarpuria added.

Broadway will initially launch with 115 brands, but new ones will be added daily, and the founders say they have made it much easier for new brands to enter the market.

In addition to entertainment, shoppers have the opportunity to interact with the people behind the brands present in stores, from D2C brand founders to investors, which is once again a novelty for omnichannel.

“There are many layers to complement the shopping experience we want to create. In addition to internal live events, food and beverage, we create an in-store influencer program in an environment called the “Broadway Studio” where influencers can come and promote in-store merchandise and interact with consumers. This allows brands to create fresh content every week with good quality influencers at a very low cost,” he explained.

While the first store in Delhi is located in a mall, Broadway is currently building a larger, stand-alone store in Hyderabad that will be 45,000 square feet. This particular store can accommodate 250 brands and is designed as a showcase arena for the Indian D2C Startups industry.

The Broadway advantage for D2C brands

What brands does Broadway want to work with and will Think9 brands be given priority over others? Salarpuria said Think9’s Vivek Biyani, nephew of Future Group founder Kishore Biyani, was responsible for preparing the brand list.

“Of course, there are many more well-known brands that we particularly wanted to make available to people. However, we had a lot of brands come to us and we tried to choose to make sure we had a healthy mix of different types of products,” says Salarpuria.

Given the Biyani family’s background, Broadway can rely on their experience running a retail giant in India. This core knowledge, combined with the fact that Think9 has built brands in an actionable way, will be Broadway’s key competitive advantage.

As Kishore Biyani told Inc42 on launch day, “You can never stop innovating and this will be a game-changer for modern retail in India. “Nowhere else can consumers talk directly to some of the founders of these brands, so it creates a different impact on the buyer.”

How easy is it for brands to get on board? Broadway says any brand can launch in a day, and they can experiment with Broadway for a few months or even give up if the model isn’t for them. Salarpuria says this will allow Broadway to have constant access to a fresh set of brands and catalog, which again is crucial to the type of consumers these brands want to attract.

Modern consumers are willing to pay more, which explains the wave of premiumization in the Indian D2C space, but they also tend to experiment with new brands. That’s why Broadway’s “easy come, easy go” approach can be great for brands testing the possibilities of omnichannel.

The question, of course, is whether brands will continue to rely on Broadway as they scale their operations. Often, brands want to build a strong offline brand and for this purpose they choose exclusive stores. With Broadway, they gain a relatively profitable go-to-market strategy for omnichannel, but sticking with Broadway in the long run requires much more evidence as to whether it will work for larger-scale brands.

Salarpuria is clear that this is just the beginning. “We are conscious of the fact that as more and more consumers come in, we will receive a lot of data about which brands are more popular and where we need to improve. There will be many things we will have to change and the challenge for us is to adapt quickly.

Shortly after our interaction, Salarpuria struck up another conversation with key people on Broadway to learn from opening weekend. “We want to adapt to any feedback we receive from the D2C ecosystem.”

In many ways, Broadway is the new social commerce for D2C brands in the omnichannel space.

(Edited by Nikhil Subramaniam)