WK Life expands retail footprint, 30% product to be locally manufactured by Q1 2022

WK Life, a London-based designed electronic gadgets and accessories maker, is expanding its retail presence in India and is increasing the localisation of its products by going for domestic manufacturing, according to a top company official. WK Life, which mainly imports its range of products, aims to double the contribution of locally produced items to 30 per cent by value by the first quarter of 2022.
The company, which has already crossed the 100 franchise stores mark in India and recently opened its 16th store at Lucknow, is looking forward to expansion in tier-II and -III cities, catching smaller towns aspirations besides developed markets.

"Now, we plan to open as many outlets as quickly as possible. We are introducing more made-in-India products and setting our factories by January-end.

"We have already identified suppliers and few other companies, which would produce our products also," WK Life co-founder and Managing Director Rohit Sahni told PTI.

Besides, the company, which started operations in India in 2018, also plans to hire around 600 people to support its expansion plans.

Currently, around 15 per cent of the total retail sales of WK Life are locally sourced, Sahni added.

WK Life catalogue consists of over 3,000 products in 500 categories of daily millennial needs, right from mobile accessories to trendy sunglasses, travel gears and handbags.

The company is focusing to deliver quality products with an affordable range of Rs 700 to Rs 3,000.

Saini said WK Life has 75 designers on board and it is getting its catalogue designed and curated for the company. The company is also designing products keeping in mind the taste and preferences of its Indian customers.

"In the mobile phone and covers, we have Indian designs and cultures on it. Even our cutlery came with the Indian design. We are designing a lot of products for our country," he said. "We would promote a big range of handicraft and food products in our stores this festival season."

It is using ethnic and historical murals for its home section. WK Life has also introduced a jute product for its fashion segment.

The company which is having sales of around Rs 25 crore, expects to triple by next year.

WK Life, which started online sales just after the first lockdown last year, now gets around 10 per cent of its sales from e-commerce, a channel that has witnessed a fast pace after the pandemic.

"Within a year, in some categories, some our products are in top at Flipkart and Amazon," said Sahni.

He added, "We are now going for some exclusive tie-ups with e-commerce platform for this festive season and we would be able to achieve 25 per cent sales from online channels."