Luxury made accessible

The Luxury Closet (TLC) is an online store that sells pre-owned fashion items founded in Dubai in 2012 by Kunal Kapoor. The company recently raised a growth funding round, taking its total investment up to $11 million and in keeping with retail trends in the region, TLC just opened a physical store in Dubai’s Marina Mall.

The Luxury Closet ships to more than 80 countries today and caters to a customer strength of more than a million-user, every month. Kunal Kapoor, CEO of Luxury Closet started the brand with the intention of bridging the gap that existed in the market when it came to luxury. On the one end of the consumer spectrum there are people who can afford luxury products and on the other end are people who aspire it but cannot afford it. From the beginning itself, the brand has been trying to bridge the gap and build the right inroads into the aspirational market.

In conversation with Kunal to understand more about the brand ethos and the future plans. Excerpts from the interview in his words.

The right outlook
We have always focussed on using our investment on building the right platform and creating a marketing plan that allows us to attract the right audience. We sell luxury items, so the look and feel of the website and our overall customer experience on the website are important to create that luxe hook. This is what we have constantly worked on since the start and still do, just to keep our vision aligned with the luxury experience we look to deliver to our audience.

Industry view
Even though there are talks of recession, I can confidently say that the luxury industry will not be affected by the recession and it will not shrink in size. Rather, the prospects show growth in this category. Today 2% of consumers in this category make up for 40% of overall sales of luxury items. This is because the concentration of wealth has increased and people are more mindful and choosier about what they buy. People want to invest in something that is timeless and they are ready to pay for that.

Pricing it right
We work in a very tricky zone. On the one hand, we cater to luxury items which are expected to come with a premium price tag. On the other hand, we are working with luxury in a resale format, so the price has to be affordable. So, we always want to price our goods keeping the seller’s profits in mind. But that price should attract the customer who probably on an auction site would have been the highest bidder. Our resale pieces are unique, so it should attract the ones who can afford it and are discerning enough to understand the value of the pre-loved concept. So, there is a lot of science at work that helps us decide on the prices for our products.

Future prospects
We want to continue on our journey towards growth in full swing by maintaining good margins and staying competitive on our pricing. We employ a lot of AI and data learning to make our product displays and price tags more customer-friendly. We will continue our efforts and at the same time look to raise new funding next year and give our expansion plans the right push. We are very keen on entering the KSA and work is underway to make this a reality soon.

Anurima Das