Thank you, Michelle. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us on the Shoppers Stop Q4 and FY26 Earnings Conference Call.

Today, we have with us the senior management represented by Mr. Kavindra Mishra, Customer Care Associate, Managing Director, and Chief Executive Officer; and Mr.

Pankaj Chaturvedi, Customer Care Associate and Chief Financial Officer. We will begin the call with the opening remarks from the management, after which we will have the forum open for the interactive Q&A session.

I must remind you that the discussion in today's earnings call may include certain forward-looking statements and must be viewed therefore in conjunction with the risks that the company faces. Please restrict your questions to the quarter performance and to the strategic questions only.

Housekeeping questions can be dealt with separately with the IR team. I would now request Mr.

Kavindra Mishra for the opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you, Pranay. Good morning, all.

I'm joined on the call with along with Biju, in addition to my colleagues from finance team, Pankaj, who is our new CFO, Miss JP, and Rohit. We have uploaded the investor presentation on our corporate and stock exchange website.

Let me start with talking about the key highlights for the year, followed by highlights for the quarter, and subsequently on the current operating environment and our focus for the coming financial year. The departmental store business crossed ₹5,000 crores revenue for the first time, which is a big milestone for us.

At the start of the year, we had given a guidance of mid-single-digit LFL, and I'm very happy to share that we ended the year with a 4.7%, which is our highest-ever LFL in a decade, particularly after two consecutive flattish LFL sales for FY24 and '25. We reversed the continuous decline in customer entry by recording 3.8% customer entry growth in like-for-like stores, which augurs well for us in terms of our premiumization strategy.

We had the highest-ever additions to our First Citizen loyalty program with 9.4 lakh new recruits. The premium end of our loyalty, which is our Black Card program, has reported the highest-ever 67,000 new recruitments and highest-ever renewals of 66,000 with a renewal rate being impressive 74%.

Demonstrating deep value proposition from customer perspective besides personalized service standards helped us to increase the loyalty base at 13.5 million, and the total contribution during the year was at 84% with a repeat rate of 69%. Both the above have helped us to move the premiumization contribution in stores by 3.6%.

Now we are at 69%, and the ABV for the year has gone up by 7%, showing core operational strength. Our Personal Shopper program, which is central to our experiential retail strategy, recorded a 4% increase in contribution this year, taking the contribution up to 26% from a 22% last year.

Sales generated through Personal Shoppers grew by 24%, and it touched ₹1,257 crores of revenue last year. Overall, non-apparel business continues to outperform.

Following non-apparel power categories posted robust growth, which has helped us in driving overall growth and more premiumization. Watches grew by 16% YoY.

We sold close to 6 lakh watches during the year, which translates into 70 watches sales per hour. Similarly, fragrances grew by 12% YoY.

We sold close to 12.1 lakh units during the year, which is equivalent to selling 150 units of fragrances every hour. Handbags grew by 10% YoY.

We sold 4.7 lakh bags, which was approximately 60 bags per hour. Now let me talk about the private brand business.

Private brand business continues to be a key strategic pillar pillar in terms of offering differentiated range and covering the gap for set of categories. It had a very good performance in terms of profitability, driven by improved productivity, lower discounts, and premiumization.

During the year, we reduced the inventory by ₹40 crores. We have also identified additional spaces in the box in categories where private brands have a role to play.

We believe that men's ethnic, western women's wear, women's Indian wear, and kids' wear are categories where private brands have got a very important role to play, and hence, we are expanding current brands like Kashish and Bandeya. We also have just launched Féminin Girls, a premium apparel line for young girls, which is now expanded to 69 stores.

We will continue to elevate the product offering to higher mix of premium and natural fabrics, enhanced design language and styling, and swift launch of prevailing trends. Let me talk about the beauty business.

The company's beauty business, including Global SS Beauty, delivered revenue of ₹1,281 crores during the year, registering a healthy year-on-year growth of 17%. We deeply engaged with customers through social media interactions, makeovers, and masterclasses revolving around expression, engagement, and education to drive consumption.

Beauty category followers base crossed 1.6 million on Instagram and 440,000 on YouTube. Our beauty distribution business continued its strong growth trajectory, generating revenue of ₹426 crores, which is equivalent to ₹650 crores of GMV, with a stellar 81% growth YoY, and delivering a three-year CAGR of 90%, which makes us which would make us the largest beauty distributor in the country.

During the year, GSSB has introduced 20-plus new and exclusive premium brands to the Indian market, strengthening its premium beauty portfolio and further differentiating its value proposition. To name a few, in full-line brands, we had Shiseido and Serge Lutens.

In fragrances, we launched Versace, Michael Kors, Steve Madden, Montblanc, and Tory Burch, and in skincare, we launched Sisley. During the year, we launched one boutique store each of Armani and NARS, taking the total number of premium boutique stores to seven.

The performance underscores beauty as a strategic pillar for Shoppers Stop, aiming high growth through strategic partnerships, digital acceleration, and store expansion. Now let me talk about the INTUNE business.

INTUNE had a slow start, however, with focus on improving productivity and unit economics over the past two quarters have helped us stabilize the business and position it for sustainable growth. Key call-outs for the INTUNE for the year were: we recorded a revenue of ₹282 crores, which was a growth of 46% YoY.

We opened 14 stores during the year. Total store count now stands at 84 stores across 39 cities.

Relentless focus on inventory freshness through in-season clearance, online accessibility helped us to reducing inventory by ₹36 crores YoY. Through structured CRM outreach, we were able to drive improvement in key KPIs.

Repeat customer mix improved from 35% to 45%, and items per ticket sustained at 3.8 during the year. We have seen a turnaround in LFL trajectory from February '26 onwards.

April also continues to see a LFL momentum in INTUNE. Now let me talk about the e-comm business.

During the year, the company invested in technology to upgrade both UI/UX with a mandate to have robust omnichannel experience. As we speak, large part of the investments have already taken place, and in this financial year, focus will be on scaling volumes and improved profitability.

With improved customer interface, for the month of April '26, we have seen a 60% growth YoY driven by improvement in conversion. In this journey, we're also planning to integrate ssb.in into ss.com as a microsite to sweat marketing investments favorably.

Now let me talk about store expansion and financial discipline. We maintained a disciplined and prudent capital allocation approach during the year with a strong focus on driving returns and strengthening the balance sheet.

I'm very happy to state that because of strong operational efficiency, we were we were able to generate the cash operations from cash from operations of ₹301 crores. This is the highest in last eight years, supported by working capital optimization of ₹155 crores.

During the year, we opened 27 stores: eight departmental stores, three beauty, two HomeStop, 14 INTUNE, and then we renovated three stores including our Juhu store with state-of-the-art design offering, premium and aspirational assortment with a capital investment of ₹114 crores. The total inventory optimized for the year was ₹153 crores.

Shoppers Stop has also made focused investments across infrastructure, network, and security, delivering tangible business and operational outcomes. These include the highest NIST maturity score in Indian retail, which is 3.6, early adoption of DPDP compliance, and a material reduction in system outages and service ticket volumes, resulting in 100% uptime and system availability.

Now let me talk about the highlights for Q4. Let me address the departmental store business first.

The departmental store recorded a 4.6% like-for-like sales growth despite a challenging environment marked by global disruptions. Operational KPIs continue to improve with average bill value growing up by 8% and the ASP growing up by 11%, and most importantly, the customer entry, which grew by 3.2% like-for-like, and we are seeing a consecutive three quarters of LFL customer entry increase.

We continue to strengthen the emotional connect with customers through our proprietary Gifts of Love brand IP. The Valentine's Day campaign under this delivered strong customer engagement and traction, which has reached which has which has had a reach of 155 million and a view of 282 million.

Non-apps category reported 13% growth, reflecting growing consumer preferences for premium offerings. Also, it's a reflection of our strategy, which which pivots a lot around non-apparels.

We opened four departmental and one HomeStop during the quarter. We launched several new premium brands during the quarter, and just to name a few, we launched Baume & Mercier, it's a premium Swiss brand with average ASP of ₹1.5 lakhs in in watches.

We launched Brooks Brothers, Juicy Couture, HUGO BOSS, Charles Tyrwhitt. We also launched Veneer and Crystal Bohemia in home category.

The core business, which is the departmental store business, delivered an EBITDA of ₹50 crores, up by 52% YoY. It excludes the one-off gain of ₹22 crores recorded last year from the reversal of excess prior-year provisions.

Let me talk about the beauty business now. The total beauty segment recorded revenue of ₹309 crores, which grew by 17% YoY, led by fragrance, which grew by 37%.

Overall contribution of beauty now stands at 21% to the revenue. GSSB recorded revenue of ₹114 crores, which is a 69% YoY, sustaining the growth momentum.

We onboarded several new premium brands as well, and we added 20 new points of sale. Right now the total presence is 565 points of sale across 27 retailers.

Now let me talk about INTUNE. INTUNE recorded a sale of ₹67 crores, which grew by 24% YoY.

Improvement in sales trend witnessed from February onwards is what we have seen, and the momentum continues in April. We introduced a new price point of ₹1,299 across the categories, and initial response is very encouraging.

On gross margin side, we have seen improvement quarter on quarter by led by improved intake margin and lower discounting. We opened four INTUNE stores during the quarter.

Now let me address the current operating environment, and then I will talk about the way ahead for business. We have seen a pick-up in demand from mid-February, and it's sustained through April as well, and it's sustaining in the first few days of May.

Strong wedding calendar, growing local travel, and general buoyancy in economy are the favorable triggers to demand in coming quarters. Having said that, we do foresee a challenge on two fronts: first one being on fuel price and raw material-led inflation, which may impact demand in short term.

As Shoppers Stop is already into premiumization journey, we expect the impact to be relatively limited compared to mid-segment players. Second is supply chain uncertainties.

They may cause some intermittent disruptions in merchandise availability, particularly in H2. However, given our diversified sourcing and scale, we are confident of effectively managing and mitigating this risk.

Way ahead of four business: I think the first important thing is we are going to double down on premiumization as the strategy has started delivering results on ground for us. As we speak, we've become the first port of call for almost any premium brand coming to India, and we are using this strength to work with strategic partners to drive business.

Continuously working on the brand mix and churn and make space for high performers is the key. Focus on generating consumer walk-ins.

One of the big wins for us last year was the increase in customer entry, and we are investing in building on the same, both through brand marketing as well as loyalty. Our investments in partnership with HYBE is one such effort to do differentiated programs and get a new audience coming to Shoppers Stop.

Drive expansion of the brand in key markets in premium malls. I'm delighted to share that our repositioning efforts have started yielding results, and we are increasingly becoming the departmental store of choice with some of the leading mall developers.

We plan to add nine departmental stores during the year. Renovation of marquee stores: we have seen with both Inorbit Malad and Juhu that once we renovate our marquee stores, the throughput really increases.

We have seen an amazing uptick there, and we are will be renovating five stores this year with our new premium identity, and all these are marquee stores. Let me talk about INTUNE.

This is a year where we will be able to see major improvement in INTUNE business, driven by improved productivity, gross margin expansion, and tightening the cost base. We have come out of the inventory issues, and overall EBITDA loss shall be curtailed to half of FY26 loss.

Our focus will be on driving efficiencies and turning around unit economics of existing stores in H1, and therefore we shall evaluate thereafter we will we shall evaluate expansion. We are also putting investments in technology, and we are right now piloting RFID for INTUNE stores.

We are looking at break-even at business level in INTUNE in FY28. Let me talk about the investments and the cash flow.

In FY26, we have been able to generate high operating cash flow with tight controls on working capital and have retired ₹109 crores of debt. On similar lines, we will continue to focus on higher internal accruals in FY27 through following initiatives: strong surge in profitability driven by LFL growth and productivity improvement; rationalization of losses from new businesses, and I spoke about them in my speech; tight control over costs; and continuous working capital optimization.

These internal accruals shall be utilized towards investments towards growth. I think opening of new stores is essential, and we and we are in the process of opening some very marquee stores, and refurbishment of our top stores.

I think that's super important for us. Additional capital infusion to enable beauty distribution business growth, and we will be debt-free by Q4 FY27, which I think would be a major plus for us over the last two years.

Unfortunately, Devang is not there today in the call because of some personal exigency, I would be addressing any queries, if any, about INTUNE. My speech is over now, and we can now open the floor for interesting Q&A session.

Thank you.

Hi. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking my question.

Firstly, sir, I'm looking at the core business in FY26, and the EBITDA margin on a gross sales or a non-GAAP sales that you record is around 4%. This is in a year of a 5% LFL and strong cost control exercised over the years.

Now, we have had a guidance of a high-single-digit margin for this business, just wondering that we would still need three, four years of sustained LFL to be in that ballpark. Are there any other levers that can result in better margin performance in the foreseeable future, or this is a correct thesis or correct assessment?

I think, Sameer, thanks for the question. No, you are right.

I think it will take a couple of years for us to reach there. Having said that, there are a lot of initiatives in terms of we have shut what, around seven stores last year.

We are in the process of premiumization. I think there are a lot of projects which we are driving to ensure that the GMROI for us grows substantially.

While I think it might take a couple of years, but the general direction is what we are focusing on. Just to give you a sense, when we looked at our business and our spaces dispassionately, there are a couple of categories where we believe, I did speak about home, but, for example, Home within Shoppers Stop, we've identified in the box there are certain spaces where we can release it, and we can use it more efficiently for national brands.

That's what we are doing. Similarly, we are driving a heavier non-apparel mix because I think watches is something which is really firing well for us, along with fragrances, beauty, and handbags.

I think as we premiumize, we will see the journey becoming faster. Having said that, I think two years is a fair assumption.

Yeah?

Got it, sir. Thanks.

Thanks for that detailed answer. Second question is on the gross margin.

Now, I look at it again on non-GAAP sales, it is down 100 bps this quarter. For the full year also, if I look at it, it's down 60 bps.

Just wanted to understand what is driving this, and is in a way the higher LFL is it linked to the margin weakness in the gross margin line?

I think we did mention about the one-offs in the gross margin case, right? That one-off was coming from the margin because if I talk only about the operational, I think there's a positive movement.

If I just look at BAU and I just remove the operational, as in the one-offs, the gross margins have improved by 50 bps. Why don't you see in the P&L is right now it is colored with a one-off.

Yeah?

What is exactly this one-off? Sorry, I probably missed it.

Pankaj this side. I'll just take this.

See, this one-off is nothing but on account of prudent accounting, we've had some provisions in our COGS side, and last year, after due assessment, when we didn't need this provision, we did the unwinding. That was a bit significant last year.

It's a very normal thing that happens year on year, providing for certain items and then unwinding, but since last year it was a bit more significant, hence, we are just calling this out.

Oh, it's a provision write-back in the base?

Absolutely.

Oh, okay. Then that settles it.

Lastly, if I may squeeze in, you did mention on the—

Sameer, sorry. Can I also address your first question with some more detailing on?

Sure, sir.

While that journey is there, but I think EBITDA you will see a lot of improvements because, as I have detailed through my presentation, a lot of cost initiatives have been triggered in. You will see substantial improvement in the EBITDA, right?

Just to close the whole loop on this. Yeah?

Sure, but you still will say that two years is a fair assumption on the high-single-digit margin expectation with the cost initiatives, right? Okay.

Yeah.

Sure. Last question, if I may squeeze in, you did mention on the guidance on department stores, but I missed it on INTUNE.

Can you elaborate your plans on the expansion on this front?

Sure. In the case of INTUNE, as I mentioned, right now we are not looking at opening stores in H1.

I think we have just got out from all the operational issues and inventory issues in INTUNE. Right now, the trajectory is very positive.

I want that to be happening for the next two quarters before we start opening INTUNE stores again. The focus, the investments on INTUNE remain, but I just want this year to be a cleaner year where we are able to build operational efficiencies and build the throughputs from the store before we move ahead.

Yeah?

Fair assessment that it is still a work in progress for us, and we are still assessing the strategy here, or it's fine to wait, but will that be a fair assessment?

Sameer, it's a it's a two-year it's a two-year-old business, okay? Any two-year-old business will have some Shoppers Stop after 31 years is a work in progress business because you change, the thing customers change.

I think it was but natural that it it is a work in progress business. Having said that, whatever steps we had to take to get the product, to get the operations, to get the store learnings, I think those are in place.

We just need to ensure that we drive efficiencies. All businesses are are work in progress.

I I I don't think there is any harm in committing that because that's how the nature of business is. Customers change, markets change, and we work around it.

Yeah?

Sameer, if you just also refer to our presentation wherein we are specifying new venture performance update and look at Q4 specifically for the new ventures. While on a full-year basis, the negative EBITDA has increased, but if you look at Q4, the negative is flattish.

Somewhere that negative EBITDA declining has been arrested, if I can give a bit more color to that. Q4, if you look specifically on the new ventures, which includes INTUNE, that has been quite positive for us.

Sure, sir, but the problem is that if we don't add stores, competition is still adding at a very high pace, and we may just play catch-up in this journey then. That is the concern.

I understand every business is work in progress, but I think that's a lot humble commentary from your side, but yeah, best of luck.

Sorry, I didn't get

his— If we are not adding stores— If you're not adding stores and competition keeps adding, you'll probably just be playing catch-up here. That is the worry.

No, don't worry, Sameer. We are cognizant of what the market is doing and competition is doing.

We are also aware that we need to do things in the right way. We are also aware that we need to get the unit economics right, and once the unit economics are right, see, expansion is one of our strengths.

With the resources which we have and the presence which we have, opening of stores is the least issue. The ability of the stores to give the throughput and provide profitability, I think it's very, very important.

It's a CapEx-light model. I don't think that is any issue for us.

For us, the focus right now is to get this, and I think we are on this journey. Maybe, a very similar discussion, not with you, but it was happening with private brands when I had just taken over, and we said that it takes two to three quarters to put the product, all the things right, and once it starts happening, then you start seeing the growth.

I'm pretty confident that we will deliver it. We are cognizant of that, we're aware, and we will work on it, don't worry on that.

Yeah? The market is so vast that there is huge space for everybody, provided the business models are right.

Sure, sir. That's all from me, and thanks, and all the best for the future.

Thank you. Thanks, Sameer.

Yeah. Hi, thanks for the opportunity.

I'll just start with the question where the previous participant left off. You said that we'll be kind of waiting and consolidating on INTUNE for next two quarters.

Just wanted to know what will you qualify as a success in next two quarters for us to again go back on that expansion mode? Yeah.

Thanks, Tejas. I think fundamentally the SPSF is the space productivity, is what we call them, is something which we need to see an incremental number there.

I think we are very sure about the margin expansion because that's happening currently. The SPSF, it should go up by another 25% to 30% for us to be confident, and that not in one or two months, but couple of quarters.

I think that's something which we are working towards, and that's the number we are looking at, Tejas.

Sorry, did you say 35%, 40%?

25 25%. 25%, 30%.

Then what are the interventions we are making to achieve that?

I think there are multiple interventions, right? From the freshness in the stores, weekly deliveries, freshness in the stores, operational changes, making the stores little lighter in inventory, improving the quality of the staff.

I think the interventions have been made across the board. Also, as I mentioned, we have just tested out a line at ₹1,299, which is delivering at least 4x of the throughput which a normal line does because the product is really elevated.

I think the intervention is happening across the board to drive that.

Sure. Just to elaborate on that, what is the problem statement there?

Is it that the brand has got the attraction, footfalls are happening, and we are not able to convert because of merchandise? Or is it that footfall itself is an issue and hence we need to work on brand also to kind of get the traction going from the footfall itself?

If I divide this, I think it's a great question, Tejas, first of all. I think there are two parts to it.

What we are seeing is that the person who is coming and shopping, the conversions are very strong, the IPTs are very strong, and the repeat rates are very strong, right? I think the brand is still very new in its journey.

We are spending money on marketing. We have built the CRM muscle.

The CRM muscle which we have in Shoppers Stop, we are building the same for INTUNE as well, both in terms of ability to reach out to the customers with new lines. I think that's the journey, and that's why I'm saying this will take this year for the customers to coming back again and again.

I don't think the issue is on the product or conversion or anything. It's a very nascent brand.

It will take time to settle in. I think that's where we are right now.

Perfect. Second, very hearty performance on premiumization and watches also.

Just wanted to get some insight that in a year where urban job creation right from IT has been under pressure, how to reconcile, and obviously your customer might not be only from IT, but how to reconcile this premiumization trend? Any one-offs, any base effect there?

Do you see that kind of stretching or extending to FY27 and beyond?

I think, Tejas, I think we should also meet one-on-one. You ask very very good questions, I think you are like very, very good questions you have asked.

Tejas, what is what what is what is happening is that premiumization is a way of is a pivot which we took two years back, right? That was the time when we said, okay, how do we differentiate versus other other players in the market?

When you say you are premiumized, then you premiumize not only on product categories, you premiumize on brands, you then also discontinue few stores, then you you you you work on Personal Shoppers, there are then you give up spaces and you put play areas in the store. I think we have gone through this journey in the last two years or so, invest money on marketing of Shoppers Stop as a brand.

Premiumization, what we are seeing is consistently, for example, if my weighted average growth for Shoppers Stop is, say, 4.7% for the year, my premium or or premium-plus categories, the growth rates are far higher. What we are seeing is that in that consistently people are coming to us for that.

If you if you look at our competitive scenario and the market scenario, for anyone who is who is which is a departmental store, which is a premium departmental store, we are the only people who who is there. I think that's something which is very, very strong for us, and we are not resting on it, both in terms of whether it's the merchandise which is exclusive only with us, the brands which we are launching.

I think we are able to provide that experience to the customer, which was always the core Shoppers Stop promise when we all when we all started this. I think that's something which is very strong.

The other thing is when we look at premium categories, here what we are seeing is the SPSF are quite high, the sales productivity is coming is very, very high. In this journey of premiumization, we have identified five categories which are our power categories, right?

It would be very interesting to know what are those power categories: one is watches, other is beauty, then we talk about handbag, then we are talking about footwear, and shades. These so this amazing mix of all this merchandise, there is no retailer who does it.

I think we have been able to carve a niche, and we we don't share our brand loyalty scores in this as a part of the deck, but when we are doing our brand loyalty scores, we have seen that continuously both top-of-the-mind awareness and recall is becoming better on year on year. I think it's a it is not only one product category, it's a it's a mix of mix of everything, and we believe that increasingly at the top there won't be any or there are not many people who are vying for that customer, and that is where we come in with our play.

I think we have taken a a stance, and we have been honest to it, and it has not started showing results there. Sure.

Sir, last one, premiumization means you have foreign brands there, and if that's so, does that conflict with the private label ambition that we have?

No. We have spoken about this multiple times.

See, for me, I'm a retailer first, right? My productivity and the net GMROI is the most important KPI for me.

When we look at Shoppers Stop, we can clearly see that there are product categories where we have the need for private brands because they become the recruiters for us. For example, Indian wear, or western women's wear, or kids' wear, the private brands have got a very big role to play because they are the recruiter brands.

That might not necessarily be the case for men's wear because which is a more logo-driven business, or non-apps, which is again a more logo-driven business. I think we're very clear.

There is no conflict. In fact, what we are doing is our private brand also we are premiumizing in the sense we are making better product.

If we were used to use poly before, that blend has moved to cotton base or linen. Premiumization is the way of life for Shoppers Stop across every product category, whether it's private brands or national brands, we will continue to give a better product to the customer, and I think they don't conflict.

In fact, for us, Indian wear, for example, has a higher productivity than any of the national brands there, we know how this category play with them, and I think they all blend together. For me, just increasing the private brand contribution is not the sales is not the benchmark as which we as a group look at.

We look at the profitability of the business, we know which categories in private brands do well for us. We are double-downing on premiumization.

In fact, we just launched Féminin Girls, which are our private brand for girls' business, doing really well. We started with five stores, we have expanded to 69, and there the throughputs are higher than any of the international girls' brands also.

Yeah?

Thanks for detailed answers, sir, and all the best for coming quarters.

Okay. Thank you.

Good morning, sir. Congrats on good set of numbers from the department stores.

My question is regarding to the beauty. Majority of the growth in beauty is being driven by the distribution business.

If I exclude that and look at it, there was a segment closure of beauty EBOs during this fiscal. What are we learning from these closures, and how do we see this going forward?

Maybe I will answer part of it, and then Biju, if you can. Yeah.

Yeah? One, we have to look at beauty as an overall business.

We can't differentiate because that's not the way we should look at business, number one. Number two, the national brands business in beauty continues to outperform.

In fact, the growth rates are quite high there, and we did mention about the fragrance businesses going forward. I think in previous calls also, we have mentioned about the Estée business being under pressure, that's where the stand-alone business of stores come in.

We are doing a lot of interventions there, working closely with the brand partner to increase the walk-ins and throughput there. We are launching a MAC card or loyalty cards specially for Estée Lauder stores starting from I think next week.

There are a lot of inputs happening there. Biju, you want to talk about beauty as a whole, especially what's happening

in SS Beauty? Sure.

No. A great question and a great observation.

I think I will just step back a little bit to give you a overview about the landscape. See, please understand that 10 years back or 20 years back, the penetration of beauty in each and every mall, or in each and every catchment, was too little.

At that time, it made great sense to have a very compelling boutique or a beauty stand-alone store strategy. Then as we see that retail is growing, Shoppers along with all the other retail partners are growing footprint in beauty.

It is also sometimes necessitated by the fact that like we do in Shoppers Stop, what works well for us we double down, and what is not working well for us, we sort of close down. I think we should just see it in that light and nothing beyond that.

As Kavi explained, the category is quite heated up, and there is a lot of let's say investments coming from everywhere. For us as a retailer primarily, our drive and promise is to the customer, and that's where we want to again double down on categories that we have been quite strong, where we had strong leadership and great representation.

What we're trying to do, which we have always tried to hold on, is the philosophy of giving a greater expression, engagement, and education to the customer, and that is something that we continue to do. Kavi did mention that there is strong headwinds on the Estée portfolio, some of the brands which are global iconic brands, but that is something intervention-wise, loyalty-wise, we are working around.

The other aspect again to agree fully with Kavi that I think beauty we need to see it in the overall spirit of it because at the end of the day, retail and distribution is catering to consumers, maybe one is to the end consumer and one is to the mid-consumer. We still see and we still are learning what works well for us, and that is where we are trying and bringing in more better brands both in retail and in distribution.

If you think about it, if you look at the new brands that we are signing is also going to reinforce beauty within retail as well as the distribution landscape is concerned.

Got it, sir. Speaking particularly of the distribution side also, if I look at it given the POS that you are having, revenue per POS have actually doubled in this year.

How much could the potential be we can further squeeze out for the next coming years?

The fact of the matter is, yes, it is quite progressive and strong, but I think it is also at the phase because we have been acquiring brands which has been launched mid-year towards the later part of the year, the annualization effect is yet to come through. To give a ballpark, I think we will continuously grow the productivity as we go.

It also depends on the category, particularly on fragrances, it's quite strong. It is also followed by reasonably strong push on the makeup, and I think skincare will also follow.

I'm talking largely on prestige and lifestyle, not on the masstige side. I think the trend is here to stay, to your question.

Got it, sir. That's it from my side.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, good morning, sir. Thank you for the opportunity, sir.

First question is on the premiumization thing. You have mentioned that the premium portfolio is actually doing well, and typically what happens is that a richer premium mix generally tends to have a better margin, but I understood your point on gross margin, but going forward, can we assume that the EBITDA margin should ultimately improve?

What would be the exact LFL threshold if you can tell for the business which we actually need to cross the revenue momentum basically to deliver more than the operating cost, ultimately there should be a profitable growth, something like that?

Yeah. No, Ashutosh, thank you for the question.

Let me address all parts of your queries. First is the premium brands need not necessarily have a higher margin.

They have a higher GMROI because the throughputs are stronger, they obviously give us higher rupee value margin, right? I think that's very important.

I'm sure you have been covering us for quite some time. Ours is a very high operating leverage business, right?

As the LFLs keep on growing, we will see the rupee value profitability going in very, very strongly. My sense is that for the coming year, we are looking at a performance which is going to be a little better than what we've delivered as a team, and I'm talking about like-for-like stores, so that's one.

Second, we are also opening some very, very good stores. You will see, in fact, we are launching one on 7th, which is tomorrow, we are launching in Vizag, then we will be launching Goa with DLF, we are going to launch Pacific, Jaipur, these are all very marquee stores and stores which will become a ₹75, ₹80, ₹100-crore stores over the next two to three years.

What we are doing is we are changing the mix of the way we looked at business, and it falls in line with our strategy of premiumization. The third thing is, I think while the margin we will continue to be where we are, and we've given a guidance of improvement over the next two years, you will see a lot more initiatives on cost savings because we believe that still there is some amount of money there which we can cut, and as I don't know whether I have addressed INTUNE partly we have addressed, but to give a sense of our new businesses, whatever losses we made in the FY26, we will at least half it down in FY27.

We are going to see EBITDA throughput coming through various inputs: one is obviously the revenue growth like-for-like, and since we have now shut most of the non-performing stores, I think that will start adding up LFL plus new store openings. We will see a better rupee gross margin coming from the premiumization strategy.

We will see very, very strong and active work happening on the cost controls, and removal of formats which we feel are just taking up the space and not delivering the value. My sense is you will see a far better number as a percentage.

To tell you the exact number, I don't think I would be able to tell you the exact number how we are going to end up this year in FY27, but it should be a good number.

Understood. Thank you for that answer.

My next question is on this supply chain disruption. I got your point on the inflationary pressure which can be expected because of this, but just wanted to understand in any way these supply chain disruptions put Shoppers Stop in a better position when compared to regional or value players in terms of sourcing the merchandise or anything?

Do you have any edge because of this?

I agree to that. See, now look at Shoppers Stop, right?

One, obviously, we work closely with a lot of big brands, and, as a part of strategy, we are going deeper with brands. Even if I have to increase the space, we are working as a team with our brand partners and giving it to performing brands.

I think what's happening is in this whole thing where the fabric is going to be a little bit of a challenge, at least for two or three months, the bigger brands will be able to get the merchandise, and because we have a deeper partnership with them, we will be able to get merchandise. I think that's one.

The second, because we are very strong on the non-apparel part of the business versus any other format which is primarily apparel, the impact on us is going to be lesser. Third, for our private brands business, which is around 12% to 12% 13% of our overall business, there we have already tied up our supply chain for the next few to six months.

I think you will see a little bit of a consolidation happening, and that's not only for Shoppers. My sense is that across the businesses, bigger players in the market would be able to command a better or they will have a lesser supply chain disruption versus others.

Understood. Sir, one last question.

Just wanted to understand what is the rational for launching the SKU at ₹1,299 for INTUNE, when most value retailers usually have it below ₹1,000? I understand that it could be to drive realizations, but any other point to that?

No, I think, see, at the end of the day, India is aspirational across categories, okay? You have to give a good product, which is maybe a little bit more natural fabric, less polyester in India's heat, better wash, sustains after 10 washes and doesn't go away.

I think there is a value to the product which you need to give. What we are giving in ₹1,299, maybe at ₹2,999 in brands or even more.

Our idea is to give a better product, and I think this whole ₹999 and lower and all this is mentally in our head. That customer for the right product and occasion would be able to buy this, and this is something internally we have been debating for the last three to four quarters, and finally we said, okay, let's test this out.

The ₹1,299 product actually has delivered higher sell-through, we are doing close to 8% to 9% of sell-through of this product, which versus a 3.5%, 4%. It's a two 2.5x throughput.

Price is not the only concern. I think it's a product, price, value which you derive, and I'm a great believer in that that if these models have to sustain, we have to address to all the consumers, specially the aspirational consumers.

I think that's where we want to do this, and also, please understand, our repeats are very strong, and that is because INTUNE provides a great quality. I think that's something very, very important for us.

That's why we tried ₹1,299. This was done in Indian wear because that was a category which actually lend it naturally, and the response has been very good.

Okay. Understood, sir.

Thank you, sir, and all the best for FY27.

Thank you, Ashutosh.

Yeah. Hi, Kavi and entire team.

Hope I'm audible.

Yeah. Just happy to see that for the time being, you are putting a break on the INTUNE expansion.

What are the cash flow you are generating from your business, now larger proportion will be utilized for the departmental store, which is the core of your and where the competition is virtually non-existent. In that context, when you are aiming to add only nine store next year, any reason for a lower store or weak store addition?

Because we are having just 113 store, opportunity is very large. We are generating almost ₹300 crore kind of operating cash flow now, and so what limit you from expanding?

If I give the context, Westside is adding 35 store per quarter and 50 store in a year, which require also 25,000 to 30,000 larger square feet. Just want to understand on that part.

Yeah. Hi, Jignesh.

Thanks for the query. See, every format is different, right?

It's not only about my senses or about the size, but if we have to be premium, there are certain markets where we believe we should be there, and certain markets we will not be there, or in terms of expansion and the availability of stores, that's one. For us, when we have guided for nine stores: A, these are all marquee stores.

B, these are very good locations, number one. Number two, we are also renovating five of our largest stores.

I think that's one. The third thing is that this guidance which we give is primarily based on the signed properties and the visibility of opening during the year.

We have a few more stores which we have signed if they are able to come between this because a lot of cases it's also a function of building it to your requirement or with the mall opening and all, and we have seen in the past that typically these things get delayed here and there. Westside is opening 35 stores, but I think for us, if you're able to open nine stores which will do on an average ₹45 to ₹50 crores, I think that's a super addition for us.

I think that's where we are focusing on, and we are not averse to saying that, okay, we'll only open nine stores. If we get the right properties, we'll open more stores.

I think it's a function of that. As you rightly mentioned, till the time we are fixing the operational and we are seeing the uptick in INTUNE, we will continue and build on Shoppers Stop because I think that's something where we are seeing a very good traction as on date.

Sure. Second thing on the conversion.

If you take a look for the full year, our like-to-like growth is pretty healthy at around 5% even in current demand. At the same time, customer entries are lost 4%.

Conversion still we need to improve. What are the challenges we are facing where we are not able to increase the customer conversion?

The footfall entry, we already taken care of right as of now.

I think if I look at the overall this thing, conversion we did actually faced a higher or a greater problem in Q3. Q4, it became a little better than where we are, and we have started seeing an improvement in April onwards.

We also see that, as you change the mix, you will have certain kind of customers coming in, certain coming in, going out. I think it's a settling-down period for us.

Just to give you a sense, our ABVs actually have gone through the roof, right? Right now, 8% to 10% is what we experienced in April as well.

You have multiple things coming in the play. I think it's a process.

This will settle down, Jignesh, right? Because we are changing the brands, we are changing the mixes, there would be some settling down for this.

As long as we are able to get higher customer entry and the repeats keep on going, I think that's an important thing. For our retail teams, which are driving the whole business, I think there is a lot of focus on them to increase higher conversions.

If you talk to my head of business, he will talk about some 50 root-cause analysis, and there are a lot of things which is happening as we speak. We're also working through some amount of activation through loyalty, couple of programs on loyalty to ensure that the conversions go up.

As we speak, a lot of things are happening, Jignesh. Maybe once we meet, we can take you through in detail.

Yeah.

Last, on the working capital cycle, you already witnessed almost ₹150 crore-plus kind of improvement. All the low-hanging fruit is over, or there's still juice to improve the working capital for next year?

I think there is still some juice in the working capital, and we think that another ₹100 crores is there what we are looking at in the coming year.

Sure. Okay.

Thanks a lot, and all the best.

Thank you.

Good afternoon to the team. I have two questions.

My first question to Mr. Mishra is, in your point of view, how is Shoppers Stop preparing to capture evolving demand in premium retail and omnichannel formats while carefully addressing challenges such as competition from online players and changing consumer demands, and what strategic levers do you see important for differentiating the brand amongst the peers in the coming quarters?

That's my first question. I'll ask my second question after this.

Thank you.

Thanks, Sucrit. Let me address.

What is our promise to the consumer? If you go to our investor deck, the promise is we aim to be the most loved premium shopping destination for aspirational young Indian family.

I think it starts always with the TG. What is the TG you look at and what you want to drive?

Once the TG is defined, we, as a organization and as a team, takes steps. These are things which we will do, things which we will not do.

In our mind, getting that customer search online and then come to the store is very important. The ability to show them the inventory of the store is very, very important.

The ability to create these spaces in the store where you are actually cutting down on retail areas. All our stores right now, 80% of our stores right now have a kids' play area.

We've actually given away retail spaces and created a safe zone for families to come and leave their kids, and we are quite okay even if they are shopping in the mall, but the kids are there because I think that is the kind of thing that no one can offer you, right? Our focus is to create premium merchandise, to create great service, our Personal Shopper program where actually people come, engage with us, our Personal Shopper business last year was ₹1,250 crores, which is maybe higher than most of the brands, right?

That is there. Then Shoppers is known for product authenticity.

A lot of times in online what you get is not something very authentic, but whether it's the fragrances or the watches, what you get from us is very, very different. I think that's something very important.

Having said that, we understand that we need to cater to the online customer, so that's why the investments in online have happened over the last year. We are very happy with where we are, and we have started seeing the results of that.

Conversions this month onwards is very, very good in online. The I think the other thing is there's also a demographic change because obviously there are younger consumers coming in.

We just tied up with HYBE, which is the group which actually created amazing bands like BTS, which is a South Korean band. They are creating India's first girl band, and we are the retailers for them.

In fact, we will start selling from our stores the BTS albums also, and we'll be the only retailer selling it. I think there are multiple levels of marketing, strategy, and execution which we are doing as we speak to create differentiation.

If I talk about our peers, I think there are a couple of things very different: A, we are very, very premium vis-à-vis the merchandise offered by our peers; and second, the heavy pivoting which we have on non-apparel, whether it's beauty or watches, I think we stand very, very differently. We have positioned ourselves India's only premium retailer, and we are building on it every single day.

Thank you. My second question to Mr.

Pankaj is, as Shoppers Stop continues to benefit from growth in fashion and lifestyle consumption, how are you prioritizing capital allocation between store expansion, digital investments, and shareholder returns, and what long-term cost efficiencies are being pursued to safeguard margins amid rising rental and operating costs? Thank you.

See, the large part of our resources will go towards our core business, which is department stores. Having said that, we understand the potential of our new businesses as well, which is the INTUNE, and Kavi spoke about it.

We brought INTUNE up to a level, and right now, our priority remains that we get the unit economics right, we correct the profitability and efficiency, and then we look at expansion. Our distribution business, that also continues to grow very well.

It's a very profitable business if you see our results. That will continue to expand as well.

Our capital allocation will follow the profitability path at the moment. Let me be very clear on that.

Once the profitability path is established, resources are definitely not a constraint for Shoppers. The expansion will then continue.

You just asked about shareholder returns, I think a combination of all this definitely leads to a profitability turnaround, which is then the ultimate return for the shareholder as well. I hope I was able to address you.

If you have any follow-ups, I can take those.

No, thank you, and best wishes.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Yes. Hi.

Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I wanted to understand premium obviously it's a incremental focus for us.

Is it the existing consumers that wanted premium products, but we were lagging behind on this space? Or is it we are changing the consumer profile of our business and trying to bring in a new set of premium consumers?

Thanks. I think one of the best questions asked today, Devanshu.

I will give you a data point. I think it's very interesting.

We launched a brand, say, X, in handbags. Handbags is one category which we have chosen as a premiumization, one of the top five categories for premiumization.

We launched a brand called, say, X. I don't want to name brand specifically, I'm just using X as a nomenclature.

When we launched that brand, it became the number one brand for us in its first year of launch. When we looked at the data, we realized that 65% of people who bought that brand used to be a Shoppers Stop customer, but they never used to buy handbags from us.

What we realized was that, and that for us was a aha moment that actually if you're able to get the right merchandise, the customer whom we have is whether it's a silver or a gold, they are all top-level customers. Maybe we were not keeping merchandise of the brand which they were consuming.

For example, they might be coming to us to buy certain apparel categories, but specially they were not buying the handbags from us. I think what we are trying to do is to actually come closer to the customer in terms of what he or she needs.

We have got this very beautiful concept called Voice of Customer. We actually in all our stores, there's a QR code.

You scan it, and now what we are doing is if we have to launch any brand in any store, we actually ask the customer, "Do you think this brand should be launched?" Basis that, we have a word cloud and we decide whether we need to launch a brand or not.

We also ask our consumers, whether you want a certain brand, please name it. What has happened now is that obviously we will attract newer customers, but the customers who are shopping with us, the 13.5 million, to whom we owe everything,

we are

giving them a voice to tell what they want, and we are getting those brands. What's happening is it's yeh ek aisi energy hai, once you start doing it and the brand start seeing that we are respecting them and giving them the ability to display them well, it's a multiplier effect.

I think that's the journey in which we are in. It has taken us some time to execute the strategy, but I guess what you are seeing now would be a multiplier effect of this going forward.

Fair enough. Is it a fair assumption that you are gaining new consumers as well on the premium end?

Yeah.

No, 100%. What we see is that 41% of the bills which we are making now is through new customers, right?

I think that for me is very, very important. The fact that our enrollments, whether in the Black Card or the Silver Card, the highest ever, I think that's very, very strong.

Repeats coming at 69% is very strong. You can see that the KPI is on recruiting newer customers as your black customers or the customers coming for the first time, I think we are seeing an uptick across all the KPIs.

Fair enough. Sir, small follow-up here is from a watches category perspective, we are seeing very, I would say, exponential kind of growth trends for watches-specific players.

I am taking examples of Just In Time, Helios, which play in these premium-to-bridge-to-luxury watch segment. As in what is our differentiated proposition that we are bringing to the consumer for this particular category?

I think you're answering the question in the question. You're answering your own question.

Everybody whom you have mentioned are actually watches customer only.

Right.

What we are able to get is a customer who can transcend across categories, right? That's one big differentiator.

Second, we are right now very, very strong in fashion watches. When we talk about fashion watches, Armani, Cerruti, right?

They are at a different ASP. When we talk about specially Ethos, I think it works at a different scale.

Our focus is more around the fashion and now building on the bridge-to-luxury segment. I think the biggest differentiator is the walk-ins which we have.

Like if 5.7 or 5.2, whatever the exact number, if those many number of crores people are walking into the stores and watches is on my ground floor along with beauty, we give that customers that choice to experience the product. I think that that's a very different experience, and which is the power of a departmental store.

If you get your act right, you will get multiple customers traversing across categories. Understood.

Sir,

last question from my end, Malad store, it's been some time since we renovated. Can you comment on trends in some of these renovated stores versus the rest of the network, or versus the earlier trends in these particular stores?

On key retail metrics, what is the kind of improvement that we've seen post the renovation?

We are seeing that once we renovate our marquee stores, our sales productivity goes up by 35%

to 40%. 35% to 40%?

Wow. Okay.

The sales productivity. Yeah?

Okay. That translates into better margins also, right?

Of course. Of course, because both of

the cost of fixed, yeah? Right?

Right.

That's why we are very excited about renovating our five big stores this year.

After these five stores, will our network be largely in the shape which we sort of envisaged, or there are still more?

No, renovation is going to be a continuous thing.

Okay. Great, sir.

Thanks for taking my question. Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah. Hi.

Thanks for the opportunity. In terms of your premiumization initiative, as per my understanding, for the last 20 years, Shoppers Stop has been at the forefront of providing premium apparels and fashion when we look at departmental stores.

There were always limited options in departmental stores. Commendably, we have done that very well.

We are going to the next level of having luxury apparels and fashion accessories. My point is that, when I look at your departmental store growth, it's in the region of 4%, 5%.

The core business departmental store, that is growing at a 4%, 5%, and within that there is an element of the non-apparel business, which is obviously growing at a higher rate, the cosmetics and the watches business. The apparels business, though there has been a good amount of evolution seen particularly in the last seven, eight years in terms of premium apparels, and that is quite differentiating when we compare it with any other departmental store because other departmental stores anyways are not much of options.

When we compare those brands to the exclusive brand outlets, those brands are seeing a higher growth. You rightly said that you have a bigger size and all that, but why are we not able to see more growth than the EBOs?

Because EBOs have done better in the last two years when we compared to the departmental store business, or maybe the estimated apparel store business of yours. Is it that under value proposition within your departmental stores has not done well, only the premium apparels have done well?

What has been the scenario there? Because there have been companies who are grappling, but they are seeing high-single-digit to 10 to 9 10% to 15% kind of growth now.

We need that 15% growth in departmental stores backed by some 7%, 8% same-store sales growth and 7%, 8% store addition, right? Where are we in that overall scenario, that I wanted to understand?

Okay. Thanks, Abhijeet.

Broadly, the question is, as I understand, you're questioning the growth which we have in our apparel business versus that of apparel of the brands in their EBOs, right? That's what the question is.

Right.

That's the fundamental part of the first question. I don't think we have to look at the data in the way you have just mentioned.

All the brands which you speak about who have done a double-digit growth, actually if you ask them how is departmental store retail growth for them, you will find that maybe we are same or more. When you see our profile, you will have a set of brands.

For example, we've got 40 brands of apparel. Few will grow better, few will not grow better, right?

You look at a weighted average. Brand to brand, if you compare the performance, I think we are very much there.

That I know for sure because as partners, we've got deep relationships over the last 30 years or so, we share data very, very openly, right? I think that's one thing.

Obviously, I can't name the brands here because it's a brand's right to mention, just to tell you one, that's one. Second, for brands itself, the departmental stores are, and they continue to be one of the most profitable channels.

Before I joined Shoppers, I was running brands only, and the kind of spaces which people get, the kind of walk-ins which brands get, it's very difficult for them to get in their own EBOs, and the obviously the rental cost which we have versus and the margin versus what the brands pay. I don't see that as an issue.

I think we are comparing subset of data of high-performing apparel brands, and I'm very sure that our performances in those would be equal or better, and that's for sure. At least for the last two years, I'm very, very sure.

The third thing is, and I think you're rightly saying that we should look at a double-digit growth in departmental store, which is a mixture of the like-for-like plus new store. I think for our business, we are aiming for that kind of growth this year, just to answer that.

Yeah?

My other question or rather the main question was, where are we seeing that lower growth? Is it the—

We are seeing higher growth in premium brands. We see lower growth in the low price brands, and that's what I think we said that we are churning out brands.

The other thing which we need to also understand is that most of the brand contracts and brand stores the age is five years.

Right.

You are comparing a three to five years or four years like-for-like growth versus somebody like our marquee stores are 30 years old or 25 years old. It's not a comparable thing at all if I look at it.

There are two or three variables, we have to look at it more granularly to create a hypothesis around it.

Your newer stores would be having a higher growth rate, is that conclusion right then? A three to five years store?

Obviously. Yeah.

Has there been any underlying recovery in discretionary spends seen during the quarter because across the board, generally the fashion spends have been relatively better than what it was in the previous quarters. Have you seen something like that?

Yes, yes. I think in my commentary also, I mentioned that the fashion or the overall business has seen an improvement since February.

That improvement

continued in April as well. May also has started off fine.

My worries are more for the Q2 and Q3 because of supply chain disruptions, if any.

Understood. Thanks.

Thank you. That's it.

Thank you.

Yeah. Hi, am I audible?

Yes, Tejas. Hi.

Hi. Sir, thanks for the follow-up opportunity.

A couple of questions, partly academic in nature. Sir, did I hear you correctly, you said that once a store get refurbishment, sales productivity increases by 35% to 40%?

Yes, I think there are two very good examples: one is Malad, and another is Juhu. The moment we have done it, we have seen that kind of a thing.

In case of Malad, though, we also reduce the space, and that also helped us to grow that much of productivity. For Juhu, is the same store size, and we are going around 35% to 40%.

Yeah.

Sir, if we double click on this, what leads to this? Is it that customer gets excited with the new store because I'm assuming the catchment area, the customer profile remains the same, the location remains the same, and I'm assuming inventory also remains the same, the merchandise?

No,

I think, Tejas, the biggest change happens in merchandise. See, the store obviously looks fresher and more appealing, but I think we have changed the ways, and may I invite you to visit our Juhu store because I think that would give the best answer to this question because if you see the kind of brands we have seen, for example, in Juhu, the number one brand is what we never kept in our store, with that brand has become the number one brand, and it's a very big global brand.

What I'm trying to say is the nature of the merchandise itself changes, the way the pricing at which we have kept, because see, these stores always had good consumer entry. Because we were not renovating or whatever time it took, the stores became jaded, and what we are seeing and experiencing is as we are renovating the stores, in case of Malad, even if I take out that 1/4, SPSF would have gone up by 15%, 20%.

In case of Juhu, completely 35% SPSF increases only basis the newer brands which we've introduced. I think that's a journey.

We realized that the customer has always been there with us. We were just not giving them the merchandise which they deserved, and I think Juhu is a big testimony for all of us and learning which we have accepted, and we are working on now.

Sir,

what is the typical refurbishment cycle?

Typical as in in how many years we do?

Yes.

I think seven to eight years is what we take, but after seeing the Juhu success, that's where we are now focusing on our big stores, Tejas, that we see a formula which is a winning formula, we now need to execute it. That's why I'm saying we have taken five of our largest stores.

Also, the newer stores which we are opening, the ones which are the premium ones, we are opening in a new format only, so that we just want to take the whole experience to the next level. Sir,

isn't this the secret sauce there, because if I do the math, over seven years also if it takes 40% jump, productivity is 5% SSG on CAGR basis. It seems like that it is every six, seven years if we do this, then on CAGR basis, we actually achieve what we are trying to achieve with so many new

laws. Agree.

I think you are right that we should renovate, but I think it's not only about renovation, it's also about what brands you're getting in, right? If we are able to get the right brands and renovate, then that number what I'm mentioning, 15% to 20% in case of Malad or 35% in case of Juhu, we have seen that growth happening.

I think that's a safe assumption, and that's why the focus this year and the coming years is on renovation of our marquee properties as well.

Perfect. Second and last, again partly academic, you said that it was kind of discovery which we made that our customers who are coming already are buying premium brands.

Now, among the offline retailers, you have the most dated, most vintage data on your customers, which you are collecting for last many years. Now, ideally, with the data and with all the computing tools that we have, shouldn't it be much more proactive rather than reactive?

Why I'm saying this, that when we are competing with digital channels who are using even null searches to figure out that what customers are looking for and not getting, with that kind of competition to beat, and the data that we have, shouldn't it be much more proactive to understand our customer?

No, Tejas, I think you misunderstood what I said. What I said was that we introduced a new brand, and we saw that we are able to attract newer customers, right?

Now, whether that customer in the handbag category was buying a brand X or a Y, no data will tell you because we're not an online site which is offering all these brands, please understand. We have the data for shopping within the ecosystem, right?

We don't have his shopping behavior outside the ecosystem because even on our .com, we are only sell brands which are a part of our profile. That's one.

Once we figured that out, that's why we're now using VOC, which is the Voice of Customer, and this is actually done through AI, where customer can speak in 22 languages, that gets converted into word cloud, tells the name of the brand which they want in the store, and we launch it. I think we have been very proactive in this.

You have tools to kind of engage with customers to understand [unclear]. No,

just to give you a sense, Tejas, our loyalty program has been rated the best loyalty program and personalization program has been rated as the best program across all the departmental stores in the world, which include Selfridges and Macy's and everybody. I think There's a lot of information, as you rightly said, sitting with us, and we continuously keep on churning on it.

We are building the personalization there. For example, if you come to our Personal Shopper, he actually has an app which will have all your history: what you have shopped last time, what is likelihood of your buying, which brands you want to buy, what you have shopped before, and if you are shopping this brand, what are the other category brands.

I think, but that's all within the ecosystem. No data allows you to check the ecosystem from outside, right?

I think that we need to very clear on that piece.

Perfect, sir. Thanks.

That's all from my side.

Thank you.