Indochino is on an aggressive push offline. The menswear retailer plans to open 17 stores by the end of the year. That’s in addition to the 18 showrooms it opened last year and the three it opened earlier this year in Brooklyn, New York; Portland, Oregon; and Boston. If the retailer’s plans come to fruition, Indochino will have 58 stores by Jan. 1, 2020, a 190% increase from the 20 it operated exactly two years earlier.
The reason is simple: Showrooms are increasingly crucial to Indochino’s bottom line. The stores account for roughly 70% of the retailer’s revenue, says Peter Housley, Indochino’s chief revenue officer. That’s a dramatic shift from four years ago, when ecommerce accounted for 75% of the brand’s sales.
Beyond driving direct sales, physical stores also produce a multiplier effect; once Indochino moves into a market, its overall sales in the area…