Raymond Lifestyle Limited is putting a sharper strategic focus on the business of building, reshaping and expanding its retail network with the appointment of Ankur Kohli as Head – Business Development, Lifestyle Brands. Kohli brings more than two decades of experience across retail real estate, business development, store expansion and operations, including a 16-year career with Bata India, where he most recently headed Real Estate & Business Development, Projects & Excellence for South Asia.
His appointment comes at an interesting inflection point for Raymond Lifestyle. The company, which became a standalone listed entity in September 2024 following the demerger of Raymond’s lifestyle business, now operates as a pure-play lifestyle and fashion business. Its latest reported retail network stood at 1,627 stores as of June 2026, spanning 600+ towns and cities, with 1,112 The Raymond Shops and 463 exclusive brand outlets, supported by more than 20,000 trade points.
But the immediate retail agenda is not simply about adding more stores. Raymond Lifestyle is in the midst of a network optimisation exercise, having exited 133 underperforming stores while opening 85 new, higher-yielding locations over the preceding year. Management has indicated that this rationalisation will continue for another three to four quarters before the company moves back towards a stronger expansion phase.
For Kohli, therefore, the mandate is much bigger than finding new stores. It is about finding the right location, format and retail environment for the right brand.
A Career Built Around the Business of Retail
Kohli’s career has been closely aligned with the evolution of organised retail in India. He began with Tata International, where he was part of the team that helped establish Stryde boutiques and exclusive outlets across Delhi and upcountry markets. His responsibilities covered retail rollout, distributor and retailer management, visual merchandising, sales operations, training and market mapping.
At M&B Footwear, he worked on establishing the Walkin M&B multi-brand retail chain, which brought together brands including Lee Cooper, Geox, Rider, Merrill, Provogue and Marco Ricci. The business was developed from zero to 75 stores, with Kohli handling strategic expansion, franchisee management, location hunting and negotiations, inventory planning, store-level breakeven, merchandising and operational performance.
At Crocs India Retail, his responsibilities moved even closer to the retail real-estate and business-development intersection. As National Retail Operations Manager, he drove national retail initiatives, exclusive and shop-in-shop formats, business development and projects, while also handling location identification and negotiations. He rolled out an eight-store Tier-1 expansion programme and secured four premium locations.
His longest professional chapter was at Bata India, where he spent 16 years across retail operations, real estate and business development. From 2015 to 2025, he served as Head – Real Estate & Business Development, Projects & Excellence (South Asia), following earlier leadership roles in real estate and retail operations.
That progression gives Kohli a particularly relevant perspective for Raymond Lifestyle. He understands not only where a store should be opened, but also what makes the location commercially viable and what needs to happen inside the store to deliver productivity.
A Large Retail Platform Ready for the Next Evolution
Kohli is joining a business with an extensive physical retail platform. The latest network comprises 1,112 The Raymond Shops and 463 EBOs, alongside Made To Measure and other channels, with the broader distribution footprint extending across more than 600 towns and cities and 20,000-plus trade points.
That gives Raymond Lifestyle a powerful foundation, but also makes the next phase of retail strategy more complex.
The company has multiple consumer propositions operating at different price points and addressing different occasions. Raymond Ready To Wear, Park Avenue, ColorPlus and Parx form the core branded apparel portfolio, while Ethnix by Raymond, Made To Measure and newer categories such as innerwear and other emerging businesses provide additional growth platforms.
The opportunity is therefore to move from a large retail network to a more sharply segmented retail architecture.
Every Brand Needs its Own Retail Answer
A Raymond store, a Park Avenue store, a ColorPlus store and an Ethnix store do not necessarily require the same location, format or catchment.
A formalwear proposition may need a different environment from a casualwear brand. An ethnicwear business is closely linked to wedding and occasion-led consumption, while a contemporary lifestyle brand may benefit from a premium mall or high-street environment with strong fashion adjacency.
This makes business development a strategic function rather than simply a real-estate function.
The question for Raymond Lifestyle is increasingly which brand belongs where, in what format, at what store size and under what operating model.
Kohli’s experience covers many of these variables—location hunting and negotiations, premium real estate, franchise management, store-level profitability, retail formats and operational execution.
The Current Story Is About Quality, Not Just Store Count
This is perhaps the most important change in Raymond Lifestyle’s retail strategy.
The company’s store count declined from 1,675 in June 2025 to 1,627 in June 2026, despite 85 new locations being opened, because 133 underperforming stores were exited. The company has been using the exercise to move towards higher-yielding locations and a more productive retail estate.
That is a significant strategic signal.
The next phase of Raymond Lifestyle’s retail growth is unlikely to be judged simply by how many stores it adds. Store productivity, catchment quality, rental economics, consumer profile and brand fit are becoming equally important.
For Kohli, this is familiar territory. His previous roles have involved not only identifying locations but also achieving store-level breakeven, setting sales targets, managing inventory, improving operations and ensuring that retail investments translated into viable businesses.
The Mall-Developer Connection
Kohli’s own announcement after joining Raymond Lifestyle underlines where he sees the opportunity. He spoke about contributing to the growth of the company’s iconic brands, building strong partnerships with mall developers and creating new retail opportunities across India, describing retail as being “in my DNA.”
That mall-developer relationship could become an important part of the next retail cycle.
India’s organised fashion market is expanding beyond the traditional metros. New malls, high streets and mixed-use developments are creating modern retail environments in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities, while established metros continue to see premiumisation of shopping destinations.
For Raymond Lifestyle, this creates an opportunity to develop a city-by-city, brand-by-brand retail map rather than follow a uniform national rollout.
Ethnix and the New Growth Pockets
Ethnix by Raymond is an important example of the opportunity—and of why store productivity matters.
The brand has become one of Raymond Lifestyle’s important emerging businesses, but its network too is undergoing rationalisation. During Q1 FY27, management said Ethnix opened one store but closed 18 underperforming locations as part of the broader network optimisation.
That is an important distinction from simply reporting a large store count. It shows that Raymond Lifestyle is prepared to reshape even its growth brands around stronger locations and better economics.
Ethnix’s focus on men’s ethnic and occasionwear gives it access to India’s vast wedding and celebration market. Here, catchment, local consumer behaviour and the right retail environment can be particularly important to store performance.
The Raymond Shop Remains the Reach Engine
At the other end of the retail spectrum is The Raymond Shop, which remains the backbone of Raymond Lifestyle’s physical presence.
With 1,112 stores as of June 2026, TRS provides enormous geographic reach and a long-established consumer relationship.
Its role is fundamentally different from that of an EBO. While an exclusive brand outlet gives a brand greater control over identity, merchandise presentation and consumer experience, The Raymond Shop provides scale and access across a much broader market.
Together with Made To Measure and the EBO network, this gives Raymond Lifestyle a powerful multi-format retail architecture.
The next opportunity is to make those formats work more intelligently together.
From Physical Stores to Omnichannel Brand Building
The physical store is also becoming part of a much larger omnichannel ecosystem.
Raymond Lifestyle’s strategy material places digital commerce at around 10% of apparel revenues, with an ambition to take the contribution to 20% by 2029.
That makes the store more than a four-wall retail destination. It can become a brand-discovery point, customer-acquisition channel, experience centre and physical touchpoint within an increasingly digital consumer journey.
For Raymond Lifestyle, the most productive retail network will therefore be one in which stores strengthen digital discovery and digital channels drive consumers towards physical brand experiences.
Premiumisation and the New Store
Raymond Lifestyle’s retail strategy is also being shaped by changes in fashion consumption, particularly premiumisation and casualisation.
The company’s portfolio increasingly spans premium formalwear, contemporary casualwear, ethnicwear and newer lifestyle categories. That requires retail formats that can communicate very different propositions while maintaining a coherent overall architecture.
The store itself becomes part of the brand experience: its location, frontage, adjacency, size, visual merchandising and ambience all contribute to how consumers perceive the brand.
This is another area where Kohli’s experience—from securing premium locations at Crocs to leading real estate and business development at Bata—becomes directly relevant.
Fashioning the Next Retail Map
There is an interesting symmetry in Kohli’s move to Raymond Lifestyle. His career has taken him through several stages of India’s organised retail evolution—from building boutique and distribution networks at Tata International, to creating a multi-brand chain at M&B Footwear, expanding Crocs and then spending 16 years across retail, real estate and business development at Bata.
He now arrives at Raymond Lifestyle at a moment when the company’s retail story is shifting from expansion at scale to expansion with precision.
The company already has the brands, heritage, distribution muscle and one of India’s most extensive apparel retail platforms. The opportunity now is to make that network more productive and more relevant to where India’s fashion consumer is shopping—across malls, high streets, emerging cities, EBOs, The Raymond Shop and digital channels.
Kohli’s mandate, therefore, is not simply about adding stores.
It is about fashioning the next retail map for Raymond Lifestyle—one where every brand, every format and every location has a clearly defined role in the company’s next phase of growth.
