CAI has been in the e-commerce space for the past 9 years, and opened its first store on June 22, 2022, in Phoenix Mill Palladium, Mumbai. It was a roaring success as it marked the brand’s first retail presence. Afterward, the brand opened its next store in Mumbai in April 2023, at Viviana Mall, Thane, aiming to tap into a new audience that had not heard of them. The two stores provided CAI with valuable insights into customers’ demands, as well as which price points and styles work well in retail stores. To expand into different parts of India, CAI identified strong audience bases based on online data. This led them to open their next stores in 2024: Phoenix Mall, Ahmedabad, in January 2024, and DLF Avenue Saket in Delhi. Both locations were fitting choices as CAI had a large fan base, and there was significant eagerness from customers for a physical presence of CAI in their city
Product Range
CAI started as a flats brand as there was a massive gap in the market for affordable trendy flats. However, they soon branched out into heels of all shapes and heights, wedges, to platforms. They also recently launched their range of sneakers, boots, loafers, and a new category of bags.
Their fastest-moving category is still the flats category. The brand offers approximately 400 SKUs. They have also introduced a tropical collection, available at stores, along with a new range of arch support sliders
Product Development
The process of designing and manufacturing begins with setting up a mood board and shortlisting themes to work with. Additionally, CAI creates a merchandising plan, which provides valuable input regarding customer preferences, such as particular styles or heel sizes. They then unleash their creativity and sketch multiple concepts to explore various ideas. They do not constrain themselves in terms of pricing or production feasibility at this stage; it is purely a creative process where designers translate their mental visualisations onto paper. Once they have all the designs finalised, the senior team steps in to implement them on silhouettes and footwear, ensuring practicality, comfort, and value for the customer. Throughout the production process, they maintain a stringent quality control (QC) process to ensure product excellence.
Sourcing Sustainable Material
While sourcing materials, the primary consideration is CAI’s commitment to being an animal cruelty-free brand, necessitating the use of vegan materials. They are PETA-approved and refrain from using any form of leather or animal byproducts.
They offer high-quality vegan leather, also known as PU or PVC. They perform tape tests and use various methods to assess its strength and durability. They also have a dedicated quality control process at the factory.
Innovation & Technology
CAI dabbles in different molds and shapes when it comes to flats, wedges, and heels. To make its products more innovative and distinctive, it conducts a lot of R&D for different molds to enhance comfort and provide fresh designs. For soles and insoles, CAI collaborates with factories that have delved deeply into R&D to offer unique combinations of comfort and style.
In day-to-day operations from inventory planning, merchandising, designing, data retention, and performance, everything runs back to AI and tech.
Brand Strategies
CAI has four retail stores and three MBOs in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Delhi, while the MBOs are situated in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi. They sell through both physical stores and online platforms, although the online platform accounts for 70% of its business as of now.
For e-commerce, CAI is based on a platform called Shopify, which offers an easy shopping experience and simpliȃ es the process for customers to find their products in just a few clicks. There are easy checkout tools and notifications to provide customers with as much information as possible about the product.
CAI is a social media-born brand, and that is one of its biggest mediums for promoting the brand. Performance marketing plays a huge role in reaching out to larger audiences as well as showcasing their products.
Target Audience
CAI’s target audience is women who are independent, self-reliant, and very sure of what they want and are looking for. They are fashion-forward and know their fashion style. The age group ranges from 25 to 50 years.
Expansion Plans
The brand is looking forward to opening more stores in India.
Challenges Faced
Sizing is one challenge CAI faces, as different types of footwear and shapes fit differently. The brand is trying to standardise its lasts and molds to ensure that sizing remains consistent across designs and categories.
