In an interview, Chandramohan says that Licious expects the offline business to deliver strong double-digit growth, outpacing overall company growth over the next 12 to 18 months
As India’s organised meat retail market gains momentum, meat and seafood retailer Licious is prioritising profitable and sustainable expansion over aggressive store additions, betting on a cluster-led model to deepen market presence and improve efficiencies, according to R Chandramohan.
In an interview with BW Retail World, the Senior Vice President of Offline Business at Licious said that the company, which currently operates over 64 offline stores, plans to deepen density in metros while selectively expanding into tier 2 cities where demand for hygienic and trusted meat options is growing. Chandramohan added that offline is increasingly contributing beyond growth, helping improve unit economics through better inventory turns, lower last-mile costs, hyperlocal demand forecasting and faster fulfilment through its omnichannel network. Edited Excerpts:
You have helped in premiumisation of a largely unorganised meat market, what is the next big consumer shift: convenience, health, or ready-to-cook dominance?
All three trends are converging, but convenience-led premiumisation will define the next phase of the category. Consumers today are far more conscious about hygiene, traceability and quality. In many ways, health and safety are now baseline expectations. What is evolving faster is the demand for convenience, especially in ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat formats.
At Licious, we are seeing strong traction for our marinated and pre-prepped portfolio, including kebabs, curries, cold cuts and portion-controlled packs. These products are designed to significantly reduce preparation time while delivering consistent taste, freshness and food safety. For the modern consumer, the expectation is clear: they want restaurant-quality outcomes at home, without the effort traditionally associated with cooking meat and seafood.
What makes this shift even more meaningful is that it is being driven by repeat customers. In our case, over 85 per cent of revenue comes from repeat users. Once consumers trust the brand for fresh meat and seafood, they are more open to exploring adjacent formats that solve for convenience without compromising on quality. So, the future will not be defined by one trend alone. It will be shaped by high-quality, safe and trusted protein delivered in formats that are easier, faster and more relevant to modern lifestyles.
You are targeting a large store expansion. What does the ideal offline footprint look like in the next two-to-three years? Is this about density in metros or deeper tier 2 play?
Our offline expansion over the next two-to-three years will be built on a simple belief: in a category like meat and seafood, trust is built both online and offline. Metros will continue to be a key focus area, where we will build greater store density to improve access, convenience and fulfilment speed, including support for our 30-minute delivery promise. At the same time, Tier 2 cities offer a strong whitespace opportunity as consumers there increasingly seek hygienic, trusted and high-quality meat options.
Our expansion will remain cluster-led. We will build the supply chain backbone first, ensure consistent quality and serviceability and then scale stores around that ecosystem. This is important because offline for us is not just about opening stores. It is about creating a trusted experience layer for consumers who may still prefer to see and evaluate the product before buying.
Nearly 72 per cent of our offline customers are completely new to Licious and many of them have traditionally purchased from local markets. Interestingly, we have also seen online demand rise in localities where we open stores. That has been a powerful learning for us. Offline does not compete with digital; it strengthens digital. For Licious, the future is not online versus offline. It is one integrated, omnichannel way of serving the consumer better.
As Licious moves closer to profitability, how critical is offline in improving unit economics versus being just a growth lever?
Offline plays a dual role for us. It is both a growth lever and an important driver of stronger unit economics. From a growth perspective, stores allow us to reach a large segment of consumers who still prefer buying meat and seafood physically. In this category, trust is often built through touch, visibility and direct interaction. Offline helps us serve those consumers better while also strengthening our presence in high-potential catchments.
At the same time, offline is not just a front-end retail play. It strengthens the efficiency of our overall operating model. With our integrated cold chain and hub-and-spoke distribution network, stores help improve inventory turns, reduce last-mile delivery costs, and enable sharper demand forecasting at a hyperlocal level.
This is especially important for a perishable category, where supply chain discipline directly impacts quality, wastage and profitability. Our just-in-time model allows us to plan supply more efficiently, minimise wastage, and serve demand closer to the consumer. So, while online continues to be a strong growth engine for us, offline is becoming increasingly important in improving cost efficiencies, strengthening local market penetration and accelerating our path to profitability.
What kind of revenue growth are you targeting for the offline business over the next 12–18 months and how much will it contribute to Licious’ overall topline?
Over the next 12 to 18 months, we expect the offline business to deliver strong double-digit growth, outpacing overall company growth on the back of a lower base and increasing store productivity. While offline still accounts for a smaller share than online, it is scaling steadily, with over 64 stores. Our focus is on building sustainable, high-throughput stores within key clusters rather than aggressive, dispersed expansion.
As we deepen presence and improve unit-level economics, offline will become a more meaningful contributor to topline – while also strengthening our omnichannel ecosystem and driving higher customer lifetime value.
How are you using offline stores as micro-fulfilment centres, what percentage of online orders are being serviced through these stores today?
At Licious, offline stores are not just retail touchpoints. They are an integral part of our omnichannel fulfilment strategy. We are increasingly using stores as neighbourhood fulfilment nodes, especially in high-density catchments where consumers expect faster access and greater convenience. This allows us to bring inventory closer to demand and support faster deliveries, including our 30-minute delivery promise in key locations.
Because our stores are backed by Licious’ integrated cold chain, we are able to maintain freshness, quality and temperature control while reducing the distance between the product and the consumer. In a category like meat and seafood, this is critical because speed cannot come at the cost of product integrity.
The store-led fulfilment model also helps us optimise delivery routes, improve local serviceability and manage higher order volumes in busy neighbourhoods. So, offline is not operating in isolation. It is becoming a strategic layer in our larger supply chain and consumer experience ecosystem.
With India’s meat market largely unorganised, what percentage of the category is currently addressable for Licious, and how fast is the organised segment growing?
India’s meat and seafood market is estimated at around USD 55 billion, yet only about 10 per cent of it is organised and nearly 1 per cent is currently addressed by ecommerce. This clearly reflects the scale of the opportunity ahead. Over the last decade, Licious has reached nearly five million consumers by solving for what the category has historically lacked: trust, hygiene, consistency and convenience. As more consumers move away from traditional wet markets and choose brands that offer greater assurance, we believe the category is at the beginning of a much larger shift.
The opportunity is not just to grow Licious. It is to help organise and professionalise a large, everyday consumption category that has remained underserved for decades. With stronger supply chains, better quality standards, cold-chain discipline and omnichannel access, we see a long runway for growth for both us and the organised meat and seafood market in India.
How much higher is the average order value (AOV) in offline versus online and what are you doing to drive basket expansion?
Interestingly, we have reached a point where there is no significant difference between our offline and online average order value. This reflects how both channels are now playing equally strong yet slightly different roles in the consumer journey.
Offline stores continue to offer the tactile experience of the butcher’s table, where consumers can see the product, interact with trained staff and discover new formats. At the same time, our online platform has meaningfully caught up through data-led personalisation, stronger recommendations and the growing adoption of our 30-minute delivery service, Licious Flash, which now drives around 55 per cent of our transacting traffic. This is creating a high-frequency, consistent purchase habit online, which is beginning to mirror the discovery and engagement we see in our physical stores.
To drive basket expansion, our focus is on moving the consumer from a single-product purchase to a fuller meal-solution mindset.
This includes cross-selling and bundling fresh meat with marinades, ready-to-cook products, cold cuts and other value-added formats. In stores, our trained teams play an important role in guiding customers and recommending complementary products. Loyalty is another important lever. Our Infiniti programme, which now has over 350,000+= subscribers, helps build repeat behaviour and encourages customers to engage more frequently with the brand
Alongside this, we continue to expand our assortment with new value-added products that allow us to capture a larger share of the customer’s food wallet. Overall, the opportunity is to change the way consumers shop for meat and seafood. We want to move from being seen as a place to buy one item to becoming the go-to destination for complete, high-quality meal solutions.
