Online fashion retailer Yepme shuts offline stores, shifts warehouse

Delhi-based Yepme, one of the oldest online fashion retailers, is on a cost-reduction spree. The company which changed its business strategy from online-only to online-cum-offline stores is now reducing its offline stores and has also shifted its warehouse from a bigger facility to a smaller one, according to VCCircle report.

To manage costs, the company has shifted its warehouse from Bilaspur in Gurugram to Kabulpur in Faridabad.

The company shifted its 100,000 sq. ft. warehouse to a 70,000 sq. ft. Besides, the online company has also fired some people in the cost cutting process.

The firm’s four offline stores in Gurugram and Noida (two in each city) have been shuttered due to lack of profitability, according to the report.

Vivek Gaur, co-founder and CEO said the stores were not making money, so he had no option but to close down the stores. He is now opening a new store in EDM Mall in Ghaziabad.

The company has been going through difficult time in the past few months.

In March, a group of Yepme employees had approached the Labour Commission complaining of unpaid salaries. Despite that nothing happened, employees said.

Earlier this month, they lodged a complaint with the Labour Commission accusing the company of delayed payments and salaries. The employees blamed the company of putting “mental pressure” on them to resign and alleged that they were being asked to return company assets. Besides, they claimed to be working in “inhuman” conditions, the complaint stated.

In May this year, VAS Data Services’ Yepme had raised Rs 4.5 crore (around $700,000 then) in a bridge round. In the same month, Yepme raised Rs 6.26 crore (just under $1 million) from listed garment exporter Gokaldas Exports Ltd (GEX). The firm had said it will use the funds for the operations of its UK entity, Yepme UK Plc, which deals in fashion products exclusively for international markets.