Ikonic opens its first Hyderabad store: why a hair-care appliance D2C brand wants a physical presence

In August 2026, Indian hair-care appliance brand Ikonic opened its first sales space in Hyderabad, inside a Shoppers Stop store at Inorbit Mall. It is operated by SSIZ International Pvt. Ltd. For a brand that had grown mainly through online sales, placing a touchpoint where consumers can try the actual devices in a city department store offers a reference point for Japanese companies selling beauty and hair-care appliances in India when thinking through how to build out a shop floor.

Ikonic opens its first retail space at Shoppers Stop in Hyderabad

Ikonic, run by SSIZ International, handles hair-styling appliances and grooming devices such as hair dryers, straighteners, curlers, and crimpers. What opened this time is a sales space inside a Shoppers Stop store at Inorbit Mall in Hyderabad, marking the company's first physical retail touchpoint in the city. Company director Rayed Merchant said the opening is meant to let people experience the brand outside the digital space, indicating a policy of combining online sales with a physical storefront.

Why an appliance brand that grew up online is moving onto department store shelves

For hair dryers and straighteners, the feel of use, the weight in hand, the airflow, how the heat is applied, tends to be the deciding factor in a purchase. It's hard to convey that through photos and spec sheets alone, so letting customers try the actual device in store fills that gap. Ikonic's choice of a department-store sales space, rather than a standalone street store, reflects a judgment that riding on Shoppers Stop's high foot traffic makes it easier to create trial opportunities in a new city.

How to present hands-on appliances in a limited retail space

Space inside a department store is limited. What works there is displaying flagship models in a working state and letting customers adjust airflow and heat settings themselves. For an appliance chosen on function, like Ikonic's products, the feel in the customer's own hand does more persuading than a salesperson's explanation. Keeping in-store stock and pricing aligned with online is also essential, so that the two-step purchase pattern, checking price and reviews online, then confirming in person at the store, works smoothly. That this new sales space is Ikonic's first physical touchpoint in Hyderabad, added to complement rather than replace its existing digital sales, fits that same two-step premise.

The brand frames this as "a place for experience"

Rayed Merchant positioned this retail rollout as "an effort to make Ikonic more familiar and create an opportunity for people to experience the brand outside the digital space." Rather than framing the store as a base for expanding sales, the explanation treats it as a place where consumers touch the brand, suggesting a policy of keeping digital sales as the main axis while adding physical stores as a complementary touchpoint. The lineup covers styling appliances and grooming devices such as hair dryers, straighteners, curlers, and crimpers, all items where the feel in hand and the finished result drive the evaluation. In India's beauty and grooming appliance space, it's becoming common for brands that built awareness online first to add a trial experience at department store or specialty stores.

If you're going to sell beauty appliances in India, where should you place the trial space?

For Japanese beauty and hair-care appliance makers entering India too, securing a place where customers can hold and try the product is the entry point. The way a men's grooming D2C brand is expanding its retail footprint while prioritizing profitability is shown by the case of India's men's D2C brand "Dapr.", which shows a design that carefully selects store touchpoints while keeping spending tight. The trend of D2C brands steering from online-only toward combined online-and-offline sales also connects to ethnic-wear brand Koskii's reverse omnichannel approach, and serves as a useful basis when designing a channel strategy for India.

Where India's beauty brands are meeting their customers

In the beauty category, brands launched as D2C keep adding distribution channels such as quick commerce and department stores. The move by a major beauty player to expand into the health category is seen in Mamaearth parent Honasa's acquisition, and building a retail presence that doesn't rely on a single channel is becoming standard in India's consumer goods sector.

Practical information and related links

• How an India men's grooming D2C brand competes while prioritizing profitability
• The reverse omnichannel strategy of an ethnic-wear brand with 30 stores
• The move by a major beauty D2C player to buy a dermatologist network and expand into the health market

Summary: start by testing a trial-format retail space in a single city

Ikonic's store opening was a realistic move: borrowing space at a busy department store to create trial opportunities. The next action Japanese companies considering beauty and hair-care appliances in India can take first is to pick one city with strong purchasing power, such as Hyderabad or Bengaluru, place a small trial-format space inside a department store where customers can handle the actual devices, and measure the response while keeping it aligned with online pricing and stock. The decision to invest in a standalone street store can wait until after seeing how that goes.

Sources

• Indian Retailer｜Ikonic Launches First Hyderabad Retail Presence