Livpure's push into 17 small-format "see and touch" stores at once, each under 350 square meters

Livpure, India's leading water purifier and appliance maker, is rolling out 17 small experience-focused stores called "Livpure Studios" all at once between June and July. The first store has already opened in Rupnagar, Punjab, with every store under 350 square feet (about 33 square meters). Rather than the appliance-superstore approach of setting aside a sales-consultation area, these stores demonstrate water filtration in action within a compact space, with specialist staff explaining how to use the product right in front of the customer. This move, focused mainly on openings in smaller cities, offers a concrete example of building a sales floor for regional markets for Japanese appliance, household-goods, and food makers considering entry into India.

Summary of the news behind this

According to multiple Indian trade media, Livpure will open 17 small, experience-focused stores called "Studio" across 17 cities between June and July 2026. Each store is under 350 square feet. They will display water purifiers that demonstrate the filtration process live, voice-controlled kitchen exhaust hoods (chimneys), and energy-efficient appliances, with trained product specialists giving live demonstrations to customers. Managing Director Rakesh Kaul said, "The Studio format is a major step forward in how we engage with consumers across India." The company also announced plans to open 75 new stores in the following fiscal year (India's fiscal year begins in April).

Why bother with a "small experience store" now?

What stands out is that Livpure has placed the aim of this format on gaining a foothold in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Tier 2 and Tier 3 refer to mid-sized and small regional cities that come after major metros such as Delhi and Mumbai (Tier 1). Until now, appliance and water-purifier sales in India have been driven mainly by large-format retailers and e-commerce in the big cities. But for a product like a water purifier - where water quality varies by region and the benefit isn't convincing until you actually try it - buyers find it hard to gain confidence from spec comparisons on a screen alone.

That is why Livpure took the approach of giving up a large sales floor and leaning entirely into demonstration. At 350 square feet, the space is less than half the size of a Japanese convenience store. Rather than a place to stock inventory, it functions more like a "demonstration booth" that shows cloudy water becoming clear right in front of the customer, with specialist staff answering questions on the spot. Being small keeps rent down, allowing the company to open many stores even in regional cities. It reads as a design that balances rollout speed with the density of the experience.

Livpure Studios in numbers

Here is a summary of the figures confirmed in this announcement, limited to details consistent across multiple trade media.

Starting with 17 stores and scaling to 75 in the following fiscal year. The regions span widely, centered on North India but reaching Karnataka in the south and Maharashtra in the west. Rather than concentrating on a single state, this is a rollout that blankets Tier 2 and Tier 3 areas broadly.

Operational issues this format faces

A small, experience-focused store has issues that a large-format retailer does not. First, at 350 square feet there is almost no room to display inventory, making it unsuited to the kind of shopping where customers take a product home on the spot. A Studio becomes not "a place to choose and buy" but "a place to place an order once convinced." That is why the design of the downstream process - smoothly connecting a customer who has been convinced by the demonstration to placing an order, installation, and a subscription contract - determines the store's sales.

Second, a format that conveys value through demonstration, unlike door-to-door sales or a purely franchise-run approach, presupposes having specialist staff on-site who understand the product. For water purifiers, after-sales service such as installation and filter replacement is often the deciding factor in a purchase, and whether the store functions as "a place you can consult" is what separates trust from mistrust. As the company scales from 17 stores to a new total of 75, how well it can secure and train this kind of staff in regional cities will be a constraint on its pace of expansion.

Implications for Japanese companies: turning the sales floor into an "explanation box"

For Japanese appliance, household-goods, and food makers considering entry into India, Livpure Studio offers a concrete example of how to build a sales floor for India's regional markets. It is worth reading separately by product type.

For durable goods and fixtures such as water purifiers, cooking appliances, and health appliances

Competing by setting up a large flagship store in a prime Tier 1 location is heavy both in terms of rent and setup time. Livpure instead deploys small, roughly 350-square-foot stores in numbers across regional cities. If a Japanese maker is bringing in durable goods whose value comes across through demonstration, a realistic sequence is to first identify cities with strong demand through small experience hubs, then expand from there. For products that assume repeat purchases, such as filter replacement, positioning the store not as "a place to buy" but as "a place to keep consulting," and designing regular supply of consumables together with installation support as part of the store experience, can turn the meticulous after-sales service Japanese companies excel at into a point of differentiation.

For food products such as dried vegetables, seasonings, and processed foods

For food, the style of demonstration differs from appliances. The equivalent of the filtration demonstration is a tasting and cooking demonstration. For dried vegetables, this could mean showing the rehydration process with water on the spot, then demonstrating a simple dish - such as miso soup or a stir-fry - using the rehydrated vegetables. Shelf-stable dried ingredients have the advantage of being easy to stock even in a small store and carry a lighter burden for expiration-date management. The know-how built up through Japanese trade-fair and department-store demonstration sales can be applied directly to this small-store design. Placing recipe suggestions in-store for how to incorporate the ingredient into local home cooking can also lower the barrier to purchase for ingredients that "grow once people know how to use them." The idea of connecting subscription delivery or bulk purchase pathways to the in-store experience is shared with durable appliances.

The broader picture of India's retail expansion can also be seen in a major retailer's rollout of 2,182 stores Livpure's small demonstration stores represent a different answer within this wave of store openings - one that shrinks floor space to raise the density of the experience.

Ripple effects on the market: will small, experiential stores become the norm in regional India?

Livpure's move is not an isolated case. Wow! Momo expanding to about 780 stores, and the two leading local coffee chains are also expanding their store networks. Livpure and these dining and coffee chains share the same approach of increasing the number of small stores to capture regional markets.

But the aim is not the same. Small stores for Wow! Momo and the coffee chains are "points of sale" that serve and sell a product on the spot. Livpure Studio, by contrast, does not hand over a product at all - it commits fully to being a "place of experience" that convinces the customer and sends them toward placing an order. Even among similarly small stores, turnover rate decides success for the former, while conversion rate decides it for the latter. When a Japanese company copies this format, it needs to first determine which type its own product falls into: "sold and consumed on the spot" or "experienced now, purchased later." If small "see and touch" stores become the standard way of selling in regional Indian cities, later-arriving foreign makers will end up competing on the same terms.

Practical points companies should check right away before entering

Here is a summary of checklist items for considering entry, drawn from the Livpure Studios case.

If prioritizing, the realistic order is to first design the downstream pathway, then the staff to run it, and only then work out location and floor size. Even if the experience makes a customer want to buy, a small store cannot function without the order-fulfillment process and the people to back it up.

Frequently asked questions

How many Livpure Studios stores will open, and when?

17 stores will open across 17 cities between June and July 2026. The first store has already opened in Rupnagar, Punjab. The company has also indicated plans to open 75 new stores in the following fiscal year.

Why is the store size as small as under 350 square feet?

It is designed as a "demonstration booth" for experiencing the product live, rather than a large-format retailer stocking inventory. Keeping the space small keeps rent down, with the aim of making it easier to open many stores in Tier 2 and Tier 3 regional cities.

What can Japanese appliance and food makers learn from this?

Three things: capturing regional markets through small experience hubs rather than waiting to open large stores; conveying value through demonstration before selling; and building after-sales service into the store's function. Demonstration-based selling is an area where Japanese companies excel, and it can be a point of differentiation in regional markets.

Related reading

• A major retailer's rollout of 2,182 stores
• Wow! Momo's expansion to 780 stores
• The two leading local coffee chains expanding their store networks

Source:

• PC-Tablet: Livpure Launches 17 Experiential Retail Studios Across India
• PNI News: Livpure Introduces Studio Format Retail Outlets
• Indian Retailer: Livpure Opens New Studio Retail Format