{"id":15819,"date":"2026-07-30T18:43:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/10.10.164.133\/?p=15819"},"modified":"2026-07-30T18:43:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:13:37","slug":"the-pivot-story-how-inc-5-rebuilt-from-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/payu.in\/blog\/the-pivot-story-how-inc-5-rebuilt-from-zero\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pivot Story: How Inc.5 Rebuilt From Zero"},"content":{"rendered":" \n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ep 3 | The Pivot Story | Inc.5 ft. Rajesh Kadam: Rebuilding Beyond Retail\" width=\"1250\" height=\"703\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_qK8P1tXHL4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Inc.5&nbsp;started in a&nbsp;small&nbsp;100 sq. ft. store&nbsp;in 1998. Today&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp;scaled to&nbsp;90+ stores&nbsp;nationwide,&nbsp;becoming&nbsp;a trusted name in fashion-forward footwear and bags.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What got them there?&nbsp;Blending comfort, craftsmanship,&nbsp;with new styles hitting shelves every&nbsp;15 days&nbsp;to a month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>80 to 85%&nbsp;of their&nbsp;business&nbsp;came from malls. Then COVID hit, and that same strength became Inc.5&#8217;s biggest&nbsp;challenge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Happens When Growth Forces a Pivot?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When malls shut down, Inc.5 was the first to close and the last to reopen. Operations went to zero. Revenue went to zero. It felt like doomsday, the kind of moment where everything seemed over, done.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as one door closes, another opens. The only thing that could keep moving was&nbsp;online,&nbsp;a channel Inc.5&nbsp;hadn&#8217;t&nbsp;taken seriously before.&nbsp;They weren&#8217;t sure they&#8217;d get good demand online.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They were wrong. Online demand showed up, and Inc.5 leaned into it. What started as the only&nbsp;option&nbsp;left&nbsp;became Inc.5&#8217;s new backbone.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was just one problem: returns.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Powering Inc.5&#8217;s Payments with PayU<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In India, footwear shoppers are used to ordering two, three, even four pairs at once, keeping one or two, and returning the rest. That pattern puts real pressure on checkout and payments to work smoothly, every single time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since integrating PayU with GoKwik, Inc.5 has seen uptake improve, success rates go higher, and conversion increase significantly with: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/payu.in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Payment Gateway<\/a>&nbsp;&#8211; Accept 150+ payment modes with industry-leading success rates, 99.98% up-time &amp; seamless integration across web and app platforms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Impact of Partnering With PayU &amp; GoKwik<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong>Higher<\/strong>&nbsp;uptake since integrating PayU &amp; GoKwik&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong>Higher<\/strong>&nbsp;conversion since integrating PayU &amp;&nbsp;GoKwik&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;Since the&nbsp;time&nbsp;we&#8217;ve integrated PayU with&nbsp;GoKwik, uptake has been better, the success rate has gone higher, and the conversion is significantly higher.&#8221;<\/em>&nbsp;<br>\u2014&nbsp;Rajesh Kadam, CEO, Inc.5&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What&#8217;s the Real Lesson From Inc.5&#8217;s Pivot?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Inc.5&#8217;s story is a reminder that growth is about spotting what isn&#8217;t working, and having the resilience to rebuild when the ground shifts under you.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Inc.5, the pivot&nbsp;wasn&#8217;t&nbsp;just about moving&nbsp;online. It was about proving, to themselves as much as anyone, that the product could carry the brand through a channel&nbsp;they&#8217;d&nbsp;never relied on before.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As&nbsp;Rajesh Kadam&nbsp;puts it: &#8220;Whatever category you choose, the thumb rule should be your product should be the hero, hero as in the superhero. Rest everything will fall into place, all the ROAS, ROI, but your product has to be the hero.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PayU powers brands like Inc.5, so they can focus on growing their business.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/onboarding.payu.in\/app\/account\/signup?utm_source=gwk&amp;utm_medium=yt&amp;utm_campaign=pvtstory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Grow your business with PayU<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Inc.5&nbsp;started in a&nbsp;small&nbsp;100 sq. ft. store&nbsp;in 1998. Today&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp;scaled to&nbsp;90+ stores&nbsp;nationwide,&nbsp;becoming&nbsp;a trusted name in fashion-forward footwear and bags.&nbsp; What got them there?&nbsp;Blending comfort, craftsmanship,&nbsp;with new styles hitting shelves every&nbsp;15 days&nbsp;to a&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[585],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Pivot Story: How Inc.5 Rebuilt From Zero - PayU Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/payu.in\/blog\/the-pivot-story-how-inc-5-rebuilt-from-zero\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pivot Story: How Inc.5 Rebuilt From Zero - PayU Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Inc.5&nbsp;started in a&nbsp;small&nbsp;100 sq. ft. store&nbsp;in 1998. 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