This article has been contributed by Esha Bhambri, Co-Founder & Creative Director, House of Fett.
Scaling a fashion business from a startup to a ₹100+ crore brand doesn’t happen by chance—it takes vision, persistence, and financial discipline. Many entrepreneurs start with passion, but long-term success depends on making smart business decisions, negotiating costs, and being deeply involved in operations. Here are key lessons that can help other fashion entrepreneurs scale their business effectively.
1. Scaling Starts with a Strong Vision & Relentless Persistence
The biggest difference between brands that stay small and those that scale is the founder’s vision. When I started, I had no external funding or big industry backing—but I envisioned a ₹100 crore brand from day one. No matter what challenges came in my way—economic downturns, cash flow issues, rejections—I remained persistent.
Entrepreneurs often underestimate the power of setting clear goals. If you want to scale:
Think big, but plan smart—a vision without execution is just a dream.
Be relentless—every founder faces obstacles, but those who push through will see long-term growth.
Stay adaptable—if something doesn’t work, pivot quickly without losing sight of the bigger picture.
2. Managing Costs Like Every Rupee Counts
One of the most overlooked skills in business is cost control. Many startups fail because they overspend early on and struggle with cash flow. I personally handled all company expenses, negotiating every cost to the lowest possible value. Every rupee saved was a rupee earned.
To scale successfully, entrepreneurs must:
Learn to negotiate—from store leases to raw materials, suppliers, and logistics, small savings add up to big margins.
Cut unnecessary overheads—fancy offices, excessive hires, and expensive marketing may look good, but they drain capital.
Prioritize smart spending—invest in product quality, retail experience, and customer acquisition rather than vanity metrics.
Even today, I review major operational costs to ensure the business remains lean, allowing us to reinvest profits into expansion.
3. Founders Must Know Everything in the Early Stages
In the early years of a startup, there’s no budget to hire senior executives or expensive consultants. As an entrepreneur, you need to understand every part of the business—operations, finance, marketing, supply chain, and HR.
I personally managed:
Retail leasing and negotiations to get the best locations at the lowest possible cost.
Vendor and supplier pricing to ensure our production and logistics costs remained under control.
Marketing budgets and campaign strategies, ensuring maximum ROI from them and influencer collaborations.
Once the business scales, you can hire specialists, but in the beginning, a founder must wear multiple hats and build systems from scratch.
Many fashion entrepreneurs get caught up in the design process and overlook the business side of things. While creativity is essential, a brand can only grow if it’s commercially viable.
To scale, you must:
Track sales data—analyze what works and adjust future collections accordingly.
Test in small batches before investing in large production runs.
Understand your audience—fashion isn’t just about trends; it’s about knowing what your customers actually buy.
Every creative decision must align with market demand and revenue potential.
5. Building an Omnichannel Business for Maximum Reach
A fashion brand can’t rely on a single revenue stream. Today’s successful brands scale by combining physical retail with a strong digital presence.
Many brands start purely online and struggle to scale offline because physical retail requires different expertise. A balanced omnichannel approach ensures consistent cash flow and multiple growth avenues.
6. Reinvesting Profits for Long-Term Growth
In the early stages, profitability should be reinvested, not withdrawn for luxuries. I chose to prioritize business growth over personal gains, ensuring funds were used for:
Investing in better infrastructure & supply chain.
Many startups make the mistake of spending too much on branding & lifestyle upgrades before establishing a strong business foundation. The key to scaling is delayed gratification—build the company first, enjoy the rewards later.
7. Learning from Failures & Pivoting Quickly
Every entrepreneur faces setbacks. Some of the biggest lessons come from unexpected challenges:
During COVID-19, all retail stores shut down, and we had no online business at the time. Instead of panicking, I used the last ₹30,000 left on my credit card to build an online store myself through Shopify tutorials.
When one of our best-performing stores was shut down to accommodate a retail giant, we took it as a sign to expand beyond Delhi instead of limiting ourselves to one region.
Scaling a brand is not just about winning—it’s about recovering from losses and making bold decisions when faced with uncertainty.
Final Thoughts: The Mindset Required to Scale a Fashion Business
Scaling a startup into a ₹100+ crore brand is not about luck—it’s about:
Believing in your vision even when others doubt you.
Managing costs ruthlessly and negotiating every deal.
Being deeply involved in every aspect of business operations.
Balancing creativity with commercial strategy.
Reinvesting profits to ensure long-term sustainability.
Adapting to failures and using them as opportunities to pivot.
If you’re an aspiring fashion entrepreneur, dream big, stay persistent, and be ready to work harder than you ever imagined. Success in fashion isn’t just about beautiful clothes—it’s about making smart business decisions every single day.
India has an ancient clothing design history and is referred to as a prominent and emerging fashion industry. In ancient times who thought that there would be an industry that would produce an annual revenue of $165 billion? A handful of skillful designers existed before the 1980s, and one of them was Ritu Kumar. Ritu Kumar is known as one of the best fashion designers in India.
She is an Indian Fashion Designer who started her career in a small village in Kolkata with her hand block printing techniques on clothes which amazed people. Ritu Kumar started the Era of Fashion Designing with her amazing designs of Lehengas and Bridal Dresses.
This StartupTalky article explores Ritu Kumar’s success story, including her early life, history, childhood, personal life, education, awards, net worth, and more.
Ritu Kumar – Biography
Name
Ritu Kumar
Birthplace
Amritsar
Born
11 November 1944
Nationality
Indian
Education
Loreto Convent (Shimla), Lady Irwin College in Delhi, Briarcliff College (New York)
Ritu Kumar was born in Amritsar and shifted to Shimla due to the lack of educational opportunities in Amritsar. She studied at a convent school there and got admitted to the Lady Irwin College of Delhi in the late 1960s as a student of art history.
She met her husband Mr Shashi Kumar at this place and got married the same year. Later she went to pursue a scholarship in Art History at Briarcliff college of New York.
Ritu has two sons Amrish and Ashvinkumar. Amrish works with Ritu and is the CEO of Ritukumar’s fashion brand label Ritu Kumar and Ashvin is a film director who has also been nominated for Oscar.
Ritu started her career and family at a very initial stage of her life and is managing all of it very well. Ritu also pursued museology from a college in Delhi to get more knowledge on ethnic fashion and work.
Ritu began her journey in the 1960s, while she was studying museology. She visited a small village Serampore in West Bengal. In that village, she found a small colony of hand-block printers who were out of work and needed financial help and employment. That is when the idea came to start a small enterprise of giving designs that the printers began working on.
These hand-block printers created beautiful designer sarees with their outstanding work. She continuously visited exhibitions and fairs to gain popularity and soon she was noticed for her extraordinary designs in India.
She experienced the rapid changes in India, which were replacing handmade textiles with machine-made plastics. Ritu Kumar created new globally relevant designs where the handmade textile legacy would remain the original emphasis.
Initially, she designed evening clothes and Indian bridal wear, and eventually, after the great success of her designs, Ritu opened stores in different states of India. Now she was at boom and everyone knew Ritu Kumar was a brand.
By making an effort, she went international by opening branches in Paris, London, and New York. In 2002 she launched the “Label” brand in partnership with her younger son Amrish Kumar.
Ritu Kumar with her son Amrish Kumar
Ritu Kumar has 4 brands i.e. “Label” for the modern outfits of girls and women. The second brand under her is “Ri’ which showcases the bridal and lehenga worn by women. The third brand is “Aarke” which is a part of the nightwear section for women. And last but not least “Home” is a brand that sells all the home décor and essential products.
Ritu Kumar is also recognized as her clothes have been worn by famous personalities such as Princess Diana, Priyanka Chopra, Madhuri Dixit Nene, and many more actresses.
The domain ritukumar.com attracted 1,850,126 users in the year 2020. During wedding seasons in India, the company invests in servers as well, to curb excessive website traffic. Digital Impressions has designed and made the website for Ritu.
Ritu Kumar – Designs
Kumar’s designs focus on using natural fabrics and traditional printing and weaving methods. While she blends in some Western elements, she mainly sticks to classic sari designs. Her creations have been worn by many famous people, including Princess Diana, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, and Lara Dutta. Kumar’s work showcases timeless elegance, highlighting the beauty of traditional Indian craftsmanship. She is known for creating pieces that reflect both cultural heritage and modern influences.
Ritu Kumar receiving Padma Shree by the Government of India
There is a long list of awards that Ritu Kumar, fashion designer has achieved during her journey in the fashion industry. The long list flows as:
Lifetime achievement award by NIFT
Lifetime achievement award by Kingfisher Group
Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur award by PDHCC
The award of “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” was given by the French government
Lifetime achievement award at Kingfisher Fashion Fantasia (2000)
Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award
Won the Achievement Award in the year 2012 L’oreal Paris Femina Women’s Awards
Padma Shree by the Government of India (2013)
Conclusion
Ritu Kumar one of the leading fashion designers in India, is a role model and inspiration to the youth who want to pursue a career in the fashion industry. She is a successful female entrepreneur and a live example of Indian women who are not dominated by the men in this society.
Ritu Kumar was the first person to introduce the boutique culture in India. Ritu took the chances and performed outstandingly. She is a true example of a pioneer in the fashion industry thus making a remarkable position in the present era.
FAQs
Who is Ritu Kumar?
Ritu Kumar is a famous fashion designer in India. She is claimed to be the first designer to introduce boutique culture in India and is one of India’s finest fashion designers.
How many stores does Ritu Kumar have?
Ritu Kumar has 93 stores across the country.
Who is the brand ambassador of Ritu Kumar?
Shanaya Kapoor is the brand ambassador of Ritu Kumar.
What is Ritu Kumar education?
Ritu Kumar’s education journey began in Simla, where she attended Loreto Convent due to limited schooling options in Amritsar. She then studied at Lady Irwin College, where she met her husband, Shashi Kumar. Later, she received a scholarship to study Art History at Briarcliff College in New York. After returning to India, she furthered her studies in museology at the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art, University of Calcutta.
What is the revenue of Ritu Kumar?
The annual revenue of Ritu Kumar was over INR 3 billion for 2023.
What is the difference between Ritu Kumar and Label Ritu Kumar?
Ritu Kumar is the name of the designer herself, known for her contributions to traditional Indian fashion. She creates high-end, bespoke clothing using natural fabrics and traditional techniques, focusing on both modern and classic Indian designs.
Label Ritu Kumar, on the other hand, is the brand under which her ready-to-wear collections are sold. It offers stylish, contemporary pieces inspired by Ritu Kumar’s design philosophy but is more accessible compared to her couture collections. The label provides a range of products, from casual wear to festive outfits, blending traditional and modern elements.
Farhan Akhtar is an Indian director, actor, producer, singer, screenwriter, and television host. He is primarily known for his work in Bollywood. He hails from a family of veterans and is the son of film actress and screenwriter Honey Irani and poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar. He has an elder sister, renowned filmmaker Zoya Akhtar.
He made his directorial debut in 2001 with the critically acclaimed Dil Chahta Hai, which received the National Award for Best Hindi Film in 2002. His sophomore movie, a war drama, Lakshya, was released in 2004 and is regarded as a cult film. He garnered significant commercial success with Don in 2006, starring Shah Rukh Khan. He made his debut on the big screen with the musical drama Rock On!! In 2008. He launched a social campaign called M.A.R.D. (Men Against Rape and Discrimination) to spread awareness about the rape and discrimination faced by women.
He has earned success and respect on his own accord, despite coming from a family of people with connections in Bollywood. He has been on the checklist of many brands, especially after having established himself as a leading actor in the industry. He is the face of several brands and continues to be sought after by many more.
An Indian luxury products company, the Titan, is the manufacturer of fashion accessory products like watches, fragrances, eyewear, jewelry, etc. It is a part of the Tata Group and has its headquarters in Bangalore. Xylys is an exclusive brand of Swiss-made watches by Titan. It brings the precision of Swiss watchmakers.
The brand signed Farhan Akhtar as its brand ambassador in 2011. On their association together, the Vice President, Ajoy Chawla, said, “Farhan is a new age, multi-talented individual admired for his unconventional work. He embodies the Xylys brand’s core values of sophistication, individualism, and authenticity, yet unconventional. We believe he will enable Xylys to connect deeply with the new age, global Indian seeking to express their own identity uniquely.”
Farhan also added, “A great deal of design thought is required in the making of a film or bringing a character to life. Only when the design is in place, you can infuse it with passion, and I feel that the ideation behind creating every timepiece from Xylys has followed a similar process. It is great to be associated with a Swiss watch brand that exemplifies precision for detail, uncompromising functionality, and design excellence. I am all the more excited to represent a Swiss watch brand from House of Titan, and I look forward to the days to come with Xylys.”
O.M.R.O.N.
Based in Kyoto, Japan, Omron is an electronics-based company founded in 1933 by Kazuma Tateishi. It is particularly known for manufacturing its medical equipment like blood pressure monitors, thermometers, etc. It is also known to be one of the world’s first manufacturers of Automated Teller Machines (A.T.M.).
In 2013, Farhan Akhtar was signed on to promote the company’s new age blood glucose monitors, also known as glucometers. India is known to be the diabetes capital of the world, and so there is a massive demand for blood sugar level measuring machines here.
Farhan Akhtar, on their association, commented, “Keeping fit and staying healthy is essential for everyone in this fast-paced age. I am delighted to partner with O.M.R.O.N. in its mission toward the realization of a healthy life and the prevention and treatment of lifestyle-related diseases. Strict adherence to international quality and safety standards makes O.M.R.O.N. the right choice for you and your loved ones.”
They signed on Farhan Akhtar in 2015 to be the face of the deodorants at Park Avenue through a televised advertisement.
The advertisement was aimed at promoting the deodorant through ways other than the generic attracting the opposite sex plot line and revamping the marketing strategy based on the lifestyle and the true meaning of male grooming and masculinity, and sparking a fresh conversation around it.
Ford Figo Aspire
Ford Motor Company is a multinational automaker with its headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. It is through this company that the concept of Fordism (a type of industrial work management) and assembly lines were introduced in the industrial world.
In 2015, Farhan Akhtar was appointed to be the brand ambassador of the new Ford Figo Aspire, a compact sedan.
Commenting on the car he is promoting, he said, “I love the way it looks, I mean look at it, it’s fabulously contemporary and it is great driving it around in city conditions. It’s also got some nice features like the SYNC technology with the Ford Applink and Emergency assistance and then there are the airbags, which make it a safe car.”
IndusInd Bank
A first among the new generation banks in India, IndusIndBank was inaugurated in 1994 by the then Finance Minister, Manmohan Singh.
The bank signed Farhan Akhtar to be the face of their brand and represent a new feature called Video Branch in 2014. Video Branch is an extension of the feature ‘Responsive Innovation’, which aims at providing customers with a convenient and hassle-free experience. As banking is becoming more and more digitalized, features like these are extremely useful for customers.
About the tie-up, Farhan Akhtar said, “I am happy to be associated with a young and fast-growing brand which has responsive innovation as an integrated theme. I have seen the earlier brand campaigns by the bank, and I am sure my association with the brand will complement the brand growth and take it to new heights.”
Yepme
Based in Gurugram, India, Yepme is an online shopping brand that specializes in the retail of men’s and women’s clothing and accessories. It was launched in 2011 by Vivek Gaur, Sandeep Sharma, and Anand Jadhav.
Yepme signed on Farhan Akhtar as their brand ambassador in 2014, with him featuring in a music video for the company.
On their association, Farhan Akhtar commented, “We are incredibly eager to release this music video. Regarding the usage of special effects and transitions, the video is unique and reflects the everyday life of today’s youngsters in a unique and entertaining way. Since Farhan is an iconic figure among Indian youth and is a class apart from others as a singer-songwriter, actor, director, and multi-talented artist, we are confident that the song and visuals will find their way to everyone’s hearts and minds. Farhan is also someone who is liked, respected, and also highly relatable to our audience. The video is one of its kind in terms of the use of special effects and transitions – and captures the slice of life of today’s youth in a fun and unusual way. This is a completely fresh approach to building a connection with today’s youth, and we are confident that the song and visuals will make way to the heart and minds of everyone – especially since Farhan is an iconic figure amongst Indian youth and is a class apart from others, being a singer-songwriter, actor, director, a multi-talented artist – he is someone who is liked, respected and also highly relatable for our audience.”
Code by Lifestyle
Code by Lifestyle is a formal and casual clothing retail brand for men and women. Farhan Akhtar was signed on to endorse the company as their brand ambassador in 2015.
Code by Lifestyle has emerged to be one of the most preferred brands by men who have an eye for the new age and a sharp sense of style. Farhan, with a versatile range of achievements and an effortless and confident style, perfectly embodies everything the brand wants to deliver and more.
Farhan also commented, “I really like the collection Code has. The apparels are both trendy and stylish. It’s great to be representing the brand.”
Farhan Akhtar is one of the most skilful Bollywood celebrities, having expertise in not only his acting skills but also in direction, writing, singing, and production. His witty and charming personality and huge fan following make him a popular choice among brands for their endorsements. Be it fashion and lifestyle, automobiles, or banks, this man has played a role in almost every kind of brand endorsement.
FAQs
What is Farhan Akhtar’s Net worth?
Farhan Akhtar’s net worth is 2.5 million USD.
Who are Farhan Akhtar’s parents?
Farhan Akhtar’s parents are Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani.
What is Farhan Akhtar’s age?
Farhan Akhtar is 48 years of age.
What was Farhan Akhtar’s first film?
Farhan Akhtar’s first film as a director was Dil Chahta Hai, and as an actor was Rock on!!
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Zilingo.
Like that of so many other sectors, fashion and apparel’s digital transition has advanced dramatically under COVID. This has influenced not just how people engage with brands and merchants, but also how the market runs within, including inventory management, prices, and logistics, as well as production and product design.
A sector that has always (and continues to be) centred on the foundation of ideas, creative, and innovative expression is now incorporating more technology into the equation, implementing innovation to new levels.
Zilingo is a B2B technology platform that provides innovative manufacturing, sourcing, and trading technologies to the global clothing distribution chain. It was formed in 2015 to make an interconnected and accessible supply chain approachable to all.
Here’s the success story of Zilingo that covers all about Zilingo, the Startup Story and Growth of Zilingo, Zilingo Competitors, Zilingo Revenue, Zilingo Business and Revenue Model, and more, you can check ahead!
Zilingo is a B2B platform that connects all parts of the fashion industry’s supply chain, from raw material suppliers to merchants to buyers. They offer a wide range of technical help, including data science, online platforms, and other virtual services, as well as company sourcing and finance.
When a small localised store tries to move online or attract more people, they are confronted with several challenges. Funding, technologies, accessibility, and rivalry from more prominent, more established companies also impede them.
Although their commodities may have unrealised potential on the global market, many merchants find it difficult to make a profit in that environment. When seeking to sell to a statewide or worldwide audience, small businesses sometimes have to go through multiple intermediaries and incur numerous costs. They are losing money because their margins are being stretched. Zilingo focuses on this problem, assisting small enterprises in receiving their due.
Zilingo is a comprehensive, adaptable platform that helps small businesses increase efficiency and revenue. This service is available to merchants in a variety of nations and brings together a large number of producers and manufacturers.
Simultaneously, the design, production, and other parts of the final product remain decentralised. Small vendors may be independent and true to their style without paying a listing fee, which Zilingo does not charge its manufacturing workers.
Their varied staff, decentralised culture, technical innovation, and devotion to assisting smaller businesses set them apart from the competition. They offer a wide range of items obtained from many countries and providers, all of which are supported by this platform. This enables small companies to deal directly with a bigger market, such as brands or other clients, over the internet.
Products of Zilingo
Zilingo operates as a technology platform that is empowering the global supply chain. It provides innovative products and trade services to power brands, wholesalers, retailers, distributors, factories and more. Zilingo offers:
Z Trade – This vertical helps Zilingo to extend the facilities of sourcing custom-made apparel, fabric, yarn and more.
Zilingo Trade
Z Factory – This Zilingo vertical helps Zilingo to let the factories optimise their operations.
Zilingo Factory
Z Connect – Z Connect of Zilingo offers omnichannel, inventory management and marketing solutions as services.
Zilingo Connect
Zilingo Services
Zilingo services are:
Z Marketing – Zilingo offers marketing solutions to help brands maximise their sales. This is done by the in-house experts that Zilingo houses.
Z Fintech – Z Fintech uses the transaction data to offer companies and individuals better access to capital for the growth of their businesses.
Z Logistics – Zilingo offers the optimisation services of logistics costs and provides others with the facilities of flexible payments.
Zilingo – Industry
From the development of the needle and thread to the emergence of e-commerce, fashion was always at the leading edge of innovation. Fashion, like technology, is forward-thinking and progressive.
The fashion industry has been one of the world’s largest, with a market value of more than $3 trillion expected by the end of the decade. Fashion technology is evolving at a quicker rate than ever before. Fashion firms are working with technology suppliers, buying startups, and even developing their technologies to expand their streams of income and marketing strategies.
Similarly, the sector is re-evaluating operations across the supply chain in a drive to reinvent itself as it confronts a long-overdue confrontation with its social and environmental consequences.
With organisations and businesses growing into new sectors of the fashion business, there is a clear trend toward adopting technology to improve the consumer experience. New fibres and mixes are emerging as manufacturing methods improve, allowing for greater product diversification. The fashion industry’s retail sector is putting a lot of emphasis on making the consumer’s buying experience easier and more enjoyable.
Collaborations are resulting in fascinating new goods by combining the talents of several sectors to develop something efficient and innovative. With a constant stream of new and interesting propelling the fashion industry forward, these unlimited possibilities have more room to grow.
Zilingo – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor founded “Zilingo” in 2015, the name being a spin on the term “zillion,” which also means ‘Gift of god.’ Bose got the idea for Zilingo while on vacation in Bangkok and realised that many SMEs lacked an online footprint. Dependability, freshness, and expressivity are all symbolised by the word Zilingo.
Zilingo Logo
Zilingo’s tagline says, “Dare to be Bold”.
Zilingo – Founders and Team
Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor founded Zilingo in 2015.
Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor – Founders of Zilingo
Ankiti Bose
Before establishing Zilingo, Ankiti spent three years in management consulting and venture capital at Sequoia Capital and McKinsey & Company. She focused on digital commerce possibilities on digital devices at Sequoia. She worked on strategy and operations in a variety of sectors at McKinsey & Company.
Ankiti graduated from St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai with a Bachelor of arts degree in Maths and Economics. Ankiti adds a wealth of experience and expertise in the mobile e-commerce market to Zilingo.
She takes a hands-on, analytical approach to operations and strategy decisions, and she was heavily involved in all the elements of strategic and operational decision-making of the company. She was the CEO of the company before she was ousted from her role in April 2022. Ankiti Bose was associated with financial irregularities of the company and was eventually suspended from her duties for 51 days, and after this suspensation, she was finally terminated.
Ankiti Bose again has quit the Zilingo board, as of June 30, 2022. She has stated the same from her Instagram handle, adding that the board even failed to show her the reports from Kroll and Deloitte. The firing of Ankiti Bose from the CEO position and this resignation that she brought in to quit the Zilingo board, has two faces. Here, while the board is citing financial irregularities under Bose, Ankiti has brought up harassment complaints to the investors and claims that these were the reasons that changed the board’s mind against her. However, the Zilingo board denied all the allegations of any wrongdoings whatsoever.
Dhruv Kapoor
Dhruv Kapoor is an IIT Guwahati alumnus and is known as the CTPO of Zilingo. He worked at the gaming company Kiwi Inc., as a software engineer, before joining Zilingo. Kapoor was a Software Engineer at Yahoo before that.
Aadi Vaidya, the Zilingo COO, quit Zilingo after 7 years of being with the firm, as of July 30, 2022. Along with talking highly of his tenure with the company, where he learned too many things to sum up in words, Vaidya stated that he is geared up to meet with interesting people, read, travel and re-prioritise. Aadi is now looking to embrace his next adventure.
The resignation of Aadi comes after Ankiti was separated from the firm in May 2022, and Ramesh Bafna, the CFO of Zilingo, stepped down in the same month. Besides, Naushaba Salahuddin, the head of PR and communications, also quit the beleaguered company in the meanwhile.
The employee strength of Zilingo now ranges between 201-500 employees, as per its LinkedIn profile.
Ankiti was once on a vacation trip to Bangkok with her pals. The majority of the sellers at Thailand’s Chatuchak market came from distant communities miles away. They were unable to market their products on the internet. The main reason is that they lack both technical and economic expertise.
She chose to do business in Thailand because it could benefit over 8000 small businesses there. She founded Zilingo, one of Southeast Asia’s most popular online platforms. By developing the right customers throughout the world, particularly merchants, obtain larger advantages in their product range.
Ankiti earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai in 2012. In 2014, Ankiti met Dhruv Kapoor during a house party. They shared the same talents and abilities, as well as the desire to establish a business by permitting a more inventive technique.
Dhruv worked as a software developer for a well-known gaming firm, while Ankiti worked as an analyst for Sequoia India. During the party, Ankiti and Dhruv established a deal that allowed the two of them to leave their jobs and start their own business. Both of them quit their jobs within four months to work on Zilingo, a fashion e-commerce technology company.
Two of them put their resources and savings of around $30,000 into the Zilingo startup concept. The Sequoia company also put money into Zilingo. With its innovative and open-minded founders, Zilingo has had more success. Eventually, Ankiti became the CEO, and Dhruv the CTPO of the company.
Zilingo – Mission
Zilingo’s mission is “to provide a platform where thousands of fashion merchants could sell and become part of the digital economy.”
Zilingo – Business and Revenue Model
On the back of its robust business model, Zilingo had geared to revolutionize the clothing and accessories industry by assisting small firms in bypassing intermediaries on their journey to a massive internet market. It decided to provide traders with an end-to-end cloud-based platform that not only connected but also provided technical and financial assistance to numerous independent participants.
The company operates as a B2B platform in the fashion industry that offers small businesses the resources, networking, financial, and technical help they need to interact with other small businesses and their larger client base. To grow their firm, a small retailer or designer can now acquire raw materials from suppliers, manufacturers, and even tech help.
Zilingo has raised over $347 million in funding and had almost closed in terms of valuation to become one of the Indian unicorn companies, but that didn’t happen ultimately. However, it aspires to become a big player in fashion by building symbiotic connections with small merchants and enterprises since they are committed to enabling small firms in the sector. It wants to become a platform that enables small brands to band together and continue growing, in rivalry with multinational companies.
The Zilingo revenue model primarily depends on the business-to-business operations that Zilingo does, of matching brands with suppliers. In 2019, the same operations successfully contributed to 80% of the revenues that Zilingo received.
Zilingo has received 7 funding rounds in total as of June 20, 2022, which might receive yet another funding round worth around $8 mn in equity in tranches to prevent the voluntary liquidation of the company, as stated by the letter that the founders of the company have forwarded the board, according to reports dated June 20, 2022.
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Jul 1, 2021
Debt Financing
$40M
–
Dec 5, 2019
Venture Round
–
–
Feb 11, 2019
Series D
$226M
Sequoia Capital India
Apr 4, 2018
Series C
$54M
Burda Principal Investments, Sequoia Capital India, Sofina
Sep 12, 2017
Series B
$18M
Burda Principal Investments, Sequoia Capital
Sep 5, 2016
Series A
$8M
Sequoia Capital, Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Venture Capital
Nov 9, 2015
Seed Round
$1.9M
–
Zilingo – Acquisitions
Acquiree Name
About Acquiree
Date
Amount
nCinga
nCinga is offer an all-encompassing solution for the apparel, manufacturing and telecommunication industries.
Dec 17, 2019
$15.5M
Zilingo – Growth
Zilingo has achieved quite a growth since it started. The company has powered innovation for 20,000+ companies worldwide. It even chased the unicorn valuation and reached $970 mn in net worth before the outbreak of the Covid-19 disease. The customers of Zilingo include reputed brands like Flipkart, FirstCry, Myntra, Wrogn, Nykaa, Aditya Birla Group, Radnik, Dressmen, Redwolf and more. Zilingo went from being a company that was all set to raise millions of dollars to one that needs to fight for its survival. Remarking on the same, Ankiti Bose, the Former Founder, CEO, and Board member, said “hundreds of employees and customers are also in a state of limbo and do not have any clarity on their future: just like me.”
Numerous media reports stated that the Zilingo company is all set to liquidate in order to pay its creditors off, while Bose has opposed this decision of the board, mentioning that would result in unsettling numerous employees.
Zilingo’s issues began with disorganized management and a lack of transparency in expenditures and quickly escalated into a violent ideological battle between founders Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor, which risked swallowing the company whole.
Lack of Proper Software
In the early days, the capital-intensive B2C vertical and the lack of a software platform for B2B operations led to overpaying on marketing, staff committing fraud, and more.
The Covid-19 Onslaught
Zilingo was once a company that was a soonicorn, the value of which neared $970 bn in 2019. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, revenues started dipping and layoffs followed. The revenues dropped to 1/3rd of what it was prior to the pandemic period, which was roughly estimated at around $40 mn. Even the Former Co-founder-CEO, Ankiti Bose also took a 30% pay cut as a result.
Legal action against the co-founder and the sack of CEO Ankiti Bose
Ankiti Bose is believed to have taken legal action against co-founder Dhruv Kapoor and is attempting to purchase back Sequoia’s 26% stake in the firm, notwithstanding her suspension.
Ankiti Bose and Sequoia’s Shailendra Singh had a personal spat about the direction of the business, capital burn, and the absence of a route to revenue gains, all stemming from the company’s concentration on a rapid expansion that began in 2018. And that unfolded as conflicts between Bose and Dhruv Kapoor, the other co-founder, grew.
There have also been claims that Kapoor and other top workers at the business concealed sexual harassment reports. Bose is reportedly considering suing Kapoor as well as buying back Sequoia’s investment in the firm.
It was more like a jigsaw puzzle, with concepts and tactics that lacked practical vision and preparation. In the early years, the digital platform was mostly absent, and Zilingo burned through millions of dollars marketing and promoting the B2C fashion vertical. Founders argued over various ideas and even alleged practises of sexual harassment in the workplace throughout all of this. But now the case against Zilingo is that he committed deliberate fraud. At least, that’s what the board says, but we don’t know what the fraud was, how it happened, or how it escaped the notice of the board and key VCs like Sequoia, Burda, Temasek, Beenext, and others.
The Zilingo board was already looking forward to a voluntary liquidation of the company, but the founders Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor have joined hands to make a management buyout offer of the company, as per reports dated June 20, 2022. The letter that was issued by the Co-founder and CTPO of Zilingo Dhruv Kapoor, mentioned that the new investor will infuse $8 mn in equity in tranches. According to this new offer, if the deal comes through, “pursuant to Singapore’s Insolvency, Restructuring, and Dissolution Act, Zilingo will be transferred to the ownership of a newly incorporated entity.”
A look at how the events unfolded and the firing of the company CEO and Co-founder Ankiti Bose
If you are wondering how Ankiti Bose was fired all of a sudden, then here’s a look at all the events that happened and led to the eventual firing of the Zilingo CEO Ankiti Bose:
April 12, 2022 – Ziling shareholders discovered financial irregularities and suspended Ankiti Bose until May 5th. Bose was first called to a meeting dated March 31st, 2022, and was briefed about serious complaints against her, and all about financial discrepancies and mismanagement. Bose, in turn, called the company’s actions a “witch hunt”.
April 14, 2022 – Shailendra Singh, Sequoia Capital MD stepped down.
April 19, 2022 – Zilingo Board discussed replacing Ankiti Bose, and talks of the company CFO Ramesh Bafna to be elevated as the CEO circulated.
May 4, 2022 – The Zilingo Board appointed Deloitte to launch a probe after Ankiti Bose claimed that sexual harassment was an issue after she was suspended. Dhruv Kapoor also penned a note to the employees where he defended the company.
May 20, 2022 – Zilingo fired Ankiti Bose, and stated that it can also take legal action against her.
FAQs
What does Zilingo do?
Zilingo is a B2B technology platform that provides innovative manufacturing, sourcing, and trading technologies to the global clothing distribution chain.
Who founded Zilingo?
Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor founded Zilingo in 2015.
When was Zilingo founded?
Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor founded Zilingo in 2015.
Is Ankiti Bose still the CEO of Zilingo?
The former CEO-Co-founder, Ankiti Bose was fired by Zilingo on May 20, 2022. So, she is no longer the CEO of Zilingo.
Why was Ankiti Bose fired by Zilingo?
Ankiti Bose was sacked by Zilingo board because of financial irregularities noticed in the company in relation to Ankiti Bose.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by MOHA.
Silver is renowned for its spiritual properties. The scientific facts also prove that there are incredible health benefits of wearing silver jewelry. Silver metal is quite malleable, lustrous, and soft. Its properties of being high lustrous and reflective make it perfect for jewelry. It can be molded into beautiful designs and are can be carried with elegance. Silver Jewelry is no less than a style quotient. It can be seen in the statistics for the demand for silver jewelry. The demand for silver amounted to 1.8 thousand metric tons in 2021.
MOHA is a designer silver jewelry brand founded by Geetanjali Gondhale. Read the startup story of MOHA by Geetanjali, its vision, business model, and more.
Moha is an 8-year-old designer silver jewelry brand with the vision of makingethical jewelry using natural materials. At Moha, they sync with the ever-changing market demands and abreast with every woman’s changing lifestyles along with modern sensibilities and traditional aesthetics. We blend tradition with research and innovation with a promise to create and deliver unique designs.
Moha is a trendsetters in its journey. We have revived a few product segments like Silver Bugadis, Ear Cuffs, and Trendy Nath’s for everyday use. These were instant hit which was then followed by a lot of other brands.
At Moha, they believe in telling stories with our designs. They choose topics and motifs which tell stories and stir nostalgia. Their constant effort to reach their ideal consumer has led to a lot of modification and adaptation in jewelry forms.
There are some practical aspects to the silver jewelry market. The market is mostly under a very unorganized sector with very few trusted brands that can be hand-counted. Moreover, very few designer brands sell customized unique silver jewelry against the readymade traditional pieces available in the market.
Moha’s vision is to enable women to be confident and beautiful and connect emotionally. They aim to craft environmentally sustainable luxury designer jewelry.
MOHA – Industry
Silver jewelry consumption in India has increased to INR 5 billion and is expected to grow over INR 6.1 billion by 2021. Silver in India comes next to gold in the jewelry buying preferences of Indians. With the current downward spiral of the gold jewelry market due to high prices, silver is the newfound love of Indians. The shiny metal has been able to hold its price and even seen appreciation at a time when gold has been continuously losing shine for the past 2-3 years.
Silver jewelry exports have witnessed a sharp increase in the last few years due to rising overseas demand. This has helped the Indian industry to cater to bulk export orders from overseas markets. With an uptick in the jewelry designing skills in the country, orders have been flowing in from overseas buyers. These were earlier going to manufacturers in Italy and other countries. The Indian market is also very competitive as the manufacturing cost is 40% lower here.
MOHA – Founder and Team
Geetanjali Gondhale is the founder of MOHA. She is theChief Designer and CEO of the Silver jewelry startup.
She has completed her BCom. She has attended IIMB Goldman Sachs 10K fellow, ISB 10k Ambassador program. She is a passionate designer. She has earlier worked for Tata Communications and Newtons Apple.
For the first 2 years, she was doing it all alone but now there is a team of around 13 people in and out of the office and 6 people who are a part of the workshops they hold. Moha team consists of people who are well dedicated and help to bring the startup vision into the real world.
MOHA – The Idea and Startup Story
The brand Moha was conceptualized and initiated in Goa. Whenever Geetanjali wanted to buy silver jewelry, she would tirelessly roam around to find that perfect piece and then think about how she would have made a more beautiful design out of it. She was always passionate about craft and wanted to do something like that. Thus, the idea of crafting designer silver jewelry took shape. However, she wasn’t aware of what exactly needed to be done in this direction. At that point, she had no answers to even simple questions such as how to make the jewelry, procure raw materials or find buyers. It took 2 years of research and hard work to learn the nitty-gritty. Her determination and perseverance led her to several people who helped her answer her queries and achieve design and manufacturing consistency in Moha.
MOHA – Name and Logo
She wanted the name and logo to stand out and have a story behind them. “Moha” comes from the name of the tree mostly worshipped by various tribes in India like the Kalpavriksh. It caught her attention because of its aesthetic. The jewelry they possess is also unique from what we wear. It speaks about their tradition and ethnicity. The word Moha means desire and who wouldn’t want to look desirable or indulge in some Moha-Maya?
MOHA – Products
Moha Silver Jewelry
MOHA is a brand that creates silver jewelry and design various ornaments right from scratch. The process is simple but definitely nerve-racking. Initially, they pick up on a theme that could be based on inspiration or motives. This includes a lot of research and studying various intricacies. They draw up designs and once finalized, these are rendered and made into master files. Once that is done, a step-by-step routine of molding and amending is followed. This is the process they follow to make a variety of jewelry.
Moha is different from its competitors due to various factors. First, they love designing patterns and drawing up sketches for jewelry. Second, no one feels complete without jewelry since it’s an essential accessory. What makes Moha products unlike any other is that you blend with its uniqueness.
MOHA – Business Model
It’s a very basic and to-the-point business model. They make aesthetic and beautiful jewelry and sell it directly to the customers and make sure they love it!
Getting the first 50 customers for your startup is a bliss! The hacks we used to acquire their first user and then customers were mostly from Facebook. Social media really helps your business to take off. The first 50 customers were mostly friends and well-wishers who were happy to support what the founder was doing. During the initial month, Geetanjali got the opportunity to participate in the Saturday night market in Goa where her designs were appreciated by many people. It gave her confidence and made her realize that people like what she is doing and so, why not continue with what makes her happy!
MOHA – Promotions
MOHA started participating in Group Exhibitions in different cities, but the crowd was too distracted by other brands. Their attention span towards Moha was diluted. Then they decided to do solo exhibitions and promote it through Facebook and local newspapers which helped us to create curiosity around the brand and its recognition. They always wanted people to take the brand seriously, so they put in all their efforts on that. Right from professional shoots to maintaining the quality of each piece coming out of the furnace, everything was thought through and serious efforts were taken to execute it.
MOHA – Challenges Faced
Learning the process of making jewelry was a difficult task since the founder doesn’t come from this background. It was a bit of a struggle to understand the basics. Another hurdle that she faced was getting the designs from paper to metal, it took a lot of effort to learn the process and find the right people to do it. It was difficult but not impossible. Mistakes were made; problems took place but that’s how you grow. In her Moha startup journey, she came across a few nice people who liked her ideas and designs and shared their knowledge of “How to”. This is how she was able to learn the process from start to finish.
MOHA – Achievements
They do a lot of theme-based design collections. They started with a collection; a series dedicated to the love of Goa. The designs were based on the pre-Portuguese aesthetics of Goa. People loved it and this gave them the confidence to do more including designs inspired by Harappa, Gunjan, Kosh, Ashtamangal, Maheshwar, Sanchi, etc. More concepts are currently in the pipeline.
MOHA is a bootstrapped company and would like to remain so. The growth of startup is an achievement as well. She started this jewelry business alone and have a good team now. They love designing as much as she does. Above anything, the most important achievement is that we are making beautiful, appealing, and decorative jewelry.
MOHA – Work Culture
Since it’s a small company, they have focused on creating a very homely environment. The work culture is such that nobody takes it as a tedious job. They have the passion and the thrill to design jewelry and understand exactly what is being looking for. Majority of the workforce is women, which gives a sense of empowerment. They share a common love for many things such as food. To build motivation for the team, they arrange outdoor activities and the amount of fun therein truly makes it feel that the team is the perfect fit for Moha.
MOHA – Competitors
Competition is always healthy since it keeps us on our toes and pushes us to come up with original ideas. There are a few players that have helped MOHA to go beyond limits such as CaratLane, Amrapali, and Quirksmith who create and design beautiful silver jewelry. Their competitors motivate them to bring the A-game.
MOHA – Future Plans
As of now, they expect the team and the business to gradually grow. The future plan is to see the sales and inventory on an upward trajectory. They are learning as they grow.
FAQs
Who is the founder of MOHA?
Geetanjali Gondhale is the founder of MOHA.
What are the popular products in MOHA silver jewelry?
Company Profile is an initiative by Startup Talky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Chanel.
The growing appetite for the fashion industry has never settled since the late 1800s. Reports claim that it was the time when the seeds for fashion shows and other fashion events were sowed. Despite all the hardships that unfolded during the early and mid-1900s, the fashion industry continued its uphill path. The industry today is valued at $3 trillion and accounts for 2% of global GDP.
Chanel is one such luxury fashion company that was established over 100 years ago. Started as a small millinery shop by a fashion designer in 1909, Chanel today has expanded its operation worldwide and has over 20,000 employees. This article covers the success story of Chanel, its founders, competitors and every aspect of this establishment.
Chanel is a luxury fashion brand that was founded by Coco Chanel in 1910. The company was based in France, whereinafter 110 years, the board has decided to shift their global headquarters to London. Chanel deals with luxury clothes, jewelry, perfumes and other fashion goods. This luxury brand mostly focuses on women’s outfits and accessories.
Chanel serves as a trend-setter in the fashion industry. Coco Chanel, as a fashion designer and a businesswoman, made sure that the elegance of her brand never fades despite world wars and geographical and environmental barriers. Besides the outfits, Chanel is known for its wine,watches, perfumes and skincare products too. The company today operates over 310 boutiques worldwide that are located in opulent communities like airports, extravagant stores, high streets, etc.
Chanel – Founders and Team
Founder of Chanel – Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel
Chanel remains a privately held company owned by the grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who was a business partner with Coco Chanel. Here are the founder and other key people associated with Chanel:
Gabrielle Chanel (Coco Chanel)
Gabrielle Chanel was the founder of the luxury brand ‘Chanel’. ‘Coco’ was a nickname given to her during her time as a songstress. She was orphaned at a young age. Facing the world on her own since childhood gave her confidence and strength. Coco Chanel’s qualifications as a fashion designer and daring nature aspired her as a successful businesswoman.
Pierre Wertheimer
In 1924, Pierre Wertheimer joined hands with Coco Chanel as a business partner for 70% shares in the company. The agreement was that Wertheimer should finance the production and distribution of Chanel’s perfumes. Another person named Theophile Bader was given 20% shares for marketing the same in his departmental stores. Later, Coco Chanel had some disagreements with them and happened to file a lawsuit against Wertheimer. She lost complete control of the company to Wertheimers in 1954.
Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer
Alain and Gerard are currently the co-owners of Chanel. Alain serves as the chairman of Chanel and Gerard heads the division of Watch. They are the grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer.
Leena Nair
Leena Nair is the Global CEO of the brand Chanel. She was appointed to this new role in January 2022. Leena Nair has earlier been a part of Unilever as its Chief Human Resource Officer. She is an Indian and was born and brought up in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
The story of Chanel began in 1910 when its founder Coco Chanel opened a hat store named ‘Chanel Modes’ in a flat in Paris. Etienne Balsan, who was a friend of Coco, helped her with his bachelor’s apartment. Arthur “Boy” Capel, the lover of Coco Chanel, funded her early business. He helped Coco to set up her own stores in Paris. This also helped her to expand the business from only hats to sportswear and other outfits for women. As the business started to grow Coco Chanel kept increasing the outlets and widened her focus on other products like perfumes and jewelry. Her love affairs and loyal friendships helped her succeed in her early stages of Chanel.
Chanel – Mission and Vision
Chanel has a mission “To be the Ultimate House of Luxury, defining style and creating desire, now and forever”. The company stood to its mission right from its inception. It created new styles and never compromised with its grandeur and opulence.
The vision of Chanel is to give worldly experience to the customers through its products that remain timeless. The wearer should enjoy a quality product with utmost comfort is the primary vision of the company.
Chanel – Name and Logo
Chanel logo
The name of the elegant brand ‘Chanel’ is derived from the founder’s name Coco Chanel. The logo of the company consists of two ‘C’s interlocking each other. This logo was designed by Coco Chanel herself in 1925. There are a couple of reasons being circulated for those two Cs. One reason unfolds is that the Cs stand for the name of its creator Coco Chanel. Another claims that one C represents Coco Chanel and the other stands for Capel (Arthur “Boy” Capel).
Chanel – Challenges Faced
As a century-old company, Chanel has faced numerous challenges throughout its journey. Within just four years of seeding the company and one year since it started sprouting, the First World War started. WW1 caused a huge difference in fashion, demand for clothes and scarcity of fabrics and employees. Even the manufacturing units were struck in warzones. This was the major setback faced initially by the company.
The next challenge arose during the Second World War. Chanel happened to close the doors of its outlets in 1939 following the war outbreak. The doors of Chanel remained closed for years. When she came back into the business in 1954, Coco Chanel and the company had lost their reputation due to her rumoured involvement in the war with Nazis. Also, it was challenging to cope with new generation designers which she eventually did in her 70s.
The death of Karl Lagerfeld, who was the creative director at Chanel since 1983, created a huge gap in the company’s creative department. His contribution to Chanel was priceless.
The Covid outbreak stumbled Chanel’s business to a great extent in 2020. The CFO of the company said that the Covid impact on the luxury fashion sector could last up to 2 years and the recovery might take some time.
Chanel – Acquisitions & Investments
Chanel has made several investments and acquisitions over the years. Here is the list of those companies that Chanel has invested in:
Company Name
Date of Acquisition/Investment
Investment Round
Amount
Arcaea
Oct 27, 2021
Series A
$78 Million
P2 Science
Jan 29, 202
Series C
$12 Million
Sulapac
Dec 11, 2019
Venture Round
€15 Million
Evolved By Nature
Jun 12, 2019
Corporate Round
–
Sulapac
Dec 7, 2018
Funding Round
–
Samanta
Jul 11, 2019
Acquisition
–
Orlebar Brown
Sep 30, 2018
Acquisition
–
Colomer Leather Group
Aug 31, 2018
Acquisition
–
Other than the above companies Chanel has acquired a 40% stake in Renato Corti and Mabi. Mabi is a high-end handbag manufacturer and Renato Corti is involved in the leather business. A 34% stake was procured in the lingerie and swimwear manufacturer Grandis. The overall investment had cost $169 Million for Chanel. The company also took over the majority stake in the Italian knitwear company Paima for an undisclosed amount.
Chanel – Growth
The growth of Chanel has been consistent and extraordinary. Despite all the hardships, like World Wars, the loss of its founder, the death of the creative director and many more, Chanel kept marching forward by enhancing its existing division and introducing new ones.
Starting an outlet in an apartment with the help of a friend in 1910, Coco Chanel opened an independent store in 1913. The hat business was extended to sportswear. The number of stores increased along with their product varieties. In 1920, Chanel started the stylish haute couture style of dressmaking. The year 1924 saw the introduction of Chanel’s costume jewelry and signature cardigan jackets followed by the popular Little Black Dress in 1926.
After a setback during WW2, Chanel came back strong with the introduction of gemstone jewelry and iconic handbags in 1954 and 1955 respectively. After Coco Chanel died in 1971, the company lacked a potential creator and designer. But in 1983, with the addition of Karl Lagerfeld, the Godfather of Fashion, Chanel’s innovation and growth were on an uphill phase. By 1990, Chanel became a popular global luxury fashion brand and still continues to be.
The following are some of the competitors of Chanel:
Gucci
Gucci is an Italian luxury fashion brand founded by Guccio Gucci in 1921. It is one of the top competitors of Chanel. Gucci’s products and services have excellent quality and finish that has a great reception among customers. Though Gucci is 11 years younger than Chanel, they both almost stand beside each other in the competition.
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton, popularly known as LVMH, is another French luxury brand similar to Chanel. It was established in 1854 and is one of the leading fashion brands in the world. Louis Vuitton manufactures products for both men and women. The company has set benchmarks for the design and quality in the industry.
Prada
Prada was established in 1913 and is known for its leather products and travel and fashion accessories. The company markets its products through its 618 outlets spread across the world and also online. Prada is known for its quality, color and fabrics.
L’Oreal
L’Oreal is just a year older than Chanel and was incorporated in France. It is one of the largest cosmetics companies in the world. L’Oreal competes with Chanel through its perfumes and skincare products.
Chanel – Future Plans
Chanel is working towards giving its share of contribution against climate change. The chairman of the company. Alain Wertheimer said that the company is shifting plans to go green and use 100% renewable resources in their production by 2025. They have a strategy planned for this and named it Mission 1.5°.
Chanel has launched a program named ‘Chanel Culture Fund’ to encourage and support creators and artists across the world. This fund is supposed to help organizations and partnerships to conduct programs that promote culture and society. Chanel believes that this program will help them develop international partnerships, which in turn benefits their business.
FAQs
Who is the founder of Chanel?
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel is the founder of Chanel.
What business is Chanel involved in?
Chanel is a luxury fashion company that produces and sells ready-to-wear women’s clothes, perfumes, watches and skincare products.
Who is the CEO of Chanel?
Leena Nair has been appointed as the global CEO of Chanel in January 2022.
The article is contributed by Shivaani Jain – Co-Founder, TAGGD
In this age of ‘new kind of fashionable’, it’s no longer uncool to sport homegrown labels. Back in 1991, the Indian economy opened doors and flooded the market with foreign goods. These were mostly lifestyle brands that Indians had long heard about, but never got to sample. Liberalisation also created the conditions for—maybe even inspired—indigenous creators to later prosper at home and also abroad.
More than 30 years later, from those watershed weeks and months, Indian fashion designers – to name just one creative niche – are now making waves, among local as well as international clients. Once restricted to those with money to spend, fashion has become democratised as it has penetrated non-metropolitan India. And because it is online, it is widely available, accessible and affordable. No wonder it is being endorsed and embraced by millions who reside off the beaten metro track, who crave the same apparel and attire – casual, formal and informal – as their megalopolis-living counterparts, and also the same comforts and indulgences.
Indeed, the bigger transformation is happening outside of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. Today, it is small-town India – small in size but certainly not in aspiration – that is shaping the India of the future, in terms of what it buys and even the lifestyle trends to come. So, what a Moradabad, a Coimbatore, a Nasik and a Cuttack thinks today, India will likely think the same tomorrow.
The changing face of lifestyle
This is not entirely unexpected, but it has been hastened by COVID-19, a process quickened by families being confined indoors and thus relying on e-commerce to take care of their desires as much as their needs. The pandemic brought home to us that life indeed is short, and we might as well make the most of it while we’re at it. So, if wearing that funky outfit, or that sexy one-piece (designed by one of us) allows us to feel good, why not indulge?
Unsurprisingly, it’s the digital revolution that has made e-commerce accessible to Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, thanks to the government’s Digital India initiative. This has enabled fashion and other brands alike to target the country’s non-metro towns and cities as future growth areas while giving the clientele here options besides the tried-and-tested names, and the opportunity to stay in touch with the latest trends in the fashion domain.
Because, when it comes to fashion, brands and collections are the same almost everywhere, and online shoppers are not guaranteed any exclusivity when they go looking to add to their wardrobes. Hence, now, they are more than willing to try out – and accept – labels that don’t come with the big-city tag, and to experiment with brands that are new to the market, and of which little is known.
In fact, the very thought of helping homegrown brands from locations off the fashion radar, in towns and cities away from the major urban centers, has empowered patrons in these places to own and wear such labels with pride. And while the brands may lack the staying power and cachet of the top-of-the-line labels, they do understand the power and magic of digital. So, assisted by on-off lockdowns and a population habituated to virtual shopping, they are evolving by adapting to the digital savviness of the consumer as well as the changing face of the industry.
The success of homegrown brands has been further driven by the ubiquity and high impact of influencers. Alongside, the rise of influencer marketing has given small-city youth a platform to leverage their presence on social media and earn a decent living. Fashion offers rewards as much as it lifts spirits and boosts confidence.
The well-heeled and well-travelled may still opt for high-street chains such as Zara, Marks & Spencer or H&M (among many others) but a growing number of Indians are much less hung up about the ‘name’ than their predecessors once were. And the reason behind this change is the fact that there are many more indigenous designers and labels out there, a majority of them boasting creations of great standards, and more than capable of giving British, European and American brands a good run for their money.
Moreover, these made-in-India brands are nowhere near as overpriced as some of their international counterparts are. In fact, they are very reasonable on the average middle-class pocket, offering fashion and lifestyle that is affordable for you and me.
The metros may be where all the action is, but hidden from the eyes of many metro denizens is what’s happening in India’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Already, girls and boys from these urban spaces form a sizeable chunk of service economy across the country. This is a demographic that is growing, and it is one that will constitute a greater part of the workforce of tomorrow’s India. And, as their profiles grow, so do their ambitions. These confident Indians seek nothing but the best—in clothes and accessories, in gadgets and cars, in holidays and experiences.
There are e-commerce marketplaces and e-retailers successfully catering to and answering this swelling demand. Yet, while women’s wear and menswear might make up the bulk of the sales, Mrs and Mr are just as interested in jewellery, cosmetics and home décor—and when it comes to clothes, their junior or teen daughters and sons don’t want to be left behind.
It really is a whole new ecosystem – of hip and homegrown fashion and lifestyle brands, and their customers who are looking to keep themselves up-to-date with the latest trends. And in this ecosystem, the fashion influencers are key facilitators, playing an important role by sharing styling ideas and tips—to bring out the best in you, to make you look good.
Thankfully, gone are the days when fashion in India was a preserve of the elite and the wealthy, and that is surely for the better. Because its increasing inclusivity has exposed the majority of Indians to lifestyle choices they never had. It’s of little surprise, then, that homegrown brands are making a beeline for Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, for it is here that cash registers are ringing at their loudest. When it comes to fashion, there’s no more happening place in the country than the small-town India of big dreams.
Fashion standards have changed on a daily basis in response to trends, customer preferences, supply and demand. To maintain a favourable result, fashion enterprises should keep an eye on the market every day by manufacturing new designs that could bring good results.
Have you heard of Paris Fashion Week, where celebrities and models dress up and walk the catwalk to show off the latest fashion collections from designers? In simple terms, well-known celebrities such as Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Adriana Lima, Cara Delavigne, and others walk the runway by introducing new low-priced stylish clothing that was designed by well-known or up-and-coming designers to influence a new line of clothing/accessories to retail stores that can create trends and boost purchase-power among audiences.
Fast fashion business developed in the late 1980s, with the market-based model by bridging the gap between creation and consumption by positioning this as a quick, low-cost, and disposable item.
Fast fashion retailers such as ZARA, H&M, Gap, UNIQLO,Louis Vuitton, Shein, and many more operate on a seasonal basis, with new outfits and accessories arriving in stores every four to six weeks, often more often than the rest of the fashion industry.
Furthermore, it varies by company; for example, ZARA receives new clothing supplies twice a week. In Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, The United Kingdom, and The United States, fast fashion is usually sold through physical stores or online auctions. Aside from that, the top nations for sourcing fast fashion clothing and accessories are India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Turkey.
Fast Fashion became so ubiquitous and successful that you could buy runway clothes or upcoming trends apparel from popular brands such as H&M, Zara, GAP, and others in advance at a discounted price before they hit the stores. From creating mass production of new clothing lines, selling them at low prices, standardizing fashion styles in advance, earning tons of money out of it to making a trend in the future- fast fashion businesses benefit a lot.
Target Audiences
Fast fashion businesses usually cater to consumers who value fashion above all and can buy the product. Even persons with a middle-class income may afford and buy clothing from fast-fashion labels.
Fast Fashion Business Model
Before the 1980s, fast fashion businesses were product-driven, but by the late 1990s, they had evolved into a market-based business strategy. The fast-fashion industry, in particular, embraced two strategies: Management Style and the Quick Reaction Approach. Fast fashion management is used to meet people’s demands for aestheticism by wearing the newest and most fashionable clothing styles promptly. In the textile business, quick reaction methods are used to improve manufacturing techniques to remove time from the production system. Fast fashion is also linked to other market categories, such as premium and luxury, that use a supply chain acceleration and continuous supply approach.
What’s Unique About the Business Model of Fast Fashion Brands?
A company’s profit strategy is referred to as its business model. It specifies the items or services that the company intends to sell, as well as the target market it has identified and any expected costs. For both new and existing businesses, business models are crucial. They assist new and growing businesses in attracting capital, hiring top personnel, and motivating management and employees. Established companies should keep their business strategies up to date regularly, or they will miss out on future trends and issues. Investors use business plans to assess companies that they are considering investing in.
A business model is a high-level strategy for running a profitable business in a particular market. The value proposition is an important part of any business plan. This is a description of a company’s products or services and why customers or clients find them appealing, ideally articulated in a way that sets the product or service apart from its competitors.
Sales Revenue of Various Top Fast Fashion Brands
The business model for a new company should also include expected beginning costs and funding sources, the organization’s target client base, marketing strategy, a competitive analysis, and income and expense predictions. The strategy may also include ways for the company to collaborate with other well-established businesses.
Successful firms have business strategies that enable them to meet customer needs at a reasonable price over time. Many organizations update their business models over time to meet changing market conditions and demands. When considering a company as a potential investment, the investor should learn how it earns money. This entails investigating the company’s business model. The business model, however, may not reveal everything about a company’s prospects. However, an investor who comprehends the company strategy will be able to make more sense of the financial facts.
There are as many different kinds of business models as there are different kinds of businesses. Traditional business strategies include direct sales, franchising, advertising-based, and brick-and-mortar storefronts, for example. There are also hybrid models, such as companies that combine online retail with brick-and-mortar stores or with sports leagues like the NBA. Within these broad categories, each business plan is unique.
Fast fashion, as the name implies, manufactures and rapidly produces new apparel products for audiences before they emerge in offline stores. Many reputable brands, such as ZARA, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton, Gap, Forever 21, and many more, sell their latest designed clothing lines to audiences at a cheap rate in advance during fashion week, which is then sent to shops as a mass-production to fulfil revenues and trends. Furthermore, a fast-fashion business advantages a company in a variety of ways, including purchasing the latest products ahead of time that creates timely trends, designing and varied styles of clothing availability, low-cost production, reasonable costs, and quick profits.
FAQs
What is a fast-fashion business?
Fast Fashion is a term used to describe apparel and accessories that are created to follow current industry trends but produced with less expensive materials to keep the price low. Fast Fashion has been popularized among regular consumers by apparel companies such as H&M, Zara, and Forever 21 over the previous two decades. UNIQLO, GAP, Primark, and TopShop are among today’s biggest fast fashion brands. While these brands were formerly thought to be radical low-cost challengers, Misguided, Forever 21, Zaful, Boohoo, and Fashion Nova are now even cheaper and faster alternatives.
What are the topmost fast fashion businesses?
Zara, H&M Group, UNIQLO, GAP, Forever 21, Topshop, Esprit, Primark, Fashion Nova, and New Look are all major players in the fast-fashion sector. Many businesses are both merchants and manufacturers, while the actual production of garments is frequently outsourced.
How do they make money out of it?
Fast fashion can only make money if it sells a large number of items, which it does. They enable retailers to provide their customers with current product offerings regularly. The global fast fashion market was expected to be worth $35.8 billion, according to fashion industry figures. Every sector was shaken in 2020, and we all know why. Fast fashion is expected to be worth $31.4 billion in 2020, showing a –12% compound annual growth rate.
All over the world, the clothing industry is worth thousands of billions of dollars. You go to your nearest market and you will find that clothes are the items that are evergreen in nature. Always present and omnipresent. Every business-minded person when thinking of a business idea, his/her first choice is to choose clothes. This is true most of the time. There are huge players and then there are normal players in the clothing segment. However, The demand is such that every brand has enough to fill its pockets.
China is the most populous country in the world. Everything that The world needs, is needed more in china. It is safe to say that China is a value magnifier or a demand manufacturer. One of the clothing brands in China is called Shein. It is a famous brand and is founded by a very amazing personality. The founder of Shein is Chris Xu. This article talks about the company Shein and the founder who is often regarded as the torchbearer for this mysterious clothing brand. Let us have a closer look.
There is a reason why we began talking about the founder before we start talking about what he has actually found. Chris Xu is the founder of Shein, he is a popular entrepreneur in the world and specifically in China. He is the torchbearer for the brand from the initial stages. He built the brand so mysteriously that he is respected for the vision and works that he had pulled off.
He has achieved so much significance in the fashion industry that he becomes no less than a pioneer in this industry. Chris has been an entrepreneur who has been able to start from zero and scratch and then make a name for himself. Interestingly, the person behind Shein is an mysterious man. He has a name and the work that he has done, that speaks for itself and nothing else.
By the term, nothing else, we mean that the man does not even have a Wikipedia page. This is super mysterious and intriguing at the same time. He is super hideous on the internet. As the world becomes smaller and smaller with each passing day with uprising technology, he remains in his mystery palace. According to us, all this blackout about his information and interviews have been intentional.
All the information that is related to Chris is hidden intentionally all over the internet. The reason behind this agenda can be the security and integrity of the person’s name in public. However, there can be multiple more reasons for doing that.
Let us have a glance at his career. This is by the way rare information. Chris Xu was born in 1984 in the city of Shandong. He graduated from the University of Qingdao in the field of science and technology. He graduated in 2007. Soon after graduation, he moved to Nanjing to work in an integrated marketing consulting company.
Nanjing Aodao Information Technology Co, in 2008, where he specialised in SEO. This is also a fact about Chris Xs that he is an expert in SEO or search engine optimisation. While working in Nanjing integrated marketing consulting company he learnt everything possible about SEO. He did get a fair bit of exposure in the organisation of selling and commercial activities.
After learning the nuances of commercial selling of Chinese goods to the international world, he thought of an opportunity. He left the company following that vision or the opportunity. At the inception, he started building this dream with two other entrepreneurs who were now the co-founders. The idea was to ship cheap items online to every person. Basically an online retail store of the first kind.
In choosing the items to sell, Chris found out the huge demand that wedding dresses operate with. He discovered that these were one of the most highly sought products that were demanded by international markets. These dresses could become the first segment of products that the company will offer. However, there were some issues too in the first place.
Foreign customers were not buying these dresses and the reason was conversion rates. Customers were not able to convert money to buy their desired products. That was the issue that he thought to solve and started to shift all his focus in finding solutions to that. With the money earned from selling wedding dresses in the country, he began building SheInside, which is now famously known as Shein.
According to QQ news, once Xu realised that the only thing stopping international customers from buying products was currency conversion, he ‘vanished’ with his entire SEO team.
Let us now focus on the brand that this mysterious man has built for the world. The fast-fashion retailer ‘Shein’ is here with its journey that is full of controversies.
A Small Brief About Shein
‘SheInside’ was the primary name of this organisation and gradually the name became Shein to the world. Even though the first sort of dresses that Chris picked were wedding dresses, they diversified into a lot more domains afterwards.
They diversified into summer wear like bikinis and swimwear which was designed for the summers. They were low price and that was a huge differentiating factor for customers. It became the first thought of girls when they thought of summer wear and as summers approached every year.
The journey was not easy though, there were many ups and downs in the way. They caused several controversies at the beginning pointing to the cheapness of the products. There were allegations of child labour, environmentalism and the quality of the clothes. There is a mystery of the process with which the company operates. Despite all the problems, the company has been able to maintain itself as a trustable brand with its audience.
Inception of Shein
The story of Shein begins when Chris Xu thought of starting out his own venture. Before starting out with Shein, Chris owned a successful wedding dress company and gave it up all, to begin with, a new venture. It was in the initial stages when the name “SheInside” was chosen.
It was later in 2015 when the name was changed to Shein as the efforts of branding grew and as the brand emerged as a favourite destination for clothing. The United States was the place where the company was widely successful and still is the place where most of the revenues come from.
The story really started when an American born graduate gave up his business of wedding clothes in search of building a sustainable clothing brand. They acquired the domain name called sheinside.com and primarily focussed on women’s clothing. In 2015 the name was changed and renamed to Shein. It now focussed on the overseas markets and began riding its way into the fashion industry. Which proved to be fruitful in the future.
Through all the ups and downs, it has managed to become a brand in the clothing world. The United States has always been a really good market for these guys. The United States still is Shein’s biggest market. It ships to almost the whole world. It has revenue streams from 220 countries with websites built for Europe, the middle east, Australia and the United States has been ignited by a series of funding rounds. That was the series E funding for the company that happened in the pandemic year 2020. With this funding in hand, the company got a decent valuation that exceeds the 15 billion dollars mark.
Speaking of the nice valuation, it is also noted that the revenues are not made public. The revenues are in some excess of 10 billion dollars. Which is a really pretty number and proves satisfactory growth.
Taking in mind that this number estimate was coming in the pandemic year which was the most difficult for companies. Not many people were buying new clothes to go out. It was all lockdowns and virus precautions. These amazing numbers really attract Asian investors and international venture capitalists and private equity houses among its capital structure supporters.
The Core of Shein – Fashion Predictions
For most of the time, Shein is identified with clothes and as fashion retail, its core is just identification and predictions. It is often mentioned and said that Shein as a company is deeply obsessed with identifying hot fashion and trends. The company is often seen to predict the type of clothes, fabrics and style statements that will mostly go viral in the coming dates. It has even been reported that it has a faster fashion cycle than the Zara. It has a good social media activeness index and markets heavily on Instagram and manages to continue that trend across social media platforms. It tries to make an impression of a Weibo friendly image for attainable and accessible fashion clothing across all the social media.
As mentioned before, the brand has seen ups and downs in the same proportions of magnitude. The success of this brand does not come easy. It has had many incidents that have shaken the base of the company. For instance, the company was condemned to list a pendant that was shaped like a swastika. The problem and the error was later apologised profusely.
The products are all over social media and they have managed to create a brand image for themselves. Shein uses celebrities as well as fashion influencers to elevate the vision and create an image for the clothing line. Most of the operations are online and they do have offline stores too.
The branding from this company has elevated the low quality and low-cost reputation that was allegedly established in the beginning. They have managed things well even during the pandemic. They had an event hosted called SHEINTogether which was streamed globally in May 2020. Artists like Katy Perry, Rita Ora were roped in for the show.
They still manage the repute that they have built over the years. The cloth brand that started in China went from being homegrown to becoming a key player in the clothing segment in the world. Before 2014, Shein didn’t even have its own supply chain. This is mysterious in all senses but it is also true that it is sheer hard work and consistency from the brand’s side. Let us catch a glimpse of the marvellous emergence in the world today. First, let us see the potholes in their way of work.
Controversies Faced by Shein
One of the biggest controversies that the clothing brand started was child labour and abuse. The claim comes after customers begin questioning the cheap products that the company was able to produce. There were allegations of child abuse and child labour to be involved in the matter. Even though, The website of Shein and in all the legal announcements of Shein, the company has maintained to announce that they are strictly against any sort of child labour.
One other concern which concerned consumers all over was carbon emissions. A report mentioned that they keep all their emissions in check and that the magnitudes are within limits. Fast fashion is a subject line that can have a lot of pain points. The fact that it is fact, also makes it full of residuals. These residuals are mostly harmful to nature. If a brand is able to manufacture quality with less price, they face allegations of child labour, which happened with the clothing brand Shein.
“Shein is one of the only large retailers that orders 100 pieces or less for new products to help eliminate dead stock – which makes up 10% of the carbon emissions across the entire supply chain for the apparel industry. Shein is fully committed to upholding high labour standards across the entire supply chain and to improving the lives of workers in the global supply chain by supporting national and international efforts to end forced labour.” A company’s spokesperson explained
The other thing which was pointed out by consumers and critics was that the brand is super secretive. Following the products which it goes by, Shein is a fast-fashion retailer, it maintains all the secrecy in the world. Even the information about the founder of the company is rarely found on the internet. Social media and websites are maintained properly but there are no guest and news appearances. This opaqueness by a brand raises many eyebrows.
Overall, Shein (previously She Inside) is a complete mystery. No phone number, no email and certainly no press contact was to be found online. Even the name of its founder remains a total enigma, as El Mundo reports. This seemingly opaque company relies mostly on digital marketing and bloggers to get you hooked on their products, rather than divulging anything about their supply chain transparently. – Euronews reported.
Emergence of Shein
It is amazing to notice that the brand didn’t have its own supply chain up until 2014. They used to buy their clothes directly from Guangzhou’s Shisanhang Garment Market. It is a wholesale market in China that is famous for the clothing segment. Soon when the company began running operations, it was hit with strong demand. Watching the demand trend, they soon realised that they will have to become self-reliant in everything. From getting their own supply chain to managing shipment and everything else.
Realising this, preparations were made to go more independent. Chris created a team, or we should say assembled a design team. It was an in-house department that works within the specified locale. Within the first two years, the team expanded and there were now 800 people in the design team. This move was not only focused to improve designs but also to save time. The design team made the designs and prototyping efficient and thus rapid. This ensures that time is saved and it lies with the company’s goal of fast fashion. This has also generated a good demand for its new launches.
Adding to the above, the company has also initiated timely payments of the products that it offers to china. Getting payment in time was a rarity in China but Shein doesn’t go with it. With this effect, Shein moved its operations and supply chain from Guangzhou to Panyu in 2015. Taking forward this effect, all the factories that operate under the brand have to relocate their factories for cost control measures.
The year of relocation of factories was also the year in which the brand entered the Middle East market. The sales were big even in the initial stages. The revenues for fiscal 2016, Shein earned 617 million dollars in revenue. In 2017 those revenues soared 1.5 billion dollars.
Market share data from Earnest shows that Shein began 2021 with 13% of total Fast Fashion sales, trailing traditional leader H&M. Since January, Shein continued to gain share and now leads with 28% of the Fast Fashion market, with Zara the only other brand growing share during that period. – Earnest
The future plans for this venture are even more optimistic. They want to include mobile payments into their operations and they want to get more into the supply chain finance division. In the modern world today, they are also hoping to do more advertising to market products. Nonetheless, they are also looking forward to adding more brick and mortar business centres out there. As retail stores also add a lot of magnitude to the revenues. All this growth and emergence from nowhere is not magical, even though it is mysterious but it also acts as proof of work.
Clothing is one of the most favourite items in the world. People love to dress up and that is the basic thought that works behind the scenes of the fashion industry. Fast fashion is the new trend that companies try to capitalise on. They are trends that come and go. This might seem easy but it is a lot of work that goes into fast fashion. Zara is a fast-fashion retailer and Shein also comes on the list. A lot of companies are built from the fashion industry. In fact, Fashion is really a big strong word.
We discussed a lot about Shien and its emergence as one of the leaders in the market today. The brain behind the brand is Chris’s and he is as mysterious as a Hollywood movie spy. The zeal that the company shows is indefinitely inherited from Chris Xu’s vision in the mission. He is one of the most hard-working and well sought after entrepreneurs in the land of China.
With almost no fingerprints whatsoever on the internet. He has been a learner for most of his life and he definitely thinks with first principles. Let alone the business accomplishments, he has practical knowledge and a way of looking at things. It is not a fast skill to learn but is built over time.
FAQs
Who is Chris Xu?
Chris Xu is an SEO expert and the founder and CEO of mysterious fashion e-commerce website, Shein.
Who is the CEO of Shein?
Chris Xu is the founder and CEO of Shein.
How did Chris Xu start Shein?
Chris Xu used to sell wedding dresses, after looking at the popularity he thought of starting his own fashion retail company. He started SheInside with his team and later changed the name to Shein.
Fashion is such a powerful word, it can change the world. If not change the world it can at least make some people rich. When it comes to fashion, the world follows the crowd. If some trend gets enough people hooked, then the trend has the chance of becoming a fashion trend. Which are longer and wider terms in magnitude and effects. There can be many sorts of fashion, each sort of fashion has the potential to influence a large number of people.
This trait of the fashion industry makes it one of the hottest industries out there. This is the reason fashion houses and fashion retails are always out there, innovating and figuring out something that will hopefully become a trend and a fashion statement. In the modern world, the apocalyptic 21st century, the internet and technology are the lead workers in almost every industry.
Fashion is also run by these workers’ hands. India’s topmost online fashion delivery partner Myntra is also doing the same. They are working on recommendation systems at a large scale. Like in-session intent, explore-exploit algorithms diversity, deep personalisation, identifying fashion trends, etc. This article talks about this topic at the heart. First, let us see how the world of fashion operates and how it is changing with the help of AI and big data.
Fashion, by definition, is anything that someone wears to make a style statement. The definition might look easy in theory but in practice, the word ‘fashion’ has a lot of potentials. This can take any shape and size, and this can make truckloads of money if it is directed in a good right direction.
The cycle of fashion mostly starts when people observe some influential person making a style statement. Then they look out for the same thing, to make the same style statement. Take the case of Luxottica. The famous luxury eyewear group enjoys a monopoly in the eyewear industry. It all started when the brand pulled in some actors and designers to promote luxury frames. This was an instant hit and the beginning of huge cash flows.
By now, you must have understood that the world of fashion is unique and full of potential. There are many sorts of fashion, they can be categorised into many categories. Then comes the more famous sort of fashion line, fast fashion. As the name suggests, it is fast in nature. It comes quickly and goes out of fashion quickly. Zara is probably the best example of fast-fashion retail.
The next and the newest form of fashion is all new. Fashion when mixed with data analytics becomes a whole new domain of work. When fashion is added with the benefits of data and technology, it becomes wider. The reach now covers much more area than before and so do the profits that occur. This is what fashion companies like Myntra are doing. Let us see Myntra’s data science and the work that goes behind the curtains/website.
Myntra – The Fashion Retail
Myntra is a popular name among fashion enthusiasts. By ‘fashion enthusiasts’ we mean quite everyone. Everyone wants to make a style statement and everyone wants to stand out. In this sort of environment, Myntra is a perfect destination for these people. It is a place that caters to a lot of demands in a single and simple setting. A single stop for all things fashion.
As the world grows and becomes more and more hyperconnected, and people want more personalised stuff, Myntra is changing its model too. It is not just a fashion company now, it is adding data and technology to its structure. With the aid of data technology, the brand can put itself as a more personalised fashion retail for its consumers. Which if done right, can lead to great success for the brand.
Right, now the fashion company deals in all sorts of fashion products. As time passes, it is also trying to enter the world of technology of personalisations. Personalisations like large scale recommendation systems can add a lot of brand value to the company. It is working in this direction with all its might, to get to a position where it is easy for consumers to get products that meet their personal demands.
Just like Netflix which used user data to give out personal recommendations for movies and series. In the next paragraph, we will read about the efforts that the company is trying to get deep into data technology.
How Myntra Uses Data Science to Provide Unparalleled Customer Experience?
If you say that Myntra is fashion retail, you are right but not entirely. Myntra is more of a data science company that works on data to provide personalisations to its customers. It is, in fact, one of the biggest and most successful data science teams in the country. The reason is that Myntra is hugely investing in its data science wing, to improve the overall experience.
The data science team is the reason, on which the company is making all its newfound progress. It is in fact the reason which even helps big service companies like Netflix to grow on customer experience. The majority of the features that the fashion company now provides are AB tested. These solutions that provide great personalisations were never possible in the past but they are now the nearest possibility. Thanks to data tech.
At the core of Myntra, the company wants to create an exceptional consumer interface that is so useful that people will become loyal to the brand. The data science team at the fashion retail has solutions for that goal problem. They want to create a unique model at every touchpoint where the user reaches for his/her needs. These models/differentiators will help increase the consumer experience and will generate the desired revenue for the retail.
The team delivers many data science solutions, which are deployed at various customer touch points every quarter. “The models create significant revenue and customer experience impact, alongside providing real-time, near-real-time, and offline solutions with varying latency requirements,” explained Hrishikesh Vidyadhar Ganu, head of data science at Myntra.
There are many domains in which the company is trying to enter with the help of technology aids. It is trying to work on large scale recommendations which will help find people that they are not even looking for. That is products that they might like. The same way as Netflix recommends shows. It is a result of data collection of users and making sense of the data. This makes the user predictable. Thus, the company servers can better predict what the user is going to like in future. This feat is achieved through algorithms, deep personalisation which can identify fashion trends and can suggest more relatable products.
Myntra also is looking forward to building a trying feature that can help in identifying the perfect fit for a customer. Say, a tryout feature. Just like Lenskart does on its website, you can go and try out the glasses with a virtual try-on feature. This feature, to virtually try anything that you like, online is an absolute game-changer. This, not just adds to the overall customer experience but also eases the work of choice for consumers. Myntra can do that too, they can add a virtual try out feature for clothing items or personal beauty essentials etceteras.
Fashion focussed companies like Myntra do a lot of work on their supply chain management. They try to optimise the flow of work in a manner that is the least resistive and most efficient. With help of user data and data technology, they can also leverage their large scale problems of shipping and utilisations.
“We also leverage computer vision extensively for cataloguing, inbound QC, garment measurements, etc.,” said Hrishikesh Ganu who is the director of data science at Myntra.
Another important thing for fashion retail is the pricing models. If the pricing is not right, it does not matter how good the impression the product makes, consumers will be turned off.
With data that Myntra collects and makes sense of, they can let the tech work for them. They can even optimise prices for different customers and give others some coupons that can act as a discount. An optimised pricing strategy will help get more traffic to the website and more conversions of users.
In a recent interview, the Myntra data science team mentioned that they are currently hiring for data science roles. The company has vacant places across many roles in the field of data science.
How Data Plays an Important Role in Improving Customer Experience at Myntra?
Myntra takes the data part very seriously. Data is DNA at the fashion retail. They know this thing that they will receive what they give. If they make sense of the data collected in a nice manner, they will go ahead in utilising and optimising the resources according to customer preferences. This can act as a great differentiator in many aspects.
With trial and error, Myntra has been able to make the walls of its data work strong. The engineering and data insights that they have gathered over the past is very useful in the future. They can use data science to evolve more in the future as they provide the best-personalised fashion to every customer. They will probably be one of the firsts to do something like this in the Indian fashion segment.
They continuously are involved in data scoring and structuring. Every algorithm that they decide on is AB tested with keeping real users in mind. The world of E-commerce revolves around being more and more consumer-centric. This is why companies like Myntra invest a lot of time and energy resources in this field. This enables them to get a better profit margin and a better market placement than the rest. Fashion retail has golden rules, that is, Once you get the experience right, you can get consumers’ hearts.
The story of data starts when users communicate with the website. They can be ordering something, returning something or just pondering/hovering over something.
All that data is collected and makes sense, in the form of patterns. These patterns make bigger patterns that are called user behaviour. Which tells how a person is going to act in front of a situation. This results in better predictability and better recommendations. So, it can be said that data is the source and fuel for the system at the same time. It enriches the algorithm with more useful information.
How is Myntra using Growth Hacking?
At Myntra, all the technology and fashion is directed in one direction. That one direction is simply to make the user journey as smooth as possible. It should be full of aids, but not too much and it should be easy to walk on. Noticing this simple goal, they recently launched something called ‘Growth hacking’.
Growth hacking is an initiative and an experiment with which Myntra is trying to capture hindrances that are faced by users. For example, users should be able to check out with a click and clicks for websites should be lowered. They are also looking to add and subtract a few traits in the post order stage.
All these little tweaks here and there will help cover the journey of the user in a smooth way. The result of which is more and improved conversion rates. Another consequence is that users have more retention and thus more revenue for the company.
These experiments like that of growth hacking Myntra is employing a method of AB testing. Since they have a large variety of products in almost every domain, it becomes imperative to make it easy for the user to make choices. The process goes like the easier the better.
In order to release the experiments at the growth hacking, they have to conduct A-B testing. It is a method by which a company tests its experiments with some people and gets their feedback. It was made sure that the experiments work well and that they don’t add any sort of hindrance to the user journey.
From the above discussions, it is evident that Myntra is planning a lot more investments in the data department. They know that this is useful in reaching new scales of growth. They are not wrong in this manner, everyone loves personalisations and attention to detail. With data-driven growth, there are a lot of utilities that can be achieved. Myntra is betting on this new-age tech of machine learning and data science.
As they develop each wing of the data plane, like data analytics, data science and machine learning in the platform, they want to make all these things go together. In a synchronised manner, these things will work better and more efficiently.
Myntra is investing a lot in machine learning models that work in real-time. The workings of which will help Myntra to get quick and real-time feedback from users. Another reason for developing the ML platform is that they can run data from models and execute them.
Myntra is a platform that runs at a level of whole India or PAN India. This means that they have a lot of consumers to cater to. They have to be right with data if they want to predict their users’ patterns. This is one of the main reasons why Myntra is trying to improve its data science wing. It will add more depth to the organisation and will help increase the consumer experience.
Myntra has a lot of checks and balances at every step before data ingestion into the warehouse, clean-up and processing. A better capability to tackle users will make for a delightful user experience.
This is why the data science department is running to work with in-depth data details and structures of user data. This will help the whole organisation regardless of the scale at which they operate. However, it might seem easy in theory to work towards personalisation technology but it’s not easy.
There has to be a whole infrastructure setup that can be built for analytics. Myntra has also taken some steps to improve the data handling at the company. Here we will discuss these processes and the progress that they have made.
First of all, Myntra starts the work even before data arrives at its shores. They try to track every piece of information that arrives at its doorstep. It can be any data or information from warehouses, process reports and stock placements. At every step, new data is laid out and Myntra keeps full track of these. Recording everything helps the company to catch any deviations that might have occurred in the process.
Now, to improve the metrics, it has to follow a repeated process. An iterated process. The continuity of the process is the key in this venture which helps to improve monitoring and catching of errors and deviations. If the process of data collection is even and continuous, they will catch omissions quickly which makes it efficient. For even for a minute deviation or non-success in their data trajectory, they have a solid alert in place and a testing framework to report.
Conclusion
Fashion is a powerful word. With enough potential to generate a lot of cash for the trailblazer. Fashion retail has some common golden rules. That is, Once you get the customer experience right, you can get to the consumer’s hearts. Once they get this thing right, they will be the market leader in fashion retail in India. This is all about brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Myntra is planning to go deeper into this segment which will allow them to better understand the market and its consumers. In the modern world, the apocalyptic 21st century, the internet and technology are the lead workers in almost every industry.
Fashion is the new world where tech is working and it has a lot of benefits. Myntra is also trying out and working on virtual trials of products on each consumer. The future and present of fashion are changing and so are the priorities of people.
FAQ
How does Myntra use big data?
Myntra tracks the user behaviour, if they are going to buy something or just surfing, what are they looking for and stores it which helps them to recommend the best-personalised fashion to every customer.
How does Myntra use machine learning?
Myntra analyses its customer data, social media and its fashion portals to find out what customers are exactly looking for.
How does Myntra use data analytics?
Myntra uses data to provide personalized recommendations to its users.
Pooja Uniyal
