Insights shared by Mr. Nitin Pamnani, Co-Founder, iTokri
iTokri as a brand believes in taking away the burden of sale from artisans and encouraging them to focus on their craft, ensuring that the artisans get due credit for their art by selling products under the artisan’s name on our platform. We should not forget that the artisans are the real creators and they must always have the freedom to create and grow themselves as an artist. Companies should aim to conserve and upgrade their traditional lifestyles. Artisans are an integral part of our social structure. Today, this is the responsibility of every entrepreneur and other business in India. Nowadays many brands use the technique of using the Stock & Sell Model where the goods/products physically remain with the brand when they are sold to make the best of the opportunity by connecting many artisans with their consumers where every product is quality checked.
iTokri Team
Working with the artisans through conducting consulting sessions where the brand’s purchase team explains the demand type from the international customers and buyers provides better analytical insights to them. Regulating the market performance and sharing them with the artisans give them an idea of various types of product categories, prices, etc. At the same time, putting in a lot of effort to understand the business demand and try to balance the consumer expectations and artisans’ work helps a lot. Focusing on art coming from across the country and not limiting it to only one or two geographical regions of India increases the worth of the collection and maintains the diversity that brands always look for which also remains a huge challenge in today’s time and age. Developing a propriety tool that helps with data modulation and building a machine learning module works well for many small businesses catering to international markets which in return helps improve purchase forecasting. This approach not only helps in forecasting demand and managing inventories but as a part of the value chain, helps the artisans to produce and understand the market demand better. It optimizes the purchased quantity leading to enhancing the production process.
The ultimate goal is to create artisan-led crafts that support traditional artworks through restructuring and create better job opportunities for the rising generation paving the way to the international markets. An entrepreneurial approach should be taken for sustainable growth where groups, individual initiatives, and decisions do not get limited, making the collectives flexible enough to respond to market realities. To grow internationally, brands should focus on developing their e-commerce strategy to become multichannel brands, and to continue to create and introduce new products which are sustainable, modern yet comfort-driven. Also, women-led businesses are an added incentive to our economy. The increasing demand for Indian handicrafts resulting in an increase in women’s participation in a variety of roles, primarily from underprivileged strata of our society making significant contributions to the industry, has led them to become socially and financially self-independent. They get all the recognition and a fair amount compared to the market rate which helps the sellers sell their products efficaciously that builds their brand in a unique light in the process.
The D2C route has greatly helped current brands get a toehold across the markets where well-established brands have ruled. Long-established players, who have marked their presence over the time in offline retail and have intimidating distribution clout, are now starting to take the expeditiously growing online channels seriously to defend their overall market share. Moreover, the Aatmanirbhar Bharat movement has exhilarated Indian entrepreneurs to put made-in-India products on the global map, and this is where Indian brands are engraving a niche for themselves in the international market. The mission is to enable artwork communities to sustain their culture with systematic indoctrination and ecosystem building to create modern designs with traditional techniques for sustainable livelihoods through their craft.
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.
When it comes to fashion, women’s style and sense are considered the most superior ones! It’s never a waste to spend your money in a women-run business. And it’s pretty amazing how women are growing in every field.
From bringing our very first cloth to creating an entire wardrobe collection for us, women have always been there. In today’s time, there are women at every top position and especially in fashion, you’ll find some fabulous women designers.
Women, being considered to have the best knowledge of fashion sense and when these turn into designers or top-clothing brands’ owners then, the products are enchanting. From glamorous clothing to glitter handbags collection to sexy and bold lingerie, women have created a huge range of products. And you’ll be amazed at how some of the most famous brands across the globe are owned and run by women. Speaking of which, we have presented this article where we have described the top fashion brands founded by women all across the globe. So, let’s get started!
Cambridge Satchel Co. is a very famous British manufacturer, started by Julie Deane and her mother. They started the company with the mindset of creating a sparkling timeless style in British fashion. The brand, Cambridge Satchel Co. is quite famous for its iconic satchel piece which literally blew the internet by becoming the fashion sensation of all time and has also been seen on the arms of style packs.
The Bowls Bag
Cambridge Satchel Co. always brings out the most iconic product range. The brand’s latest launched product- The Bowls Bag is inspired by the Crown Green Bowls bag concept. Today, Cambridge Satchel Co. is considered one of the most preferable clothing brands for women.
MaisonCléo
Founder- Marie Dewet and Cléo
Founding year- 2017
Marie Dewet and Cléo
MaisonCléo started on the very famous social media platform, Instagram by the French mother-daughter duo. The brand is famous for using reclaimed fabrics for manufacturing their super fancy and comfortable, vintage-inspired designs.
Although MaisonCléo does not provide the ultimate 24×7 service or purchasing as they manufacture products in a limited number. The main reason behind this is it’s a time-consuming but efficient process of manufacturing. All this fabric-related information is available on the E-commerce stores in order to provide the users with transparency of pricing.
However, the brand is working on tactics to overcome this. So far, they have developed a Net-A-Porter for accessing all ranges of styles anytime.
Simonett, a brand created with a distinctive sense of fashion which also, resembles empowering women of all eras. The brand is known to have an individualistic approach towards fashion and style. The founder worked with many independent designers from all around the globe and developed a sustainable practice and design in women clothing.
Simonett Pereira believes that, when one knows their worth and talent, then there isn’t a single thing that can stop them! Her favourite piece from her collection is the Kika pants, which is presented by workwear manufacturers in vegan leather.
Kitri
Founder- Haeni Kim
Founding year- 2017
Haeni Kim
Haeni launched her brand with the belief of creating distinctive design collections and innovative pieces for women of the modern era. Kitri is known to have the most premium women clothing designer with great pricing options.
Kirti also creates clothing in limited numbers in order to prevent bumping into someone with the same attire.
Nubian Skin
Founder- Ade Hassan
Founding year- 2013
Ade Hassan
Nubian Skin is widely known for its unique approach towards women’s fashion by creating skin-tone hosiery collections. In the market of white women clothing, women of colour couldn’t get enough options. And that’s what inspired Ade Hassan to start her Nubian Skin, for women of colour. Nubian Skin manufactures all kinds of clothes including Nude lingerie, hosiery and intimates for all colours of women.
Henning
Founder- Lauren Chan
Founding year- 2009
Lauren Chan
Henning is a very popular clothing brand for plus-size women. For plus-size women, there are limited options of clothing luxury and Lauren Chan, being herself a plus-size consumer, faced great difficulty in finding the right clothes size for her. Fashion often excludes plus-size women, and that’s why She launched a brand specifically for plus-size women.
Henning creates a great collection for women’s clothing of all categories and brings luxury fashion and styling options for women from sizes 12 to 26.
Women and fashion are the perfect combinations of all time. They create brands with an incredible concept and promote women empowerment at all costs. In today’s clothing market, there is a great range of options for all shapes and colours of women. And for this, the biggest credit goes to that woman. Through this article, we presented how women are exceeding in the fashion world. Stay tuned for more such content!
FAQ
What are the most famous clothing brand in the world?
Nike, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and Gucci are some of the most famous clothing brands in India.
Who is the most influential person in fashion?
Princess Diana, Rihanna, Zendaya, Audrey Hepburn and Harry Styles are some of the most influential person in fashion.
Who is the world’s best female fashion designer?
Jeanne Lanvin, Jeanne Paquin, Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Claire McCardell are some of the world’s best female fashion designer.
There are startups budding everywhere. Great companies that started just from an idea and now are building their empires that are huge and vast. With their growing consumer base and stand undistinguished in the market with their offerings promising consistency as brands.
Mostly, women are just stereotyped into being homemakers. And are often not associated with terms like business entrepreneurs. But here are some women defying the odds and stereotypes created by society and are also running successful startups in the fashion industry.
We have curated a list of Fashion startups that are run by women with their stories. So if you are looking for that little spark of inspiration to get you some motivation.
This is the sign to stop doubting yourself and start that business that you are wanting to.
There is an integration/fusion of cultures in this age. People have embraced the idea of a kaleidoscopic approach which has been possible with the help of globalization. With sustainability playing a new and important role in this industry. The industry has a wide scope and a lot to offer trends and styles. Let’s browse through how female entrepreneurs are changing the game with their ventures in the world of fashion.
The wealthiest self made Female Billionaire in India
Nykaa is everywhere and the brand just got its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and has attracted 32.59 billion dollars worth already. Describing itself as India’s one-stop online cosmetics and beauty store, having forty six locations across India and is associated with over 2400+ brands. It is India’s largest online shopping beauty store for cosmetics, beauty products, health products, and more.
Nykaa has four apps on the Play Store: Nykaa Fashion- Online shopping app; Nykaa – Beauty Shopping app for buying makeup and cosmetic products. It has a different segment that caters to men too, and those apps include: Nykaa Man- men’s grooming store and superstore by Nykaa, which is a business to business (B2B) shop.
The e-commerce platform provides seamless shopping experience providing premium as well as affordable products through its omni-channels. The founder, Falguni Nayar, who has completed her Master of Business Administration (MBA) in finance, a student at Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, after joining the Kotak Mahindra Bank and serving for almost eighteen years, quit to go after her dream to start the venture. P.S. She has also been the managing director at the bank.
Chumbak
Year: 2009
Founder: Shubhra Chadda and Vivek Prabhakar
CEO: Shubhra Chadda
Sold home with her husband to start their own venture
Shubhra Chadda
With a collection of fashion and home products, Chumbak is an e-commerce store for everything. According to reports of 2020, Chumbak has established forty four stores across India and has its presence in at least twelve cities.
Have you ever worried about what could be the perfect gift for someone’s special occasion? Or been crazy about quirky things? That integrates culture, uniqueness, and funk all in a cool way. Chumbak has got you! People who travel often love to get things back as mementos from their trips, to look back, and remember the precious times. But there is no particular place in the Indian market made exactly for this purpose, nor exactly on the web platforms back then.
There are many gaps in the Indian market that need bridging and usually go unnoticed by the people. Shubhra realized this and took notice of the fact that many people were looking for things to take back after a trip to India.
Here begins her story of Shubhra after being a mother for a year who wanted to do something and embarked on her journey to being an entrepreneur. The couple sold their home to set-up their venture: Chumbak. Their home decor & fashion stores have a ranging variety of products selling perfumes, laptop sleeves, bags, water bottles, other home decor items, apparels for women and more.
Having led many organizations like Lehman Brothers Incorporation, Virgin Media, eBay incorporation, Skype, Gum Tree and driving them to success with her potential, brilliance and skills. Sachi Mukherjee wows you with her knowledge graduating from the St. Stephens College in Delhi she holds a BA degree in Economics with Math’s from University of Cambridge. She is also a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar and Fellow, a Chadburn Scholar who has completed her master’s from the London School of Economics in finance and economics.
Having received the Unicorn Startup Award in 2016 by NDTV is just one of the accomplishments among many for Lime Road.Lime Road is an e-commerce platform that in the initial stages only served as a platform catering to women, only now it has extended selling clothing and accessories for women, men and kids.
It started with the aim of creating a shopping experience that people find mesmerizing. Engaging users allows them to create personal looks and collections and have the option to share it with your friends.
Zivame
Year: 2011
Founder: Richa Kar
CEO: Amisha Jain
Going beyond just lingerie
Richa Kar
Think outside the box and the whole society calls you crazy. The story of Richa Kar is somewhat the same; she dared to do things differently and do it anyway, even though she did not have her parents supporting her idea of starting a business of selling lingerie online.
Her mother was embarrassed by the idea and had no support from her father. Zivame has both online and offline stores with new launches. The inspiration for starting Zivame that struck Richa was derived from tracking sales of Victoria’s Secret, and she realized that there was no such market in India.
Started with her savings and borrowing money from her friends with the vision to help women shop for intimates online. After going through tough times with receiving criticism came the positive feedback. Dedication and hard work got Richa through her journey to getting investors and later receiving funding for her venture. The story on the official site describes it as going beyond just lingerie. Driving with innovative ideas that were not given much thought about before, influencing women in different ways.
Baggit
Founded in: 1985
Founder: Nina Lekhi
CEO: Nina Lekhi
Fueling the road to success with failure
Nina Lekhi with Shraddha Kapoor
Home-grown premium brand: Baggit, made and designed in India. Which provides bags and accessories made in a vegan, sustainable, and cruelty-free way for women, was started by Nina Lekhi back in 1985 with her hardwork and following her passion. She started Baggit with only seven thousand rupees, which was borrowed from her mother. Now Baggit has one thousand retail stores in India, two hundred and eight employees, and the brand is worth Rs 111 crores.
A student who did really well until the eighth grade and an role model for others, things changed for Nina Lekhi when she neglected much of her studies, not putting much work and having fun in the world with her perspective of how college should be like she flunked in her first year of college at Sophia’s Polytechnic, Mumbai.
Giving failure a direction to feel the sense of purpose after being called with labels like “duffer” and “stupid” she tackled them by proving herself. Nina’s parents were very supportive and encouraged her to build on the lost self-esteem and confidence.
With a head full of curiosity for the world of the retail industry and parents that stood by her. She took up two part-time jobs, for Mike Kriplani Fashions in the retail sectorand at Shyam Ahuja, selling carpets at the age of seventeen, getting first hand experience.
Having people around her who were into businesses and an environment that cherished entrepreneurship starting her own venture felt like a natural move for her. Doing exhibitions and marketing her products at the retail stores where she worked and word of mouth getting her clients, setting up her first store at Kemps Corner with her brother to the slowly climb to the hill of success made it all work.
With a hint of inspiration, passion and courage, you can do it all. Quit that job, dare to dream, believe, fail, and break for, and stand out when the world asks you to fit into the box. Start small, start somewhere if you believe in what you do. There will be setbacks and a lot of society doubting you. Take it from these women, defy the odds, and do it anyway.
FAQ
Who is first woman entrepreneur in India?
Kalpana Saroj, CEO of Kamani Tubes is known as the first women entrepreneur of India.
Who is the richest female entrepreneur in the world?
Oprah Winfrey, Jenny Just, Michelle Zatlyn, and Katrina Lake are some of the richest female entrepreneur in the world.
Who is the first woman entrepreneur?
Madame C.J. Walker is the first woman entrepreneur in the world.
Early humans figured out a way to cover their bodies to safeguard against weather. The accessories they built were named clothes. The sole purpose of this invention was to protect the naked skin from heat, wind and other normal natural phenomena.
The way we dress up today is different in different parts of the world, but the purpose has changed dramatically over the years. The purpose of clothing is not only to cover your body anymore, it is to make a style statement, to look apart from the crowd. This has led to a boost to fashion retails all over the world.
One of the most popular fashion retailers is Zara. We all have heard about it. That expensive brand whose clothes people find aesthetic and boast about it. The same brand has a unique aspect that probably no one knows about. It spends literally nothing on advertising. How cool is that? Such a big name in the industry that too without commercials. This is the article where we dissect the marketing strategy of Zara. Read on.
Zara is a Spanish apparel retailer. The company produces and retails clothing items, swimwear, shoes, perfumes and beauty. It was founded by Amancio Ortega in 1975. The age range of customers to which it caters is from 18 to mid 30s. It is also the largest brand under Inditex group. The company specialises in fast fashion. So, what is fast fashion ? The phrase denotes fashion wear that is quick, explosive and thus highly profitable in nature.
Zara is said to specialise in designing new works of fashion every now and then. It is said according to some reports that this retailer takes just about over a week to produce and get outfits to the stores. Six months is industry average. This sure provides the company a better edge on the fast fashion line of business.
How Zara is Succesful despite spending minimal on Advertising
One of the most unique things that sets Zara apart is that it spends an amount of nuts in its marketing. It has a policy of no advertising. Without advertising the brand is able to hold such a big and premium market share of the world. Here we discuss how does it do this magic.
Augmented reality shopping
Zara Shop the Look
The Spanish fashion retailer seems to leave no innovation unturned to woo customers. Zara is entailing tech into shopping, in order to create magic out of this combination. It has introduced augmented reality shopping for customers via their app.
Basically when you point at a dress at a Zara dress in their store, the sensors in the area will detect that and will show models wearing that apparel. This makes choosing a dress more easy and convenient for customers. The target audience are millennials because they are generally tech-savvy. H&M, a rival, is also trying to hold its hands on building something like this to extend customer experience, a report said.
Fast Fashion
Zara is god in fast fashion, it follows a policy of being fast without caring for who is first. Many retailers try to be trendsetters and fashion innovators, but Zara just doesn’t buy that.
Rather than working to set trends. Its work is to identify the current fashion wave and rapidly surf over it. Its main target audience is teens of 20 something who are always looking for ways to look cooler. Zara does the work for them.
Taking customer feedback seriously
We as customers may not take what we say about how we like a brand or hate someone, but Zara does. It is all ears for customer feedback. Anything you buy from the store is the beginning of a transaction with the store. The feedback they take from you is to ensure that the transaction relation remains in the future.
Anything you report is taken to higher order to build better products. Thus including customers in the designing process is such a good way to build customer loyalty. Today not the company, the customer calls the shots.
No advertising policy
Well, the real thing is that, no marketing is also marketing in the case of Zara. How you may ask? People love to buy exclusive stuff. Zara is a brand of which you will not spot a single billboard. This gives a sense of exclusivity. So this creates a chance for customers to be in the cool spot of society. It invests extensively on brand experience rather than ads.
Store locations
Zara Store
While we can say that Zara doesn’t spend on ads, one thing to look at as an exception is that it spends on locations. Rather than spend on locations it invests in them. Adding to the brand experience. Every Zara store around the globe can be found in famous crowded places. It invests in the appeal of a store, to get as many customers inside the commercial zone.
Supreme Customer Experience
Zara Customer Experience
It must be obvious by now, that Zara does everything to get customers a great experience with the brand. It consistently tries to provide more and more reasons to visit their stores again. It doesn’t just want to push their product out, they want to get the people in. They trade in value more than the product. Today’s economy consists more of experience than product.
Zara knows it well that value today is measured beyond the price. So it is super trend-tight in this manner and high on customer experience. To provide value consistently to its customers, building brand loyalty with fashion enthusiasts.
Zara is all about the customer, it can be said safely. Product used to be the king earlier but not anymore. Zara makes the customer experience the king. It knows that the product will be changed rapidly but brand loyalty is more important and constant. This is what the word “brand” actually means, it means a good image or perception in the eyes of the general public. That is built by being consistent with your value supply. Name any brand in the world, it operates with a similar idea. This is what sets someone apart from being just a different cog in the wheel of the market.
FAQ
Does Zara spend on advertising?
No, Zara does not spends big budget television commercials, internet ads or billboards.
How is Zara so successful?
The company is successful because it has a phenomenal operating supply chain and manages its inventory well.
How does Zara advertise?
Zara uses anonymous models to advertise their clothes.
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 Cloud Tailor.
Cloud Tailor is a D2C mobile app that enables Personalized fashion styling, fashion visualization, recommendations, order placement, tracking, and fulfillment. It is the only tech-enabled personalized fashion brand in India – Serving global women customers from India. StartupTalky interviewed Susmitha Lakkakula (Founder, Cloud Tailor) to get insights on the startup story and roadmap of the organization. In this article, you’ll discover how Cloud Tailor was started, its journey to date, marketing strategies, revenue model, and more.
Cloud Tailor is a D2C mobile app that enables Personalized fashion styling, fashion visualization, recommendations, order placement, tracking, and fulfillment. Cloud Tailor’s unique asset-light ‘Online + Offline’ global fulfillment business model ensures the best quality and price outcome for personalized fashion in guaranteed timelines.
Vision: To be the ‘One Stop Shop’ for all personalized fashion choices for global women.
Mission: To simplify and enhance personalized fashion choices for global women.
“We as founders believe that we have the right mix of technology skills, marketing focus, idea intensity talent, prior startup experience to make Cloud Tailor the No. 1 ‘top of the mind’ brand for personalized fashion across the globe” says Susmitha Lakkakula, Founder, Cloud Tailor
Cloud Tailor – Industry Details
Ladieswear Fashion – Market Size
The Women’s wear industry is a 185 Billion USD valued business per annum globally. The correct estimates of the Personalized fashion industry are not available since it is a completely fragmented market and there are no organized players in the market now.
As per the founder’s discussions with multiple fashion experts and market leaders in this domain, the team has estimated the market in India to be a minimum of INR 8000 Crores per annum driven primarily by domestic consumption. The overseas market order fulfillment in India is an extremely under-served market accounting for only 2% of all organized personalized fashion orders. There is a huge scope to present a brand and offer timely dispatches in the best possible price points to overseas customers for their personalized fashion requirements.
The primary inspiration was the founders’ constant lookout for market segment gaps and under-served requirements. They excel at building an organized online solution to cater to offline requirements in society. The founding team saw a huge gap in the ‘Professional Services’ for personalized fashion, as Susmitha Lakkakula, and her husband, Rudra Pratap, faced a lot of issues trying to place orders to tailors, following up, and trying to reach them over the phone and in-person for updates and progress. The duo decided that it was time for someone to simplify this workflow and accept the challenge. Thus Cloud Tailor was born.
The first set of validators of Cloud Tailor were Industry veterans such as Mr. M C Cariappa (President, Marketing and Sales, Jockey India) and 10 boutique owners with whom the team did the idea-bounce back. All of them immediately suggested that they get started on the startup. Since they conceptualized the initial business plan and structure in Covid times in March 2020, Susmitha had to take police permission for vehicle pass to go around to meet fabric and sewing machine traders, talk to cutting masters, tailors, and other intermediaries to understand how the personalized fashion industry functions and the crucial cogs in the machinery. Susmitha went about doing online courses on fashion on Udemy and other portals. Rudra went about bringing the first UX and UI mobile app screens to life by personally sketching them. He then digitized them and hired a Flutter developer – Tarun Dak from Ahmedabad to bring them to life on Google Cloud, Firebase DB, and Flutter.
The first MVP app version in flutter was made live in the Play Store and iOS store in January 2021. To scale it to the next level, the team sought to onboard Mahesh Patel, who was then the National Head for eCommerce and online sales at Jockey India. He introduced Susmitha to M C Cariappa who was his boss. Mahesh loved the idea and scale possible and joined Cloud Tailor as Co-founder. M C Cariappa was the 1st full-time advisor to join Cloud Tailor.
The team decided to fire on all cylinders and put their personal savings together to get the professionally designed app UX and UI did by Lollypop.design. When Anil Reddy (Founder, Lollypop) listened to their vision and idea, he immediately agreed to help them build the best UI app for Cloud Tailor and also offered to personally design the ‘Cloud Tailor’ logo. The current app in development at its App and Cloud Development center in Hyderabad is being built around the researched UX and UI designs made by the same team at Lollypop.design, who had made Myntra, Paytm money, housing.com, Swiggy, Vodafone idea, and the Aditya Birla app among many others.
Only tech-enabled personalized fashion brand in India – Serving global women customers from India
Cloud Tailor app (Beta is live on Android and iOS) is the only mobile app that has a full fashion styling, learning, social sharing, order placement, tracking, and rewards program
It fulfills global orders for ‘Any Style – Any Design’ – Exclusively for women’s wear
The entire backend fulfillment and stitching/shipping also happens throughthe ‘Cloud Tailor Operations app’ and browser applications at its dedicated Cloud Tailor Fulfillment Centers
ML-based recommendation and upselling engine within the app
VR visualization of dresses styled by the customer or by the fashion designer within the app
Cloud Tailor has been running the Hyderabad Fulfilment Center for the last 5 months (as of Oct 2021) and is now scaling the Fulfilment center operations to Gurgaon, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, and Ludhiana in the next 4 months
This gives a never-before option to Cloud Tailor’s overseas customers to choose the city for the styling and stitching of their fashion
It is currently serving customers in 4 countries (US, Australia, UK, and Singapore) apart from India
The startup has a full-time team of app and cloud developers at its Hyderabad Software development office
Cloud Tailor is guided by a well-accomplished team of advisors from Jockey, Amazon, Geodis, GATI, and TESCO Retail in this rapid scale-up process
The Cloud Tailor customer app has been made by the lollypop.design team which has made the Myntra, Paytm money, Vodafone India mobile, housing.com, and Swiggy apps. bringing vast industry expertise into its app
Cloud Tailor
Key problems Cloud Tailor is solving:
One-Stop-Shop for all personalized fashion – No more boutique hopping for different categories of personalized fashion
Professional and Trained staff – Customer-centric app and offline interactions
Tech powered organized solution in the organized boutique market across the world
Overseas customers – One Stop Shop (aka mobile app) for all their personalized requirements
Customers can now select their home – city (for local styling cues and nuances) for all stitching orders while being based in any country globally
Guaranteed delivery dates – No more follow up with the tailor and No more repeated calls and anxiety
On app fabric options to select and tag to the orders
Huge opportunity for job creation for its on-app Fashion Designers (It limits to NIFT, NID, and Pearl Academy graduates and alumni for now)
Dedicated ‘Fashion Designer’ for Cloud Tailor Gold club members
ML-based recommendations of wardrobe shortlisting of styles – Shorten order decision cycles
Save all measurements on the app and tag them to the profile – Checkouts will now be a breeze
Doorstep measurements option in serviced pin codes for that exact fit as required
Lifetime free alterations for its orders – No more hunting for alteration tailors
Social Styling options – Share your designs and images on the Cloud Tailor app – Tag them on social as well – Let someone else order your style – Earn redeemable buttons
On app ‘Loyalty Program’ – Cloud Tailor Buttons – Redeemable on order value
Offer a professional work environment with good benefits to its staff
Cloud Tailor – Founders and Team
Susmitha Lakkakula, Rudra Pratap and Mahesh Patel are the co-founders of Cloud Tailor.
Susmitha is leading the company formation, strategy, USP, and product features. Rudra handles the mobile app and cloud part of the work and also the offline expansion and the details. Rudra and Mahesh Patel are friends and have known each other for the last 14 years Mahesh has a sharp business acumen has come from a business family in Gujarat. He is an expert at going to market, branding, online sales, and business partnerships at a global level. He immediately liked the idea to join as a co-founder when Susmitha and Rudra both had gone for his housewarming in Bengaluru in January 2021.
Cloud Tailor – Founding Team
Susmitha Lakkakula | Founder & Full Time into Cloud Tailor
Masters in software engineering: BITS Pilani (Software Engineering)
Masters in software engineering: BITS Pilani (Software Engineering)
EPBM – IIM Kolkata
BCA – Utkal University
Diploma in Advertising and PR: NiA
Work Experience: Wipro Technologies/ Reliance / Aliens Real Estate/ Cosyn/ raksan (Over 19 years experience)
Mahesh Patel | Co-Founder, Cloud Tailor
Bachelors in Hotel Management, Sunway College University, Kuala Lumpur
Executive MBA, NIMT
Work Experience: Jockey (Page Industries), Shop CJ, Reliance, Spencers, Aditya Birla Retail
Cloud Tailor Team
Currently, Cloud Tailor has a total of 8 Full-time employees and 4 part-time employees. The founders are very selective in hiring as they need to be sure that the person will be able to don multiple hats when required, is flexible to adapt to a startup, and think like an entrepreneur when it comes to the customer.
Cloud Tailor – Name, Tagline and Logo
The founding team had initially booked ‘bookmytailor’ as the name of the brand and also got it Trademarked. Eventually, they realized that it did not signify the Technology depth of the startup and also the aspect of workflow happening virtually and seamlessly. Hence they brainstormed for over 3 days and found that ‘Cloud Tailor’ was an apt depiction of what they intended to be perceived as by their customers. It also had a nice ‘Cloud’ connotation to it which signifies both the ‘Cloud virtual part’ as well as ‘the cloud nine’ significance which meant satisfaction and happiness.
When they approached Lollypop team, Anil himself volunteered to design the logo. There were multiple iterations and logo designs they ran through over 45-60 days and eventually zeroed in on the one. The founders went ahead and trademarked the ‘Cloud Tailor’ word mark and this has been registered to as well.
Cloud Tailor Logo
The tagline: ‘You Design, We Stitch’ also signifies the importance of the customer in the whole process and also that the customer is a part of the whole cycle. Mita,Rajesh, and Anil from the Lollypop team played a crucial role in sharing options and also shortlisting the logo options down to the last 3.
Illustration of various Cloud Tailor Designed
Cloud Tailor – Business Model & Revenue Model
Cloud Tailor offers a simple and reliable tech-based solution for personalized fashion solutions for global women.
Cloud Tailor Revenue Model
Cloud Tailor’s revenue model is driven by 4 sources:
Ready to Fit: The Tatkal version of ‘Personalized Fashion’. Tag your saved measurements >> Select ‘Ready to Fit’ SKU >> Place Order (dispatch in 24 hours)
Accessories: Select from the hand-picked accessories to match your fashion: Clutches, Tote Bags, Belts, Handbags, and many more
B2B Clothing Line / Personalized Fashion Outsourcing: Dedicated styling/stitching unit setup to service other brands/boutiques anywhere in the globe
Since the startup operates across all styles and design segments in women’s wear, each order is unique and thus its prices depend on the order type, the accessories, the work and time required to complete the order.
Cloud Tailor – Launch and Marketing Strategies
The team at Cloud Tailor used WhatsApp marketing and created small flyers on Canva and posted them in the gated community Whatsapp groups. They had their first order on the 2nd day of the first post. After that, the startup had a constant stream of orders and also because the team generated a lot of goodwill with the experience of their first critical set of customers whom they took special care of.
They also did a small budget Google Analytics campaign for the US, Australia, and the Middle East to place its brand amongst the target group there. Apart from Whatsapp, they also used Facebook marketing with boost posts. Initially, the team also ran branding runs on the boosting on FB and Instagram.
“We will still attribute our earliest quick success to the importance of closed WhatsApp groups of residents/ladies for maximum impact” – Susmitha added.
Cloud Tailor hired a social media agency in July 2021 and like any online marketing hack, social media planning takes time and patience. The startup plans to do Customer Testimonial reels, Live comments, user stories, and process reels on how Cloud Tailor’s app enables easier and faster order design and placement. It Social calendar is also made and executed by the social team. Another important thing that the startup did, was to hire Social media interns from MBA colleges who would track the trends and act as growth hackers for the startup.
The startup is in talks to use popular apps with specific partnerships for coupons and branding. It is currently running a tight ship and is diligent in its spend for the agency and interns process. The startup would enhance the team strength and build more branded content in due course in a planned manner.
Cloud Tailor has grown mostly by customer word of mouth and repeat sales – since there is no other brand around who provides a similar service and a mobile app. Hence its best ROI was in spending time with its existing customers and nurturing their trust to be able to build credible support and core referral and brand ambassador group.
Being Software Engineers by career and training: The founding team learned basics of fashion, garments, styling, sketching, fabrics, machinery, repairs, manpower requirements
Learning the fashion domain intricacies and nuances during COVID time with an infant at home and pre-teen
Placement and ROI of fulfillment centers
Overseas cities where they can scale for orders
Differentiation factor communication to customers
Keep increasing repeat order comfort with existing customers
Cloud Tailor – Advisors & Mentors
Cloud Tailor – Advisors
Cloud Tailor – Achievements & Milestones
Cloud Tailor’s biggest achievement – Highest Order Value from Single customer so far in Sep 2021: Rs. 51000 (From a repeat customer in the US, Houston). This shows the potential and scale the startup can grow to.
Some of the Current Milestones achieved by Cloud Tailor are –
Beta versions of Android and iOS apps LIVE
Hyderabad Fulfillment Center Operationally break-even within 4 months of commencement
M C Cariappa, President (Jockey – Page Industries) joined as a full-time advisor
Abhishek Dwivedi, Head (TESCO – Soft Development) joined as a full-time advisor
Harry Lagad, Regional Director (GEODIS) joined as a full-time advisor
Chirag Bhuva, Leader – Asia Pac, Amazon Business Customer Services joined as a full-time advisor
Started Software Development Office in Financial District, Hyderabad with 2 Full-Time Developers on payroll
Full System Architecture on AWS with API interfaces and ML-based systems designed and approved by the team – Development in progress
Achieved 70% customer repeat orders every month due to the convenience
Average Order value in Aug 2021: Rs. 3000
Cloud Tailor – Funding
The team has bootstrapped Cloud Tailor through the current scaling stage and is currently raising funds to scale it faster, build the app and cloud development teams, set up 2 company-owned fulfillment centers and 6 partner-owned-operated fulfillment centers.
Cloud Tailor – Competitors
Cloud Tailor is an only tech-enabled personalized fashion brand in India – Serving global women customers from India.
Cloud Tailor – Tools used to run startup
Few tools which Cloud Tailor uses to run the startup –
Stable Ver 3 of Cloud Tailor app and backend operations apps
Fulfillment centers in 4 cities
Brand Interaction Signature kiosks/centers in 4 cities
3 B2B partners for ‘managed backend fulfillment’
Cloud Tailor Projected Growth
Long term goals [by 2025]:
10 million MAU
INR 100 Crores in ARR
VR View of fashion styled
Fulfillment centers in 7 cities
Aggregated Partner operations in 7 Tier 2 cities
Brand Interaction Signature kiosks/centers in all 7 cities
10 B2B partners for ‘managed backend fulfillment’
Cloud Tailor – FAQs
What is Cloud Tailor?
Cloud Tailor is a D2C mobile app that enables Personalized fashion styling, fashion visualization, recommendations, order placement, tracking, and fulfillment. Its unique asset-light ‘Online + Offline’ global fulfillment business model ensures the best quality and price outcome for personalized fashion in guaranteed timelines.
Who founded Cloud Tailor?
Susmitha Lakkakula, Rudra Pratap, and Mahesh Patel are the co-founders of Cloud Tailor.
Is Cloud Tailor funded?
No. Cloud Tailor is a bootstrapped startup.
What is the tagline of Cloud Tailor?
Cloud Tailor’s tagline – ‘You Design, We Stitch’ signifies the importance of the customer in the whole process and also that the customer is a part of the whole cycle.
We will buy any products from a company, with the thought- either if that brand is renowned for its services among the locality or we have had a reliable relationship with the brand for decades. For instance- when you think of purchasing clothes the first and foremost thing that pops our mind is ZARA or H&M because these clothing companies have a ‘NAME’ which they have earned through brand loyalty.
Besides, you may have seen that in order to get brand awareness in the market, it is stated that a company should keep an engrossed and eye-catching name to entice as many customers as possible. But, here one such company went beyond that and topped the market with its appealing name and unique products- “Bewakoof” even though society marginalises the name of the company.
As people started to engage in rendering services from this company just by reading its brand name. Curiosity kills a cat, right? You may wonder what kind of services they are rendering under the name “BEWAKOOF”.
Basically, Bewakoof means ‘Stupid’ in Hindi with the tagline ‘A bewakoof follows his heart’ literally which later created a buzz in the market, as the company sells trendy products at an affordable rate. Bewakoof is Mumbai-based e-commerce that vents customized products such as clothes, accessories, beauty care and special collections according to the trends.
About Bewakoof
The company Bewakoof commenced its functioning on 1st April 2012 where that month and day is particularly known for April fool day, People were implausible to shop in such a company when the brand name sounds witty with a jocular tagline. Civil engineering graduated- Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot are the founders of Bewakoof planned to start their own t-shirt printing business with an aim to bring humour into the lives of college students for the 18-34 age group.
As it is generally known that if you are dead set on starting an online business, the first thing you should think about is INVESTMENT, which demands a vast sum of money. But, Being an e-commerce business model, Bewakoof didn’t advance an initial amount in starting it. As the company is highly focused on social media and connecting audiences through its content & products.
A story behind the name
Bewakoof incorporation happened on 1st April 2021 especially on April fool day, which made society denigrate the inauguration as silly public stunts made by people to engross the community, paradoxically Bewakoof ultimately became the most famous fashion portal in India.
A unique way of marketing their products
The company’s marketing strategies played a unique part in hyping their demand in the market as well as helped to achieve their goals in a short span. This generation really lighted the concept of humor in the name of ‘Meme’, which attained the attention of many internet users.
Bewakoof started their meme page before commencing the T-shirt business, they allure the internet audiences into becoming customers with their memes. Because they emphasize creating memes that are relevant and persuasive to the audience’s interest.
Bewakoof products are always innovative and trendy. They update their product’s design as days pass and innovate the old one into something unusual and fresh. This generation of people are always in search of new things and tend to try new things out.
They always need something different and fashionable, they easily get bored of the old things. And in order to satisfy the customers’ demand, Bewakoof always tries to come up with some new stuff and have successfully maintained their position in the fashion world.
Bewakoof doesn’t maintain more stocks than needed. They keep launching new stuff in the sales. Only a few products are repeated, only if that particular product has high demand from the customer.
Creative Social Media Marketing
Bewakoof has an official page on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. They are active and keep updating their products. Social media is the best way of advertising products. People see the products and if they like them, they share them with their friends, like this the popularity increases.
Bewakoof has about 2 million followers on Facebook and around 1.5 million followers on Instagram. The customers can text directly to inquire about the product they liked, and order if they love it.
The customers are updated frequently about the shipping and the delivery date of the ordered product. They mainly focus on the women category as it has more reach compared to the men’s.
Crazy College campaigns and Celebrity Endorsements
Sanya Malhotra Bewakoof Endorsement
To capture the attention of the students, Bewakoof advertised their products by popular Bollywood stars. Bewakoof welcomed the Bollywood actor Sanya Malhotra into their family. Sanya Malhotra will be taking part in the next campaign.
Rajkummar Rao was also featured in their latest digital marketing campaign. Besides, the brand also offered freebie products for those college students who buy or promote Bewakoof T-shirts, which brewed a scuffle in the sales.
Bewakoof is all you need, if you are searching for clothes and accessories that are unique and fashionable, and also at an affordable price. The brand experiments into different stuff so that they produce unique products to the customers. The products are made by ordinary people with extraordinary ideas. Check their official account to know more about the products.
FAQ
What is Bewakoof?
Bewakoof is a fashion brand that has everything the new era needs, efficient, unique and stylish fashion wear. It was created with the notion of delivering the best and distinct fashion product at an affordable price to the coming age.
Who is the founder of Bewakoof?
Bewakoof’s CEO and Co-Founder is Prabhkiran Singh and the brand was set up in 2012. It was launched by Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot on 1 April 2012.
What is the tagline of Bewakoof?
Bewakoof is an Indian lifestyle fashion brand that was formed with the idea of producing efficient, unique and trendy fashion outfits for shoppers. “A Bewakoof follows his Heart ”, the tagline of Bewakoof, it’s for the people who want to try new things, not caring about other people’s talks.
When we talk about top-branded fashion stores, the very first thing that strikes our mind is either H&M or Zara. Being the fast-fashion clothing & accessories for men, children, women and teenagers, H&M became the second-largest global clothing retailer after Zara. The company manages its operation both offline owing more than 5000 stores in 74 countries and online shopping in 33 countries.
Erling Persson established H&M exclusively for women’s clothing in 1947 in Vasteras, Sweden. Later, the company built subsidiary brands such as Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday, ARKET, FaBric Scandinavian AB and COS & Other Stories under the main branch H&M set out worldwide.
Besides, the brand also actuated other tyros to start up their careers as designers and did various philanthropic works. You may be wondering how a small clothing store located in Sweden became the second largest clothing retailer brand in the world. Hereby, H&M followed many marketing strategies that aided the brand to reach heights in the clothing retailer business.
The company is known for “Fast-fashion clothing stores” which means they never fail us in presenting high-quality clothes & winning accessories that are admired according to the fashion trends.
Besides, they are always prepared to release new product lines on time and sell European influenced fashion in the American market as it brings inter-cultural fashions in such demographical.
H&M product strategy is about providing high-quality clothing according to the latest fashion at the best price possible. The company maintains four product stages- Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline stage, whereby the product manager analyzes the demand & supply of H&M products and works on these 4 stages of product life to bring effective marketing strategy on the new product to compete in the market.
Price Strategy:
According to the buyers, Some clothes by H&M cost an arm and a leg to acquire as they provide high quality fashion. While H&M focuses to satisfy customer’s needs with high quality fashion at a low price by controlling transport and labor cost to their possible. H&M clothes are priced as low as Rs 399 to as high as Rs 7999.
Promotion Strategy:
H&M developed a multi-channel promotion strategy that subsumes- advertising, sales promotion and internet promotion that helped the brand to be exposed worldwide. Moreover, the company entices customers by building brand awareness by showing low prices on the products while marketing them.
Place Strategy:
H&M established a reliable bond between customers and the company, by owning outlets in different geographical places all over the world. H&M make their basic goods in Asia, whereas high branded goods in Turkey and sell them in their owned 5000 plus stores in 73 countries.
Cost leadership Strategy:
H&M sells their fashionable clothes at a low price to broad markets, where the price is determined according to the market price of a certain niche. Cost leadership strategy focuses on working efficiency in expanding their market share rather than setting a high price to earning a huge profit margin.
People Strategy:
H&M always emphasizes the customer’s needs and provides them with fashionable items that are trending at that period of time.
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H&M always comes up with new products that increase the customer’s desire for clothing, that too at an affordable cost. Their only notion is fashion and quality at the best price.
They have everything that a person may look for, from normal wear to business suits, sports wear to lingerie sets all at a reasonable price. They collaborate with other top brands to establish a fresh style.
H&M collaborated with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004, Versace in 2011, Alexander Wang in 2014 and the collaboration with Balmain is the most triumphant to date.
H&M x Balmain
They also collaborated with the celebrated Indian designer Sabyasachi in 2021. The collection was named Sabyasachi x H&M.
STP (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) Strategy of H&M
Segmentation Strategy
H&M almost already reached various cultural, religious and lifestyle all over the world.
Segmented into class- from middle class to high society by rendering low-cost price products to extravagant products.
Segment by age- H&M literally covers all genders from the age group of 15 to 30 years old in presenting them fashionable products and accessories.
Targeting Strategy
H&M basically targets fashionable and trending consumers who are very much interested to spend their money on purchasing high-quality clothes. Notably, H&M highly aims to target women, as they usually invest a lot of money in purchasing fashionable items- clothes, accessories, shoes, Garment care etc. at an affordable price.
Positioning Strategy
H&M is a fast-fashion clothing retailer which manufactures products in their rented or owned outlets and sells them worldwide. For instance, those fashionable European clothes are brought into the American market to create demands. Besides, the company functions online as well as offline by understanding socially, economical and environmental sustainability.
H&M Marketing Campaigns
H&M’s campaigns always make people go awed with their inklings, ideas and modern clothes at an affordable rate. Considering the risk factor in having a campaign outdoors, H&M took a distinct step and are conducting campaigns on digital platforms.
In 2015 they launched a campaign ‘H&M Conscious’ to promote sustainability initiatives.
COVID-19 pandemic made a huge impact on people’s lives. Due to unavoidable circumstances, the markets were shut down, creating a great difference in the revenue of the companies and leading to unemployment, a deficit in GDP and low economic growth.
As per the reports, 65% of brands have undergone a decline in earnings. The brands that managed to maintain their sales or had an increase in sales were the companies that retail basic products such as household necessities, hand sanitizers and facemasks. The disposable gloves, cough and cold medicine, packaged foods, and training materials were the products that were on request in E-commerce during 2020. As per a study, many companies and restaurants endured a fallback.
To unravel the issue, the companies created modern techniques for marketing their products, obeying the COVID-19 rules. Helena Helmersson, H&M’s CEO decided to shift the shops online to keep them floating and to advertise for promoting the digital stores.
Applied to the year before, in March H&M had a 17% rise in online sales. To increase the income, the company has decided to enlarge their digital service into European countries and also step into the Austrian and German markets.
H&M groups have boosted their sales by adding warehouse items into their list and it turned out profitable in Sweden. The brand has over 5,000 stores worldwide in 74 countries, the counting will strengthen as the days pass with more visionary ideas.
FAQs
Who is the founder of H&M?
The H&M founder is Erling Persson, who founded H&M in 1947.
Who is the CEO of H&M?
Helena Helmersson is the current CEO of H&M.
Who owns H&M?
Stefan Persson is the person who owns over 36% of shares in H&M, thereby owning the majority of the company’s stakes.
What is H&M parent company called?
H&M parent company is known as the H&M Group.
What are H&M subsidiaries?
H&M has numerous subsidiaries. Some of the H&M subsidiaries are Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday, COS, & Other Stories, and ARKET.
How H&M started?
H&M started when Erling Persson opened his first shop in Västerås, Sweden in 1947, which was exclusively meant for selling women’s clothing.
Many top fashion designers and labels often rely on A-list models as the brand ambassador because they can help the brand in influencing potential customers and get billion-dollar revenue. Kendall Jenner is an American model, socialite, and media personality that is in demand in the advertising world.
Kendall Jenner rose to fame because of her family-based reality TV show called Keeping up with The Kardashians. She then started modeling at age of 14 and by the next year, she walked the runways for New York, Milan, and Paris fashion weeks. Kendall has so far done multiple cover shoots for magazines such as American Cheerleader, Teen Prom, Looks, Raine, GenLux, Lovecat, Flavour Magazine, Vogue, Teen Vogue, LOVE, Harper Bazaar, Vanity Fair, V, Self Service Magazine, etc.
Kendall hails from a very popular family as her sisters Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian and their mother Kris Jenner are all fashion moguls, businesswomen and celebrities in their own rights. According to Forbes, Kendall became the world’s highest-paid model in 2017.
So far the model has walked runways for brands like Sherri Hill, Forever 21, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Chanel, Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Pucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Balmain, Alexander Wang, Vera Wang, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, H&M, Versace, Dior, Elle Saab, and many more. Another notable achievement of Kendall Jenner’s modeling career is that she walked the runway for Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows over three times.
The net worth of Kendall Jenner is estimated to be over $45 million in 2021. Kendall was once called “The Instagirl” by Vogue as she has revolutionized social media modeling. She is known to over USD$608,000 for an Instagram post and over $300,000 for a tweet. Some of the brands endorsed by Kendall Jenner are Longchamp, Reserved, Stuart Weitzman, Adidas, Pepsi, Estee Lauder, Kylie Cosmetics, etc.
Reserved is a polish clothing store chain and a part of the LPP company which was started in 1989. The brand has had more than 1,700 stores in over 20 countries since being launched in 1999 by Marek Piechocki and Jerzy Lubianiec. The company has made many popular brands endorsing campaigns with celebrities like Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Adwoa Aboah, Jourdan Dunn, Jon Kortajarena, and Irina Shayk.
It was only in 2019 that Reserved signed Kendall Jenner as its brand endorser. The model was part of the multimedia AW19 campaign, which showcases her in a backdrop of an Italian villa playing dress-up with Reserved latest collection. The campaign was inspired by 1970s aesthetics it shows Kendall’s transformations into a mermaid. The commercial was shot using film and pays homage to European cinema.
Estee Lauder
Estee Lauder is a multinational conglomerate that makes products in the sectors of skincare, makeup, fragrance, hair care. The company has its headquarters in midtown Manhattan, New York City, and owns cosmetic companies like BECCA, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Estee Lauder, La Mer, MAC Cosmetics, Smashbox, Too Faced, Tom Ford, etc.
As of 2018, the company ranked 258 in the list of Fortune 500 list of American corporations by revenue. Estee Lauder signed Kendall Jenner as its brand ambassador in 2015, since then the model has been featured in multiple Estee Lauder ad campaigns and created her own limited edition lipstick for the brand.
Commenting on why the company chose her, Jane Hertzmark Hudis, the Global Brand President of Estee Lauder said that, Kendall Jenner is an ultimate Instagirl and so the company is excited to leverage her image, voice, energy, and extraordinary social media power to introduce Estee Lauder to millions of customers around the world.
Pepsi is a global leader in the market of carbonated soft drinks and manufactured by the Beverage giant PepsiCo. The drink was first developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham. PepsiCo has its headquarters based in Harrison, New York, and encompasses all aspects of the food, snack, and beverage market. The company is over 120 years old and its main subsidiaries under PepsiCo are brands like Pepsi, Tropicana, Quaker Oats, Frito Lays, Gatorade, etc.
PepsiCo sells its wide range of products in over 200 countries and has 23 snack and beverage brands that generate more than $1 billion in sales. In 2017, Pepsi made an ad campaign named Live for now – moments featuring Kendall Jenner. The ad campaign showed the model participating in a photoshoot and then joining with a protest march that is making its way down the street.
She is then seen approaching the police officer and offering him a can of Pepsi in order to defuse tensions. However, the ad clearly missed the mark as it was criticized stating that it co-opted protest movements for commercial gain. The company removed the ad within 48 hours of the public outcry and apologized to the audience and Kendall Jenner saying that they did not intend to make light of any serious issue.
Kylie Cosmetics
Kylie cosmetics is currently one of the biggest brands in the cosmetics industry. The company was founded by Kylie Jenner and her mother Kris Jenner in 2015. They initially started selling Kylie’s lip kit under the seed company, after the product became successful the brand was renamed Kylie cosmetics.
According to Forbes, the makeup company was estimated to be over $900 million in 2019. The same year Coty Inc. bought over 51% of the controlling stake in the company for $600 million. In 2020, Kylie Cosmetics collaborated with Kendall to create a limited collection called “Kendall By Kylie Cosmetics”.
Kendall is the last sister to collaborate with Kylie. The collection consisted of products such as Pressed Powder Palette, Kendall Lip Blush Kit, Lip Gloss, Kylight Stick, Bronzer Stick, Blush Stick and blotting powder with products starting at $35. The siblings expressed their excitement on Instagram and showcased their products to their fans, the collection was so successful that it sold out in 24 hours.
LongChamp is a leading luxury leather goods company with its headquarters based in Paris, France. The company was founded by Jean Cassegrain in 1948. It initially started out with small leather goods like wallets, passport covers and it wasn’t until 1971 that the company launched its first handbag.
Currently, LongChamp is a pioneer and the best luxury leather maker as it offers a wide range of products like leather and canvas handbags, luggage, shoes, travel items, fashion accessories, and even women’s clothing. LongChamp is now available in over 80 countries with 1,500 points of sales and 300 stores. The company signed Kendall Jenner as its brand ambassador for its Autumn/Winter 2017/2018 collection.
Kendall has appeared in its ad campaign where she can be seen showing off LongChamp’s garments, accessories, and leather goods. The campaign is said to be described as 21st-century Amazon by the brand. Sophie Delafontaine the creative Director of LongChamp said that Kendall is an independent, elegant, and free woman which is exactly what Longchamp stands for.
Stuart Weitzman
Stuart Weitzman is a high-end shoe company that was founded in 1986. The Spanish company has a history of over 35 years and is known for its craftsmanship and precisely engineered fit. Stuart Weitzman was sold to Coach, the luxury fashion house, for $574 million in 2015. The aim of the company is to inspire women around the world to shine with confidence with every step they take.
The brand signed Kendall Jenner as its brand ambassador in 2019, since then the model has been featured in its ad campaigns such as SW Boot Camp and the #SWWomen. In the #SWWomen campaign, she has been featured along with singer Willow Smith, Chinese actress, and singer Yang Mi, and model Jean Campbell. The four ladies showcase the new line of ‘nude’ shoes that cater to an array of skin tones which is designed to be a wardrobe staple.
Adidas
Adidas is a pioneer and one of the topmost multinational companies that is known for its shoes, clothing, and accessories. The company has its headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany, and is the second-largest sportswear manufacturer in the world after Nike. As of 2018, the company was listed at over €21.915 billion. The major competitors of Adidas are Nike, Puma and Under Armour.
Adidas was founded by Adolf Dassler in 1949 and currently has over 62,000 employees along with being available in 100 different countries. The brand signed Kendall Jenner as its endorser for the Adidas Originals Campaign in 2017. The company said that the model embodied the spirit of Adidas Originals as a creative force shaping the world today by challenging the status quo in her very own way.
Kendall might have started on as a celebrity at a very young age because of Keeping up with Kardashian but has worked her way through her modeling career on her own. Kendall is now one of the topmost influencers on social media as she has over 175 million followers on Instagram and 31.5 million followers on Twitter. Kendall Jenner is one of the most sought-after models for runways, magazine covers, and ad campaigns.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Kendall Jenner?
Kendall Jenner is an American model, socialite, and media personality that is in demand in the advertising world.
What is the net worth of Kendall Jenner?
The net worth of Kendall Jenner is estimated to be over $45 million in 2021.
What are the brands endorsed by Kendall Jenner?
Some of the brands endorsed by Kendall Jenner are Longchamp, Reserved, Stuart Weitzman, Adidas, Pepsi, Estee Lauder, Kylie Cosmetics, etc.
How much does Kendall Jenner charge for brand endorsements?
Kendall Jenner is known to over USD$608,000 for an Instagram post and over $300,000 for a tweet.
The World is constantly changing and evolving. Every moment transforming, new ideas take birth are implemented. Trends dominate today’s world and go fast as they come. In a moment everyone is involved and in the other everybody has already forgotten about it and is catching up with another.
In the fashion industry, as the word suggests, fast, quick, and trendy clothes are made for the consumers that are made and distributed rapidly among its consumers.
The brands involved in the fast fashion industry:
Get the latest styles that are trendy into their stores.
The clothes are usually sold at a low price using cheap labor.
They produce these clothes in huge quantities and the consumers buy them recklessly. Because everyone is wearing it and it works.
Fast fashion is a threat to the environment, gives rise to social problems, and majorly contributes to climate change.
It heavily influences many aspects and brings about negative changes.
Climate change is real and it is happening. No matter how long the World leaders may deny it and entrepreneurs may go on with the sole aim of making money. Using, exploiting, polluting the resources as well as ignoring what they are doing to the planet.
Wastage of Water
Not to mention the gallons and gallons of water that go into the making of the clothes. That also involves generating 20% of the wastewater. Plus dumping microplastics into our oceans, which is half a billion tons of it.
The growing culture of exploiting laborers
How are these companies able to manufacture their clothes so quickly? There has to be someone involved, and yes, here come the laborers. Brands involved in the fast-growing fashion industry exploit their workers. They are exploiting their basic human rights.
Making them work for insane work hours with only little pay. These laborers also include children from developing countries. The labor policies are not ethical with gender inequality, forced labor, and freedom of association. This issue has been brought up constantly, by many activists and other personalities and this inhumane practice must be put to an end.
A report issued in 2016 by Human rights group Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) also reported cases of sexual harassment and low wages.
Sustainable Fashion and the Conscious Collection
People are looking for clothes that are more sustainable, recycled, or been. Thrift shops are a new option available in the market. Thrifting is becoming a thing now. Consumers are more aware now and prefer clothes made in an eco-friendly way. Even though the Swedish brand has come up with its “The Conscious Collection” H&M has been criticized by many regarding what it deems is sustainable.
Hasan Minhaj on Fast fashion
The famous show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, which creates awareness about the issues that are important in a fun way, all the while educating us about how we can make a difference for good, is a Netflix show. The problem of the fast fashion industry is as real as it gets. The extent of it is such that Hasan Minhaj had to go to an episode of thirty minutes; the Ugly Truth of Fast Fashion.
He smartly covers every aspect of the fast fashion industry and how it is changing the business model in his unique comedy series in 2019. The episode is a must-watch as it brings out the flip side of fast fashion.
Featuring lesser Black models in their advertisements was observed by the people, accusing H&M Africa of racism. The brand tweeted, saying that marketing their campaigns, they wanted to convey their image positively.
And show fashion in the light of inspiring way conveying the feeling of positivity since their marketing campaigns have a huge impact.
Taking that, they communicated that the “white models” portray a “positive image” for the brand. It faced more backlash from the people. Another tweet came saying:
“We have worked with many models from various ethnic backgrounds in our campaigns.”
Cultural appropriation? Not for the first time!
Belonging to the H&M Loves music summer collection, which was a limited edition, a faux leather headdress was called out by the Native Americans.
H&M Headdress
The line was designed to include clothing and accessories for music festivals and similar events. The headdress was later removed from the US and the Canadian stores.
Racist Advertisements and Culture appropriation
H&M closed all its stores in South Africa after the protestors from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) organized mass protests and thrashed the stores over the racist ad in 2018. The ad revolved around a Black child model with a green hoodie, reading the text “Coolest monkey in the jungle” As you are aware, calling someone monkey is used as a slur.
People on social media called out H&M for its racist ad. The image was later taken down from their website. Some of the celebrities that had signed contracts with H&M said that they would no longer be working with the brand. Some expressed shock.
LeBron James on its Instagram expressed his opinion on H&M’s ad
H&Ms decision to close their stores in South Africa came after a drop in their quarterly sales in a decade.
Other fast fashion brands and H&M and the need to do better
These fast-fashion brands in the industry need to draw a clear line between making a profit and working with ethics. The business model of the fast-fashion industry is only leading to more problems.
The ad campaigns and the ads have to be designed by doing their research work. Keeping in mind the sentiments of the people as they have a huge impact. These brands need to draw a line on innovation and cultural appropriation.
FAQ
What is fast fashion?
In the fast fashion industry fast, quick, and trendy clothes are made for the consumers that are made and distributed rapidly among its consumers.
What are some of the fast fashion brands?
Zara, H&M Group, UNIQLO, GAP, and Forever 21 are some of the top fast fashion brands.
What are the disadvantages of fast fashion?
The disadvantages of fast fashion are, not paying fair living wages to workers, poor working conditions, child labor, environmental destruction and increasing amounts of water pollution.
Ria Puneyani
