Zivame taking consumer engagement route

Industry sources peg the size of lingerie market at Rs. 11000 crore and as per researchandmarket.com, it is set to grow at a CAGR of 42.32% over the period 2014-2019. Traditionally, restricted to black, white and skin colour, and low and mid-price segment, the sector is seeing a boom now. There are choices galore in terms of colours, styles and sizes.  A number of global brands too have entered the market.

Vatsala Kothari, Brand Evangelist at Zivame.com says, “While earlier, a large number of orders were everyday cotton bras, we have seen a shift in preferences lately. People are choosing bolder and sexier bras. In fact Plus size as a category has seen a tremendous increase in the past few months.”

With the rising growth in the online lingerie stores, it has opened a wide window for the investors and the consumers to explore.  Zivame has emerged as one of the most aggressive players in the online lingerie space. Kothari says, “As one may be well aware, in India, the category is still at a nascent stage and is surrounded by taboos and misconceptions. Our main objective is to break open the category.”

With its primary target audience between the age group of 20 to 35 (Facebook audience includes the slightly older women too - 30+), Zivame believes tapping them early is critical, so that they turn into potential category advocates.

It is trying to do so by having a massive product offering, much larger than one can find in a retail store at any given point of time. Along with it, the brand is on an aggressive consumer connect drive, be it on social media or ground activities. “As a brand operating in the category of lingerie, our main aim with any initiative undertaken has been to make people comfortable with the category. Through interesting, clutter breaking content, we want to engage people and change their perception of the category,” Kothari explains.

They have recently started an on-ground consumer engagement drive ‘Fit is my right’ targeted at helping five lakh Indian women find their right lingerie sizes over the next 12 months. In the initial stage, female experts will visit colleges across Mumbai and undertake educational workshops and free counseling and fitting sessions for students. The campaign will be run with the help of unique ‘Mobile Fitting Lounge’, which will travel to colleges in the city. The all-woman customized fitting van comes equipped with three trial rooms and lingerie of all sizes required for the fitting exercise.

As for social media Zivame has a presence on Facebook with 3,43,000 fans and on Twitter with 3,053 followers. It is further trying to enhance the social media presence through various consumer engagement drives like Friendship Day.  Kothari explains, “Social media plays a vital role in a category like ours. This is where interactions happen and perceptions change. We keep innovating with content on Social media, so that people like, share, and tweet and ultimately ‘speak out’ about lingerie.”