Case Study: New market entry of the most intimate category

turning into more acceptable and mainstream.

Zivame
Case study by Anusha T
DSCE, MBA-VTU
Reaching out the target customers when business enters the new market is what we encounter
under go-to-market strategy. Entering into a new market is always an uphill struggle and hence a
company or an industry requires a well defined and planned go-to-market strategy. The objective
of GTM strategy is to lay out the blueprint for reaching out the product to target customers, by
considering various factors of a business plan. While entering a new market, awareness of the
business and increasing customer engagement is important to outperform the competitors and
this is executed by a well planned GTM strategy. In this case study you run through how lingerie
entered from retail shops to e-retail in Indian market.

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

Apparel or fashion industry deals with production of clothes and has large product variety. It
encompasses a mixture of garments and uses almost every type of textile manufactured. Digital
innovation brought apparel industry to collaborate with e-commerce industry which transformed
the fashion to be widely accessible and grow globally. E-commerce fashion industry has raised a
viable alternative to physical stores, minimize inventory, cost reduction and also bring loyalty for
brands. Even though most of the categories in fashion industry grow in online market, lingerie
was still struggling in traditional physical shops in India till 2011.

COMPANY OVERVIEW

2011 is a year when online lingerie retail featured to Indian market by Richa Kar, founder of
Zivame. It is a private business which started with 35 lakh rupees and grown up to 140 crore.
Zivame created an online portal experience for customers to browse their convenience and
privacy at their residence. This company sells lingerie, loungewear, nightwear and related
categories for women and provides them clothing needs at one place. Zivame turned out to be
niche online shopping segment, presenting more than 5,000 styles, 50 brands and 100 sizes and
stood as early adopter in this intimate domain.

BUSINESS CHALLENGE

Lingerie was under-served category in India which faced broken customer experience. The
business challenge was to change “corridor sized lingerie stores” to “online lingerie stores”.
Retailers used to stock only popular or common sizes of intimates and perhaps the tail ends of
sizes remain unserved. Another challenge was to educate or make women know about their bra
size, a proper fit and style because sales personnel wanted only to push their sales. This issue
arise an idea of providing consultation to women about their size and fit. It was awful for women
to purchase lingerie at retail stores as most of the shopkeepers were men. The challenges which
forefront Richa Kar with her business idea were-

o How to establish good quality lingerie accessible and affordable across cross sections.
o How to deliver a better and privacy focused lingerie shopping experience to Indian
women.
o To reduce unavailability of size options.
o Need to consult every woman to find their fit.
o Find investors to fund their unique business.

Along with these challenges, she was responsible to convince apparel and fashion industry to
accept lingerie sales as mainstream. The business aimed to confiscate taboo culture and provide a
way for women to consult, make shopping of intimates private primarily discrete and fun.

SOLUTION ADOPTED

Recognition of huge gap in the Indian online market gave an impression to solve brick and motor
lingerie business in apparel and fashion industry by entering a new market – online market. The
go-to-market strategies Richa came across for her business plan are:

Change in distribution system by transcending the obstacle of physical distribution: E-

Commerce was the primary way to solve this issue so that lingerie is reached to customers by a
delivery system and respect the need of privacy in this category by discreet packaging of orders.
Determining market size: Women under age group of 20-35 plus were the target customers and
market size in India for lingerie was far above the ground which ignited the innovation of this
business turn into mainstream.

Framing a website to launch online lingerie retails: It was embarrassing for women to show
up into a lingerie store. The online shopping eliminates this problem and hence there was a need
for online portal. Richa Kar initially got her website designed for free from her ally. This website
had proprietary blogs and articles and gratifying pictures of their products to reach target
customers. The website was user friendly and users could browse based on category, brand, color
and size enabling to try products ease at home.

Invention of fitting salons: Guiding women to find out their right bra size was essential and
unique solution by zivame. Fitting salons were put up in selected locations with trained
consultants to help women find their right fit.

With a strong and ideal business plan, lingerie store was no more ordinary and it entered a new
online market as Zivame in August, 2011.

OUTCOME:

A rapid growth is witnessed by intimate wear market in India after initiating Zivame. It has 5
million visitors online today and out of which there are 1 million of new visitors. Since e-
commerce acted as conventional, zivame was able to reach their target customers and gain
popularity in short period. The idea of focusing to consult women about their fit was the way
cookie crumbles for Zivame which showcased the business as sustainable platform.

Zivame gathered different brands of lingerie like enamor, jockey, etc under a single shelf and it
maintained availability of hundred bra-sizes not to disappoint any women. They have introduced
various cup sizes, varied range of lingerie and included various intimate products to its line of
business.

Zivame, online lingerie platform claims growth of 300% yearly. It has more than 5 million
followers and more than 30 retail shops offering international brands as well as home brands. It
launched lingerie app for women in India. Its sales reached 220 crore in FY19. Zivame resulted
as hand reachable lingerie store for every women in India disregard of their price and size, came
out of taboo and sustained itself in highly competitive market.

REFERENCES

• www.yourstory.com
• www.startuptalky.com
• www.droppoutdudes.com
• https://prime.economictimes.indiatimes.com
• www.inc42.com
• https://brandequity.economictimes.com