Flipkart Food Rockets: 1.6X Growth, 50 EV Shipments and Tier II+ Dominance

The longest festive season in India, which starts from mid-September and runs until mid-November, is currently underway. Brands are seeing a surge in positive product adoption sentiment due to an underlying need to come together and celebrate that has been significantly muted by the pandemic. A new survey by LocalCircles reveals that nearly 65 percent of households across the country are planning to spend during the current festive season.

Amid pent-up demand and an opening up to travel and leisure, the ‘retaliation’ phenomenon is expected to drive demand this season. Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. they aggressively pursue their own strategies to attract customers. In an attempt to leverage pandemic-driven growth, D2C brands like IGP, Zouk, Sothreads, and The Tribe Concepts are expanding their offerings, building inventory, and increasing technology capabilities and marketing capabilities.

Increasing product offering

Keeping in mind that stylish casual wear is all the rage these days, Sothreads brings you footwear designs that will highlight the style quotient of Millennials and Generation Z. During the holiday season, the brand is currently focusing on open footwear, including flip-flops, slippers and flip-flops, and will soon be working hard to introduce additional categories in the casual footwear segment. Its average current price range is between Rs 700 and Rs 800.

“Our experience and engagement strategies are based on one core philosophy of being ‘design-led’ because product design is the precursor to any type of interaction a customer will have with a product on any channel, whether it be simply browsing the product, buying or even recommending. We provide sustainable and recycled footwear and to promote upcycling and circular fashion, we have launched a ‘reuse program’ where consumers can exchange their old flip-flops for new ones,” said Sumant Kakaria, CEO and founder of Sothreads.

Meanwhile, Zouk says consumers are choosing more Indian-inspired products during the holiday season. Indian office bags and shopping bags remain the brand’s most popular choice. Zouk will also see good traffic in its scarves and handbags, given that people are buying the products as gifts or for casual outings. As the number of travelers increases, the brand is also seeing a significant increase in its backpack volume.

This holiday season, Zouk has added office bellies along with a new collection of casual flats and sandals. Moreover, following consumers’ request to add a gift box option, the brand has added the same to all its products.

“Office bags, shopping bags and shoulder bags will be my favorites this season. The average price range for this category will be between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000. When it comes to footwear, we believe our best sellers are ankle boots, chappals and casual ballet flats, with the average price range being between Rs 800-2,500,” said Disha Singh, Founder and CEO, Zouk.

IGP also expands its offer every holiday season with gifts, fashion accessories, flower bouquets, sweets, cakes, etc. This holiday season, it has also launched a new collection of gift products, all revamped to match the latest fashions.

“Our gift products will be delivered in personalized packaging that will make the celebrations more attractive. Gourmet confections, fashionable festive clothing, festive items and accessories are always the most searched categories on our website and customers spend generously on products in these categories, making them bestsellers every festive season,” Tarun Joshi, Founder and CEO, asserted IGP.

Similarly, The Tribe Concepts already offers holiday gifts, which make up the bulk of holiday sales. The brand has a line of highly sought-after minis and a new line of skincare products targeting pigmentation. Besides, it offers products that solve problems from head to toe, so buyers can customize their products easily and flexibly.

“The skincare category continues to be our best-selling category and will continue to grow this coming winter as we plan new skincare and haircare launches as the category continues to experience steady growth. Introduce the Gateway brand in our mid-price range of Rs 800 to Rs 1,200,” added Amritha Varshini Gaddam, Founder and CEO, The Tribe Concepts.

Modernization of the supply chain network

To meet the strong demand, Sothreads is opening new warehouses and regional fulfillment centers in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

Similarly, Zouk has significantly expanded its supply chain to stockpile for the holiday season. It has also partnered closely with Amazon and Myntra to expand its reach beyond its own website. Both of these will ensure that their products reach more Indian consumers.

“One of our customers’ main concerns was that our products would sell out very quickly. To combat this, we have expanded our product range so that we can ensure that more consumers across India can carry a Zouk bag or Zouk footwear,” explained Singh.

IGP has a global reach with customers in over 100 countries and the ability to deliver gifts to over 150 countries and over 1000 cities in India. It is currently expanding its delivery network through dark stores and pursuing automation wherever possible.

“We are in the process of expanding our dark store network to over 120 new dark stores across India, which will further strengthen our already impressive order fulfillment infrastructure of existing 40 dark stores supported by 3 major warehouses,” Joshi said.

Technology Integration

IGP has automated online procedures, warehouse and operations management software etc. to provide the best services to our customers during the festive season, while The Tribe Concepts has strengthened all its analytical departments by creating dashboards for all reports and implementing SAP for a smoother experience . ground operations.

Sothreads has proprietary formulas and technologies, such as Superfoam inserts and Ecotread soles, and is working on a newer formula to provide higher levels of comfort. All product launches are based on use cases and this year, the company launched concepts like grass slippers, all-terrain anti-slip shoes, yoga mat slippers, etc., which have already become its best sellers.

“With over 30 design and technology patents already in place, our ongoing effort is to continually innovate for our consumers,” Kakaria said.

Zouk believes in the power of live trading and has therefore scheduled several live sessions on his Instagram and also conducted a few with Flipkart. “They have already seen great engagement, and for us as an online brand, this is a great way to break down the barrier and answer questions that consumers are always asking online,” Singh said.

Sales goal

During the holiday season, The Tribe Concepts is looking forward to increasing sales on its website. It plans to end the festive year on a high by recording transactions worth at least Rs 5 crore in its books.

Zouk says it has already started very well on marketplaces like Amazon and Myntra, while its own website continues to see strong interest and this wave will continue until March next year.

“A lot has changed in the last 2 years, even Zouk as a brand. This has helped the brand grow more than 16 times compared to the pre-pandemic period. We currently have over 2.5 lakh satisfied customers in every state of India. We expect this momentum to continue and we will achieve higher sales this year compared to last year,” Singh said.

IGP believes that its superior consumer experience from design to delivery, farm-to-fork supply chain and extensive same-day delivery network can meet the growing demand for festive gifts from tier II and III cities.

“The pandemic really impacted overall sales last year. However, we expect around 100 per cent increase in sales during the festive season,” Joshi noted.

READ MORE: Consumers will spend more this holiday season

Future perspective

Currently, IGP provides same-day delivery to over 400 cities in India and 24 to 72-hour delivery to over 1,000 cities. Apart from the mentioned numbers, the brand plans to make its presence exponentially visible in tier II and III cities across the country. Over the next two years, IGP aims to become the largest and most preferred destination for all specialty purchases.

“We also look forward to increasing our brand presence in commercially stable international markets in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia,” Joshi said.

Zouk is present in over 30 multi-brand outlets offline. In the coming quarters, the brand plans to further expand its offline retail presence.

Sothreads is also working hard to expand its retail footprint in the Indian market. It aims to secure presence in 2,000 MBOs by the end of this financial year.

“This is approximately 5 times our current retail footprint. Apart from these 2,000 retail MBOs, we are also entering large format retail stores this financial year,” Kakaria said.

The Tribe Concepts is also looking forward to expanding its online channels and offline stores by having exclusive stores for the brand. “We look forward to growing the business, reaching new audiences and seeing conversions increase,” Gaddam concluded.