Launched in June 2016 by Rahul Anand and Aakash Anand, Noida-based
WittyBae is an online women’s fashion brand providing a world of non-stop-hot fashion for an up-to-the-minute fashion conscious girl. WittyBae flaunts to have a myriad collection of clothing, accessories and home décor.
It is a vertically integrated company. All the designs are curated from Australia based on company’s study of trend forecast and manufactured in-house. It produces around 20-30 designs every week and update its online wardrobe twice in a month. WittyBae works on ‘just-in-time’ production model. When an order is placed online, the merchandise is produced within 2-3 days and shipped, thus keeping a very thin inventory. This helps the brand to restrict its inventory cost at a larger scale and reaping returns which is at least 2-3 times higher than inventory-based models.
In an interaction with Sujata Sangwan of BWDisrupt, Aakash Anand (Co-founder), WittyBae, shares details about his venture.GenesisWith the evolution of organized retail in India, the awareness of the consumers has also evolved. Consumers are more aware of latest fashion trends and quality of the clothes now. However, we found a market gap wherein there are well-established international brands that offer high-quality products but charges you a premium. On the other hand, there are domestic brands which come under budget but do not offer you the assurance of quality. This becomes a bane for the youngsters who wants to catch-up with the latest fashion but unfortunately do not have deep pockets to satiate their craving.
We planned to bridge this gap by introducing a brand that will offer up-to-the-minute fashion at an affordable price while keeping the quality at par with well-established international labels to the young girls of the age group of 18-25 years which the fastest growing online segment.
Special key features of WittyBae
1) Vertically Integrated CompanyWittyBae is different from several other private players of the e-tailing business in India. All the designs are sourced from Australia. It is a vertically integrated company which hardly requires a week’s time to reach the production stage from the product design stage. Which is aimed at ‘just-in-time’ fulfillment, cutting costs on large inventories.
2) International Designs – Fast FashionWittyBae promises to bring international designs which is ahead on the fashion curve, best suited for the fashion leaders. It curates 20-30 designs every week and changes and introduces new designs twice in a month.
3) Quality Conscious BrandQuality is the backbone of the brand. It strives to provide the most premium quality on the market. All the garments use azo-free dyes, that protects skin from rashes and potential carcinogens that cause cancer.
4) Ethical SourcingThe products are manufactured in factories that are SEDEX or BSCI approved. SEDEX is an innovative and effective supply chain management solution company dedicated to driving improvements in ethical and responsible business practices in global supply chains.
5) Social BuyingWittyBae is the firm believer of social buying and has brought that experience to online space too. It has made its Instagram shoppable. Customers can easily shop the products that gets featured in WB posts through shoppable Instagram galleries.
WittyBae is a fast-fashion startup which produces 20-30 designs every week. It is a quality-conscious brand and strives to provide the most premium quality by producing azo-free garments. All the products are manufactured in SEDEX or BSCI approved factories that follow global ethical standards of business practices.
WittyBae has an edge over competitors that we don’t stock inventory. As we are a vertically integrated company, it takes hardly a week’s time to reach the production stage from the design stage. Therefore, we aim at ‘just-in-time’ fulfillment and ship products within a week after the order is placed. This helps us in keeping the inventory lean and cutting huge costs on inventory.
FundingThe company was started through an initial investment of INR 50 Lacs. The co-founders have put in INR 25 Lacs into the business through their personal savings. Rest half was raised through an angel investor.
MonetizationWittyBae is a vertically integrated company. All the designs are sourced from Australia and manufactured in-house. This helps us to keep a strong watch on quality at the same time keeping the costs under control. In turn, the company is able to work at margins that are at least 2-3 times higher than other brands in the online space and offer the best competitive prices at the same time.
Challenges FacedThe challenges that we faced at the time of setting up our business was building the right team and setting up a robust operational base.
Traction DetailsWittyBae is getting 150 – 200 transactions per day. WittyBae is currently getting 150-200 transactions every day. We have a target of clocking 300-400 transactions in next 1 year. There are other things too on the cards on the technological front that we want to bring to our website and enhance the customer experience.
Market size and opportunityThe size of Indian e-tailing market stands at around USD 14 billion. More than 30% of the entire e-tailing business comprises of apparels. The womenswear stands at a whopping 40-42% of this segment.
The opportunity is huge. India is having over 50mn online shoppers and is adding 3 new internet users every second. With the rise in the internet population, penetration of smartphone and growing reach of logistics in the coming days, the market is only going to get better.
Advice for the new entrants
This is a fiercely competitive market in India. So anyone, who wants to venture out in this space must do his homework properly. Do in-depth research of the target customer and their buying preferences. Spend some time on differentiating your e-store from others. Build an effective team who have the endurance to pull it off with steady and continuous effort. Be creative and do not shy away from doing experiments. Focus on creating a business model that is sustainable in a longer run.
“Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.”
