BWDisrupt interacted with Rashi Menda, Founder and CEO, Zapyle to know how the startup's positioning as the exclusive destination for luxury fashion has been received so far?Rashi Menda, is the Founder and CEO of Zapyle, the ultimate luxury fashion destination making designer labels affordable in India. The inception of Zapyle was inspired by Rashi’s own experiences of living in different cities of the country. While residing in Delhi and Mumbai, she found acquiring luxury items was incredibly easy.
However, when she moved to Bangalore, she realized how difficult it was for women not living in the two metro cities to access luxury brands. The rapidly-changing nature of fashion trends also made it unwise to invest heavily in luxury wear, be it international brands or Indian designer labels. It was then that she came up with the idea of creating a platform that makes luxury fashion easily accessible and affordable for everyone, not limiting it to an exclusive segment.
Born in Delhi, Rashi pursued her graduation in Economics from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Before founding Zapyle, she worked for multiple years in management, strategic solutions, inbound marketing and e-commerce. She has assisted numerous brands in establishing a voice and customer recall in India.
Rashi held the post of Head of Strategic Alliances & Marketing at Zap Internet Solutions from 2013 to January 2015, and was an Analyst for Ernst & Young in 2011. As Head of Partner Marketing at Unamia.com, Rashi single-handedly led the marketing team, displaying her expertise in retail and online business.
Discovering luxury fashion has always been troublesome, and though women spend $1.5 billion (can we please change to an Indian statistic in rupees?) consistently on luxury, the greatest concern for the discerning fashionista is to keep up with constantly changing trends. Apart from being a fashion connoisseur, she likes to stay updated with the latest developments in the business world.
Zapyle allows discovery, selling and buying at deeply discounted prices so that women can have revolving closets that are always up to date. Zapyle offers over 350 designer labels including luxury brands Prada, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors and more. The discounts can vary between 20% and 90% on the original retail price, with Zapyle essentially acting as an online factory outlet for high-end clothing, bags, accessories and footwear for women.
Going forward, Zapyle envisions a marketplace where women will never have to pay excessive amounts for being fashionable. The platform recently launched 27 designers and luxury products that cost less than INR 10,000, as well as announced an upcoming feature titled ‘celebrity closets’, where users can own what celebrities once wore. With its innovative, fresh perspective on style, Zapyle is poised to become the most dynamic fashion portal in India over the next six months.
Zapyle was founded in January, 2016 by Rashi Menda. Zapyle is a one-stop online destination for luxury fashion available at affordable prices exclusive only to the platform. As high-end brands come with lofty price tags and are often unavailable in many cities other than metros like Delhi and Mumbai, being stylish and on point isn’t always easy. Zapyle wants to alter this scheme of things and make luxury fashion accessible and affordable for all fashion lovers.
Zapyle's unique feature is introducing a platform that's a one stop solution for fashionistas. We want to establish a new way for women to shop designer labels at deeply discounted prices and give her an opportunity to monetize her closet.
Our goal is to bring about the revolution of the Revolving Closet, where every product will have 5 owners in its lifetime. Selling fashion will be as easy as buying it and soon, we'll see the huge potential and great value lying hidden in our closets.
Because we believe it isn’t clothes or bags or shoes that we own, but memories that are meant to be passed on to another when our time with them is done. Our fashion will not just live through us, but will have 5 lives instead of one.
For example, if a woman spends Rs. 30,000 buying a luxury bag on Zapyle, uses it for however long she likes, then resells it for say, Rs. 20,000 depending on condition and age of the item, she now has the extra Rs. 10,000 in addition to her spending power to purchase a bigger, better brand. This way, she moves from affording a bridge to luxury brand to affording a luxury brand. We charge 25% on every sale from retailers (designers who sell exclusive first hand) and 15% commission from marketplace sellers.
The inception of Zapyle was inspired by Rashi’s own experiences of living in different cities of the country. Over the years she realized how difficult it was for women not living in metro cities to access luxury brands. The rapidly-changing nature of fashion trends also made it unwise to invest heavily in luxury wear, be it international brands or Indian designer labels. It was then that she came up with the idea of creating a platform that makes luxury fashion easily accessible and affordable for everyone, not limiting it to an exclusive segment.
Zapyle allows discovery, selling and buying at deeply discounted prices so that women can have revolving closets that are always up to date. Zapyle offers over 350 designer labels including luxury brands Prada, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors and more. The discounts can vary between 20% and 90% on the original retail price, with Zapyle essentially acting as an online factory outlet for high-end clothing, bags, accessories and footwear for women.
Zapyle is a bootstrapped company and have recently received angel investment from several HNIs. Zapyle has raised $1 million in seed funding from a bunch of unnamed real estate firms and investment companies in Bangalore. Early next year we will have a round of Series A funding.
Fashion is moving at a rapid pace, not just in India but all over the world. Everything is moving from physical stores to online these days, especially in the fashion industry, and it's great, because it only means more convenience, wider reach and greater impact. Now it's so easy to just go online, press a few buttons and a few days later, someone is at your doorstep with the clothes you loved and wanted. It has made things easier and way better for fashion lovers. It also means more choice and that's always a good thing. We have currently partnered with 40 designer labels, and are also soon introducing celebrity closets for sale that will also have an added charity aspect.
Zapyle was one of the first platforms in India with this particular concept of deeply discounted luxury fashion.
We are different from other e-commerce and re-commerce sites because, we're firstly luxury based and secondly, we are focusing on building a community of fashion conscious women, rather than just make sales.
We are growing by 20% month on month, and our ticket size today is Rs. 9100. We make 10-12 daily orders.
According to a report from Euromonitor International, India is the fastest growing emerging market for luxury goods, growing by more than is $225 million, considerably stronger than Singapore and Australia, and since Zapyle was one of the first ones to enter this space, we have a good hold on the model.
Our long term plan is to have every possible Indian/international luxury brand/designer on our platform, making it accessible to all women who want to enjoy luxury fashion by giving it to them at discounted prices.
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Soumya is a young writer and journalist, with bachelors in Multimedia and Mass Communication. She is an alumini of the Asian College of Journalism, and finds politics and sustainability intriguing beats to work with.
