One year into operations, lingerie e-tailer Zivame clocking Rs 2Cr in GMV per month

Lingerie e-tailer Zivame.com, run by Bangalore-based Actoserba Active Wholesale Pvt Ltd, is a little more than a year old, but it already claims good traction and encouraging sales. Moreover, the startup boasts a repeat clientele – sometimes as high as 70-80 per cent.

Backed by IDG Ventures and Indo-US Venture Partners, Zivame started operations in August last year and deals in lingerie, loungewear, swimwear, nightwear and allied categories. It claims to have nearly 20,000 SKUs on board, with more than 800 styles. And traction has been decent for two reasons, said Richa Kar, co-founder and CEO of Zivame. "Our differentiation lies in the expansive product line-up in terms of options, styles and prices. Plus, we do a lot of value addition by providing relevant and quality content. In fact, we focus a lot on building engaging content for buyers."

Kar told Techcircle.in that Zivame is shipping 500-600 orders a day with the average transaction value being upwards of Rs 1,200. It means around 15,000-18,000 orders a month and around Rs 2 crore in GMV (gross merchandise value) per month, given the current basket size.

"We are growing at 50 per cent month on month and we have shipped to every state within the country except Lakshadweep. That, too, displays our reach and penetration," said Kar.

In March this year, the startup announced raising Series A funding from IUVP and IDG Ventures. The money raised was mostly used for enhancing the product range, scaling up marketing and getting more people on board.

Interestingly, we can already see changes on the website in terms of look and feel and a lot of new categories have been added as well – such as resort wear – which includes women's wear. Does it mean the slow but sure 'intrusion' of apparels?

"Not at all," said Kar. "For now, we are very much focused on lingerie and allied categories. The 'dresses' you see on the site form a part of the resort wear, which is another allied category for us. Apparels may come, but only in the distant future."

Offering a mix of content and consultation for women to help them buy the right product and selling affordable but branded products have proved to be the right recipe for Zivame so far. Online lingerie shopping, as a trend, is also gearing up. There are quite a few players in this space now, such as MyLace, StrapsAndStrings, ShopImagine, Oyegirl, Cilory, HerStyle and also PrettySecrets, which recently got funding from Indian Angel Network, Harvard Angels and Orios Ventures.

For the somewhat conservative Indian clientele, the option to buy lingerie online fits well and so does the opportunity to buy international brands, which are not easily available elsewhere. Zivame's most loyal customers come from the north-east as these products are not available offline in that region or other such far-flung areas. These are some of the key reasons why online lingerie shopping has clicked. But one has to wait and watch to find out whether it will continue to boom or simply fizzle out when the novelty wears off.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)