By NEETA NAIR
The Aditya Birla Group, which has some of the biggest lifestyle brands such as Pantaloons, Louis Philippe and others under Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, etc., under its umbrella, is now hoping to make a splash in the e- commerce space. It recently launched abof.com (All about Fashion) in style, by asking millennials to not just look good, but also famous.
Talking about the jazzy campaign, Ashim Chatterjee, CMO, abof. com says, “abof.com was launched with the idea of turning an ordinary day into extraordinary. Our ‘Look Famous’ campaign is to apprise our target audience of our curated and stylish offerings. Youth today are fashion conscious and they need to shake things up... abof.com can brighten up a mundane day and make anyone ‘Look Famous’.”
As for the marketing mix for the campaign, targeted at 18- to 25-year-old fashionistas, Chatterjee says, “We want to treat them like celebrities. We are sharply targeted at the youth and offer the best price in the market. The ad film premiered on YouTube has already received more than 8,00,000 views. We then aired it on national television, across select niche channels in English and Hindi. We have strong digital presence on Facebook through ads and on other social media.” abof.com also has a unique offering in the form of the 3D trial rooms about which Chatterjee goes on to elaborate: “The 3D trial room allows users to try on clothes online by inputting their basic body proportions. This unique feature allows buyers to view themselves in their desired garment and take an informed decision on whether the product suits the body type or not. Additionally, buyers can try out various looks and combinations through abof’s VTR.”
The brand made it clear right at the outset that it would not join the bandwagon of e-commerce sites which focus on giving big discounts. But has the strategy worked for abof.com, especially during the festive season? Chatterjee says, “The existing e-commerce players associate themselves with large range and great discounts. However, we want our target audience to view us as a platform that offers highly curated, trendy, youthful and fashionable designs at a great price. We want to be consistent and provide a memorable experience to our consumers through sharp messaging and the right collections. We are confident that consumers will spot the difference and the quality we offer. Most importantly, we are honest with our pricing and believe that a great brand, with a great product and consumer experience, can avoid getting into deep discount mode.”
But the question is, after years of being associated with brickand-mortar stores, did the Aditya Birla Group decide to take another shot at the e-ecommerce sector, after launching trendin.com, because it believes consumers are moving away from the mall experience? Chatterjee says, “Both sectors will remain, but the future will see exponential growth for e-commerce firms, though the market will consolidate and fewer players will emerge in the long run. Also, brick-and-mortar stores will get into omni-channel online presence for higher reach. With fashion standing at only 2% of the entire retail space, we are here at the right time. Also, we believe fashion is not going to be a winner-takes-all category and will have space for twothree players over the coming 10 years. That is why we still have time to build a strong business. So, we have taken the risk of entering late in this space.”
The Aditya Birla Group recently announced that it is targeting 15% share of the country’s online fashion market by 2019-20. But what is the strategy to win over customers, especially with no discounts? Chatterjee is quick to respond: “We offer highly curated content with much deeper personalization. For instance, the landing page of our website or app is not the banners or product catalogue, like other websites. It is our proprietary fashion feed which is visually very rich. Our first-of-its kind 3D virtual trial room addresses the fitand-sizing problem and differentiates us from competition. We make it easy for our target consumer, and bring to them only what’s in-style, from brands that are truly brands. All our 50+ consumer touch-points have been designed for the millennials in terms of communication approach and tonality. The emails, SMSes and call centre experience are highly differentiated versus what’s prevalent in the market today. We also do Sunday deliveries.”
