'80% of our fit-out stores will be franchised' Richa Kar

ZIvame received its first order of Rs.7000 within five hours of its launch on 25^th August 2011. Invariably, it leaves no room to explain that they had just cracked the code of the ever growing $3 bn lingerie market in a way that no one had done before. Creating a major breakthrough being as an e-retail portal exclusively for lingeries, the brand captured the market through its innovative brand proposition. Zivame has just opened its physical outlet and plans for an aggressive expansion. In conversation with Deepankar Hemnani, Richa Kar, Founder, Zivame shares how she achieved this incredible brand recall for Zivame and the way ahead.

Your entrepreneurial journey

My job entailed studying a global lingerie brand which made me think about India’s lingerie market. It was surprising to know that the most intimate category was also the one that was the most ignored. Right from unavailability of size options dues to limited shelf space to presence of male sales executives, every single step of lingerie shopping posed a bottleneck for a woman. I realized that taking the category online would not only solve the bottlenecks in the category but would also help bring back the indulgence that it truly deserves. All these observations led to the birth of Zivame in 2011.

What is the experience that you plan to offer at the physical set up?

The Zivame store is a fit-out store where the customers can see and try the latest launched products. They are assisted with our well trained fit experts for a free of cost fitting session, where she is guided on the perfect style and size suitable for her body type. This concept has been extremely successful at our flagship store in Bangalore, and hence we decided to expand it further.

Elaborate about the training and support that you will offer to your franchisees?

Training and support is an integral part of any franchise model. We will be focusing on every little detail so that the brand does not get diluted in the process of expansion. For the franchisee owner to get the nerve of the brand, we will provide in-depth product knowledge and training by sharing the brand research in terms of breast profiling, training on fit advisory and customer support policies. With every new person joining the Zivame family we put in lot of efforts to build a cohesive unit.

What are your expansion plans? How many franchise stores you planning by this fiscal?

We are looking at a mix of company owned and franchise model (roughly split as 20% company owned and 80% franchise model). We are aiming to launch about 100 stores in the next three years. Our primary focus is metros and tier 1 cities. We are also looking at launching 15 stores+ by end of next quarter.