Transitions from its initial business model of a social shopping platform
Hyderabad, August 25, 2015: Violet Street, a leading online shopping destination that connects lovers of fashion to their favorite boutiques announces the shift in its brand position to that of a marketplace. Starting off as a social shopping platform, the company has evolved to be the one and only boutique marketplace in India which caters to budding boutiques and upcoming designers. It provides a platform to local designers and fashion curators to reach out to a pan-India customer base.
The transition in the core identity of the brand was part of a well thought out and predefined strategy. Violet Street entered into the digital commerce space as a social shopping portal. This gave the company the necessary insights required to evolve into a boutique marketplace. It had initially tied up with around 8-10 key online fashion players and the revenues came mainly through affiliate sources and advertisements. Also, with majority of online consumers now shifting to mobile, the experience of leading consumers to different mobile websites from a single app was something consumers didn’t really like.
Speaking on the transition, Ankur Gupta, CEO, VioletStreet said, “At Violet Street, we have been able to leverage the learning acquired as a social shopping portal to develop with our ramped up identity. The evolution was designed based on the fact that the marketplace model for a boutique shopping experience was hitherto untapped in India and moreover it is a high margin business. Until now, consumers had to wait for two to three months for exhibitions in their city to buy boutique collections. There were also barriers of geography and awareness which designers as well as consumers will now be able to overcome thanks to Violet Street.”
The Violet Street marketplace has been shaped on the basis of creative interactions and elaborate brainstorming sessions by enlisting boutique owners as stakeholders. It has led to the development of seamless features such as custom made-to-measure products, brand information and clearly visible details for consumers. The ‘Virtual Boutique Experience’ that it offers to shoppers includes talking to a stylist for recommendations, easy input options for providing custom measurements and free alteration. The product is constantly upgraded and improvised based on feedback from boutique owners and users.
Currently operational in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, Violet Street already has tie-ups with 60 boutiques across India, of which 45 are live on the marketplace. It aims to increase this number to 500 by the end of the year along with expanding its footprint in cities such as Pune, Kolkata, Varanasi, Jaipur, Bangalore etc.
About Violet Street
Violet Street is a leading online shopping destination that connects lovers of fashion to their favourite boutiques digitally. By partnering directly with niche boutique designers, manufacturers and official retailers from across the country, Violet Street offers exclusive capsule collections and start-of-season clothing from leading labels, along with rare creations and trending fashion products. What makes Violet Street so exciting is that it offers access to the most sought-after ensembles from different parts of the country without actually travelling! It lets shoppers virtually jet set from Delhi to Mumbai to Hyderabad and beyond to shop from some of the choicest and most elite of boutiques in those cities.