BlissClub has started offline stores in Bombay and Bengaluru. What are your expectations from the offline stores? Are you planning to expand to other cities?
We live in a world where we all thought that the pandemic made people shift their shopping habits to online platforms. Times are telling us otherwise. There is a trend of revenge shopping that started post the first wave and it’s continuing. Indians love the time they spend in malls and stores. Hence, providing omnichannel experience is very important; same is the case for BlissClub.
The offline stores are a way to declare our arrival. As a brand we are very serious about giving an amazing experience to store customers, whether it be through the products or even the fact that our stores serve as our community hub. Two weeks post the store launches, we organise multiple workshops and events running through the weekends.
Our expectations from the offline stores are to serve multiple objectives. Primarily it becomes the space for BlissClub to create brand awareness. It is very important for the consumers to touch and try the products before purchase. Along with that the consumers can understand the legitimacy of the brand through their store visit. Our expectation is to scale up stores as community hubs along with product sales.
We are planning to expand to other cities as well. This is a great year to expand in the retail space. We are doing our research on the cities and malls where the presence is to be expanded. A lot more stores in Bombay and Bengaluru are on the cards. We will be looking to open stores in Delhi / NCR, Pune, Hyderabad etc. These will be brand-owned outlets.
You have started the brand during the pandemic. What was the learning during the period? Any particular customer purchasing trends or change you noticed pre and post pandemic?
A lot of people are over-indexing on an active lifestyle, which means they are investing in more holistic lifestyle choices whether in the form of nutrition, food, attending different activities and of course buying the right products in the category of movement wear. During the pre-pandemic period, consumers were okay with buying any product in the activewear category, now there is a trend in opting for the right product which offers comfort, quality, and support. Wanting to see a brand online and offline, giving them an option of choosing where to buy from, is also a trend.
Entry price points at Rs.799 (tees), 1699 (pants), 899 (socks) seem to indicate a play in the premium end. Is that a function of product cost? Is there an opportunity cost in not being present at a slightly lower price point?
Fundamentally we need to understand that if we need great products there is a premium attached to it. We don’t launch our products like a typical apparel company which looks at seasonality and launches products during Spring, Summer, Winter. We launch our products after six to 12 months of research. We do extensive research on sizing and fabric. We do a lot of colour and fit tests. We follow a wear trial process where 12 women across sizes participate. At this point, the idea is for BlissClub to be the premium brand in the activewear market. At the same time, we are a brand that is relatable and accessible to every woman in India.
While this is the current price play, we will be dabbling with different types of price brackets as well with upcoming launches.
Are you focused on customers from Metro cities? How are the products performing in Tier 2 and 3 cities?
Our TG is working women between 27 and 40 years, but the spillover is beautiful for us. Our campaigns reiterate the fact that every woman deserves quality active wear, that is the promise we make.
There are huge changes in the lifestyle of people in Tier 2 and 3 cities because their purchasing power has gone up. They want to invest in themselves and a healthy lifestyle. We are seeing an upward trend in that direction. In addition to all the top five to seven metros, we have our active customers from Tier 2 cities like Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Surat, Kochi etc.
Which are the largest selling products of the brand?
Flare pants and ultimate leggings – those are the best sellers for us at this point. Currently, 70 pc of our sales comes from our website and 30 pc from market places.
Which cities are major contributors?
Right now, it is between Bombay, Bengaluru and NCR.
The brand’s first product launch was with a series of films titled ‘Moving it with BlissClub’. Most of your digital campaigns speak about inclusivity and body positivity. How has advertising worked for BlissClub as a new gen D2C brand? Tell us about your association with Instagram and YouTube influencers and how it has benefitted the brand.
We are an always-on campaign kind of brand. We run multiple kinds of campaigns at the same time. We have a great inhouse team on the performance, content and brand side. We all come together to create very interesting content.
Every Saturday we do focus group discussions with customers and non-customers, through which we derive a lot of insights – like the best channel to be used, product features preferred etc. Product features team gets a lot of insights during these discussions. Consumers are key to the way we make our marketing decisions.
Working with top YouTube and Instagram influencers in the country we have really been able to grow the brand. Organic growth has been a huge leverage for us in terms of marketing. We are at 75 plus NPS (Net Promoter Score), which I believe is really great in the startup ecosystem. Our next campaign will be live in the upcoming quarter.
We are trying to figure out our presence in other mediums. I don’t want to comment on that right now. We are trying to see what 2023 looks like for us. We are looking at a lot of community building activities. Our digital spends will continue to scale, the influencer partnerships will scale and grow. We need to explore channels and see what more we can do moving forward.
Is there a plan to foray beyond women’s activewear?
Not right now. We have launched accessories. Recently, yoga mats have been launched and are receiving a good response from the customers. We are doing a lot of innovations in fabric, active accessories as well.
Who would you consider competition?
As a young brand our biggest job to be done right now is to be taken very seriously in the activewear space. We only have women’s apparels, the biggest fight for us is to have great mind space among women.
