Is the customer base large enough to support the business in the long run? Is India a mature market for the idea to succeed?
Total apparel market in India is approximately $80 billion. A very meagre chunk of this is attributed to daily casuals and inner wear. What we are left with is primarily ethnic wear, formal wear and western casuals, which is primarily our addressable market. Our customer set encompasses women 22 to 35 years of age and beyond, and has been growing at more than 60% month-on-month. Our repeat user base is very high. In fact, our repeats are three times of the benchmark for any other fashion e-commerce company. With increasing technology adoption and fashion consciousness in India, we definitely think now is the perfect time for such an idea to create a huge impact. Who doesn't value getting a great dress at the tap of a button and a chance to look new every time, economically? The market size for ethnic wear is $15 billion and the market size for casual western wear is $4billion, and a large slice of that pie is ours for the taking provided we create this category right, which we're committed to doing. We would like to be every woman's on-demand wardrobe. We imagine a time where women would stop worrying about their going out wardrobe - they would just rely on Flyrobe for every single event - from weekend outings to office parties to weddings.
There are quite a few start-ups operating in this space (premium apparel and accessories). How is Flyrobe different?
Three key things. First is investing in customer experience. Social confirmation is paramount in our business and we are fanatical about customers loving us and loving all that we stand for. Just check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for proof of how happy our customers are. Second, we offer both western wear (on-demand 3-hour delivery) and ethnic wear (advance booking). Most other competitors are only focused on ethnic wear. And in fact 70% of our orders come from the more frequent use western wear category. Third is technology and product. Our product has received great customer reviews from folks on the Google Play store.
People want to sport latest trends and trends change often. Does it not escalate into high costs, especially inventory? Plus, there are quality checks, fitting, delivery, cleanliness and hygiene processes to add to the costs... Please explain how you procure the garments and accessories, and how the business model works.
A. People wanting to experience the latest trends is one of the good reasons why they like Flyrobe so much. We've implemented a lot of technology at the back-end which makes all the processes of QC, delivery and hygiene less labour-intensive, and hence, less costly as well as precise. In fact, we make sure of these so much so that it is hard for people to believe that they are renting because the outfit looks as good as new. We like to keep our procurement strategy proprietary but what I can share is that we do have partnerships with certain designers where we work collaboratively.
Are you making profit on every transaction? If not, when and how you will reach that stage?
We're not looking to generate profits in the short term. However, we strongly believe in frugality and achieving maximum without cash burn. We do have a path in line towards profit generation and we're well on our way.
Where does the maximum demand come from?
The younger women live in a world of Instagram and Snapchat where they hate repeating clothes and rent from us to look great whenever they go out such as weekend outfits, date nights, parties, etc. Our older customers are more Facebook savvy and rent from us for a different set of occasions such as weddings, family celebrations, office events. Our orders come from mostly every residential area which range from Thane to Malabar hill, as well as commercial areas where working women order the outfits at their workplace.
You offer an array of products for various occasions. Which segment leads the demand? Where does the future potential lie?
70% of our orders come from the western wear category. We would continue to explore more in both the categories – western and ethnic to be able to truly give an 'on-demand wardrobe' experience to all our users.
How do you plan to expand?
We just recently launched in Delhi and the response has been ecstatic. Gradually, we plan to expand to other cities including Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and more.
Contrary to companies abroad which are operating in this space, this segment has not seen much institutional funding in India...
I personally think it is just a matter of time before that happens. It also takes some time for people to build an understanding of the business in a new territory. People in India are increasingly adopting to 'access' as the new means of 'ownership' as can be seen by the success of cab aggregators. Fashion is no different. Why waste money on something you know you are not going to wear more than twice? Or why buy when you can rent and look new every time? You'll be hard pressed to think of one woman in your network who said "I love having those colored trousers in my wardrobe long after they went out of fashion" or "I loved wearing the same outfit to three weddings in a row because I had to maximise the cost of buying it" or better still "I'd rather buy tacky clothes to own it rather than rent higher quality clothes."
You recently brought Amazon and Google employee and Harvard Business School alumnus Sreejita Deb on board...
Indeed. She is a rock star. With her kind of experience and the zeal of some one on their first job, she brings to the table willingness to work hand-in-hand with the team on execution. We truly have best of both the worlds in her. She has joined us as the chief business officer and leads all things growth for the company.
Any new offerings that you plan to come up with? There are businesses selling pre-owned garments. Are you also looking at this area for expansion?
Well, we have a lot of ground to cover with our existing offerings. We've been receiving requests from women all over India apart from Mumbai to get to their city soonest. We soon plan to start shipping our ethnic wear to a lot more cities. Men have been constantly asking us to start a line specific to them. That is also something we have on the horizon. We even plan to launch a subscription service in the future to power women's daily office wardrobe as well.
What are the margins? When do you think the business will break-even?
This is something I would refrain from commenting on but I can let you know that they are quite healthy and in-fact one of the best in class in the industry.
Any plans to build an offline presence?
This is something we might explore in future. But as of now, focus is more on building technology and scaling our current offerings.
