In 2004, Chris Anderson debuted the idea in a Wired article. He called it the Long Tail. The official website says: "The theory of the long tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail." This is about the long tail. Okay, loosely.
Anderson makes a case for a "mass of niches", as the costs of production and distribution fall, especially online. "There is now less need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers. In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly targeted goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare," is what he says. Maybe this explains the rise of the niche ecommerce sites. While bestylish.com offers only shoes, heavenandhome.com caters to your home furnishing needs and jewelsnext.com offers jewellery, to name a few.
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But when it comes to niches, the "tail" is only getting longer. So you have Bangalore-based Seema Seth and Pooja Mehta peddling socks online through Footsy, Sanwari Alagh Nair giving you premium home decor items through House Proud and Harshad Daswani selling beachwear and holiday clothes with The Beach Company. Then there are online lingerie portals like Zivame, My Lace and Straps & Strings and e-stores for stationery and paper craft. Each of them is answering a need that they found missing.
According to Internet & Mobile Association of India reports, the Indian e-commerce market was set to cross the Rs 46,000-crore mark in 2011, at a 47 % growth. E-tailing is second after online travel with an 8% market share.
Ankur Bisen, associate vice-president, retail, Technopak Advisors, says even though the niche e-tailing is in very early stages, categories such as jewellery, footwear and baby care have seen some traction. "Few such as Carrat Lane and Big Shoe Bazaar have managed to see some success and build visibility. These sites have managed to move away from price and offer sustainable product and service differentiation," he says.
Bisen also notes that the user interface is differentiated from the mass sites or they offer some service that address consumer's value template either in the form of convenience or experience. So while Lulupu.com (selling paper craft) runs a craft class for building a community of crafters, House Proud has created spaces within the site to make it into a personal shopping space. According to estimates, there are around 360 e-commerce sites operational in the country, and in the past two-three months 20-30 niche ventures have come up.
But the key challenge, Bisen says, is distribution cost. "Niche sites don't offer the advantage of spreading cost across many SKUs [stock-keeping units] and categories. This becomes a stumbling block to build scale," he adds. A reason probably why many sites that started with a niche tend to diversify into general category to scale up. "There are many opportunities and ways to scale up within your chosen niche. You just have to explore it," says Daswani of TheBeachCompany.in, who's looking at tie-ups with beach resorts to manage offline stores.
Anderson says in his blog: "People gravitate towards niches because they satisfy narrow interests better, and in one aspect of our life or another we all have some narrow interest whether we think of it that way or not." That's what these click clique is hoping for.
LIFE'S A BEACH
Selling What: Beachwear & Holiday Gear
BeachCompany.in
When: Started on April 2012
Who: Harshad Daswani, 35 and Pri Shewakramani
The Idea: The founders like to be referred to as beach bums and principal promoter Harshad Daswani calls himself a holiday junkie. The Beach Company started to address the often-ignored beach and holiday wear segment. The big idea: 'life is a weekend, treat it such — just aptly dressed'. The site offers swim, holiday and beachwear and accessories starting from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000.
Targeting: Women between 18-40 years, young mothers in metros. But there's significant traction from B metros like Indore, Bhopal, Jaipur too.
Talking Business: The company manufactures a majority of its clothes. The beachwear and kids equipment is sourced from Europe and South-east Asia. "But not China," Daswani says. They even offer customisations.
In the Future: Daswani is tying up with beach hotels and resorts for in-room advertising. By August end, he hopes to start managing hotel stores around Goa and Mumbai. "Nearly all new buildings now come with a swimming pool. People are travelling to beach destinations — they all need holiday gear."
Business Wise: "We underestimated the Indian woman. Our earlier swimsuit styles were conservative with frilly skirts. But women don't want the old school stuff. Even bikinis are finding takers in the small towns"
SOCKS IT TO ME
Selling What: Socks
Footsy.in
When: February 2012
Who: Started by design professionals — Seema Seth, 32, and Pooja Mehta, 27. Seth runs her design firm Studio Sky along with Footsy, Mehta too maintains a day job.
The Idea: While at design school, Seth's socks fetish was unleashed. Nine years after graduating, and a year after setting up her own studio, she and Mehta started talking about doing a creative and unique product line. And Footsy was born. They are seeking a fashion accessory status for the humble socks.
Targeting: Anyone who is, what they call, a 'sockaholic' like them.
Talking Business: They design and manufacture their own products and also source from national and international brands like Happy Socks from Sweden. Ever thought of socks as corporate gifts? For bulk orders, Footsy can customise anything from colours to patterns, to the packaging.
In the Future: Five years hence, Footsy has plans to become the destination for socks and related accessories. They are working towards developing a comprehensive product catalogue, with more brands and also start a private label.
Business Wise: "Most men are not scared of wearing funky colours anymore. Very hesitatingly, we introduced a really vibrant collection for men — bright blues, greens and even pinks. They loved it!"
PAPER TIGERS
Selling What: Stationery and paper craft supplies 61C.in and Lulupu.com
When: 61C started in January 2012; Lulupu in March 2012
Who: 61C was started by Mumbaikars Supriya Kejriwal and Prashish More. Lulupu was founded by paper crafter Karuna Chauhan with husband Siddhant providing strategic counsel.
The Idea: While 61C is stationery focused, offering premium stationery at affordable prices, Lulupu is more paper-craft driven. Chauhan thought of the idea in 2009, when she relocated to Bangalore and reverted to her old-time hobby of handmade greeting cards. Soon, she started a blog. "While the basic material was available in India, for moving to the next level most of the tools and material had to be sourced from abroad," she says. And she decided to start the e-store for crafters across India.
Targeting: 61C targets paper lovers. "Anyone who enjoys the warmth and personal touch of a handwritten card is our potential consumer," says Kejriwal. Lulupu audience comes from their blog followers and devoted paper crafters.
Talking Business: At 61C, international look is the criteria. "Whether it's home accessories or fashion, people are buying products and brands that represent them, and so personal stationery is another extension of this self expression," Kejriwal says. Chauhan plans to keep Lulupu to an online store to reach crafters all over. The couple imports high quality products from the finest paper craft brands such as Scor Pal, Fiskars, American Crafts, Memento, etc.
In the Future: 61C is dabbling in theme-based collections like the recently launched Panchatantra collection. Lulupu plans to increase its product offerings and also grow its community of crafters.
Business Wise: Kejriwal says, "Cash on delivery is an important aspect of e-commerce today. For two reasons: Indian consumers like the comfort of seeing the product, and a lot of them prefer not using debit or credit cards"
SHORT TAKE
Selling What: Customised Boxers & Innerwear
Theboxerstore.co.in
When: September 2010
Who: Finance graduate-turned-boxer designer Pallavi Khandelwal started designing customised boxers in 2010.
The Idea: It started out as a conversation with a friend over the lack of crazy boxers in Delhi. Khandelwal spotted the business opportunity.
Targeting: The 14-30 years old bracket. "But it's hard to say who I am targeting since I've got clients of all ages, even 60-year-old couples," she says.
Talking Business: Khandelwal sources the raw material and assigns it for production, on job work basis. And the accent's on funky — from the design to the packaging. For bulk orders, TBS designs customised boxers.
In the Future: To start a physical store in Delhi.
Business Wise: "You might think that certain things may work here, but they may not. The Indian consumer can really surprise you, they can be very unpredictable"
SHIRT UP
Selling What: Men's Formal Shirts
TheStiffCollar.com
When: August 2011
Who: Management graduate Rushabh Sanghavi, 28, and fashion designer Kabir Hingorani. Incidentally, Hingorani's family launched India's first readymade shirts, Liberty, in the 1950s.
The Idea: Looking to start their own business, the two friends decided to cater to formal shirts for men. Their USP: shirts with English cuts and classic style detailing like gussets and long split yokes, as it gives them a differentiated product. "Men make quick shopping decisions. And with shirts, if they get the fit right, there are repeat purchases," says Sanghavi, COO and co-founder.
Targeting: Anyone earning more than Rs 30,000 a month. Generating a loyal clientele in towns like Midnapore, Meerut and towns in Orissa.
Talking Business: At Rs 750 and Rs 900 for a short-sleeved shirt and full-sleeved shirt respectively. The shirts are manufactured in their Mumbai factory. They have a recommendation service where the customer who spreads the word about them to his friends gets a free shirt.
In the Future: As the name suggests, Stiff Collar plans to stay in the formal apparel space and stick to everything classic in men's clothes.
Business Wise: "Starting up is much easier than getting traffic. Everyone thinks ecommerce is a cheap way to start but its capital intensive when it comes to acquiring customers and maintaining a good distribution network"
INNER SECRETS
Selling What: Lingerie
Zivame.com
When: August 2011
Who: Engineering and management graduate Richa Kar calls herself a retailer at heart.
The Idea: Kar thought of the idea while consulting a global lingerie retailer on the Indian market. And she realised the business opportunity. "There is so much of social discomfort that lingerie shopping gets reduced to a five-minute hurried chore," she says.
Targeting: Broadly, working women, home-makers, girl students and men (shopping for their partner). "But majorly our target audience consists of women staying in small towns," Kar says.
Talking Business: Zivame has direct tie-ups with all the major lingerie brands. Kar's idea is to keep the whole process consultative and discreet. The packaging comes without any branding, with a flexible exchange policy.
In the Future: "Since our inception, we have registered a 90% month-on-month growth and currently ship out more than 350 orders per day," Kar says. She now looks at getting more brands on-board and scale up the technology and operations.
Business Wise: "When we started, we saw only 20% of orders coming from Tier-II & Tier-III cities. But now that share has gone up to 55%. It clearly proves our hypothesis that women in smaller towns don't get a lot of options in style or size in offline stores"
FOOT FETISH
Selling What: Footwear
BeStylish.com
When: May 2011
Who: Started by Smile Group — Harish Bahl, CEO, Abhishek Lal, co-founder and director of merchandising, and VSSK Prasad, co-founder
The Idea: The trio are footwear industry veterans and decided to change the way people shoe shop in India by setting up India's largest online shoe portal. There are other sites like Fashos and multi-product sites like Jabong, YeBhi, etc also offering shoes.
Targeting: Primarily in the age group of 18 to 35 years: 55% male, 40% female and 5% kids, with 50% of their market in Tier I cities.
Talking Business: beStylish has about 150 brands. And some exclusive ones like Manolo Blahnik, Melissa, Versace, Guess, D&G, DKNY, etc, besides the popular brands. They even have high-end shoe boutiques available on the website.
In the Future: Recently started a bags segment with brands like Beads and Stones, Poem and Meera Mahadevia. In 2012, they plan to focus on digital marketing massively for customer acquisition.
Business Wise: Bahl says: "The Indian market has a lot of potential when it comes to online shoe retail. We are confidently targeting a 100% growth in 2012-13"
HOME TRUTHS
Selling What: Home Decor Accessories
HouseProud.in
When: June 2012
Who: Founded by former media professional Sanvari Alagh Nair, this one's a women-only zone in terms of operations. She's assisted by Anjori Alagh (director, merchandising), Sarina Sakhuja (content director) and Sharanya Rao (web operations).
The Idea: Bridges the gap between customers looking for conversation worthy home decor pieces from premium brands at affordable prices.
Targeting: Women above 25 years — career women and homemakers.
Talking Business: The idea is to make the site your own personal space. The shopping experience is devised around various collections. Sections like Event Sales for discounted items, Kitchen Connoisseur for home chefs and the Curated Collections for bed linen and cushions keeps it interesting. It sources items from The Charcoal Project by Sussanne Roshan, Hurtado, Address Home, House of Ishatvam, Natuzzi to name a few.
In the Future: With no plans to enter physical retail just yet, Nair wants to expand to international delivery destinations.
Business Wise: "Indian consumer can be classified in two sections: one is mass based and prefers discounted buys, the other, which is equally large, prefers value over pricing. It is this one we cater to"
BACK TO SCHOOL
Selling What: School Supplies & Education Aids
AllSchoolStuff.com
When: September 2011
Who: Founded by Manoj Chandra, a marketing professional with over two decades of experience and IIT-ian Ankur Dinesh Garg
The Idea: A school & learning store the idea happened when Chandra was working with Bata. "I noticed parents coming to purchase shoes would often crib about not finding a particular book or a science or sports kit," he says.
Targeting: All parents searching for child development tools or everyday school needs
Talking Business: With a central warehouse in Gurgaon, it sources directly from the manufacturers. Though B2B sales is their focus, Chandra is open to experimenting with the business model. "We get high-value orders from small stationery shops and schools in remote areas," he says.
In the Future: Presently focused on building an online retail brand, Chandra plans to evolve into multiple channels of retailing and possibilities of venturing offline.
Business Wise: "Indian consumers are beginning to explore online. There is a strong demand from consumer feeling the need and benefits of online retail"
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