Zivame, one of India’s largest online lingerie retailers, was founded in 2011 with the aim of helping women to find their intimate wearables independently. Zivame founder, Richa Kar, is considered one of the top women entrepreneurs in India. Zivame is arguably India’s first online lingerie that plays an essential role in educating women across the country about underwear and consumer behaviour.
The company’s terminology, Zivame, is unique as a brand identity. The word Zivame comes from the Hebrew word ‘Ziva‘, which means “to shine”, and Zivame means “shining me”. Richa Kar has genuinely transformed the way women treat and communicate with their bodies through innerwear. Zivame has taught Indian women to carry lingerie with confidence.
Riche Kar has boldly removed shyness from the Indian lingerie industry and added a fashion element to it. She grew up in Jamshedpur and earned an engineering degree from BITS Pilani. She briefly worked in the IT industry and received a master’s degree in 2007 from the Narsee Monjee Institute for Management Studies. She then worked for a global technology and retail company before starting the journey of her own business.
‘‘
Richa Kar has genuinely transformed the way women treat and communicate with their bodies through innerwear. Zivame has taught Indian women to carry lingerie with confidence.
Richa Kar’s New Age Application
As the lingerie and clothing industry is becoming more and more online application-oriented, Zivame also harnessed its innovative application value. Its app is developed after careful study of consumers’ browsing habits to create a design that speeds up product discovery. With a browser-based experience, this is done quickly with a two-click purchase and onboarding process.
Almost 60% of Zivame’s traffic comes from mobile devices, and the company is confident it will grow in the coming years. Company officials say they sell more than one bra per minute, or more than 40,000 units per month, a record figure in the Indian market.
Zivame – A Catalyst for the Change in bringing Women’s Innerwear to the Forefront
Zivame claims that it sells more than one bra per minute and has helped bring the segment to light in India. Underwear, lingerie and innerwear are considered the most exciting category of women’s clothing in the world. In India, however, the innerwear segment has always worked under the shadows and behind the counters due to culture impediments.
But today, Indian women are more confident than ever and use lingerie to express their uniqueness and personality. Since its creation, Zivame has devoted a wing to the development of lingerie based on research on the body types and lifestyles of Indian women.
Each product is designed to ensure an optimal fit. 60% of the company’s total sales are made with its own line of products. The company is encouraging more women to shop online while expanding the product line and increasing communication with consumers.
What’s in Zivame for you to learn?
A major takeaway from Richa Kar and Zivame’s story is that nothing is scarce and rare enough to explore positive entrepreneurial opportunities. Richa Kar took something very close and intimate to half the country’s population (vast market) and innovated ways to make that item more accessible and suitable to them.
The key to her success lies in identifying the right products in the right industry with the right target customers and fulfilling what the market lacks. Despite the immense shadows regarding innerwear, especially women’s innerwear, Richa Kar leapt and landed in the market space where only a few had walked upon. If you follow the right path and explore the right avenues, you can excel in your venture as well.
