You need sexy lingerie? Shapewear,? Basic wear to work underwear or everyday sleepwear? You don’t know where to go and even if you did, you don’t feel like going there alone? If your answer to all these questions is yes, then The Lingerie Shop is for you.
The Lingerie Shop is changing the cultural attitudes towards shopping for women’s lingerie in India. A one-stop-shop, covering a range of all categories, The Lingerie Shop has you covered with its in-house brands. Here you can find everything you need – from office wear to boudoir, sleepwear to resort wear. Their motto – convenience to the consumer and quality, and a minimum acceptance quality level of 4.0.
In an exclusive conversation with Indiaretailing’s Gurbir Singh Gulati, Founder, The Lingerie Shop, Radhika Goenka, talks about why she decided to venture into the Indian innerwear space and her expansion plans…
How did you hit upon the idea of The Lingerie Shop?
Basically it started off two years ago. I’ve been wanting to do something in the apparel sector for the last five years and this is something that appealed to me and took off. I feel that lingerie is a very important product for the Indian consumer of today and it’s presence in the market is low, it’s not easily available and when it is, there is not much variety. So, this is what I want to focus on and change.
I want to ensure that Indians change the way they look at lingerie. I want the brands to be approachable. I want the brands to be functional, yet with a fun factor to it. Also, quality is very important to us as is the international customer and so we have approached the same manufacturer as Marks & Spencer. What we have created is an honest brand with the sole purpose of delivering style and comfort to every woman.
Tell us about Be Mine.
We launched the Be Mine brand with our first collection. It has around 59 styles at the moment and we are looking at adding another 60 styles by the end of this year. Simultaneously, we have our next sub brand – Hello Sugar – launching in August.
I want Be Mine to be a consumer friendly product and that is why I want to have a lot of stores. There are plenty of stores selling lingerie but consumers are not comfortable buying from these shops. We want to change the way the consumer thinks and break that social taboo in India. We are bringing to the Indian consumer, a product which is premium but keeping Indian sensitivities in mind.
You’re launching Hello Sugar in August. How is this going to be different from Be Mine?
Hello Sugar has got to more with sleepwear. It does includes staples of lingerie – bras and panties – but focuses more on baby dolls and teddies. Be Mine on the other hand is focused more on shape wear. So all our brands cater to a specific category.
The idea is the keep delivering newer experiences to the customers and keep innovating with your products. We have six sub-brands under the The Lingerie Shop and we will be unveiling every collection in due course of time
Is Hello Sugar age specific?
No, we cater to a wide audience spectrum. We have something for everyone – from 16 years of age to 45 years of age. Since we cater to teens too, the brand is going to have a lot more colour and pop.
What is the price range of your products?
Our products range from Rs 499 to Rs 4999.
Do you plan to open stores for your product or will you focus on only retailing online?
We are looking at opening an offline store in Phoenix Marketcity by next year. We are also going to open stores internationally in Moscow, and Paris.
Though we started off focusing on the metros as our primary markets what we realized is that our product is been appreciated and accepted across markets in India. Since we are an e-commerce portal our market is not defined by demography we deliver where our customers need us.
We are currently retailing on our own website the Lingerieshop.com and have also tied up with Nykaa for retailing.
What’s something innovative that you are doing in the lingerie space in India?
Going forward, we are going to be installing lingerie vending machines in metro cities. We will start with Bombay and then go to Pune and New Delhi. The first one will be launched in September this year. We’ve installed one in our offices at Welspun House for testing, promotions and marketing. All information for buying lingerie – colours, sizes, prices – are available at a touch on the machine and we will also have a salesperson positioned by the machines to help out users.
We are reaching out to a lot of people, our TG and we are also into some fun tie ups. We are a serious brand complete with the three Fs – function, fit and fun.
What are your expansion plans?
We are off to participate in the Moscow Fair to start with and then we are going to Columbia to showcase the brand. We are trying to show the world what India is capable of and to that effect we are not showcasing just one particular brand. We want to show the world that we are a platform.
We are also starting offline shore shipping to countries like US, UK, Russia, and UAE Dubai. We are aiming for a holistic, global approach.
We’ve already tied up with Nykaa and we are also thinking of organising pop-ups. We are also working on a mobile app. We will also be concentrating a lot on social media because it is really the fastest way to reach today’s consumer.
We’re looking to grow by 80 per cent in the next one year.
The Lingerie Shop is changing the cultural attitudes towards shopping for women’s lingerie in India. A one-stop-shop, covering a range of all categories, The Lingerie Shop has you covered with its in-house brands. Here you can find everything you need – from office wear to boudoir, sleepwear to resort wear. Their motto – convenience to the consumer and quality, and a minimum acceptance quality level of 4.0.
In an exclusive conversation with Indiaretailing’s Gurbir Singh Gulati, Founder, The Lingerie Shop, Radhika Goenka, talks about why she decided to venture into the Indian innerwear space and her expansion plans…
How did you hit upon the idea of The Lingerie Shop?
Basically it started off two years ago. I’ve been wanting to do something in the apparel sector for the last five years and this is something that appealed to me and took off. I feel that lingerie is a very important product for the Indian consumer of today and it’s presence in the market is low, it’s not easily available and when it is, there is not much variety. So, this is what I want to focus on and change.
I want to ensure that Indians change the way they look at lingerie. I want the brands to be approachable. I want the brands to be functional, yet with a fun factor to it. Also, quality is very important to us as is the international customer and so we have approached the same manufacturer as Marks & Spencer. What we have created is an honest brand with the sole purpose of delivering style and comfort to every woman.
Tell us about Be Mine.
We launched the Be Mine brand with our first collection. It has around 59 styles at the moment and we are looking at adding another 60 styles by the end of this year. Simultaneously, we have our next sub brand – Hello Sugar – launching in August.
I want Be Mine to be a consumer friendly product and that is why I want to have a lot of stores. There are plenty of stores selling lingerie but consumers are not comfortable buying from these shops. We want to change the way the consumer thinks and break that social taboo in India. We are bringing to the Indian consumer, a product which is premium but keeping Indian sensitivities in mind.
You’re launching Hello Sugar in August. How is this going to be different from Be Mine?
Hello Sugar has got to more with sleepwear. It does includes staples of lingerie – bras and panties – but focuses more on baby dolls and teddies. Be Mine on the other hand is focused more on shape wear. So all our brands cater to a specific category.
The idea is the keep delivering newer experiences to the customers and keep innovating with your products. We have six sub-brands under the The Lingerie Shop and we will be unveiling every collection in due course of time
Is Hello Sugar age specific?
No, we cater to a wide audience spectrum. We have something for everyone – from 16 years of age to 45 years of age. Since we cater to teens too, the brand is going to have a lot more colour and pop.
What is the price range of your products?
Our products range from Rs 499 to Rs 4999.
Do you plan to open stores for your product or will you focus on only retailing online?
We are looking at opening an offline store in Phoenix Marketcity by next year. We are also going to open stores internationally in Moscow, and Paris.
Though we started off focusing on the metros as our primary markets what we realized is that our product is been appreciated and accepted across markets in India. Since we are an e-commerce portal our market is not defined by demography we deliver where our customers need us.
We are currently retailing on our own website the Lingerieshop.com and have also tied up with Nykaa for retailing.
What’s something innovative that you are doing in the lingerie space in India?
Going forward, we are going to be installing lingerie vending machines in metro cities. We will start with Bombay and then go to Pune and New Delhi. The first one will be launched in September this year. We’ve installed one in our offices at Welspun House for testing, promotions and marketing. All information for buying lingerie – colours, sizes, prices – are available at a touch on the machine and we will also have a salesperson positioned by the machines to help out users.
We are reaching out to a lot of people, our TG and we are also into some fun tie ups. We are a serious brand complete with the three Fs – function, fit and fun.
What are your expansion plans?
We are off to participate in the Moscow Fair to start with and then we are going to Columbia to showcase the brand. We are trying to show the world what India is capable of and to that effect we are not showcasing just one particular brand. We want to show the world that we are a platform.
We are also starting offline shore shipping to countries like US, UK, Russia, and UAE Dubai. We are aiming for a holistic, global approach.
We’ve already tied up with Nykaa and we are also thinking of organising pop-ups. We are also working on a mobile app. We will also be concentrating a lot on social media because it is really the fastest way to reach today’s consumer.
We’re looking to grow by 80 per cent in the next one year.
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