"We want to build a sustainable e-comm model; unlike others; we're not heavily dependent on investor funding": Manoj Gupta, Craftsvilla.com

Online Ethnic store, Craftsvilla has rolled out an integrated campaign that will help the brand make inroads into India's e-commerce business with its specialist offering of ethnic apparels and products.

The campaign conceptualised and executed by Leo Burnett India puts Indian women in the spotlight and tries to showcase their beauty in Craftsvilla's range of ethnic collection. The film featuring models Kanishta Dhankar, Smita Lasrado, Katheleno Kenze, Nidhi Sunil and Monica Thomas is an ode to "all women who stay a moment but leave behind a memory", says the brand. It has been directed by the fashion photographer Bharat Sikka. Lending surrealism to the ad is the track "Aaj Jane Ki Zidd Na Karo" written by the poet Fayyaz Hashmi and sung by Pakistani classical singer Farida Khanum.

The campaign

On an average Craftsvilla spends around 50 crore on marketing and advertising annually, 50 per cent of which is used for digital promotions (both organic and inorganic on social media and also through Google search). According to Gupta, Craftsvilla's Facebook page currently has 5.2 million followers. He further claims that every post on the page reaches approximately 1 lakh users organically, and the number of unique users/visitors per week is close to 35 million.

Every campaign is tracked to evaluate the returns and impact. As per the company's research, social media works the best for the brand in terms of incremental increase in traffic to the website. While print and in-cinema advertising have proven to be effective, the impact of television is yet to be studied, says Gupta.

Craftsvilla model

Craftsvilla operates on a commission basis where a 20 per cent commission is charged on every sale. There are no listing or registration charges; neither does the company involve itself in logistics and pricing. The platform's seller profile includes NGOs, designers, boutiques, housewives and small scale businesses that primarily depend on the platform for sale. Although the company is essentially commercial, the NGOs listed on the site are exempt from paying any commission. 99.99 per cent of the sellers come to the platform through word-of-mouth publicity, informs Gupta.

Hence, the more tangible expectation from the campaign is to create the "right noise". "We want to build a sustainable e-commerce model because unlike other players we are not heavily dependent on investor funding. Therefore we do not operate on a discount or offer driven model. Craftsvilla's key proposition is the variety and quality of its products," he asserts adding that this also helps the brand in overcoming the main challenge in the online fashion segment; that of the customers wanting to touch and feel the apparel and try it out before making the final purchase.

"If you observe the shopping behaviour of women they always like to go to ten shops for every item they buy. Here we give them lakhs of options in one place. This overcomes the limitations of the internet for us," states Gupta. He further elaborates that even though the Craftsvilla customers share a passion for ethnic wear, they may not be intentional buyers. The purchase mostly happens when they come across the product while casual browsing. The new campaign is aimed at generating more awareness among these customers.

Other initiatives

Apart from advertising, the brand also has properties like 'World Ethnic day' and 'Miss Ethnic Contests' for which it has roped in Bollywood actors Vidya Balan and Kareena Kapoor respectively. The final round of the Miss Ethnic Contest to be held on October 9 will be covered by Zee TV. Additionally, Craftsvilla wants to be seen as the leader in 'ethnic content' and to this end, it creates videos such as 'The Sarees of North India', 'How to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi' and more on a regular basis.