Myntra End of Reason Sale: How homegrown brands are prepping up to enhance the shopping experience of women in India

What's the next best thing about December after Christmas? Myntra’s flagship bi-annual event, the End of Reason Sale (EORS), which has been bringing an unparalleled shopping experience to fashion-forward customers in India. The 15th edition of the fashion bonanza, between December 18-23, 2021, will showcase around 10 lakh styles by over 5,000 brands, and will be an opportunity for many first-time brands in the country, to showcase the best collections for the winter season.

In this edition of ‘The Pathfinders’ series, we're putting the spotlight on three homegrown brands, Myntra’s partners who are catering to the modern-day Indian woman, as they share what EORS means to them and how they're working round-the-clock to end the year on a high note.

SheWill: Ethnic wear in all its glory

Staying true to its name, SheWill, founded by Kashyap Bhatiya, his sister and fiancé, is on a mission to instill a go-getter attitude in its consumers. The women's ethnic wear brand was launched in early 2021 and started selling on Myntra in the same year. "We want to empower women and take them to greater heights," says Kashyap. SheWill is a part of the Kessi group.

From kurtis, kurtas, dress materials and other ready-to-wear garments, the brand caters to the women in tier 1 and tier 2 cities. Analyzing trends on social media, the team forecasts in-demand styles, and then creates products based on women's needs. "The Indian traditional wear segment has a global fashion agenda, and our wardrobe gets new additions constantly," he adds, explaining how there are currently no major international brands in the women Indian ethnic wear category and their products are at par when it comes to quality and new design development.

Kashyap says that the moment they dreamt of building a retail brand, Myntra was the first name that came to mind. "Myntra aligns with our ideas and values, and we've noticed that the platform pushes new products towards better reach." In just seven months, they were able to outperform projections during the Big Fashion Festival and the 14th edition of End of Reason Sale (EORS), and scale their portfolio from 100 to 250 styles.

With the EORS approaching, SheWill, has been busy preparing new styles even before Diwali. Around 70 new designs are being processed to go live on Myntra Studio, while another 100 are in the process of getting shot. The team is expecting 3X growth and to meet this demand, they have set up in-house manufacturing. "We've created a lot of new styles, anticipating incredible traffic on the site. We would choose Myntra any day because it prioritises the trust of customers, constantly pushes new styles and maintains the highest quality," says Kashyap.

The SheWill team is also gearing up to launch HeWill, in the men's wear category on Myntra soon.

Ami Jewellery: Adorned in comfort

Back in 1998, long before Ami Jewellery existed, Zaveri Pearls was involved in the wholesale pearl business. At a time when retail wasn't as strong, and imitation jewellery wasn't available, Jigar Zaveri, Founder of Zaveri Pearls, decided to start a retail business. They began by selling at well-known hotels during weekends, and owing to unbelievably good response, soon expanded to huge retail stores all over India. However, while their traditional jewellery was selling well, they were missing out on the college students and working women demographic and hence felt the need to launch a label to bridge this gap.

Five months ago, Ami was born as a sub-brand of Zaveri Pearls, and was launched as a dedicated collection for Myntra. Its jewellery is simple, lightweight, comfortable and elegant and are sold in combos of various designs like birds, animals, enamels, studs, etc. "Today, jewellery is as important as clothes, watches, and sandals. Most women won't repeat jewellery, they need a change in terms of styles, colours, shades, etc," says Jigar.

Ami has been on Myntra under Zaveri Pearl's brand name since 2016 and Jigar says the reason they chose Myntra is because, for him, there's no other e-commerce platform that focuses on the latest fashion in the women's category. They started with 50 designs, and today have over 2300 styles, including Ami's collections. "The Myntra team regularly follows up with its brand partners to give suggestions, and reminds us to create something new every day," he says. He adds that recently, the team suggested they create hair accessories as there is a huge demand for them on the platform.

As the EORS approaches, Jigar has set up a 120-member team in three shifts to handle inventory. From three printers last year, they now have six printers in place and installed extra internet services in place to avoid any hiccups for the expected surge in demand during the flagship event.

Jigar says they started preparation since Diwali, as imitation jewellery takes time to create. "From casting to plating to embellishing, there's a lot of minute details to take care of." The team has launched 600 new designs, while another 100 are in the catalogue phase.

Last year, the brand crossed a sale of Rs 6.5 crores and this EORS, they're targeting Rs 10 crores. "This is the first time we've set up such a huge inventory for Myntra. The festive vibe is back this year and we're expecting around 20,000 orders in a day," says Jigar.

He adds that Myntra has been a growth enabler for someone like him who's not as digitally savvy. "Although I've been selling online for many years, I've never bought anything online. But I have recently started to shop on the platform."

River Of Design: Trending shades of denim

Chanpreet, the Founder & Director of River of Design (ROD) had a 50-year-old ancestral textile business in Delhi, specialising in lycra, before foraying into the apparel business. In late 2019, Chanpreet along with his cousin Gurupreet launched River of Design and created a category that specialises in denim for women. This includes everything in the bottom wear and jackets, where washing is involved, from jeans to skirts, shorts and trousers. "Being one of the best players in the sourcing of textiles for five decades, we were able to supply fabric and even suggest designs. So, we wondered why we couldn't create a brand ourselves," says Chanpreet.

ROD currently caters only to the online market in India, through different e-commerce portals. Around eight months ago, they started selling on Myntra. According to Chanpreet, Myntra is the go-to platform for brands to sell quality fashion products. "Myntra gives you the freedom to make any kind of product, because they're able to capture any market easily. There are no restrictions when it comes to creativity."

He adds that they're passionate about creating perfect, soft and stretchable fabric, for everyone, at an affordable price. "As a Made in India brand, we sometimes have to compete with international brands who are well established. But our target is the mass audience who can't afford these big brands, by making our fabric available in better quality and better designs at half the rate."

ROD started with around 6 styles and today has 61 in its portfolio, with another 150 in the pipeline.

This is the second EORS that the brand will be a part of, and the team has been preparing for close to two months and stocking up their inventory well in advance. "Our current inventory is selling real fast in Myntra, so it might not last till EORS," says Chanpreet.

He adds that they're launching around five new styles on a daily basis and getting really good feedback from Myntra customers. "We're hoping to achieve 3X of regular-day sales during EORS.”