Lingerie e-tailers Zivame, PrettySecrets hit road for funding to expand …

BENGALURU/MUMBAI: Lingerie e-tailers Zivame and PrettySecrets have hit the road for their new round of funding, banking on growing their private labels to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market. While Zivame is looking to raise over $25 million, rival PrettySecrets is also eyeing a new round of around $10 million.

The move by these vertical e-tailers comes as horizontals like Flipkart-Myntra, Amazon and Snapdeal — which have billions of dollars in funding — are pushing aggressively into the lucrative fashion category.

“With the current funds, Zivame is looking to rapidly grow its customer base, aggressively spend on its ‘FIT stores,’ and invest in technology and marketing,” said an investor in the company, adding that the e-tailer is currently in talks to raise about $25-$40 million in its next round. Zivame raised about $5 million in a bridge round from existing investors Unilazer Ventures, IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital late last year, according to three sources directly aware of the developments.

According to a report accessed by ET, Zivame is looking to close fiscal 2015 with Rs 50 crore in gross merchandise value on a loss of about Rs 35 crore. Zivame initially started out as an aggregator of lingerie brands like Enamor, Wonderbra, Jockey, and Amante. But since 2013, it started private label brands to make up for the restricted customer base. The company gets about 30% of its sales from its private label high-margin Penny and Cou Cou brands.

PrettySecrets originally started as an offline nightwear brand, which was sold at 300 points of sale across the country before founder Karan Behal decided to shift the business online in late 2012.

The private label has now emerged as one of the largest brands in the category, encompassing lingerie and sleepwear as well as niche categories such as shapewear and beachwear. While its main business channel is on its website, the majority of its Rs 2.5 crore monthly revenue comes from marketplaces like Jabong, Myntra, Flipkart and Amazon, and holds 20-25% share of Jabong and Myntra’s lingerie sections. Zivame is, however, following a different strategy when it comes to selling on horizontal sites. “Right now, we are hardly selling on other platforms.

We are a nice category player and getting enough visibility for now. As of now, we do not have plans to sell on other marketplace,” said Richa Kar, CEO, Zivame. Investors are of the view that competing with well capitalised horizontals, which attract at least over 5-6 times traffic, is not a viable strategy in the long run.

“These players cannot survive by directly competing with players like Myntra-Flipkart and Jabong. What can be done is that they can become largest sellers on these online fashion e-tailers,” said Anand Lunia of India Quotient, which has invested in PrettySecrets.

Zivame, which claims to be India’s largest online lingerie store, sells selections ranging from everyday lingerie essentials and maternity wear to shapewear and nightwear. Since last year, the Bengaluru-based company has pioneered many services including ‘Try at Home’ and ‘Fit Consultants,’ and currently has a 12,000-square-foot warehouse that processes delivery orders within two hours.

Meanwhile, investors also believe that online private labels can emerge as India’s largest lingerie brand, overtaking offline players like Lovable Lingerie which reported revenues of Rs 160 crore in FY14. Other players in the category include Moodsofcloe.com and Laceandme-.com in the online lingerie space. Smaller competitors such as Bengaluru-based Oyegirl had shut down last year.

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Guy Fawkes mask found in creek leads to arrest in lingerie store B&E

BLOWING ROCK, NC (WBTV) -

Two people were arrested after investigators say they burglarized a Blowing Rock lingerie store.

Jacob Thomas Goode and Savannah Bree Padgett, both 22, were arrested Friday and charged with one count each of felony breaking and entering, felony larceny after breaking and entering, felony safecracking and felony conspiracy to commit larceny.

The break-in happened on Feb. 15 at Night Secrets on the 1100-block of Blowing Rock Road. Police responded to an alarm at the store to find it had been burglarized.

Padgett is a former employee of the business, police said.

Officers said that surveillance video from the store showed a “large person wearing gloves and a Guy Fawkes mask.” They said the mask was found in an icy portion of Laurel Fork Creek.

“This investigation led us to Statesville, NC, to assist Statesville Police Department in serving a search warrant at the suspect’s residence, where several vital pieces of evidence were collected,” said Lt. Chris Hatton with the Boone Police Department.

After their arrest, Goode and Padgett were taken before a Watauga County Magistrate and given a $15,000 bond, pending an April 30 appearance in court.

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