How New Clothing Brand Varakriti is Overcoming the Impact of Online Frauds to Gain Customer Trust

The number of internet connections in 2021 increased significantly to 830 million, driven by the 'Digital India' program. Out of the total internet connections, ~55 per cent of connections were in urban areas, of which 97 per cent of connections were wireless. This rapid rise in internet users and smartphone penetration coupled with rising incomes has assisted the growth of India's e-commerce sector. India's e-commerce sector has transformed the way business is done in India and has opened up various segments of commerce. Major segments such as D2C and B2B have experienced immense growth in recent years. India's D2C market is expected to reach USD 60 billion by FY27. The overall e-commerce market is also expected to reach USD 350 billion by 2030 and will experience 21.5 per cent growth in 2022 and reach USD 74.8 billion.

New Delhi [India], December 27 (ANI/ATK): The number of internet connections in 2021 increased significantly to 830 million, driven by the 'Digital India' program. Out of the total internet connections, ~55 per cent of connections were in urban areas, of which 97 per cent of connections were wireless. This rapid rise in internet users and smartphone penetration coupled with rising incomes has assisted the growth of India's e-commerce sector. India's e-commerce sector has transformed the way business is done in India and has opened up various segments of commerce. Major segments such as D2C and B2B have experienced immense growth in recent years. India's D2C market is expected to reach USD 60 billion by FY27. The overall e-commerce market is also expected to reach USD 350 billion by 2030 and will experience 21.5 per cent growth in 2022 and reach USD 74.8 billion. Amongst all this, there are still challenges being faced by the smaller or younger online e-commerce brands. As the number of consumers increase, people wanting to take the wrong advantage also show up. Multiple cases of e-commerce frauds have come up across india. These includes cases where people have got poor quality products, completely different product from what is shown online and even at times there is no product delivered to the customer. This results in consumers loosing trust in online ordering platforms and ultimately genuine brands loose genuine customers.

In a recent conversation with Shubham Kathuria, owner of a young and upcoming, fashion and apparel e-commerce brand, Varakriti, we got a lot of insights on the e-commerce frauds happening in India and how are brands like his overcoming it. When asked about the situation, Kathuria told " There are fraudulent websites out there look as genuine as the other ones, they might have a huge collection of clothes which look really appealing and yet have a very reasonable price. This attracts the customer's attention and entices them to place an orders. Once the customer's order is received, in many cases these platforms do not reply back with any order confirmation or communication. While some websites might send the products, they could be in really bad quality or might be a completely different article. These websites offer immersive UI/UX and all kinds of payment options. "So the question arises, how should genuine brands make sure to gain consumers trust and more over how do customers differentiate between, who is genuine and who is fake?".

He Added, "Brands need to map their customer journey correctly in order to then connect and communicate with their consumers accordingly. When we first launched, in a very small span of time we learned that we need to have good reviews, original designs, high definition images so there was a lot of effort going into the UI/UX of the website, as customers really get drawn towards the brand transparency and help the brand establish a recall value in the customer's mind, also when it comes to getting conversions, especially in India, your offer along with the payment gateway and shipping partners play a key role and have a major effect on the customer bounce rates. Once the order has been placed, it is very important for the brand to inform the customer of each step till the order is delivered to the customer's doorstep, it is also a very nice chance to setup multiple touchpoints with the customers and helps establish the trust. It doesnt end just there. Once the customer has their order, it is crucial to have a follow-up system to understand the customer experience and if any challenges were faced by the customers, then your processes need to be rectified, not the customer." He added, " By marketing and using modern tools like CRM, Whatsapp Automation, Audience Retargeting And Infleucner Marketing. Brands can ignite an interest in the customers mind and gain their trust with a constent effort. We make sure to keep our customers informed about what is happening with their order, once we dispatch the order, we shoot whatsapp confirmation as well as an email. Once the order is delivered by our shipping partner, our in-house team does a follow up to understand the whole customer experience. Also having our own manufacturing unit it is easier to incorporate customer feedback and helps us come up with new designs and trends with a very less TAT. We also understood how feedback can make or brake some brands. It is very significant for brands to concentrate on the feedback they get, rather than getting in an ego war with thier customers, they should understand what their customers really want and optimise their processes accordingly." Today in last few months only the Varakriti family has grown to wide customer base. With a limited inventory, the brand concentrates on quality product and optimum customer experience. E-commerce brands can earn a good profit if they focus on customer lifetime value rather than just getting few order a day. Customer loyalty is the best way to ensure lower acquisition costs and a long time value. It will be fair to conclude that in order to gain customer trust a brand must have multiple touch points setup with their customer. They should be well aware of the customer journey. Use of things like optimised UI/UX, marketing automation tools can be a great helping hand in this journey.

This story has been provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/ATK)

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