ZuumZuum (ZZ) has achieved several significant milestones that changed the online fashion retail landscape in Bangladesh since its launch in July 2015. A lot of things happened in one year – for ZZ, it managed to keep its operation costs lower, expanded partnership and cracked the product-pricing model that buyers are willing to accept. It involved lot of trial and error, but it is finally on a growth trajectory. Every day it works towards a step closer to changing the way people access fashion in Bangladesh in just a few clicks.
“Over the past one year, ZuumZuum has consistently strived to improve its product offering, brand proposition and customer experience to change the online fashion retail scene in Bangladesh. Our online population is still below the global average and as an online retailer in an emerging markets, it’s important for ZuumZuum to contribute to the growth of e-commerce and offer a platform where local brands can reach more consumers and for fashion consumers to have access to the best fashion brands anytime, anywhere,” said Fayaz Taher, Co-founder and CEO, ZuumZuum.
ZuumZuum website; allows independent fashion designers and boutiques to sell their products to an already established and loyal customer base. For example a promising local brand named Rise launched their premium denim and chinos collection through ZuumZuum. Also, online boutique shop Unstitched, online T-shirt shop like The Apparels, Cut Price etc gets to display their new and upcoming fashion wear in our sites.
It regularly updates its site with new and upcoming fashion wear, and keep its customers engaged via its Facebook page, and fashion blog site. As consumer habit has changed dramatically, its marketing team focused on highly personalized marketing as well. To make its loyal consumers feel more privileged it offers loyalty programs, discount offers, cash back offers etc.
Driven by a team of young experts in fashion, data analytics, marketing, and design, paired with guidance from savvy startup founders, ZuumZuum’s vision is set on growth, making it the online fashion authority in Bangladesh. It will continue to strive for excellence, enhance the customer experience by improving interface and customer engagement will boost confidence in online shopping and transform the way fashion is purchased in Bangladesh to help build an e-commerce friendly environment.
It has pushed to stay relevant from developing brand-owned content to reaching out to consumers on various platforms – while placing a great emphasis on the quality of digital engagement. In ZZ fashion blog site, people can get tips on fashion and lifestyle products and it regularly updates its content.
Their head of operation, Rifat Ahmed is a veteran in the e-commerce business in Bangladesh, who worked tirelessly to bring new product and partners on board. While asking about the reason for the rapid growth of their business he said, “We were very lucky to attract very young individuals like Asif Hossain in marketing, Zubayer Ahmed in the supply chain and Imran Aziz in customer service, who may not had the online business experience, but brought tremendous passion to our business which helped us work harder and get better results. Team has grown over last one year, but our passion to make a dent in this industry still burns high. From day one, we had one strategy, which is to deliver best online customer experience through our platform. Though it may sound like cliché, but trust is a huge missing factor in e-commerce business in Bangladesh and we are trying to be most trusted fashion e-commerce site”.
ZZ also launched The ZuumZuum Shop, the first click-and-mortar shop in Bangladesh that gave consumers a physical experience. Through its pop-up stores in Mirpur and Uttara, it reached out to and converted a whole demographic of consumers into e-consumers. The success of the first digital pop-up store in Dhaka had led to the planning of opening of more pop-up stores in cities in Bangladesh. Designed to increase awareness, this omni-channel approach has proven to be a success as up to 90% of consumers who bought from the pop-up store are new customers.
ZuumZuum understood early that in order to be successful, it needs to invest both time and effort to better understand the complicated and fragmented online market and its impact on issues such as operations, and customer service. By forming strong local teams that understand the local nuances in Bangladesh market, ZuumZuum is able to ensure that every day; ZuumZuum is helping the way people shop and redefine the high-street fashion accessibility in emerging markets. It has recently added additional resources in customer service, delivery management, and social media marketing, but still manages to run the business with the smallest team in the industry to keep a low burn rate.
Over the last year, ZZ site evolved from a simple idea into the most advanced platform for fashion products for fashion lovers. But this project has not been without its challenges. It is now working on a Thank You program to provide privileges to the customers for choosing and putting trust in its service. Of course, it has other plans on the horizon as it continues to grow. ZuumZuum intends to continue to add more features to its platform, offer new exclusive products in regular cycle to bring customer back to the site and keep working always with the latest fashion.