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Tag: Firstcry.com

  • Lara Dutta launches ARIAS Kids in partnership with FirstCry

    Lara Dutta launches ARIAS Kids in partnership with FirstCry

    Mumbai: Miss Universe 2000 pageant winner, Indian actress, and entrepreneur Lara Dutta Bhupathi announced on Saturday her entry into the kids’ fashion space on the Indian e-tail baby and kids megastore FirstCry.com.

    Bhupati has partnered with FirstCry to launch ARIAS – an eco-fashion label of clothing and accessories which is an endeavour to design responsible fashion while translating current trends into comfortable, chic and premium quality products.

    ARIAS Kids, will be made available only on FirstCry.com and is set to challenge the existing market of conscious parents of independent kids who know exactly what they want to wear.

    ARIAS caters to 2–14-year old kids with the aim of creating clothing and accessories that reduce the negative impact of the fashion industry on the environment.

    The brand name is her daughter’s name, ‘Saira’, spelled in reverse. It seems fitting that ARIAS has naturally forayed into the kids’ clothing space too.

    Speaking about this new initiative, Lara Dutta said, “FirstCry was the first brand that immediately came to mind when I thought of ‘kids fashion’. With this partnership, I believe we can advance environmental education and youth environmental awareness while also achieving my goal of making ARIAS kids an eco-fashion brand.”

     

     

    A company spokesperson at FirstCry said, “The association with Lara’s brand is one that we are very positive about – we are witnessing the rise of the conscious consumer on FirstCry, and given ARIAS Kids’ core values of eco-consciousness, it is a great offering for parents who have come to expect more from the FirstCry brand.”

  • Firstcry.com hits 100 stores in India

    Firstcry.com hits 100 stores in India

    MUMBAI: Firstcry.com, Asia’s largest online baby products portal today announced that it has now got 100 franchisees on board. As part of the vision to create the ultimate parenting eco-system in India, Firstcry now has a presence across Tier I, II and III towns. The 100 stores expand the retailers presence to a staggering 82 cities.

     

    Consistently growing at more than 100% growth rate, Firstcry.com had announced this year to reach 100 stores by end of December 2014. Not only has Firstcry achieved this faster than planned, it has also become the largest e-commerce player with an omni channel business model with a focus on mobile, physical store and web.

     

    All Firstcry.com stores are standardised and display more than 500 brands across 20 categories. The carpet area of stores range anywhere from 1000 sq ft to 2000 sq ft. There has been a franchisee investment of about Rs. 3,000 per square ft in store all across the cities. Continuing to keep the novelty aspect intact, ‘Kiosk innovation’ at Firstcry stores, is a unique concept which acts like a catalogue allowing customers to look through the 70,000 and above products on a 32 inch touch screen in stores, order online on spot, and find the product available at the store in 2-3 days. The Kiosks have enabled to increase conversions by 10% and now by default part of all new upcoming store format across the country.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Supam Maheshwari, Founder and CEO, Firstcry.com said “Owing to the outstanding success of our offline stores, we have extensively increased our offline presence. With 100 stores, we have crossed a milestone but we have considerable distance yet to travel.  At Firstcry, we believe in creating a seamless experience, offering purchasing flexibility for parents through the mobile, web and offline store formats. With the omni channel strategy, we are best placed to build the best relationship with the mother and bring her the largest and most appropriate range of products.”

     

    By making a strong offline presence in baby product market, Firstcry is consistently fine-tuning processes by studying purchasing patterns and demands of parents across all tiers. People in India and around the world display balanced buying behaviour in terms of online and offline. There is a huge opportunity in integrating the two, what is termed as O2O – online to offline or omni channel strategy – and is seen as a trillion dollar opportunity globally.

     

    Thus, holding a clear vision of reaching 400 stores by December, 2017 Firstcry.com aims to be the only one stop solution in this market of baby & kids products.

     

  • FirstCry.com to expand offline footprint

    FirstCry.com to expand offline footprint

    MUMBAI: The last couple of months have been an exciting one for the blooming e-commerce sector. As more and more investors fund the e-commerce sites, the sector’s purple patch is here to stay for a long time.

     

    However, the niche e-commerce sector, FirstCry.com, which was launched in 2010 to solve Indian parents’ problem of not having access to the best brands and products for their kids, is planning to take the offline route as well.

     

    The company feels that e-commerce’s future is looking promising in the country as more and more people come online and continues to be a big focus for us. “But what we see as a larger vision is to build an ecosystem of solutions for parents. Since, parents exhibit hybrid behaviour of shopping online and offline, we decided right at our inception that it was important to have offline stores as well. Today with a footprint in over 20 states with more than 70 stores, we are in a great position to offer the right variety of brands and products to parents,” says Firstcry.com founder and CEO Supam Maheshwari.

     

    With more than 95 per cent sales happening offline, there is still a large part of baby products market to be tapped, it has a vision of reaching 400 stores offline by December 2017. Currently, FirstCry stores have their presence in many Tier I, II and III cities in 45 cities.

     

    However, by entering into the untapped markets, where offline presence of baby products is low, it is highly optimistic about the company’s growth.

     

    On the marketing front, one of the key aspects of its strategy is to keep online and offline integrated. A parent who shops with FirstCry.com should be able to get the same experience online and offline. “We have a strong e-mailing program through which we are able to send personalised mailers making parents aware of store openings, promotions etc. In addition, we have introduced a highly innovative concept of a 32 inch digital Kiosk installed in each store – since a store is limited by physical space, we have used the Kiosk to allow parents to browse the large online variety and order what they like and the order will be delivered at the store. We also have a FirstCry Box program wherein we reach over 60,000 new parents each month with a complimentary gift box. Through this box, we make new parents aware of stores in their area and also offer a gift coupon which can be redeemed online or offline. Through a lot of such initiatives, we are able to ensure that we scale up our marketing plans with the highest ROI metrics,” says Maheshwari.

     

    Franchisee investment of about Rs 3,000 per square feet is required for setting up a store, which ranges anywhere from 1000 square feet to 2000 square feet. The stores act as experience centers, successfully tackling the touch-and-feel challenges faced in purchasing online.

     

    Overall, Firstcry keeps its model robust and scalable by controlling the franchisee’s investments, giving high return on investment and faster payback that has been instrumental in a break-even since inception. Firstcry.com along with its stakeholders looks forward to growing in terms of business and loyalty both.