How has The Souled Store changed the fashion trend for pop culture fans?

If you are a fan of wearing your fandom merchandise, The Souled Store is a familiar name. Only recently, recently announced their association with Liverpool FC to be the official LIVERPOOL FC Merchandise sellers for India. But the journey has been a tough one, with digital transformation and the subsequent lockdown. But they have sailed it all.

With a 3,00,000+ customer base and over 40,000 products in sales per month, The Souled Store is in the run to become a global brand for pop culture enthusiasts. In the words of Co-Founder Vedang Patel, "The Souled Store aims to be a one-stop destination for all quirky and merchandising needs, ranging from generic wit, superheroes and TV shows to sports, music and anything a consumer might be a fan of". Read Mr Vedang talk about the Souled Store and outline the journey in changing the Indian pop culture fashion.

The Challenge

Casual wear in India is largely sold based on the cheapest price. There isn't much aspirational value attached to it and because of this most casual wear isn't the best quality. Uniqlo, for example, saw this problem and is dominating the western market. The Souled Store wants to solve this same problem for India.

Another issue is the dearth of just good wearable designs. Even if you're a fan of say, Harry Potter, the merchandise available elsewhere are these posters like pictures of HP movies prints on a t-shirt. People want to be fans, not human billboards. Hence, we make sure we design products that our customers truly appreciate and love. For example, if we make an HP product, it would be the authentic sweatshirt that Gryffindor students can wear.

The Customer

The Souled Store has created a unique value proposition for the consumer in terms of products quality, fit, designs and pricing. Our customers have shown trust in the brand. They have started valuing good quality over discounted pricing on competitor brands and marketplaces. We aim to increase our customer base across different age groups (currently 16-32) and gender (increase women customers to 50%). We have been able to do this successfully with our recent additions in the womenswear and comfort wear categories.

The Solution

Like most startups, there have been various challenges that we have faced since the brand's inception in 2013. One of the issues that we are currently dealing with is hiring. We believe that every startup is as good as its team. Even though there is a huge pool of candidates available in the Indian market, it is very difficult to find the right fit for the brand in terms of capability, experience and mindset.

We are a fast-growing startup. So, we have started putting more value to the mindset of the candidate over usual things like experience and resume. We have consulted industry experts and made tweaks to the interview process so that we can choose the candidate accurately. In the last few months, we have hired some senior-level positions in the firm. They have turned out a great value-add. This validates the improvements we have made in the hiring process.

The Team

A very dynamic and enthusiastic set of co-founders and senior management lead the organisation. The common thread between all of us is the motive behind starting the brand - to create one of India's largest fashion and pop-culture brands. One of the main reasons that we have been able to outgrow our competition is because we were our brand's own consumers. We were selling what 'we' as fans wanted to buy. This has been one of the biggest differentiators apart from superior quality and affordable pricing.

The Implementation

Two main formulas that were pivotal in overcoming difficulties were - Unit Economics and the Company Culture. For example, when the lockdown hit, even though we weren't built to work from home, people and teams banded together overnight to make it work; nobody had to be told to be at their desk, everyone was driven for a common goal showing the importance of culture in a time of crisis. Our non-discount and high margin strategy along with the loyal fan base ensured that we came out of the pandemic as one of the few (if not only) apparel company that grew 2x over the last 12 month but also made a profit doing it.

Results

The Souled Store currently offers one of the largest brands in the pop-culture space with our roster of 150+ licenses - right from Superheroes, Cartoons to sports teams like Liverpool, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Superkings. Our market is highly dynamic and is evolving very quickly with growth in consumer-driven content and an increase in the product offering. Online shopping has become the preferred mode of shopping because of the onset of covid. A wider product offering from online brands has accelerated online shopping. We have expanded our manufacturing and supply chain capabilities to match our growing customer needs.

Sign Up for our Newsletter>