Open Talk @DSIM
An Interview with Founder of Zapyle.com, Rashi Menda
Zapyle.com, a platform that enables users to buy and sell pre-owned luxury wear. It is a C2C marketplace that enables women to discover, sell and buy pre-loved fashion. It’s a place where you can post a picture of your preloved goods online, so you can find a taker who will create more memories with it.
Ans. We only use 20% of our closet 80% of the time. It’s a True story. That’s a ton of money and inventory just lying around!
The inspiration behind Zapyle was to find the answer to the universal problem of having nothing to wear – or managing our closets.
“Two years ago, I’d look at my own closet with an assorted collection of unopened, unworn shopping bags sitting on the floor – and still find myself saying, ‘I have nothing to wear!’
Just like me; millions of Indian women stock their closets with stuff worth over one billion dollars every year and still have nothing to wear. Nearly a third of their closet is never worn and another third is worn once or twice at the most.
I wanted to change that. I wanted to create a platform that assists preloved clothes and accessories in finding new homes in new wardrobes, so nobody will ever have the problem of feeling like they have nothing to wear, and have fun while at we’re it! And thus, Zapyle was born.”
The inspiration behind Zapyle is simple – to discover, sell and buy fashion. It’s a place where you can post a picture of your preloved goods online, so you can find a taker who will create more memories with it.
Whether you enjoy finding the latest styles fresh off the stores, discovering preloved vintage pieces, or rummaging through the closets of your favourite fashion bloggers, actresses, or designers you’re going to find it all here.
Ans.Forming a winning team is the biggest challenge – One needs to be very careful with hiring, hiring the right people was the biggest challenge for me. Today startup world has introduced us to various job roles, being a young entrepreneur is not a challenge anymore, its all about execution. Definitely experience matters, if you have a team with experience or mentors on board with you; I guess it solves the problem!On my team the average age is 24 years, we are a very young team – we all love working with each other as it’s easy to relate to one another. I have 3 mentors on board, who have about 25 years of experience in investments, technology, and fashion.
Ans.Honestly, as of now we are not using any paid ads to promote our business, we have partnered with top fashion bloggers, we believe in generating great content – which we are distributing through our blog, social media channels and college evangelist. This strategy has been very effective for us and it has worked brilliantly for us.Definitely, going forward we will be looking into SEO/SMO, mobile ads etc. At the moment we are pretty satisfied with the response we are getting.
Ans.This generation (millennials) is very different from the previous generations. They consume content very fast and it stays with them for very short time. You have to make sure the content is seen by them over and over again and not just on one platform, you need to understand your audience really well, you need to know on social media where are they active etc. Millennials are extremely smart; they are always on a look out for quality products. For them passion holds more value than their paychecks, they are happy to pay a little extra if that brings happiness to them. So, marketing to them is a different ball game all together.They ask for attention, you can’t market anything to them; you have to ensure you are talking to them; I’m a big believer of content. If you post things that make sense to them then you are definitely driving traffic to your website. Taco Bell’s social media channels are great example of that.
Today’s online marketing is all about engagement, creating community and then converting the targets to users. In coming years, online marketing needs to be more personal, with sensible content and engagement.
Ans.Live your dream! There’s nothing called a great idea till you execute that and grow into a brilliant company. Building a company requires a lot of hard work and persistence, if you are scared of hard work do not think of starting anything of your own, but if you love success then jump in.Also, you are young, have no responsibilities, make as many mistakes as you can. These mistakes will lead you to your path of success. Also, don’t forget to party while you are at it!
“Thank you so much Rashi for your time.” DSIM wishes you best of luck for your future. Keep motivating and keep inspiring.
