The fast-fashion brand, Urbanic is expecting a 2X growth in India from its Black Friday Sale.
“Till now, we have observed a significant increase in website traffic and are expecting 2x more customers to shop,” Rahul Dayama, Head of Marketing at Urbanic said.
The brand that follows the calendar year, experienced a 250-275 per cent surge in the previous year’s Black Friday sales during its fourth quarter (Q4).
Urbanic’s Black Friday is more than just a one-day sale. “For us, it marks the beginning of the Holiday season and therefore, the sale time period is usually three weeks long,” Dayama said.
The influx of global brands in the Indian market, coupled with globalisation has led to the concept of shared culture making Black Friday one of the key dates for customers and one of the busiest times of the year in the Indian retail calendar, he said.
“Earlier, post-Diwali season, Indian customers can be witnessed spending less on apparel & clothing and more on travel and F&B (food & beverages). However, now customers are showing affinity towards the concept of gifting to family and friends and Black Friday around the corner makes it more convenient for them to shop,” he added.
Furthermore, financial entities like banks and digital payment platforms enable customers with numerous EMI options and cashback, which has given a boost to more spending, he highlighted.
“Customers tend to gravitate towards such promising offers and quite often end up spending more. Hence, customer participation during Black Friday has increased with time, especially among Gen Z shoppers,” Dayama explained.
Black Friday and Gen Z Correlation
While discussing Black Friday is associated with the West, the Urbanic marketing head states that a strong correlation can be witnessed between Black Friday and Gen Z.
Adding to this, Dayama states that India is a developing and price-sensitive market with a maximum of young customers who are largely influenced by a shared culture.
The youth and Gen Z are ‘hoggers’ of online content primarily filled with content that influences their buying decisions, further fueling consumerism.
Therefore, a majority of young female customers can also now be seen patiently waiting for big seasonal sales like Black Friday to shop in bulk, he stated.
However, “In India too, an increasing number of Gen Zs that are price and culture-sensitive can be witnessed buying during Black Friday,” he said.
Additionally, with the boost to the creator economy, shopping (even live shopping) has become a staple activity for an influencer which has a strong trickle effect on the audience, Dayama added.
Digital Patterns
As a brand, Urbanic claims to value being a fair price and enabling customers with quality. Hence, it has toned down its discounts and sales throughout the year rather than focusing on seasonal sales like Black Friday, etc.
In terms of Indian consumers, as an online brand, Urbanic plans its digital campaigns and social media accordingly.
The company focuses on all stages of sales- creating adequate pre-buzz and keeping customers excited to push specific categories during sales, he said.
“As a token of appreciation, we are even planning giveaways, if required, for our loyal customers post-sale period,” he emphasised.
According to Dayama, the brand is offering around 5000 trendy styles for its customers, with a focus on tapping into a larger target audience and spreading awareness.
During the ongoing Black Friday sale Urbanic has witnessed a strong affinity for a few categories such as knitwear, party collection and its newly launched activewear.
“We have observed customers gravitating towards categories like party or evening wear and winter wear like jackets, coats and knitwear, etc., given the festive season and the weather during the time period,” Dayama underlined.
