Clovia, changing the way women shop for lingerie

With a strong online presence of over 3 lakh registered users and 2.8 million page users, Clovia, a first of its kind women’s lingerie and sleepwear brand, is proving that the advent of New Age technology is rapidly changing India’s orthodox viewpoint on innerwear. Formerly known as MoodsofCloe, the brand which claims to sell over 1 lakh units per month with a month-over-month growth rate of 15-20 per cent in its last two years of existence, has recently renamed itself Clovia, as a part of its global expansion strategy. In June this year, Clovia raised series A funding from IvyCap Ventures and in 2013, it had raised seed funding from Zurich-based Mountain Partners AG, which has helped to inject new life into the business.

New Age technology garners women votes

Lingerie is a complicated product because there are various types of body shapes and creating a perfect fit can be a challenge as a woman goes through various body changes throughout her life. Ignorance about various sizes and fits makes it further difficult for women to choose perfect size and design. Clovia has come up with a breakthrough technology to solve this fundamental problem. It has built a tool by which, just by entering age and body shape, it suggests a perfect size and fit. To further help its customers, the website uses tools like diagrams to educate the women about design/ shape. Being manufacturers also, there is a big problem of inventory management for Clovia as a huge number of about 100-200 designs come out every month,so to solve this problem, Clovia uses big data and technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence for manufacturing undergarments.

Pankaj Vermani, CEO of Clovia explains, “We let customers decide which design stays and which does not. Using data like speed of sale, feedback mail, age/body shape the designs are selected. Everything is tech-driven and there is no manual intervention. We are a brand in ourselves. Through feedback, we populate, promote and plan the brand better.”

The online lingerie and innerwear market is extremely competitive with many exclusive companies like Zivame, PrettySecrets, Cilory, Straps and Strings, ShopImagine, and BuyUnderCover and general e-commerce websites selling lingerie, or having a dedicated section for it. Clovia’s one of the most prominent competitors in the segment is Zivame, which is backed by IDG Ventures and Indo-US Venture Partners and recently raised around Rs 250 crores in Series C funding.

Run by Delhi-based Purple Panda Fashions, Clovia was founded by husband-wife duo Neha Kant and Pankaj Vermani along with friends Suman Choudhry and Aditya Chaturvedi in 2013. It is a part of a global fund with operations across continents. It delivers items by partnering reputed courier companies and with discreet packaging to ensure their customers do not feel any sense of embarrassment in a traditional family setting. As for now, things are moving reasonably well in a competitive market and the company is not looking for more funding as they are focussing on product innovation and extension and the aggressive expansion of their services globally.