The weather is cool as the temperatures have taken a nosedive but that just makes us long for the summers more than ever. And summer means poolside parties, beach parties and outings, barbeques and loads of fun with friends and family. And pools and beaches mean donning your best swimming gear and flaunting your toned body. So, if you haven’t yet shopped for your swimwear, now is the time. Start well in advance…simply turn to TheBeachCompany.in and choose from an eclectic mix of swimwear, resort wear and accessories before summer sets in.
With changing times, and the Indian middle-class becoming increasingly discerning while travelling more and having high disposable incomes, the lifestyle too have changed…and so have the leisure activities. Add to it fitness has also become important for most and today it is an integral part of almost everyone’s daily routine.
The Promoter: The Beach Company started with a simple dream of wanting to change the way India approached the water as stated by its Founder, Mr Harshad Daswani. To swim for health, visit the beach for leisure, and to do so fashionably, safely and happily with the company of friends and family,. Now, it has a complete collection of classic swimwear and resort wear for women, men’s swim trunks, boardshorts, accessories, bags, inflatables, loungers and also an original range of sunglasses and suncare.
Review of website: As you log on to the website, it opens up with an image of beach wear and accessories presented attractively, which instantly ups your mood. Scrolling down there are more fun images with options to choose for ‘swim gear’, ‘pool loungers’ and ‘shop men’s’. Clicking on any one takes you to the options available in that category and to the left of the page there’s also an option to shop by brand or designer. Scrolling further down, there’s an ethereal image of a girl relaxing in the pool with an option to choose from bikini sets. Clicking on this naturally takes you to several choices of bikinis and tankinis. Still further down, the ‘New & Featured’ range is presented neatly with elegant images of the category. Towards the end of the landing page, you can view the regular features such as ‘Contact Us’, ‘About Us’, ‘Returns and Exchanges’, ‘Terms and Conditions’ as well as the company’s social media presence. You can also check out their blogs, which is also one of features at the end of the page. ‘The Be Beachy Blog’ covers everything water, swimming and beach related, from suncare on the beach to even how to protect your child’s eczema at the pool. Quite interesting, we say!
At the top of the landing page, the categories are listed neatly in a horizontal manner, so, it easy to go to any one you want. Furthermore, navigating to the category of your choice, such as ‘women’, ‘men’, ‘ kids’, ‘pool fun’, etc., shows more options within each such as swimsuits, beachwear, travel accessories, eyewear, pool floats and games, loungers and inflatables, and even holiday reading, which lists some interesting books to indulge in by the beach. Clicking on the category of your choice takes you within it displaying the options available along with images. Towards the left you have a choice to also shop by designer and after clicking on a particular product of your choice, you get a clearer view of it from various angles. All the features of the products are mentioned neatly along with the price and the option of quantity as well. You can add it to you cart by clicking on the option, which further opens up to the page where you need to fill out your details such as name, shipping address, etc. After filling out every detail you can click on the payment method and choose the choice of payment, which also includes Cash on Delivery among other regular options. Besides, towards the extreme top right corner, you have the option of creating an account or simply logging in if you already have one.
Moreover, there is also small message icon on the landing page, where you can chat with a customer support executive for any queries you may have. They are usually prompt in responding taking only a few minutes to revert.
Overall, the entire website is presented on a white surface, is uncluttered and easy on the eyes while also being easy to navigate. You can search for anything you want easily without getting confused or losing yourself while trying to locate what you need.
LNL spoke to Mr Harshad Daswani, Founder, The Beach Company for more insights about it and their future plans…
When was thebeachcompany.in launched? How did you come up with the idea for selling intimate wear online?
The Beach Company was founded in 2012 but expanded from a single vertical to a multi-vertical online store in 2015. In India, access to swimwear has always been difficult and people have had to rely on cheaper imports with no fashion direction. Having a manufacturing background, we decided to set up a retail presence across India offering everyone a fashionable option to approaching the water.
What inspiration was taken in designing the website? How do you infuse newness to your portal?
It has been our sole mission to change the way India approaches the water, be it for a leisurely swim, sport and even to spend time together with friends and family. In this regard we are constantly adding fashion and leisure products every week and staying on trend keeps TheBeachCompany.in always relevant.
What is the demography of your buyers?
TheBeachCompany.in has shipped to every state and Union Territory in India, so we can safely say we are a national brand. Besides, we have over 30 physical points-of-sale giving us a physical presence too. Our primary demographics are Indian mothers between the ages of 30 to 45, who are comfortable around water. Besides this, we are always visited by younger ladies who are fashion-conscious and upwardly mobile. Although we have a strong presence in B-Tier cities, our primary sales are still from major metros.
How does your typical buyer land up on your site?
Our marketing efforts are always national. Our ad-spend is digital (search and social) only at this stage. The idea is to be able to give every water-holic in the country access to TheBeachCompany.in
How would you describe your website in terms of its aesthetics and ease of navigation?
This has been part of our strategy at www.TheBeachCompany.in from the start. We have walked away from complex design and kept the site as simple as we could. Searching for getting the right fit on swimwear is tough enough for many people and so navigation on our site should not be.
Tell us about any other features that you are looking at adding.
Our trajectory is for fitted apparel and we will be growing our active wear collection this year in addition to strengthening our swim department.
How is the mobile affecting e-commerce as an industry? Do you have an app? Do you plan on launching one?
We are available on multiple gifting and shopping apps in India, which is helping channel partner sales. Although we are not launching an app, we have recently updated our site with enhanced mobile-friendly features to enable browsing and purchase. In 2018, 64 per cent of our visitors were via mobile.
How has the response been since the website’s inception? What challenges do you face while marketing products online?
The response has been growing exponentially and we are pleased with the direction. Challenges are generally last-mile related (timely delivery and co-ordination), and of course, cost of acquisition in India continues to be high till shopping doesn’t get more prevalent nationally online.
How do you address fit issues when it comes to online shopping?
We have made access to size charts as simple as possible on our site and follow global size specs to keep confusion to the minimum. For reasons of hygiene we are very careful with returns on swimwear, which is intimate apparel. We monitor packaging on returns closely.
How many orders do you ship in a day?
We ship over 400 products a day on an average.
Which marketplaces or online platforms do you sell on? Which do you prefer best and why?
We do best with platforms that are fashion-driven. The two which we get considerable traction from are Myntra and LimeRoad.
Your future plans…
We strive to be Asia’s largest online swim-shop. Our current target is 20,000 SKUs and to increase our sales to 3 million units (we have already shipped over 2 million units). Our product offering will be increased to a broad range of yoga apparel and other fitted clothing.
Anything else you would like to add
The Beach Company started with a simple dream, to change the way India approached the water. To swim for health or visit the beach for leisure and to do so safely and happily in the company of friends and family. Today we have shipped over 2 million units and offer almost 7,000 SKUs across the swim and holiday categories.
