A closet full of clothes, but nothing to wear! I’m pretty sure all the girls out there couldn’t agree more. But don’t worry, because now we have a way to make space and always have something new to flaunt. KlosetEdit, an online platform, is here for women to discover, buy and sell preloved fashion.

“Through our platform, women can seamlessly sell all the hardly or never been used shoes, bags, accessories & clothing, and can continuously update their closets by buying premium products at a fraction of the price! Our curated catalogue covers a variety of brands from Zara to LV, at upto 80% off retail”, says KlosetEdit Co-Founder Kanika Khurana.

Excerpts from an exclusive interaction with Kanika Khurana of KlosetEdit:

Background of Promoters

I studied Economics (H) from University of London International Programmes. Post my under graduation, I was selected for the Mountbatten Internship and worked with Morgan Stanley, London and then, Bombay. I was an investment banker until the fashion bug bit me and I decided to take the route of entrepreneurship to chase my dream of building a customer centric brand. As a person, I love new experiences and meeting people from all walks of life, I enjoy embracing different cultures and learning from people.

My Co-Founder Deepal has specialized in Corporate Law from the University College of London where she finished LLM with distinction and has worked as a legal counsel at a Private Equity firm in Delhi. To feed her drive for entrepreneurship, she attended Summer School at both Harvard Business School and London School of Economics.

The initial period- the challenges & the ecstasy of quick wins!

As two newcomers in the e-commerce world, we had to figure out every bit of the puzzle. We spent a lot of time researching and understanding the best cost-effective technology to support our venture. We both applied and were selected to different start-up fellowships (Startup Leadership Programme and Young Women Leadership Programme) where we networked, met mentors and learnt from the experienced ones in the industry. This helped us to identify the factors we were overlooking, the tasks that more time should be spent on and also, it helped us to chalk out a roadmap for KlosetEdit.

I don’t think any win was a quick win. It was milestones achieved with a lot of dedication and hardwork. There were setbacks along the way such as delays in launch and technological issues, etc but we learnt immensely from every mistake, every opportunity. Today, we have seen a growth of 25% in our average order value, return rate as low as 10% and customer retention rate of 20%.

The journey so far!

In one line – it has been a roller coaster ride, with its own highs and lows! Let’s start with THE NAME! We took a very long time to finalise on the same, from complicated french names to over simplified english names, we racked our brain hard for the perfect name, anything less than perfect just couldn’t make the cut! When ‘Edit your closet’ made us think of ‘KlosetEdit’, it was sure an “aha” moment!

We were very clear on branding – it has to be consistent and effective. We experimented a lot with brand communication, to understand what hits the chord with the customers the best. Our tagline – “Buy. Sell. Love. Repeat.” – resonates our aim of spreading preloved awesomeness.

We launched in March 2016 and what a journey has it been! We worked hard towards understanding our target audience, from surveys to in-person interactions to researching data online, we left no stone unturned to identify who are sellers and buyers could be. We then, planned our marketing strategies based on the personas and interests of our target groups. Side by side, we were setting up our in-house processes to ensure efficient operations. Starting from scratch and carving a path has been a rich experience, one we are truly proud of.

The best part? The energy & passion with which we started KE stay intact, something anyone who has worked with us will vouch for! Like we always say – we love what we do!

Strategic Alliances & Partnerships

We are always looking for innovative ways to grow our business. We have collaborated with other fashion portals such as Fancy Pants, discovery platforms such as Roposo and Seen it and phenomenal outreach partners such as Lets Barter India.

The future, as you see, 3 years from now in terms of scope & scale of your business enterprise

Pre loved fashion is here to stay and so are we. The possibilities are endless and the boundaries unlimited. Our step by step plan includes adding different categories as well as verticals, expanding our service geographically, and launching our service on different mediums. Primarily focusing on making selling easier for the seller day-by-day and giving our customers an excellent experience with us, by leveraging on technology and keeping up with continuously changing consumer dynamics.

Key moments of reckoning in business life

Here is one of my favourite moments: One of our first orders was by this lady in Delhi and she mentioned her apprehensions with preowned and that she was buying just to try us out. On receiving her order, she was so impressed by the quality of the products that she called-in to tell us how excited she is to have found our website. I am extremely happy to say that she is one of our repeat customers!

The feelings on getting the first big order / contract for your company

We did a mini dance in office – that should say it all! It was a very emotional and euphoric moment all at once, in that one moment all the setbacks and struggles seem to be worth it.