Exclusive interview with Shubham Gupta, Founder, Bonkers corner

Shubham Gupta, Bonkers Corner

Shubham Gupta (SG), Founder, Bonkers corner

In an exclusive interview with Shreyas Webmedia Solutions (SWS), Shubham Gupta (SG), Founder, Bonkers corner, discussed the trends in the fashion and lifestyle industry and its evolution in the coming years, the company’s USP and many more…

SWS: Take us through the journey of the brand.

SG: As a fashion enthusiast, I used to be always on a hunt for something fresh & new for myself. Constantly scrolling on the brand’s websites or visiting their stores, was a task. This is when, I felt there was a huge need for trendy, fresh, affordable clothes under one roof. Though there were a few e-commerce players doing so, there was something missing to it. While working with my father in our family business, we used to travel a lot and figured out how people loved street-wear. And, internationally many brands had that one-stop-solution for their customers. Well, that urged me to bring this trend to India & make it 100% ‘Made in India’, making it easily available for those who share similar interests in fashion taste like us.

Taking inspiration from these brands, we conceptualised the idea of BonkersCorner and started in 2019 with ‘order-basis’ printable t-shirts. After creating an encouraging amount of audience base, we kick-started our e-commerce portal – BonkersCorner. The brand hosts a wide array of cool, trendy and versatile range of t-shirts for both men and women along with merchandises including prints of art, music, games, quotes and more.

Since, its inception the brand has grown leaps and bounds. Kick-starting one of the most praised trends, OST – Over Sized T-shirt to having the best in class merchandise, BonkersCorner has made its presence across the B-Town celebs and ace influencers. And, all this organically!

SWS: What were the major hits and misses when you entered the market, especially in a much competitive space?

SG: Since our inception, we were very clear about the line of products. Right from their designs to fabrics and to prints. We believed in quality over quantity and creatively chose each and every aspect of our apparels, making sure to pay attention to all the details. Above everything, what made us reach here is our people. The ones who are with us or who were, made sure that BonkersCorner stands tall amongst its peers.

As far as misses are concerned, we wouldn’t call them misses but learnings! For a start-up, every step is a learning in itself. Especially, when you are in the much competitive space. So, experimenting and growing was and will be our motto. From product designs to marketing to CRM to IT, we got an opportunity to learn and improve ourselves every day.

SWS: What is the mission and vision of the company?

SG: As a brand, our utmost priority is to make our customers experience best in class. Our biggest vision is to make the brand globally recognised, 100% made in India, affordable luxury fashion for everyone. We’re aiming to build the brand as a go to brand for sustainable fashion. We’re in this for long race with biggest vision.

SWS: What is the team size?

SG: 500+

SWS: What is your business model? From where you started to where the brand has reached in the last 2 years?

SG: Initially, we started our business with a small investment where we started selling the products on merely order-basis and whatever revenue was made was re-invested in the productions majorly. The year of inception was all about this majorly. Over the next year, with effective marketing strategies, we have registered a 3X growth. Along with performance and platform based digital marketing strategies, we have been effectively and cautiously employing influencer marketing where we partner with Karishma tanna, Avneet Kaur, Nikki Tamboli and many more to help us reach our target audience with the best possible way. We keep on collaborating with micro and macro influencers to create a versatile reach and engagement on our platforms.

SWS: How do you see the current fashion and lifestyle industry and its evolution in the coming years?

SG: The fashion industry has always been one of the fastest evolving ones. However, looking at the current statistics, the industry is poised to grow into a $106 billion industry by 2026, bringing up the Indian fashion market on maps. From fashion formals for women to kids attire, the growth is spectacular! Following this development, the world’s fastest growing apparel market will most likely become one among the top apparel retail globally.

Major factors that have accelerated this evolution:

– E-Commerce: The COVID outbreak gave the brands a huge push to be present on major e-commerce marketplaces and also on various social commerce personally. This gave the fashion industry a great opportunity to tap the audience present in tier 2 and 3, giving the fashion brands a prospect to expand their avenues.

– Omnichannel Presence: Today the audience is everywhere, offline and online. Hence, it is equally important for a brand to be omni-present too. Therefore, the presence of bigger brands across channels have further given the consumers a chance to feel free to buy products with a look and feel factor and also, shop at their convenience.

For example, on the e-Commerce platform or their own online shop, a great customer experience will entail easy to access information about the clothes and hands on support with scrollable content. This works very well in the post pandemic led ‘back to office’ time where formal wear for women is taking over and more and more brands are highlighting this segment via their social media handles, giving viewers a feel of their office fashion.

– Technology influx: With metaverse taking a toll all across the globe, fashion and lifestyle industry would be the best one to leverage and this will further its evolution.

– Influencer taking over: Well, today the world is about influencers. And, these influencers have been the biggest accelerators for brands because of their sheer connect with the audiences.

SWS:  With influencer marketing gaining momentum and how, what do you have to say about your inclination towards that?

SG: Our brand since the start has focused on Influencer Marketing as the influencers today have a better connect with the audience. From a brand’s point of view, they are versatile and approachable and from the audience vision, these influencers are people next door as compared to a celebrity. However, with growing need, demand and popularity of influencers what makes your brand stands out is how you synchronise the brand’s synergies and narrative with the influencer’s core strength. And, I strongly believe that influencer marketing is here to stay and in fact is poised to grow leaps and bounds in the coming years.

SWS: Where does BonkersCorner stand in terms of USP and ahead its competition?

SG: Well, competitor wise we do not have any such direct ones as everyone has their own set of offerings. But, being optimistic and ambitious, we see brands like Zara and H&M as our competitors. 😀

Jokes apart! To answer the other part of the question, we were the pioneers of the ‘The Oversized T-shirt (OST)’ trend which has been doing the rounds amongst all of us, having even celebs go gaga about it. It started off with some quirky and trendy OSTs. The whole idea was to make the over-sized t-shirts an everyday essential for every fashionista out there without burning their pockets. Apart from these, our wide array of merchandise is what makes us stand ahead of the curve, along with our price range and quality of products.

SWS: Where do you see BonkersCorner in the next 1 year?

SG: Looking at the growth and evolution of the industry we endeavour to be one of the most ‘go-to’ brands in the next 5 years. Furthermore, with our constant efforts, we are working towards making the brand a globally recognized Indian luxury fashion brand which abides by 100% ‘Made in India’ products.

Also, we feel that brands need to have omnipresence, therefore we might leverage our expertise towards foraying in a physical store down the line.

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