VioletStreet: Now Shop In Real-Time With Friends

VioletStreet.com is a fashion aggregator and social shopping portal where you get updates on the latest trends in Indian fashion from people around you. It is arguably the first site in India to offer real-time shopping with friends. It also allows them to create a look by using various products, simply by drag & drop. The venture was bootstrapped in December 2013’ by Nayan Kumar and Ankur Gupta, who were both part of the SLP(Startup Leadership Program) Hyderabad batch of 2013-14. With previous experience in a similar space and by assessing how the market is evolving, the two spotted an opportunity in the social commerce space and decided to give it a shot. Following a lean approach, they built and validated the product quickly and are now making continuous changes based on feedback received from more than 2000 participants.

To start off with, they are working on an affiliate model where merchant gives them a commission on each sale but their long term plan includes advertising, from which they expect bulk of the revenues to be generated. They plan to reach out to the users through social media platforms. They also have a very active blog (blog.violetstreet.com) through which they drive good traffic to their product. Globally there are multiple products in this space including Polyvore, Lyst, Wanelo, Fancy and others. In India, the fashion social commerce space is still in its early stages and there are few startups in this segment but none seems to be their major competitors yet. As they say that their website’s product and its differentiation is their biggest strategy.

VioletStreet is arguably the first player in the social commerce space to enable real-time shopping with friends online. It is a pure technology company with zero logistics. They drive traffic to the e commerce players who have their own supply chains. Currently, there are no investment plans as their entire focus is only on building the best product and growing traction.

Right from day one, the founders were thinking of going global, so that is surely their long-term plan. Once they have spent sufficient time understanding the various challenges and how to tackle them in a particular market, then they will surely expand it to other Asian/European markets.

So,let’s shop with friends on VioletStreet.