Fashion e-tailer Limeroad to empower 1.5 lakh women entrepreneurs

Every year, e-tailers draw up ambitious targets to ramp up seller count on their platforms to meet rising demand for products from shoppers, pan-India. However, fashion and lifestyle e-tailer Limeroad.com has set itself a different kind of target — to spawn 1.5 lakh women entrepreneurs over the next 24 months.

Since its inception in October 2013, Limeroad, which is backed by Matrix Partners, Lightspeed Ventures and Tiger Global, has attracted a thriving community of 2,00,000 women scrap-bookers, of which 25 per cent are active entrepreneurs.

Scrapbook is a feature that invites users to create ‘styled looks’ by putting together an entire ensemble, including clothes (pairing tops and bottoms), shoes, earrings, handbags, belts, scarves, which are available to 5 million monthly shoppers on Limeroad.

“For each look sold, the scrap-booker earns a certain percentage depending on the value of the products sold. Shoppers can either buy the entire look or select individual pieces. Some of our bestseller scrap-bookers earn ₹15,000-₹25,000 a month as their unique style looks are instant hits with our shoppers,” Suchi Mukherjee, founder and CEO, Limeroad, told BusinessLine .

Mukherjee’s efforts come at a time when the abysmally poor presence of women entrepreneurs in India is being questioned and debated at conferences by the private, public and NGO sectors.

Today, Limeroad has empowered 55,000 women entrepreneurs, who are recognised for their unique style quotient by shoppers on the site. “It is only a matter of time before we have 1.5 lakh women entrepreneurs on our platform.”

She said Limeroad makes it simple for shoppers to put together an ensemble with a range of ‘looks’ for different seasons, colours, occasions, and celebrity styles, that has resonated not just with its core target audience of women in the 18-30 age profile but older women as well.

While most e-tailers are busy wooing sellers from across the country, Limeroad has restricted its seller-base to just 5,000. Asked why, Mukherjee said, “Although we have 50,000 registered sellers, we have invited only 5,000 handpicked sellers to go live on Limeroad, while 45,000 are on the waitlist.” Limeroad offers 2 million user-generated looks every month to its 10 million registered users.

With repeat purchases, Limeroad’s personalisation algorithm kicks in, getting users closer to what they will most likely favour. “It is this content that drives the highest engagement and conversion rates in the industry at 13.5 per cent for repeat users and 7.5 per cent for new users on our app as against the industry average of 4-5 per cent.” Limeroad competes with e-commerce honchos Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal as well as fashion e-tailers such as Myntra, Jabong, Roposo, Wooplr and Voonik.

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