By Aritra Ghosh, Features Writer
Jan 16, 2023 / 8 MIN READ
Founded in 1995 by Anita Dongre, Meena Sehra, and Mukesh Sawlani, the House of Anita Dongre can be termed one of the leading fashion houses in the country. With a workforce of more than 2,800 associates, the brand has grown in all respects, from embracing change to redefining fashion to setting trends along with bringing a difference in the lives of people, animals, and the planet in total.
With over two decades of experience in the apparel industry, House of Anita Dongre has witnessed the industry and customers change. “Post-pandemic, consumer behavior has changed significantly. Along with becoming highly environment-conscious, making sustainability one of the major aspects, they look for a seamless omnichannel experience, allowing them to experience the brand online and offline,” said Kavindra Mishra, MD, and CEO, House of Anita Dongre.
The Ever-Evolving Market
For fashion brands to remain relevant, constant evolution is necessary. House of Anita Dongre maintains its relevance by evolving itself with the help of extensive market research and surveys. The brand carries out such surveys post every collection launch and even during peak selling periods, which further allows designers and buyers to interact with consumers and store managers to gain feedback and work accordingly.
Moreover, the designers associated with the brand follow global trends and forecasts to understand the evolving trends and adapt them to the Indian market keeping the brand aesthetics intact.
Fashion and Technology
House of Anita Dongre claims to have a technologically forward business approach, having already digitally transformed its marketing, e-commerce, and service processes. The company’s entire front end is powered by a single platform.
“We were the first retail fashion house to integrate our entire business on Sales Force Marketing Cloud, Sales Force Commerce Cloud, and Sales Force Service Cloud. This has allowed us to conjoin online and offline to create a unified customer view,” added Mishra.
HOAD Leading Amidst Competition
Having strong brands in its portfolio including AND and Global Desi which cater to modern Indian Women’s Western Wear and Ethnic Wear needs respectively, allows the brand to constantly evolve.
The brand’s strong fashion aesthetic has generated a strong loyal customer base that turns to the brand and its synergies to fulfill its needs.
“Witnessing the evolving fashion demand and having a good understanding of the market and the existing gap, we have recently launched AND Girl and Global Desi Girl to cater to the age group of 4-14 years, who have their own fashion sense but look up to their mothers for inspiration,” commented Kavindra Mishra.
Amidst the pandemic, the women’s ethnic wear market boomed especially in the Tier II regions which further allowed HOAD to launch an India-inspired ethnic wear brand ITSE catering to the fashion needs of women above 30 in Tier II and Tier III cities.
Mishra further added that owing to better connectivity and reach of social media, the brand has been witnessing a growing demand from Tier II and III cities.
Brand Synergies
HOAD has numerous synergies with its own set of target audiences such as AND, AND Girl, Globaldesi, Globaldesi Girl, and ITSE to name a few.
AND was founded in 1995 and was conceptualized from the realization that the modern Indian woman didn’t have too many contemporary silhouettes to choose from while, AND Girl celebrates the dreams and confidence of young girls who want to look good, feel cool and have fun. Global Desi fuses two distinct worlds with each collection inspired by India’s rich heritage of colors, textures, and prints, shaped by an international aesthetic while Global Desi Girl offers a wide range of ethnic options for little girls to choose from.
Born in 2021, ITSE aims to empower women with effortless style, allowing them to get comfortable in their own skin and build the life they dream of.
Social Commerce and HOAD
"With Sales Force Marketing Commerce Cloud, all our websites have been able to provide an elevated experience to the customers,” said Mishra.
Sales Force Advertising allows the brand to deliver one-to-one advertisements at scale on the customer’s preferred channel. Strong insights on customer engagement and behavior flow in through Salesforce Einstein and Inter-action Studio.
Mishra further added that using this data and marketing cloud personalization, HOAD’s teams are able to customize every marketing message and personalize the website and browsing experience of its customers.
"What has changed is the need for omnichannel retailing. More customers are going online to discover and engage with our brands, even as they visit our offline stores to experience and purchase our products. We aim to offer them a connected experience across both mediums,” asserted Kavindra Mishra.
The House of Anita Dongre is present not just in India but also across the borders of New York and Mauritius. In India HOAD has 286 exclusive brand stores and around 789 multi-brand large format stores, making a total of 1,075 touch-points across 114 cities.
Founded in 1995 by Anita Dongre, Meena Sehra, and Mukesh Sawlani, the House of Anita Dongre can be termed one of the leading fashion houses in the country. With a workforce of more than 2,800 associates, the brand has grown in all respects, from embracing change to redefining fashion to setting trends along with bringing a difference in the lives of people, animals, and the planet in total.
With over two decades of experience in the apparel industry, House of Anita Dongre has witnessed the industry and customers change. “Post-pandemic, consumer behavior has changed significantly. Along with becoming highly environment-conscious, making sustainability one of the major aspects, they look for a seamless omnichannel experience, allowing them to experience the brand online and offline,” said Kavindra Mishra, MD, and CEO, House of Anita Dongre.
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