Fashion designer Manish Malhotra launches his first ever virtual store, Retail News, ET Retail
New Delhi: Fashion Designer Manish Malhotra announced the launch of his first ever virtual store on Thursday. The designer referred to it as India’s first-ever virtual store from an Indian design house. The online store will be open for business on January 14.
The designer’s virtual store will allow the customers to take a walkthrough of the Delhi flagship store spanning over 15,000 sq. ft. The design house said the virtual tour is built with online navigation systems and custom configurations and customers can walk through the aisles, zoom in on the products, and get the details of the item.
The company said some individual sections are curated especially for the virtual experience, such as Manish Malhotra Jewellery. Besides the line-up of couture pieces, customers can sift through other brand portfolios, including Manish Malhotra Beauty, and Manish Malhotra Home. The virtual store can be browsed on desktop, laptop, and mobile.
The brand said it will launch chat support this quarter to help with product or purchase queries, e-consults, and personalized guidance. The virtual experience will also be tipped with the designer’s own green screen facility where he can assist select customers in choosing the right outfit for themselves.
The brand has tied up with online virtual experience partner Gmetri for the virtual store.
Manish Malhotra said the brand is relying on technology more than ever. “The decision to launch the virtual store was long overdue but intensified due to the pandemic. While our customers have been able to shop via our e-commerce site, we wanted to offer a seamless experience to our brand, even though they can’t make our stores in the lockdown. With this new virtual experience facility, we hope to bridge the serendipitous joy of shopping at our exclusive physical outlets. It’s a result of over 11 months of research, planning, strategy, and design, and I’m looking forward to the response of our fans and loyalists,” he added.
