Case Study : The Souled Store’s Gen Z Marketing Tricks

If you were a Marvel fan 10 years ago and wanted to wear merch of your favorite stories, you would have had a difficult time finding quality ones.

But today, it is readily available in India, thanks to 3 engineers and a lawyer who wanted to leave their jobs to create merchandise.

11 years ago, 4 friends – Vedang Patel, Rohin Samtaney, Aditya Sharma, and Harsh Lal – with a love for pop culture and hate for their 9-5 jobs, no background in retail or business, but strong aspirations, came together to create The Souled Store.

Today, fans of Warner Bros, Disney, Marvel, IPL Teams, WWE, The Stranger Things, and Harry Potter among many more!

The company was started with an initial investment of Rs 1.75 L and was bootstrapped. They made a profit from their first sale itself!

In FY23, the company made a revenue of Rs 235 Cr!

Let’s look at how they cracked merch e-commerce in India.

Key Takeaways from The Souled Store’s Marketing

Target Passionate Fans:  Identify a niche audience with strong interests and cater directly to their desires. Authenticity is Key:  Secure official licenses and prioritize high-quality products to build trust with fans. Social Media:  Foster a strong social media presence and create content that resonates with your target audience. Go Omnichannel:  Leverage SEO and paid advertising for online reach, while complementing it with physical stores for a richer brand experience.

The Souled Store:

The Souled Store carved a niche in the Indian e-commerce market, which was dominated by generic apparel or limited options for pop culture merchandise. The Souled Store’s success story is built on three pillars:

Understanding their audience:  They identified a growing population of young Indians passionate about pop culture and yearning for unique ways to express their fandom. Official licensing:  Partnering with major studios and franchises like Disney, Marvel, and Warner Bros. ensures authentic designs and high-quality products. Fan-first mentality:  Their team members themselves are pop culture enthusiasts, allowing them to design products that customers love.

Their website and mobile app offer a wide range of products, including:

T-shirts (their most sold category) Sweatshirts Phone covers

Here are some key milestones in the company’s journey:

Early Days (2013-2015):  Starting with a focus on apparel, primarily t-shirts, they quickly secured licenses with major studios like Disney and Warner Bros., offering merchandise featuring iconic characters from Star Wars, Marvel, and DC Comics. Building a Community (2015-2018):  The brand built a strong presence on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Expanding Horizons (2018-Present):  They introduced phone covers, mugs, and accessories and also non-pop-culture merchandise Going Omni-Channel (2020-Present):  While primarily an online platform, The Souled Store has opened physical stores in select Indian cities, allowing a valuable touchpoint for brand loyalty.

Target Audience – The Souled Squad:

The Souled Store targets a specific tribe – passionate fans with a love for pop culture. Here’s a deeper dive into their core audience:

Age:  The sweet spot lies between 16 and 30 years old who are tech-savvy, socially active, and deeply invested in pop culture trends. Demographics:  While primarily targeting urban India, The Souled Store caters to a growing middle-class segment. These young adults have disposable income and are willing to spend on products that resonate with their interests. Psychographics:  This audience consists of those who are deeply invested in their favorite franchises, characters, and fandoms. I mean, if you’re a Harry Potter fan, wouldn’t you want a T-shirt from your house?

They create products specifically for this audience, through trendy merch and quirky designs.

Instagram Strategy:

The Souled Store follows a fan-first philosophy; it understands that its customers are more than just buyers; they’re passionate fans.

The Souled Store currently has 1.4M followers on Instagram.

They’ve leveraged this platform to not just build brand awareness but also foster a vibrant and engaged community of fans.

Their content speaks directly to Gen Z – their primary target audience.

They use unique formats and ideas for product showcases. For instance, look at how they used the opportunity of Ed Shereen visiting India – a major talk of the town for Gen Z:

They refer to popular shows and create interesting reels like this:

They also hop on trending topics to get more engagement. For instance, this was their Oscars 2024 post:

And they also win hearts with cute content like this 

They have also collaborated with popular celebrities like Sara Ali Khan and Hardik Pandya to reach a wider audience:

Overall, their Instagram is a good mix – it keeps the audience engaged and is perfect for Gen Z (at least I really like it!)

Omnichannel Strategy:

While online is their primary domain, The Souled Store understands the value of a multi-channel approach:

SEO:

In March 2024, the website of The Souled Store looked like this:

Source: Semrush

Their average duration shows that the consumers are interested in the products and take time to browse through the options available.

88.49% of these visitors were from mobile.

42.78% of total visitors came organically from Google.

Their organic search traffic was 835.13K while the paid visitors accounted for 41.27K.

Did you know?

The average customer acquisition cost (CAC) for e-commerce in India across industries is around 1,200 to 1,500.

But, The Souled Store boasts a CAC of Rs 100 – less than 1/10th of the average!

Offline Expansion:

The brand has also opened 22 retail stores in select cities. This complements their online presence.

This gives the consumers a more tactile approach and an immersive brand experience.

In a Nutshell:

The Souled Store’s success story underscores the importance of innovative marketing in the e-commerce sector. By understanding their audience, creating unique products, and utilizing a strategic mix of online and offline channels, they have carved a loyal customer base and become a frontrunner in the Indian pop culture apparel market.