When a Name Becomes a Trap: Consumer Trust in India’s D2C Fashion Boom

Anuj Mundhra, Founder, Chairman & Managing Director, Nandani Creation Limited (Brand: Jaipur Kurti)

India’s D2C fashion market is witnessing a tremendous rise. Ethnic, everyday fashion and accessories are selling beyond metro cities and providing opportunities for homegrown labels and plenty of choice to customers. However, this has come at the cost of similarity in brand names. With a small difference in letters, a suffix or a similar logo, brands are creating confusion for customers. For a sector that relies on visual appeal, such similarities can be harmful to the consumer sentiment.

The Cost of a Similar Name

For fashion, the act of buying is rarely a well-considered affair. Like there are always customers who go deep into a research before they buy but most of the customers are of the others who just see a reel, get inspired and click buy and don’t put much thought into it. Hence even if a similar looking brand name gets the customer to buy the wrong product. The customer won’t be able to distinguish the seller being the customer or a lookalike.

Lookalike Sellers mimic the catalogue, discounts and even copy customer service. They are clones of the actual brand that it becomes difficult for the customer to tell the difference. Customers purchase assuming it is from the brand they love without realizing they have been scammed from the start. These sellers can cause the customer a negative experience and tarnish the reputation of the original brand without the customer ever knowing.

Such confusion is significantly witnessed in India’s ethnic clothing segment. Customers usually shop from brands that have a good customer experience. Now, if one purchases a kurti from a lookalike seller, one would expect a similar experience as the one provided by the original brand. However, in most cases, the customer is let down by the poor quality, late delivery and lack of customer service from the lookalike seller. The customer then forms a negative perception about not only the lookalike seller but the entire ethnic clothing segment because they were unable to identify the wrong seller. This is when brands need to create brand safety measures; legal help in such cases may be too late for the customer to gain value.

Importance of Brand Safety Measures

The primary function of brand safety measures is to increase consumer confidence in the brand. For a sector where customer sentiment plays the biggest role, such confidence-building tactics can do wonders for the brand. While the lookalike seller is taking advantage of the popularity of the original brand, the original brand can build its own sustainable popularity through brand safety.

The first step to brand safety is making the brand details visible to the customer. A company’s physical presence, website or other social media handles must be mentioned clearly on all modes of communication – be it the product, the website or the customer service. The more visible these details, the easier it is for the customer to verify the product before making a transaction.

The second step would be to educate the consumer on the brand verification. Organizations can improve their brand safety by educating the customer on what to look for while verifying a brand. This would require mentioning of official brand details that are present on social media or other identifying factors that the company may use. As such it is essential for the organizations to remind their customers of the importance of buying from verified sellers. Such an initiative would see the company reduce fraudulent activity and improve its popularity.

Furthermore, a platform can assist through discouraging impersonation. A business cannot simply cling onto the legal shield when protecting itself from a lookalike seller. Legal recourse can often be time consuming and burdensome. For that period, the aforementioned platform can be scammed. As such, social media networks and other platforms need to tighten the rules for impersonation.

Finally, buyers should be aware of what they are purchasing. While there are many ways to ensure brand safety, it is the buyer who takes the final action. The minute one reads about a brand, one must look up the brand’s social media accounts and ensure that the details match. One must also be weary about the deals one takes advantage of. It is true that brands often put out promotional offers. However, companies usually do not put out absurd deals that seem to good to be true. Following such guidelines can ensure the customer that the brand has the right details and that the customer is making the right purchase.

Conclusion

The importance of brand safety in the D2C fashion space cannot be overstated. The fact that brands are taking advantage of similar names to mislead customers speaks volumes about the importance of brand safety. Impersonation can be devastating to both the customer and the original brand. While the customer suffers from fraud and a lack of quality, the original brand suffers from a loss of reputation. The biggest threat in this case would be consumer trust in the brand being lost. It is important that companies realize the significance of brand safety in this case. In addition, customers must also be educated about the importance of brand verification before making any purchase.