Styline, a Graduate of the Dhaka Founder Institute, is an online modest fashion marketplace operating in Bangladesh. Styline became the first Bangladeshi startup to participate in the Malaysian government’s prestigious MaGIC accelerator program. MaGIC helps its selected startups to acquire more customers and build relationships with mentors and investors throughout southeast Asia (ASEAN region), as well providing financial and workspace support during the 4 month intensive program. Although a completely bootstrapped company, Styline today employs a team of 34 people.
Building Styline into the growing online marketplace that it is today was not without its challenges and setbacks. Founder and CEO Khobaib Chowdhury is an experienced software engineer with a background in Android applications development. According to Chowdhury:
There were months I felt like giving up every day. I felt like this is not going to work and I’m going to fail, but then something small happened and again I pulled myself up and returned to work. It is important that you learn to coexist with daily failures and disappointment, and find a way to keep yourself motivated.
But today, it is clear that Khobaib and Styline have successfully persevered. Since launching their online marketplace in 2015, Styline also opened four brick-and-mortar retail stores across three Bangladeshi cities in 2017, with plans to open two more physical store locations. For the Bangladeshi modest fashion retail market, these store locations serve as experience hubs: a critical entry point for new customers to be able visit the retailer and be physically introduced to the Styline Collection and offerings. Once customers are familiar with the company’s brand and products, the trust has been established between the brand and consumer, and many customers will transition into exclusively online customers for all future purchases.
Chowdhury sees a big opportunity as the Bangladeshi fashion market makes the transition from primarily offline and physical stores into increasingly more online retail. According to Chowdhury:
Customers initially come to the brick-and-mortar store and check out what it has to offer. Then they convert to online. Having an offline presence makes online conversion much easier, especially for lifestyle products. People do not really want to commute to buy a single product. Consequently, e-commerce has a real potential in Bangladesh. But the conversion has not reached a satisfactory level yet. And it can’t be done overnight, of course.
Uniquely positioned within Bangladesh's growing fashion ecommerce space, Styline aims to become a market leader in women’s modest fashion and apparel within the next 5 years. Styline is now offering its customers organic and halal cosmetic products as well, in addition to modest apparel.
Besides their website ecommerce store and physical retail locations, Styline has also launched a mobile application available for iOS and Android. Chowdhury plans to continue to expand the offerings available through the Styline mobile app, to include exclusive content and promotions, as well as partnering with beauty parlors and salons within their core geographic markets, to offer beauty services booked directly through the mobile app.
Chowdhury emphasizes the company’s focus on offering their customers a one-stop shop through their online store and mobile, and the company’s continued expansion into new global markets. Keep your eyes on Styline Collection - for this ecommerce marketplace, the future is bright.
