You’ve seen the ads, and you may have thought ‘yeah just another online shopping site’ well, for a change abof.com has an edge that other websites do not. Abof doesn’t even have a shopping website vibe, which is the most striking thing about the website itself. It’s like a magazine, a fun interactive way of not just shopping, but updating yourself with what’s going on in the fashion scene.
Abof is an acronym for ‘all about fashion’ founded by the Aditya Birla Group, it is still in its first year of business. The website was launched in October of 2015, with a clear strategy in mind, it wasn’t planned to be like any other online retailer. In September of 2015, abof.com launched its 3D trial room, partnering with the UK- based virtual fitting room technology startup Metail. The website seems to be taking it slow by focusing on a particular age group/style group in order to set it into the market. You can find apparel, footwear, accessories for ages 18-35 yrs. This seems like a very small bracket, however, once you’re on the website you can catch the vibe they are trying to set. They seem to be focused on not having on display an array of products many visitors wouldn’t even want to see or can relate to.
The website is clean, white background, grid design, and only three shopping tabs to deal with namely; ‘What’s hot’, ‘Men’ ‘Women’. Currently, the website doesn’t have a large variety of brands available on their website, but they do have good tasteful collections. If you’re an online shopper in India, you will frequently come across websites that provide brands, but the selection will not be on-trend, or even tasteful. Amongst brands like Fila, Pantaloons, Duke, La Vie, Vero Moda, Abof has its own brand of clothing and accessories. You can find apparel ranging from formal wear to casual, to sportswear for both men and women.
What may be the highlight of the website is the 3D trial room, however it is not available for men! Do not understand the bias behind that, because men do have different body shapes and it would help to know what would suit a certain height etc.
The website doesn’t have any ‘about us’ section, which is sad, an interested customer would want to know more about the brand and the website should be the place to get the information. The website seems to be lacking in the writers department, ironic since they don’t even have a ‘work with us’ tab on their website. A couple writers seem to be responsible for the information grids on the website, not too lengthy just a couple of lines, which may be fine if you’re in a rush, but if you’re a fashion worshipper you may want more details on styles, and also information on who the ‘content writer’ is, how experienced they are the field to be taking advice from!.
It is clear that the plan is to sell products, by giving customers fashion advice/insight/whatever, so take what you may from it. Usually you will find fashion websites have a separate ‘blog’ tab on your webpage, abof is integrating it onto their main page into grids labelled ‘lust list’, ‘must haves’, ‘tip of the day’ etc. to draw in the customer, good marketing technique. What I found annoying was the ‘editors pick’ grid box but no input from the editor, don’t even know who the editor is, the post is written by a ‘content writer’.
Overall the website is good, coming to the purchasing, it offers the same services as any other website, abof is one of those sites which you have to explore to like. The 3D trial room is a nice pre-purchase experience; their own brand clothing is chic. Orders are available with COD and pre-paid options. A must explore the site.