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It is 2013 and three boys with thriving careers leave their jobs and decide to sell Harry Potter merchandise for their bread and butter.

Weird right?

The Start of the Souled Store

The founders Vedang Patel, Rohit Samtaney, and, Aditya Sharma zeroed in on the name “The Souled Store” because they felt they were selling their souls for this new venture. They tried to build a business where products are sold out. You understand the name game, right?

Let’s be honest here and admit that owning a piece of merchandise from your favourite show/movie/character just makes you feel special. We nerds are just emotionally attached to fictional characters. I am a Souled Store fan, I remember I ordered a t-shirt last year (2023), and it was wrapped in a paper that doodled out the decade-long journey of the venture on its 10th anniversary.

The Souled Store gang encashed on the fandom culture with no lead market players. They had the market for themselves and left no stone unturned to tattoo their brand in the minds of youth. The focus was to be profitable since inception and keep the cash flow positive. They closely monitored their expenses daily so they didn’t stray from the profits.

Success – The 4Ps of marketing

Product – The brand purchases the official merchandise license and pay royalty in return. They get a ready set of designs however they add their own designs to create their own identity and uniqueness. They have an in-house team of designers who come up with new prints. The business was a success because you could find your favourite shows/movies/characters t-shirts and they kept on adding to it so that the customers are not out of options. The Souled Store (TSS) became a one-stop destination for merchandise and funky prints shopping.

Price – The brand operates a D-2-C model (Direct to Customer) by selling its products directly to consumers with no other party in the supply chain. The prices were kept at an acceptable range to absorb the cost of designing, manufacturing and logistics and still make a profit.

Place – Initially the brand started through online mode and hence the capital investment was restricted. To ramp up the customer engagement and expand the business, the company raised 135 crore funding in March 2023 to open offline stores pan India and introduce new products. The brick and mortar store would allow them to engage with the nerd community on a personal front.

Promotion – The brand relied on influencer marketing but soon realized that word of mouth promotion is no-cost and most reliable. As the brand grew, they collaborated with celebrities who had a personality that resonates with the youth. Hardik Pandya and Sara Ali Khan came on-board as investors. The brand has always focused on grabbing the youth’s attention. If there is a fest happening in the city, you would find a Souled Store booth. They engage in short questions and answers round about childhood cartoons, shows or movies and give away goodies in return.

USP – The Personal touch

You are a Harry Potter fan and you place an order for Hogwarts T-shirt. When you open the parcel you find a Hogwarts letter with your name and address. Imagine the customer delight, and the personal touch involved. They focus on creating an experience with every order. This personalization has helped TSS to have a loyal customer base and a good turnaround rate.

Way Forward

The youth today make their own fashion choices. The clothes personify who you are. Wearing a Wonder Woman T-shirt automatically shows that you are a DC fan and love the character. In their decade-long run, slowly and steadily they have expanded their range of products, licenses, and offline stores. At the beginning, they were selling only unisex t-shirts now their product offering includes sneakers, perfumes, backpacks, comic books and a separate apparel range for men, women and kids.

Lately, many competitors have made their presence felt in the market like Bewakoof, Bollywoo, Redwolf, etc. In one of the interviews, the CEO Vedang Patel said – “We sell fun, not products”. The brand has a lot of fun creating new products because it is “Made by Humans, Worn by Superheroes”.