With digitization, online marketing has given the brand a unique opportunity to grow. Da Milano has only expanded in 2019 with its aggressive and influential marketing strategies. In the future, the company wants to expand further and see itself grow not only in the existing markets but also in the American market.

2018 saw Da Milano grow from 60 to 80 stores in India itself. In the same year, Da Milano expanded its business into the international market as well. The brand opened its first international store in the UAE. Since then the brand has continued to grow exponentially in the Gulf.

Sahil Malik, the Creator of Da Milano has further spread his entrepreneurial wings and launched a contemporary leather brand called Wooba for fashion-conscious millennials. Malik also launched a footwear brand called Rosso Brunello.

When Did Da Milano Get Digitized?

Da Milano started in 1989 with a small store in Delhi. However, today it has more than 80 stores around the world-at 21 airports in India, five stores in UAE, and one in Nepal. These stores are self-funded.

Da Milano has flagship stores across the country as well as in the UAE. Most of the purchases made by the customers were from these flagship stores. That is until the pandemic hit. In the face of the pandemic, the stores were shut down and of course as a result physical sales slowed down. The physical sales almost came to a standstill.

Therefore, the brand changed its retail strategy. They did it to meet the needs of the customers and the latest trends. However, now instead of focusing on any new strategies, they are trying to initiate some CSR activities to lift the morals of everyone around.

“We are planning to increase our focus on digital as much as we focus on offline retail because of the boom of the sector. A lot of research is ongoing to understand the maximum capabilities of the digital world,” says Shivani Malik, the Director of Da Milano.

In the last few years, digital has been booming. This attracted Sahil Malik to enter the digital world. It in return gave the brand a boost in online sales.

“Also in these difficult times, digital is helping us to maintain our customers through online campaigns,” she adds.

Changes Due to Digitization

More Consistent Branding

“The year will be dedicated to promoting the brand online through social media as we will complete 30 years of our existence in 2019,” said Malik. Currently, Da Milano launches over 300 products during every season to stay on par with the latest trends. “Our international design team in Italy works closely with our design team in India to keep everything in sync with the changing trends. Having an authentic Italian design team, and styles that satisfy all changes in the tastes of our consumers, help us stay relevant,” Sahil Malik added.

More Frequent Product Launches

Da Milano is known to launch new products in various categories every two weeks. They do this to keep up with the new and ever-changing trends. They have introduced new innovations in accessory design with each range. According to the Creative Director, Shivani Malik, the fortnightly model has been inspired by the urge to create more choices for buyers. Every time someone walks into a Da Milano store, they should be able to find something new to buy.

Success Story and Achievements Because of Digitalization

Smart Luggage

Digitalization has helped the brand to incorporate smart technology into their products and not just their marketing campaigns. They introduced the “Smart Luggage” collection that had features like biometric locks, GPS, Bluetooth, and weighing scales to make traveling more convenient for their customers.

Sahil Shah said about the incorporation of this technology in their product range, “Today, technology is what’s driving everything. We want to be the leading player in introducing smart luggage. Everything is going digital and this is the way forward now.”

Apart from this, their latest Autumn/Winter ’18 collection is creating headlines. It features snake- and fur-textured handbags. This new collection takes the brand a step closer to its target of launching 300 handbags annually.

Smart Social Media Campaign

Objectives

Da Milano’s Diwali campaign was designed in a way to enhance the overall viewership as well as interaction for the brand. The marketing campaign of the brand made sure to incorporate the 3 imperative C’s. These C’s are completely in sync with the brand image. They are-

●      Concept

●      Creative

●      Content

Execution

In India, Da Milano focused on marketing campaigns centered around cultural festivals to boost their marketing strategies. Diwali is a time of celebration and festivities for all Indians. It is also a time when everyone is really active on social media. Therefore, it was the perfect holiday to catch hold of people, mainly women, getting active on Facebook.

The goal was to make everyone go shopping and exchange wishes and gifts. They encashed on the agenda that everyone “shares” during this time of the year.

They built a “SEND DIWALI GREETINGS” app via Facebook apps.

Incorporating a simple line in the contest, to be creatively completed by the fans –

“You are my BAG full of happiness, because…………………………..”

As people tend to post Diwali wishes throughout the week, the brand has asked them to post similar Diwali wishes for their friends online via the Da Milano Diwali App. The people were asked to make these posts that included the keyword which forms the USP of the Bran Product, ie; “BAGS”.

A simple 3 step Process

Step 1

Select a Diwali Goodie Bag and share it with your friends and family.

Step 2

Complete the message below by creating a Diwali greeting message.

 Step 3

The one who invites the maximum number of people and writes the most creative message was declared eligible to win Diwali gifts from Da Milano.

Results

This campaign made waves on social media. On Facebook, it had 12,320 fans to make a campaign reach of  17,196 fans. It hosted a contest performance that saw a total number of 108 participants and around 1280 friend invites.

The brand has had an immense growth rate. It has been growing about 23-25% in Compound Annual Growth Rate. They have successfully used digital technologies to grow their brand sales and promote brand awareness.

Celebrity Marketing Strategy in the Digital Age

There has been a  rising number of product endorsements by celebrities. This is one of the key handbags market trends. Milano in the market in India and abroad adopted marketing strategies such as product endorsement to increase their sales. Celebrity endorsements help vendors in gaining customers’ attention and improve the popularity of their products, which, in turn, is expected to increase the sales of handbags among consumers across the country. Apart from the sales, it has also helped the brand’s image to skyrocket.

Legacy and Future

In a market flooded with Louis Vuitton’s and Guccis, the Indian bag lover doesn’t mind shelling out a good amount for a Da Milano bag. Da Milano is an exclusive, one-of-a-kind homegrown luxury brand. A quarter of a century in the business the Italian-looking Indian brand has become synonymous with colorful leather bags that are detailed with shiny clasps.