Growing up among three sisters in a loving household, Rafia Ferdous Mim was quite the rebel in the family. She was always taught to be kind, fearless, and independent by her father, who she idolises. Her interest in fashion was inspired by her father’s boldness when it came to donning brightly coloured clothes most people wouldn’t dare to wear! In a conversation with ICE Today, she opens up about her e-commerce platform, Deal of the Day.
What lead you to launch Deal of the Day?
One of the main challenges I faced during my teen years in Bangladesh was that there weren’t enough brands and products available to keep up with the current fashion trends. Retailers only seemed to follow a very monotonous style and there was a big gap in the availability of high end brands. Back in the day if you wanted to get a Charles & Keith or Coach bag, the only way you could get it is if someone you know or you visited another country.
The clothing market was a rip off, too little options and way too expensive, as a result, we always ended up limiting ourselves to how much we can explore in terms of fashion. The idea was for Deal of the Day is to be the knight in shining armour for people like me. As the pandemic broke last year and the whole world took a hit, I noticed that some of the most popular brands were there were giving big sales at prices which were a complete steal.
I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE A PLATFORM WHERE PEOPLE COULD SEE THE LATEST SALE HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD, GET TO SHOP FROM IT AND HAVE IT DELIVERED TO THEM AT THEIR DOORSTEP.
Brands like ZARA, Aldo, Michael Kors and many more gave discounts of upto 80%! I thought it would be nice to have a platform where people could see the latest sales themselves in real time, shop and have it delivered to them at their doorstep. And just like that, Deal of the Day was born.
One of the biggest draws of your platform is its ability to offer some of the most exclusive branded products at a bargain price. Would you please share the names of some of the products you are currently offering? What kind of discount can one avail of by pre-ordering through Deal of the Day?
We are currently offering products from all brands in Malaysia and USA. Deal of the Day aims to bring to you all the latest and hottest sales happening around the world. Why pay the full price for an item when you can get it at 50% off, right? Although we’ve only been around for a little over a year, by the Grace of Allah (SWT) we’ve had the pleasure and opportunity of having some amazing clients who’ve been showering us with their love and support since day one.
WE OFTEN GET CLIENTS WHO ARE LOOKING FOR BAGS/ SHOES/ CLOTHING WITHIN A SPECIFIC BUDGET AND CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS, WE USUALLY SUGGEST WHICH BRAND TO GO FOR IF THEY AREN’T SURE.
We are now VIP buyers for many brands like Aldo, Michael Kors, Charles & Keith, Sephora, Insiders for Coach and many more. We always offer 10-20% off on regular priced items for the brands where we are listed as VIP buyers for. Currently we are catering an attractive sale going on at Colourpop, a semi annual sale at Victoria’s Secret, Fossil,Coach, Michael Kors and a clearance sale at ZARA. Other than that one of our bestselling brands is Shein. I personally recommend Shein as they provide a huge range of clothing items and accessories which can be considered stylish and affordable.
ZARA has been on the bestseller list as well. We also provide a free consultation – often we get clients who are looking for bags/shoes/clothing within a specific budget and certain requirements, to those customers we offer suggestions regarding which brand to go for if they aren’t sure. Currently we are also having a huge sale on Tory Burch, upto 60% off.
Deal of the Day has a very impressive website and a strong customer support team. How crucial have they been in maintaining effective communication with the customers?
For me it is all about the service. I want my clients to know that we are here to address and cater to their requirements. Building a strong customer relation is important because it helps us serve them accordingly.
We’ve been blessed with some of the friendliest clients and it is nothing short of a delight to serve them. However, as a brand we reserve the right to deny our services to anyone who does not comply with our policies. My team and I work very hard behind the scenes to ensure things run smoothly and one thing that I will never tolerate is when any one misbehaves or uses inappropriate words. I believe it is high time for us to set an example by not letting people get away with behaving badly to the people behind the screen. Respect is reciprocal.
Deal of the Day has already become one of the most popular platforms for a niche crowd in Bangladesh. How do you envision its growth in the coming years?
The amount of love and support we received since the beginning has only motivated us to push beyond our limits. When we launched our website we were a bit skeptical about it but it has exceeded our expectations. We plan to eventually lay out a much more user friendly interface which will help customers interact and place their orders right away from the website. We often get requests to open a store as it would make shopping not only convenient but also fun for some clients.
WE PLAN TO EVENTUALLY LAY OUT A MUCH MORE USER FRIENDLY INTERFACE WHICH WILL HELP CUSTOMERS INTERACT AND PLACE THEIR ORDERS RIGHT AWAY FROM THE WEBSITE.
I don’t want to disregard the idea completely – perhaps we can start working on our physical store once the COVID-19 situation is over. Other than international brands I would love to share the platform with local brands as well. There are some amazing local brands which are thriving and we have plans to introduce them on the Deal of the Day platform so people can have access to not only international sales, but all the local brands offers as well.