The Vanca: Reworking Digital Marketing Strategy

Since its inception in 2011, The Vanca, an Indian e-commerce brand selling women’s Western apparel, had come a long way. After overcoming initial problems typical of many entrepreneurial start-ups, The Vanca made significant progress in terms of sales. However, its brand-building activities had not been very successful. Having concentrated entirely on online digital marketing, the company did not see the expected results. The digital space offered many opportunities, but it was replete with cases of promising companies facing failure. In addition to the dynamic nature of the online retail space, there were new government regulations in India as of March 2016, which restricted online retailers in many ways, in an attempt to bring order to the previously unregulated industry. Accordingly, in May 2016, The Vanca hired a specific digital marketing manager with the goal of reworking the brand’s digital strategy. The company's management knew that multiple marketing issues needed to be addressed in order for The Vanca to achieve success.

This case is suitable for postgraduate courses on digital marketing. It asks students to analyze an Internet brand whose digital marketing efforts are not working as expected. The case presents many questions regarding the role of a digital marketing manager in the pursuit of an integrated digital marketing approach to convert web traffic into customers, and to build brand awareness. After completion of this case, students will be able to<br><ul><li>appreciate the opportunities and challenges in adopting an integrated approach to digital brand marketing;</li><li>understand that website traffic alone is not enough, that conversions are equally important;</li><li>value the power of Google search pages in helping a brand enter the consumer’s consideration set;</li><li>focus on product, promotion, and place to counter restrictions on discounting (price); and</li><li>assess the role of a digital marketing manager in building a brand.</li></ul>

• digital marketing, online traffic building, digital strategy, online apparel retail