Online lingerie store becomes a triumph for male clientele who can’t visit shops
Culturally appropriate business capitalises on segregation.
KARACHI:
Men may be barred from entering many of Karachi’s lingerie stores, but a few clicks away is the website Nighty.pk, which claims to host the biggest range of lingerie online. Run by a UK-based company, Nighty.pk operates out of Karachi and has been serving clientele for a year now.
Women have long bemoaned the unavailability of quality lingerie in Karachi, even more so after La Senza closed down.
Stores such as Marks and Victoria and Triumph have offered an alternative for those looking for high-end brands, but many people rely on friends and family travelling abroad to shop for them.
Nighty.pk has an extensive selection of lingerie, from bras to nighties as well as swimwear and ‘accessories’ such as shavers, body oils and oddly enough, a “2GB USB memory heart shaped with diamonds neck locket”.
It also offers a selection of lingerie for wedding nights.
“We understand when men or women are searching for the right type of nighty, they are looking for something nice,” the website text states. “But at the same time not too revealing. When it comes to looking for bridal nightwear for that first night it can be a very difficult choice to make.”
Nighty.pk promises to deliver lingerie to any location in Pakistan. Orders can be placed via a call centre or online and payments are made in cash. The text of the website and its Facebook page is written in a suggestive style, pushing the risque value of the merchandise.
A representative from the parent company says Nighty.pk uses no high-end graphics or images of models, so it is acceptable culturally. The company says it would be willing to amend anything on the website that people find objectionable.
The website heavily advertises the privacy factor of online sales, capitalising on the embarrassment that shoppers, particularly men, may feel while buying lingerie. All parcels are delivered under “plain cover” - they come in discreet brown paper packages - and can also be sent to TCS offices for collection.
The representative said that the “majority of customers were men, who for cultural reasons, cannot go into a lingerie shop but would like to buy something for their wife”. He said the response so far has been very good, and the idea to launch it had been spurred from the online searches men do in Pakistan for lingerie.
On Facebook, Nighty.pk’s page has over 1,700 fans. Facebook users — both male and female — leave comments on the new stock being advertised.
The website is also running a promotional campaign for Valentine’s Day, offering gifts on multiple purchases -”Now you can gift your wife on Valentine’s Day a nighty so make the whole day romantic.”
The company also plans to start more online ventures in Pakistan and while they would “love to expand to a shop that would have separate sections for men and women, making a large investment in Pakistan is not a good idea in the current climate.”
The prices for the merchandise — which is manufactured in Taiwan, Thailand and China — are considerably less than high-end lingerie brands, which Nighty.pk’s representative says would be far too pricey for the Pakistani market.
Bras are priced at Rs800 and Rs1,000, underwear costs between Rs500 and Rs1,500 and the most expensive nightie has a Rs3,000 price tag.
“Ideally, we would like to manufacture these in Pakistan,” he said, “but we do not know of any companies who would be able to do it, and there are security concerns as well.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 15th, 2011.
Men may be barred from entering many of Karachi’s lingerie stores, but a few clicks away is the website Nighty.pk, which claims to host the biggest range of lingerie online. Run by a UK-based company, Nighty.pk operates out of Karachi and has been serving clientele for a year now.
Women have long bemoaned the unavailability of quality lingerie in Karachi, even more so after La Senza closed down.
Stores such as Marks and Victoria and Triumph have offered an alternative for those looking for high-end brands, but many people rely on friends and family travelling abroad to shop for them.
Nighty.pk has an extensive selection of lingerie, from bras to nighties as well as swimwear and ‘accessories’ such as shavers, body oils and oddly enough, a “2GB USB memory heart shaped with diamonds neck locket”.
It also offers a selection of lingerie for wedding nights.
“We understand when men or women are searching for the right type of nighty, they are looking for something nice,” the website text states. “But at the same time not too revealing. When it comes to looking for bridal nightwear for that first night it can be a very difficult choice to make.”
Nighty.pk promises to deliver lingerie to any location in Pakistan. Orders can be placed via a call centre or online and payments are made in cash. The text of the website and its Facebook page is written in a suggestive style, pushing the risque value of the merchandise.
A representative from the parent company says Nighty.pk uses no high-end graphics or images of models, so it is acceptable culturally. The company says it would be willing to amend anything on the website that people find objectionable.
The website heavily advertises the privacy factor of online sales, capitalising on the embarrassment that shoppers, particularly men, may feel while buying lingerie. All parcels are delivered under “plain cover” - they come in discreet brown paper packages - and can also be sent to TCS offices for collection.
The representative said that the “majority of customers were men, who for cultural reasons, cannot go into a lingerie shop but would like to buy something for their wife”. He said the response so far has been very good, and the idea to launch it had been spurred from the online searches men do in Pakistan for lingerie.
On Facebook, Nighty.pk’s page has over 1,700 fans. Facebook users — both male and female — leave comments on the new stock being advertised.
The website is also running a promotional campaign for Valentine’s Day, offering gifts on multiple purchases -”Now you can gift your wife on Valentine’s Day a nighty so make the whole day romantic.”
The company also plans to start more online ventures in Pakistan and while they would “love to expand to a shop that would have separate sections for men and women, making a large investment in Pakistan is not a good idea in the current climate.”
The prices for the merchandise — which is manufactured in Taiwan, Thailand and China — are considerably less than high-end lingerie brands, which Nighty.pk’s representative says would be far too pricey for the Pakistani market.
Bras are priced at Rs800 and Rs1,000, underwear costs between Rs500 and Rs1,500 and the most expensive nightie has a Rs3,000 price tag.
“Ideally, we would like to manufacture these in Pakistan,” he said, “but we do not know of any companies who would be able to do it, and there are security concerns as well.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 15th, 2011.