 "E-commerce firms cash in on election fever")
The latest is NaMo (Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate) merchandise, to be sold on bluegape.com from Monday and, subsequently, on other leading e-commerce portals. A month ago, bluegape.com had launched Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) merchandise, too. Here, one can buy a T-shirt with AAP leader Kejriwal's picture, or a wall clock with Modi's face on it.
Soon, such products will also be offered by other e-commerce companies such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon and Fabfurnish.
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In India, political merchandising is just about picking up and pales in comparison to the likes of Obama 2012 Store, an online store that sold buttons, shirts, hats, magnets, etc, with campaign material backing US President Barack Obama.
"Today, every youth is talking about politics and wearing your political identity has become 'cool' with the younger generation," says bluegape.com co-founder Sahil Baghla, a 2012 batch graduate of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
Bluegape.com is readying the political party merchandise that would be sold across a host of websites soon. Typically, bluegape.com strikes a licensing deal with verified volunteers of political parties. After buying the rights to pictures, slogans and captions linked to political parties, the company shares royalty of about 20 per cent on the revenue earned after the sale. Political parties Business Standard spoke to said such deals were entered into with volunteers, not directly with the parties.
Earlier, the website had sold merchandise for films, the Indian Premium League and popular music band Indian Ocean, among others.
"Most of our buyers are in the age group of 18-30 and about 40 per cent of our traffic comes from metro cities. Tier-II cities account for another 40 per cent of the traffic," says Baghla. Since its AAP store was launched about a month ago, the company has been recording about 100 orders a day, with a ticket size of about Rs 250.
Santosh Desai, managing director and chief executive of Future Brands, says, "It's a combination of hope and belief in politics. In a consumerist world, the best way to show belief is through the act of consumption." He adds a person displays what he thinks is part of his identity.
Is the trend here to stay? "If you continue to have leaders who can excite you, the trend will continue," Desai says.
Earlier, tradus.com, had sold 'Aam Aadmi jhadoos', following the AAP's success in the Delhi Assembly elections.
Narendra Modi tattoos and kurtas are already a fashion statement. Gujarat Emporium in this city sells Modi's signature half-sleeved kurtas. "Modi kurtas available here", says a sign at the store.