BIBA allocates its highest visibility and 40-45% of spends to festive months

In 1988, when Meena Bindra began selling salwar-kameez sets from her Mumbai home with an ₹8,000 loan, she chose a name that perfectly captured her vision, BIBA, the Punjabi word for ‘pretty woman’. What started as her passion project has evolved into one of India's well-known ethnic wear brands, with over 350 stores across the country and a presence spanning six international markets.

Unlike the wave of D2C brands that dominate today's fashion conversations, BIBA's journey began in the wholesale trenches. This grassroots approach gave the brand an intimate understanding of regional preferences, occasion-based buying patterns, and the emotional triggers that drive ethnic wear purchases.

Today, that foundation is being tested in the festive quarter, the busiest period for the ethnic wear industry. Nearly 60-70% of annual sales are concentrated within just three months, making this season a decisive moment for brands. For BIBA, this festive window isn't just their biggest revenue driver; it's where the brand must balance its pan-India appeal with hyperlocal cultural storytelling, and manage skyrocketing digital ad costs.

In this conversation, Ekta Dutta, Head of Marketing at BIBA, discusses navigating the dense Indian festive calendar without causing audience fatigue, the strategic shift to celebrity endorsements after three decades and more. 

Edited excerpts: 

Biba's origin story is fascinating -- starting as a wholesale distributor in 1988 and transitioning to a retail brand. This wholesale DNA likely influenced your understanding of market dynamics differently than pure D2C brands. How has this shaped your current marketing approach?

BIBA's inception in 1988 was humble when our Chairperson, Mrs Meena Bindra,  began by selling salwar-kameez sets from her home in Mumbai. This grassroots approach allowed BIBA to deeply understand regional preferences and occasions, long before data-driven marketing became prevalent. Over the years, BIBA has expanded its offerings to include categories like fusion wear, wedding wear, and accessories, creating a comprehensive wardrobe for every occasion. Today, BIBA operates over 350 outlets in India and has a presence in international markets such as the UAE, Canada, the USA, Singapore, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

This legacy has built deep trust among our customers, who rely on BIBA for high-quality craftsmanship, thoughtful pricing, and continuous product innovation. It’s this credibility and connection to Indian roots that continues to guide our marketing, retail expansion, and collection strategies, ensuring that every campaign and product resonates with the women we serve.\

The ethnic wear industry typically sees 60-70% of annual sales concentrated in the October-December festive window. What percentage of Biba's annual marketing budget is allocated to these 3 months?

The festive quarter is the heartbeat of our category, where emotion, celebration, and commerce intersect. Our marketing investments peak during this period across media, store experiences, and customer engagement, while always-on performance ensures year-round relevance.

This is when BIBA expresses itself most vibrantly and spends 40-45% during this time.

The Indian festive calendar is dense - Navratri, Karva Chauth, Diwali, and regional festivals all happening within weeks. Do you run separate campaigns for each festival or create umbrella festive campaigns? How do you balance campaign frequency without causing audience fatigue? What does your festive marketing playbook look like?

We have a brand thought which is the umbrella campaign, and from that we stem into regional content & campaigns that branches into distinct chapters like Pujo, Navratri, Karva Chauth, Diwali, each with its own cultural rhythm. Staggered campaign cadence and creative rotation across film, digital, and in-store storytelling keep content fresh. This ensures consistency in brand voice while remaining locally relevant and avoiding audience fatigue.

Use of regional influencers and content creators also helps drive the local message effectively.

How has your media mix shifted over the past 3 years during the festive season? What's your current split during peak months? Given rising digital ad costs during the festive season, when all brands compete for the same audiences, how are you managing cost inflation while maintaining reach?

Over the past few seasons, we’ve shifted our media mix to reflect changing consumer behaviour, with a larger skew towards digital, in-store experiences, and CRM-driven engagement. Sharper segmentation and targeted messaging allow us to reach the right audience at the right moment, whether it’s loyal customers, high-intent shoppers, or new audiences in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. This integrated approach ensures that our festive campaigns are both highly visible and deeply relevant, blending storytelling, product promotion, and experiential touchpoints seamlessly.

Biba operated without a brand ambassador for the first three decades, before onboarding Kirti Sanon last August.  What drove this strategic shift, and how are you measuring its impact beyond just brand awareness? How does celebrity marketing fit into your overall influencer strategy for reaching younger consumers?

For over three decades, BIBA was built on the strength of its product and the trust it commanded among women. The decision to bring Kriti Sanon on board was a natural evolution to amplify our voice among younger consumers while staying true to our design ethos. She represents the modern Indian woman, confident, rooted, and expressive. Our ambassador strategy is layered. While a celebrity can drive mass resonance and top-of-funnel discovery, regional creators bring intimacy and cultural relevance, creating a full-funnel, multi-regional influence architecture.

Wedding purchases typically have longer consideration cycles compared to festive impulse buying. How does your marketing funnel differ for wedding customers? What's your media strategy for reaching brides-to-be during their planning phase (6-12 months before the wedding) versus immediate family members shopping closer to events?

Wedding buying is deeply emotional and often planned months in advance. While Biba has been catering to this segment of audiences for smaller wedding occasions and the trousseau shopping, we have now curated a collection that is for the Bride and her tribe as well.

We intend to engage brides through inspiration and curation via digital lookbooks, Influencers and personalised styling touchpoints both online and in-store. As the event draws closer, families and guests make faster, occasion-led decisions where local availability, visual merchandising, and creator try-ons play a critical role. Our new Wedding Edit format brings this ecosystem together, where retail, content, and celebration meet in a single experience.

Competitors in the ethnic wear industry are moving toward hyperlocal cultural storytelling rather than pan-India campaigns. Given Biba's strong North Indian heritage, how do you adapt to the regional markets while maintaining your brand authenticity? What's driving your regional expansion strategy?

BIBA, as a brand and its design language, has always transcended geography. We adapt our offerings through nuanced regionalisation, from silhouette preferences to palette choices, without diluting the brand’s core aesthetic. We have great acceptance even in the regional  South and East markets and see a large scope in expanding across India in many more markets where there is an appetite for consumption. 

During the festive and wedding season, when influencer rates increase 30-50%, what metrics do you prioritise when selecting influencers? What's Biba's approach to influencer strategy during this period?

Influencers today are extensions of brand voice rather than just media touchpoints. Our festive and wedding strategy blends marquee creators with regional micro-influencers to create both aspiration and relatability. We prioritise content that drives engagement and action, such as saves, shares, and store visits, over sheer volume. By integrating influencer storytelling into retail experiences and digital performance, we create continuity across discovery, inspiration, and purchase, ensuring that influence translates to impact. 

Analysing your Instagram feed shows a mix of professional model shoots and customer styling. During wedding season, when customers are highly engaged and sharing their looks, what percentage of your social media content comes from user-generated posts versus professionally created content? How do you encourage and curate customer content without losing brand aesthetics?

BIBA’s social presence reflects real women celebrating in BIBA, not just models in campaigns. During peak seasons, our feed features a curated mix of professionally produced stories and user-generated moments, from mirror selfies to creator remixes, all aligned with our visual grammar.  This blend of aspiration and authenticity drives both inspiration and relatability, keeping our storytelling dynamic, inclusive, and true to how customers experience the brand.

Biba is known for strong visual merchandising - your stores are designed as brand experiences. How much of your marketing budget goes into in-store experiences versus media advertising? During festive seasons, how do you coordinate visual merchandising strategies across 370+ stores while maintaining local relevance? What role does store design play in your overall brand communication strategy?

In-store experience is critical for us, hence every BIBA store is designed as a walk-in lookbook where storytelling, styling, and shopping come together. A significant part of our marketing investment goes into creating these brand experiences, especially during the festive season. Windows, lighting, staff styling, and live events become key communication touchpoints that bring the brand to life.

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We’ve also integrated digital screens across stores to showcase our latest collections, campaign content, and regional stories, helping customers navigate the space while building emotional connect. With 350+ stores, we maintain a balance between consistency and local relevance through centralised visual merchandising toolkits and regional adaptations. The idea is simple, every BIBA store should feel familiar in its warmth, yet distinct in how it celebrates its community.

With 68% of retail brands investing in AI-driven personalisation, what capabilities is Biba developing or piloting? How do you see AI changing the ethnic wear shopping experience, particularly for occasion-based purchases during festive and wedding seasons?

We see AI as a way to deepen human connection, not replace it. At BIBA, we’re piloting tools that make discovery effortless, from size prediction and visual similarity to occasion-based recommendations. With Salesforce Einstein, we’re using AI to deliver personalised product suggestions based on browsing and purchase history. On the marketing front, adaptive creatives and intelligent remarketing ensure every message feels personal and timely. As festive and wedding shopping goes digital, AI helps us bring the warmth and craftsmanship of the BIBA experience to every customer touchpoint.

Looking at the ethnic wear market's projected growth to $558.5 billion by 2033, where do you envision Biba's position?

BIBA’s vision is to continue to lead this movement by deepening its presence across festive and wedding platforms, expanding in high-growth regional and global markets, and embedding innovation across the value chain. Our focus remains consistent: to make every woman feel beautiful, confident, and connected to her culture in a way that is modern, effortless, and true to herself.