Story of RF Abayas: From WhatsApp Business to a Nationwide Brand

About this episode

Farhan N, co-founder of RF Abayas, sits down with host Shan A Salam to recount how he transitioned from working corporate and retail jobs abroad to launching a modest wear ecommerce brand in India. Starting with selling abayas and hijabs through WhatsApp to family and friends with an initial investment of 10,000 rupees, Farhan gradually scaled up using organic social media and paid advertising. Managing orders manually over WhatsApp eventually created operational bottlenecks, prompting a transition to a dedicated Shopify storefront and integrated delivery logistics. Farhan details how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated online demand, the tactics used to slash cash-on-delivery returns by half via order verification calls, and the recent opening of an offline warehouse-store in Kozhikode. The conversation also explores future expansion into the GCC market and the critical importance of balancing paid performance marketing with sustainable search engine optimisation and WhatsApp commerce automation.

Key takeaways

1. 1Testing initial product demand within immediate family and personal networks on WhatsApp helps validate inventory before spending heavily on advertising.
2. 2Automating sales with an ecommerce website becomes essential once manual order processing on messaging apps creates operational bottlenecks and fatigue.
3. 3Making verification phone calls to customers before dispatching cash-on-delivery orders can dramatically cut return rates.
4. 4Sourcing directly from manufacturers rather than intermediary wholesalers enables better pricing and healthier profit margins for apparel brands.
5. 5Over-relying on paid performance marketing leads to diminishing returns as ad budgets scale, making organic content and search engine optimisation crucial for long-term sustainability.
6. 6Developing automated WhatsApp catalogues and checkout flows can recapture high-converting mobile shoppers who prefer chat over traditional websites.