Building a Category-Leading App: Sudathi’s Journey to Top 20 Shopping App in India

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App in Spotlight: Sudathi Enters the iOS Top 20 Shopping Apps

Sudathi’s app became one of India’s most downloaded fashion apps, ranking in the Top 20 shopping apps on iOS within weeks of launch. This marked not just a digital milestone but a cultural one - elevating their brand recognition across both loyal customers and new audiences.

Sudathi is a Surat-based DTC fashion brand redefining affordable ethnic wear for Indian women. Launched in 2023, it quickly became a household name by offering high-quality sarees, including silk, festive, and ready-to-wear styles, at unmatched prices. With over 7 lakh happy customers and 10 lakh app downloads, Sudathi is now one of India’s fastest-growing saree brands.

‍Sudathi Was Growing, But The Mobile Web Experience Fell Short

Before launching their app, Sudathi had already built a powerful product story, affordable luxury sarees rooted in tradition and loved by a pan-India audience. But their existing mobile experience lacked the emotion and depth their sarees represented. Product discovery was transactional. The browsing experience lacked visual storytelling and most importantly, their connection with customers stopped at checkout.

They needed more than just a platform to sell, they aspired to create a delightful shopping experience that matched the intent and identity of their brand.

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Riding the Shark Tank Wave, Sudathi Scaled a Seamless App Growing Their Vision of “Zudio for Sarees”

Sudathi partnered with Appbrew to turn that vision into a high-performance mobile experience. Shortly after their Shark Tank India appearance, the brand saw a spike in attention and their app became the perfect platform to capture and convert that momentum. Here’s what we built together:

Custom Campaign Landing Pages

Sudathi introduced custom landing pages to spotlight weekly themes like Saree Saturdays, New Arrivals, and festival campaigns. These trending sections turned the app into a live, evolving storefront, encouraging users to return frequently and engage with fresh drops.

A Visual-First Shopping Experience‍

From homepage to PDP, video was integrated across the entire journey - bringing the texture, drape, and flow of sarees to life on every scroll. Their users wanted to experience the product, and videos just made that experience one step closer.

Sudathi leveraged interactive videos on the homepage that allowed users to buy directly from reels and lifestyle shoots, reducing decision time and increasing session depth.

A Post-Purchase Journey That Builds Trust

‍A dedicated order tracking module, complete with real-time push updates, ensured Sudathi’s customers felt informed and reassured from purchase to delivery powered by Clickpost. 

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Intelligent Upsell Moments to Lift AOV‍

Upsell sections were added to product pages, surfacing relevant add-ons and complementary items right when users were most likely to convert. This subtle, contextual merchandising helped increase average order size without disrupting the flow.

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The Results: A High-Performance Channel That Drives Business Outcomes

• Sudathi’s app now converts 3.5X higher than the website, turning browsers into buyers more efficiently.
  
  
• Customers spend more on the app, with a 15% uplift in Average Order Value (AOV).
  
  
• The app has driven a 7X increase in Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) by boosting retention and repeat purchases.
  
  
• Users engage more deeply, spending 9X more time on the app than on the web.
  
  
• Product discovery is significantly stronger, with 4X more product views per user.
  
  
• App retention is 4X higher, with 1.6% of users returning after 30 days, compared to just 0.4% on web.
  
  
• 30% of users sign up directly via the app, capturing valuable first-party data at scale.
  
  

The app now contributes 50% of total revenue, establishing itself as a critical sales and engagement channel.