How I braved Alma Mater and wrote this review. Review on Almamaterstore

The online shopping portal Alma Mater Store (almamaterstore.in) was an unknown name to me till I read a novel ‘How I braved Anu Aunty and Co-founded Million Dollar Company’. While reading that novel I got really impressed by their dedication and concept so thought of giving it a chance.

Alma Mater Concept

In gist, Alma Mater Store prints customized t-shirts, hoodies etc. for a group of people. There is nothing new in customized t-shirts as I was using it in my school 20 years back. Alma Mater is also not the pioneer in online customization as already many stores are there. They just tried to market and sell that old concept in new bottle of online shopping portal.

They offer round neck tees, collared tees and hoodies. They offer customization for minimum 10 quantities. Their price too vary though very minutely, if the order is larger than 25.

Design

While enquiring about the costing they mentioned very proudly that their cost includes complete design services. I was in high hopes when I gave them the text to be printed on the tees. I was expecting something interesting and innovative from their end; instead they just mailed me the text in the same font typed on images of different colored tees.

Payment

As per their conditions 50% payment has to be done in advance for order confirmation. They send me a link to make payments. That link was very ordinary. While entering organization name I was using a symbol in it and the payment was not processing and showing that ‘The page cannot be found’. There was no mention that I need not to enter symbols in my address. I randomly tried and finally was able to make successful payment. Amazingly there was no auto confirmation mail from Alma Mater or PayU-their payment partner. Means I cannot prove that I have made any payments to Alma Mater.

Delivery

While confirming order, they clearly mentioned that delivery will be done in 12-15 days. I made payments on March 1 and was expecting delivery by March 15 that was way ahead of a program to be held on March 26 (actually I ordered tees for an official occasion to be held on March 26). I got a call from them on March 14 that the order is ready and they need Form 50 to send it to my place. I got irritated as these things to be told in advance so that I could get time to arrange these official papers. Anyhow I mailed them the required form by next day morning and they informed me that my order is shipped by Bluedart.

It is mentioned on their website that they use Aramex for delivery and on my request they told me to ship it by Bluedart. Then I got a call that there is some problem with Bluedart and they are shipping it by First Flight. Finally it was shipped by DTDC.

My words

It was my first attempt with bulk customization and the experience was ok. I know that this portal is in nascent stage but this is the right time when they need to attract and retain their customers. Customization is not a necessity or requirement but they have to make it so easy that people got attracted towards it.

Writing a novel is really an innovative marketing strategy and I came to know about Alma Mater because of that novel only. Good that they have marketed themselves but what about delivering the expectations of their customers. It is to be noted that while customizing you don’t need to sell a tees or hoodies but you have to sell an experience to your customers- a lifelong experience that forced them to come back again and again. Facebook or novel is ok but nothing can beat word-of-mouth publicity.