India's moonshot launches craze for merchandise
space kits, hampers, tees, stationery, backpacks, models of rockets, collectibles and other merchandise are seeing ten-fold surge in demand on e-commerce platforms and retail shelves after India's historic moon landing on August 23, executives said. ISRO has existing tie-ups with 19 merchandise partners across categories such as apparel, stationary, backpacks and DIY rocket kits.
«ISRO and Chandrayaan-3 have become household names now and we're seeing a 10-fold increase in sales of products since two days, compared to what we usually do in one day,» said Bhavik Arora, chief executive and founder of brand licensing company Black White Orange, which sells merchandise that's officially registered under ISRO through its own A47.in virtual store, Amazon and Ajio.
ISRO merchandise categories in top demand, he said, include T-shirts, iron-on badges, hoodies and caps and posters.
«ISRO has also commissioned A47 to create badges for their Gaganyaan project,» Arora said.
HDFC, Uber, Myntra, ITC, Amul, Zupee, Zomato, KFC, PepsiCo are among the brands that have capitalised on the historic global event with Vikram lander theme inspired consumer marketing or social media posts. Many of these have launched limited edition collectives or drops to tie in with the Vikram lander soft landing on the moon.
