Indian e-commerce segment is witnessing boost in the apparel sector as more and more consumers are switching to online portals for buying garments.
According to a recent report, 27.5 percent of the organized apparel retailers in India have adopted e-commerce in one form or other, and about 20 percent of garment retailers are present on multiple online platforms indicating the growing importance of the online shopper.
Mr. Sanjay Shroff, founder, director and CEO of Styletag.com, a leading online retailer of luxury clothing, told fibre2fashion, “E-commerce is in an exciting place in India right now. It is growing and we are getting new players in the market.”
“In India, e-commerce started with a bend towards electronics and utility goods. But now we are seeing a bigger movement towards clothing e-commerce,” he informs.
According to Zivame.com, an online luxury lingerie retailer in India, the entire world has gone digital and India has 10 million online users. “Lot of apparel brands are using online channels to promote their products and sometimes just to build an interaction with their customers. Through online portals, we are able to understand shopping behavior of our customers and target them better,” says the company representative.”
“Digital platform works especially well for an online business because it helps in driving traffic (footfalls) to the website more efficiently and more often. Digital platform when supported with a 360 degree brand campaign helps in increasing brand recall,” states Zivame.com.
However, Mr. Nischal Puri, managing director of Brandis, one of the leading suppliers of branded lingerie in India, says, “Online shopping is still at its infancy in India and the majority of consumers are shopping online for novelty factor. While ease of shopping is one of the key benefits, the lack of experience is a disadvantage.”
“There is a strong possibility that e-shopping will be lucrative for certain selected categories but for other categories where consumers demand shopping experience might find it hard to get traction,” he concludes.
