The lockdown restrictions may have eased in the country, but the retail sector, especially the shopping malls and complexes, is yet to recover from the sales slump.

Thus, in order to reach out to customers and boost sales, various leading fashion brands including Max Fashion, Bata, Levi’s Strauss, Forever New and Pepe Jeans are sending retail trucks and pop-up stores in residential colonies.

Manish Kapoor, CEO, Pepe Jeans London, mentioned that having witnessed almost no sales for around 3 months, the company ‘recovered around 30 per cent of our last year’s sales numbers in June.’

The sales saw a boost of 50 per cent in July, he added, also highlighting that despite that, consumers are still hesitant to go out and shop.

He further added that though e-commerce platforms have seen increased sales, these particularly fail to deliver that ‘brand experience’ to consumers as experienced at offline stores.

Pepe Jeans London began sending fashion trucks to residential colonies in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai this month, and has plans to extend the service to areas like Thane and Pune soon.

Another retailer Levi’s Strauss & Co, too, is sending fashion retail trucks to select residential colonies in Delhi and Gurugram.

“We have tops, shorts and lightweight comfortable denim-led ‘work from home’ collection for this store concept,” said Sanjeev Mohanty, MD – South Asia, Middle East & North Africa, Levi’s Strauss & Co, adding, “Our consumers can try out the garments at their homes and for alterations, the team on the ground takes measurements.”

The final product, having modified at the nearest outlet, is then delivered to the customer, he added.