Owing to various immediate and long-term effects of the pandemic caused by coronavirus, India’s apparel and fashion industry has witnessed widespread job losses with no revenue generation for months due to nationwide complete lockdowns which not only led to closure of offline stores, but a complete halt in online retailing as well, unlike in many other countries like the US, where e-commerce retail across categories was allowed to continue even as stores were shut. However, even with most offline stores operational now, consumers are still hesitating to go out to shop.
There’s been an overall change in consumer buying behaviour, and brands are now emphasising on mobile technology, virtual appointments and overall online retailing to keep the business running. Ishaan Sachdeva, Director, Alberto Torresi, avers “As much as many people want to go back to the ‘normal’ after COVID-19, retail will look different for a while. Since the onset of this pandemic, customers are much more interested in safe retailing. And in times of uncertainty and crisis, people want information they can trust. E-commerce tools are the mediums we are strengthening more. We have improved our digital channels. Last year, everyone wanted to talk about ‘phygital’ retailing. No more! Today’s physical stores either have no goods or no shoppers. Retail and consumer brands – particularly those selling discretionary goods – will need to rethink their customer experience and find ways to deliver on customer preferences and needs through digital-only channels. Deliver on your values. Omnichannel shopping is fast becoming the new norm. Even if you haven’t explicitly noticed, chances are you’ve been successfully courted by an omnichannel strategy.”
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Leveraging the online medium
According to a report by Boston Consulting Group and Facebook in 2017, online fashion sales in India were predicted to reach US $ 30 billion by the end of 2020, which is a fourfold increase since then. While it’s not certain as to how much effect will the pandemic have had or will have on the online fashion segment, more brands have started embracing e-commerce and consumers too are now spending more time online. Though no one had predicted the intensity of this crisis, few in the industry are better prepared than others – largely because of their digital know-how.
Ayushi Gudwani, Founder, FableStreet, boasts, “At FableStreet, we were conscious of and fortunate to establish an online channel first before venturing offline with our first retail store at DLF Promenade, New Delhi. FableStreet is digitally native, vertically integrated with the primary channel being its website www.fablestreet.com. As a brand, we have consistently focused on staying extremely relevant via all our online channels, social media, performance marketing and our website. We are introducing the launch of our blog. We’ve also done relevant content through our Work From Home Diaries about women who inspire us, spreading positivity during the lockdown. We believe in offering a seamless omnichannel experience to our customers. Some of our strategies include smooth navigation from our website to our retail store, seamless availability and management of customer data across locations, virtual trials, virtual styling sessions, etc. These would not only help us build stronger customer relationships, but also manage alterations and returns/exchanges much more easily.”
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With the ease in lockdown measures not only in India but across the world, fashion retail brands benefitted from an increase in consumers turning towards online shopping. Even Japanese major Uniqlo recently launched its nationwide ‘Shop From Home’ service through its special website online.uniqlo.in. “The pandemic has changed the consumer behaviour and way of shopping. The traditional way of going to a store is now changed to virtual tours and online shopping. I’ve always felt that online medium is the best way to reach more consumers and now because of the pandemic, all the age groups are using this medium to shop. That’s why we are present on almost every online platform. We are operating on drop ship model and exposing our maximum inventory lying at stores and warehouse to online retail which ends up giving us best turnaround times and efficient utilisation. It also helps consumers have a similar experience offline and online,” maintains Ashish Jain, CEO and Director, Von Wellx Germany.
Online lingerie brand Zivame too has launched features like Zivame Fitcode enabling women to find their right size and profile to recommending the right styles for all their needs, moods and occasions, besides features like One-step check-out, One-step repeat and convenient payment and safe delivery options. Reliance-backed Fynd has also announced a plugin that helps brands swiftly integrate real-time inventory data with their Shopify website. This plugin enables brands to sync their product catalogue, inventory, orders and physical locations reducing the time and the tech complexities involved in launching an e-commerce store.
Digital marketing strategies to lure consumers
Since the online medium has become the way to move forward and online behemoths like Amazon are threatening to devour bricks-and-mortar stores, fashion brands must put their best foot forward to assimilate into the digital culture and win customers. Currently, marketing teams at most fashion retail brands are working on removing the barriers that separate how customers interact with the brand through different channels, working to provide a great experience through each touchpoint.
Harshad Daswani, Founder, The Beach Company, says, “We have been a majority e-commerce apparel retailer for a few years, but the pandemic has changed our communication. We are now communicating much more and on deeper levels with our clients. Our focus is to offer them sustainable buying choices – from organic fabrics and a greater focus on circularity in our manufacturing process. Our digital team has been hard at work targeting different market segments that we may not have accessed before. The greatest advantage of digital marketing is reach. So we are able to inform, educate and convert new target audiences. Contactless deliveries, incentives to pay online (as opposed to COD), better inventory management systems, etc. have all been developed to manage client needs.”
Brands are launching a range of digital marketing and ad campaigns, trying to focus on maximum interaction at various touchpoints through influencer collaborations, digital ads and interactive social media along with other strategies.
Business beyond metro cities
Going digital will not only prove to be an important sales channel during these times, but will also help companies adapt cost structures and make each step of the value chain better, faster and cheaper. While there was scepticism around how non-metro cities or Tier-2 and beyond towns will accept the recent rise of online retail, turns out these regions have been equal participants of online retail consumption process. Myntra has also had an exceptional number of first-time and regular shoppers buy from the website during its End of Reason Sale (EORS) this June.
Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets, in fact, are becoming the driving force behind the e-commerce growth in India with most retail brands and online retailers targeting on strengthening last mile connectivity and increasingly focusing on getting the small-town Indian customers to shop online. Ashish Jain agrees, “Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets have led to recovery after COVID-19 as they have been the least affected areas. They have contributed up to 22 per cent in total percentage on e-commerce orders post unlock.”
With such growth potential and numbers from these areas as also in the metros, the online retail industry is slated for phenomenal growth and is also expecting to gain from the pandemic-induced slowdown in offline retail.
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