The Indian textile and apparel industry is predicted to to reach US $ 190 billion by 2025-26 and will grow at 10 per cent CAGR from 2019-20. This comes from industry leaders speaking at the India Fashion Forum’s second day. The rapid digitisation of consumers and brands is attributed to being the driver of this growth.
Indian apparel is expected to reach US $ 135 billion by 2025, with online and D2C shopping accounting for 30 per cent, according to a study by the Indian Brand Equity Foundation.
Commenting on the impact of covid on buyer behaviour in fashion, Bhaskar Ramesh, Director-Omnichannel Businesses, Google India, said, “The future of retail is omnichannel. The fact that Oxford dictionary added ‘Goblin Mode’ as the most trending word of 2022 defines the phenomenon that we want everything to come to our phone or to our fingertips. It’s an indication that we really want everything in our comfort zone. COVID has particularly changed consumer behaviour, and a lot of these behaviours are sticking. What happened during COVID was that commerce has taken off in a big way. A lot of companies in fashion and retail are moving their commerce business. As COVID receded, consumers actually went back to what they were familiar with and at the same time they are expecting the same digital experience. So, on one side, digital is enhancing customer experience and on the other better profitability of businesses.”
He further observed that out of 700 million internet users in India, around 190 million were shoppers and that number would jump to 400-420 million shoppers in the next few years which includes shoppers from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities as well as rural areas.
He added that as of now, only 32 per cent of retail companies are offering hybrid experiences and that brands should adopt the omnichannel format sooner rather than later.
“It can be concluded that omnichannel in the new experience, retail companies are moving towards this experience, their ability to use first party data in a first-privacy way is also the next competitive advantage,” Ramesh further remarked while talking about leveraging data.
