Fashion e-commerce evolves as festive sales surge

Indian fashion e-commerce space is going through an evolution as top e-tailers Flipkart, Myntra, Amazon and Reliance Retail are entering new partnerships with offline retailers. As per reports, online retailers are doubling their investments in athliesure and comfort wear by adding new value-focused brands and private labels on their websites.

Festive season accelerates focus on online fashion

Online fashion is becoming the fastest growing category for the festive season. Walmart-owned Flipkart sold over 16 million products during the recent ‘Big Billion Day’ sale, across 40,000 brands and saw a 51 per cent increase in shoppers from Tier II cities over last year. The e-tailer also purchased a minority stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) for Rs 1,500 crore. Aimed to boost ABFRL’s fashion business and co-create new-brands, the deal makes a wide range of products available to Flipkart across different retail formats. It adds strategic value to Flipkart-owned fashion marketplace Myntra as well. In July, Flipkart had also bought stake in Arvind Youth Brands, which owns the Flying Machine brand, for Rs 260 crore.

Growth in shoppers from smaller cities

Myntra’s ‘Big Fashion Festival’ sale in October saw close to one million new shoppers on its platform, with a 180 per cent growth of shoppers from Tier III cities. Nearly four million shoppers bought 13 million products across various categories during the sale. Around 80 per cent of customers are now spending on online fashion with 34 per cent of these planning to increase their investments in future.

The three big players in the Indian fashion e-commerce space, Amazon, Reliance Retail and Flipkart, plan to embark on their e-commerce journey with great enthusiasm, says Ankur Bisen, Senior Vice President Technopak, Flipkart is planning to boost its fashion business through Myntra while Amazon Fashion launched 6,200 new fashion brands on its portal this year. The e-tailer received orders from nearly two million customers during its ‘Great Indian Festival’ sale. It entered into a special collaboration with Easybuy for offer new styles at affordable rates. This initiative will help the e-tailer provide a wide product range and a reliable shopping experience, says Arun Sirdeshmukh, Head, Amazon Fashion India.