Women shoppers are the next big thing in online retail. Boosted by the tremendous growth in orders placed online, e-tailers are now trying to attract women with niche offerings. These include women-only platforms, virtual trial rooms, celebrity endorsements and easy return policies.
“Online retail is a growing phenomenon in India. Lack of time, changing lifestyles and the convenience to buy things online has paved the way for a consumer friendly and hassle-free online shopping experience,” Mr Amit Gugnani, Senior Vice President, Textile, Technopak said.
The market for non-store retailing is estimated at $3.2 billion, registering a growth of 23 per cent annually. Even though currently men account for 60 per cent of the buys, the women’s business is growing significantly.
Mr Rajesh Kamra, founder and MD, Koovs, a women-only online platform, says, “The kind of purchases that were happening online made us realise that there was a market for women’s only online shopping portal. Also we were getting specific queries from customers in places such as North East and even tier 2 cities.” He said the average ticket size for an online women’s purchase ranged from Rs 800-Rs 1,000.
Platforms such as Myntra.com , Fashion&You , Zovi.com also offereconvenience in terms of variety of apparel, display, choice, discounts and ease of delivery.
Mr Mukesh Bansal, Founder, Myntra.com , notes that, “Women are influential shoppers. They start with low-risk and low value items such as an accessory and from there move on to bigger purchases such as dresses and bags, among others.” Myntra has tied up with Bollywood actor Kalki Koechlin for celebrity endorsement. The actor will write blogs and share style tips to prospective buyers. Myntra said it will continue such association with new style icon every two months.
Another online player Zovi last year introduced a feature called Zovi Eye, a feature which will simulate the touch-and-feel experience. Mr Monappa Nalyanda, Marketing Head, Zovi, says, “Buyers, especially women, want to see how the products look on them. The feature allows women consumers to make a purchase decision as they view themselves in their desired apparel via an interactive web-cam application. This feature simulates offline customer behaviour of trying out the apparel in front of a mirror.”
A Technopak report on apparel industry said that denims, innerwear, western wear and t-shirts are expected to demonstrate relatively higher growth in the coming quarters.
The report also points that the growing number of online channels can be attributed to the fact that there is very little real estate cost, high target group reach and no manpower and staffing issues.
“The most important investment required is in software technology, which can give the consumer a comfortable virtual experience, equivalent or better than an in-store experience,” it adds.