Festive sale: Flipkart bets on small towns for share of $100 bn fashion pie

E-commerce firm Flipkart is betting big to tap the $100 billion fashion market in the country with only 6 per cent having been penetrated by the online retail players. Till now this market has mainly been largely offline and run by big traditional retailers having fashion stores across the country. However, the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the shift among consumers towards online shopping of fashion products.

The Walmart-owned firm said that Flipkart Fashion has democratised fashion for India. Now more than 40 per cent of new shoppers on Flipkart explore the platform for the first time through fashion.

Flipkart competes with players such as Amazon, Reliance’s JioMart and Tata CLiQ, Tata Group’s e-commerce platform in the fashion category, for which the firm has left no stone unturned. This includes creating inroads into tier-2+ regions for large global international and national brands to working with regional fashion sellers and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) to take their products to a national consumer base.

For its biggest flagship event, the Big Billion Days (TBBD) which started on Sunday, Flipkart is offering the widest array of styles available to shoppers not only in Metros but in tier 2 regions and beyond. The aim is to play a role in equalising fashion trends, aspirations and bridging the gap between customers in metros and small towns and cities.

“In preparation for the festive season, we will have the widest selection of styles available for consumers across the country,” said Nishit Garg, vice president, Flipkart Fashion. “We will continue to bridge the gap between metros and tier 2+ regions, where people seek the best of current fashion trends but have limited access from a selection, range and affordability perspective.”

For the BBD event, Flipkart is collaborating with India’s leading fashion brands to create an inclusive experience for shoppers through a large network of marketplace sellers. For instance, Flipkart has strengthened its partnership with German sports retailer Puma to make an affordable range of stylish athleisure available to every Indian across the country. Designed in collaboration with cricketer K L Rahul, the new sub-brand ‘1Der by Puma’ is now available on the platform. This launch also marks the 10-year partnership between Puma and Flipkart.

In the past year, as customers have continued to work from home and have prioritized their health and fitness, ‘athleisure fashion’ has seen tremendous adoption and growth. This has led to the emergence and significant growth of the ‘athleisure’ category. Sportswear and athleisure as subcategories have seen strong growth on Flipkart, approximately 60 per cent over last year.

“With athleisure becoming more mainstream, its share of the closet as a fashion essential has increased tremendously,” said Abhishek Ganguly, managing director, Puma India and Southeast Asia. “We feel 1Der will effectively cater to the increasing need for fashionable and comfortable clothing.”

The partnership has helped to build a loyal customer base for Puma. Approximately 80 per cent of Puma customers have previously purchased a Puma product on Flipkart. Puma’s apparel business has grown exponentially in the last 2 years on Flipkart.

For the BBD, Flipkart said lakhs of styles will be made available across thousands of brands and sellers that cater to diverse fashion needs across the country. The firm said its approach to creating an inclusive experience for fashion shoppers is going to change the way millions of people shop for fashion this festive season. This includes the launch of 11 vernacular language interface capabilities and voice search. Today, over 55-60 per cent of overall voice queries come from categories such as fashion, beauty, home and general merchandise.

The company is working closely with a growing number of national, international, and regionally renowned fashion brands and sellers in different ways. This includes identifying opportunities for them to connect them with consumers across India through the online marketplace. It is also helping them leverage the power of technology, scale their presence and diversify existing product portfolios.

For the BBD, the e-commerce firm is connecting more than 5,000 offline branded retail stores from over 300 cities across the country on its platform. This includes small and large format brand stores offering products from fashion, large appliances, mobiles and consumer electronics as part of this programme. Piloted in 2020, when the pandemic impacted these stores, this programme helps offline sellers to leverage Flipkart’s expertise and customer reach to help stores grow their business through technology support.

E-retail has particularly been a boon during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic after the setbacks caused by widespread disruption (for consumers and small businesses) and loss of jobs. In the future, the e-retail market is expected to grow to $120–140 billion by FY26, increasing at approximately 25 per cent–30 per cent per annum over the next five years, according to the report ‘How India Shops Online 2021’ by Bain & Company in association with Flipkart.

Fashion continues to be a key gateway category for new online shoppers and continues to lead as a first purchase (35–40 per cent new shoppers bought fashion in their first transaction in 2020), according to experts.

Flipkart is also betting big on social commerce, which is the use of social network communities to drive e-commerce sales. Social commerce is expected to be about a $70 billion market opportunity in the next few years. It recently launched Shopsy, an app that enables Indians to start their online businesses without any investment. With the ability to influence their local network and fulfill their aspirations, users of Shopsy are able to share catalogues of a wide selection of 15 crore products offered by Flipkart sellers. These range across fashion, beauty, mobiles, electronics, and home, with potential customers via popular social media and messaging apps.