Size does matter in Indian women’s wear biz

International apparel brands have found Indian retail market a difficult one to do business in. One of the reasons being the vast difference in culture, tradition, dressing styles and most importantly, Indian sizes. While brick and mortar retailers provide measuring and fitting facility at their stores, consumers are still struggling with the idea of buying clothes online. Despite the size conversion, 3D measurement and zoom facilities being provided by the etailers.

On the other hand, fashion is the highest selling category online. With many top global fashion brands as well as Indian fashion designers taking the ecommerce route to cater to the aspiring Indian consumers. Some find online shopping for clothes a tedious job, while others are hooked onto it. All said and done, Indian online and offline retailers do need a proper size chart of Indian figures.

Women- Hard consumer to please

Women are never happy with what they see, their choice never meets the availability of the products. And if at all they find something worth picking up, sizing problems occur. According to the industry players, it is difficult catering to Indian women sizes because Indian women have body types that are different from their western counterparts.

A leading American lingerie brand, for instance, which wants to enter the country this year, is busy creating samples specifically for Indian body sizes, when they found that samples sent to India were inadequate. Most of the online retailers exchange clothes if the size doesn’t fit but by then the consumer loses interest in buying it since she finds the entire process of returning the piece in question and getting an exchange for it too lengthy.

But fashion’s market potential is definitely huge. Already, at the end of FY2014, fashion and lifestyle comprised 25 per cent of India's 2.3 billion dollars (over Rs 13,990 crores) online retail business, according to retail consultancy Technopak Advisors. Fashion and lifestyle is expected to grow annually at 20-25 per cent and the segment is expected to increase its share of India's overall online retail market to about 30 per cent by 2019, by when the ecommerce total could be worth anywhere between 19 billion dollars and 38 billion dollars (over Rs 1,15,600 to 2,31,200 crores).

Proper body measurements-need of the hour

Experts say, what has really been holding the growth of this market is the absence of a proper study in body sizing and adoption of standardized measurements for the entire country. As more and more boutiques, retail chains and online stores are catering to this segment, a rise in revenues and growth is inevitable.

Etailers like Myntra, are also planning to introduce virtual measurement technology that will automatically convert the customer's known sizes. Last year, Myntra acquired San Francisco startup Fitiquette that has been working on a technology to provide virtual trial rooms for online shoppers. The company is currently fine-tuning the Fitiquette technology.

Meanwhile Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), in association with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and supported by the Ministry of Textiles is working on a new initiative called ‘Size India’ to carry out a scientific, systematic anthropometric study of Indian population for the purpose of developing a standard sizing system for the Indian domestic apparel industry. To solve the problems being faced by retailers offering women’s wear, there is a need of such study on Indian body sizes.