Fashionandyou undertakes restructuring for growth

Smile Group, which owns and operates flash sale site Fashionanyou, has undertaken restructuring of its business model to give aggressive competition to the rival online fashion platforms. After refurbishing Fashionandyou’s look and merchandise, the group is in the process of changing the business model of its group buying site DealsandYou as a part of the restructuring exercise. It has also pulled shutters on its online footwear store BeStylish.

The group's e-commerce revival bid will be largely driven by FashionandYou, with support from its lifestyle brand Freecultr and online fashion jewellery shop Juvalia & You. The three currently account for combined gross merchandise value (GMV) or total sales value of products sold on the portals of about 80 million dollars (around Rs 510 crores).

Recently, Fashionandyou announced its plans to raise around 50 million dollars (over Rs 300 crores) to take advantage of the demand prevailing in high margin fashion business. Though the company was not able to make the most of an opportunity, when there were no competitors in the fashion space, it now aims to try hard to take on its rivals like Myntra and Jabong. There are several steps the company has planned to reach to its target consumer base in a robust manner. Though the overall product -category mix will remain the same with 16 main categories and 34 sub-categories, the focus would be on expanding its merchandise making international brands, a part of its portfolio. To achieve this, the company will create sourcing hubs in US/Europe and China after identifying key alliances in these regions.