Ecommerce companies revive global brand-play

The advent of etailing in India is bringing back global brands like Replay jeans, Energie

apparel and Salvatos flip-flops to the country. Many of them were forced to shut their India stores owing to low footfall and buying. They would now be available online through sites such as Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and others.

While Italian jeans brand Replay exited India in 2008 after its JV with Future Group didn't bring expected results, it plans to make a come-back on Flipkart and Myntra, completely avoiding the physical retail route. Italian brand Energie too had ended its partnership with Arvind Brands in 2012 and New York-based foldable flip-flop brand Salvatos had to curtail its presence after domestic partner Wadhawan Group decided to exit retailing a couple of years ago.

Salvatos has now hired Bangalore-based e-commerce consultancy Ace Turtle to build online partnerships in India. Chinese mobile handset maker Xiaomi made its India debut on July 22 with online-only sales of the Mi3 phone on Flipkart.com. Before that, Motorola too had adopted the same strategy on Flipkart.

Jabong.com, which has been launching international fashion labels in the country is witnessing healthy response to UK fashion brand Dorothy Perkins, another company that has entered India solely through the e-commerce route. The platform is now in talks with both Energie and Replay Jeans.