CMAI’s Ivy League puts the spotlight on growing ecommerce

The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) hosted the 8th Ivy League meeting in Mumbai recently. The discussions revolved around the topic ‘Grow your business with the leaders of Indian ecommerce’. Flipkart’s Ankit Agarwal was invited to make a presentation on the growth and success

of online marketplace through ecommerce in India.

Ecommerce the big retail opportunity

Agarwal point out that ecommerce has picked up well in the apparel sector with people spending 15 to 20 minutes shopping for apparels compared to four to five minutes for books. However, people spend more time choosing a product than deciding whether to buy it or not. “We are seeing good traction on formal shirts. As for suits, traditionally people in India have had their suits tailor-made. So it will take some time to do really well online,” Agarwal explained.

Ethnic wear is not really brand-dominated for men as well as women. But there are a lot of buyers for ethnic wear online. Men look for prices and women look for selection and for them, the wider the selection, the better. “When we started the ethnic category we assumed consumers would buy at lower price points. But consumers want authentic products. For clothing, the average ticket price is climbing by a good 15 per cent month on month,” shared Agarwal. He said, cash on delivery (COD) is 50 per cent of the transactions but the returns of COD are below 5 per cent. Shipment cost varies. The commission percentage for clothing is 15 per cent. Flipkart wants to supply the best quality products to customers. In all, there are around 5,000 products on Flipkart. Men’s wear is the biggest selling category on ecommerce.

Explaining why Ivy League chose to focus on ecommerce this time, Naveen Sainani, Chairman, CMAI says the organisation with growing importance of ecommerce, CMAI felt members should know about e-tailing. “It is a platform we should look at. We want to make sure everyone understands the concept. It’s a great alternative to real world retailing”. Ivy League is by invitation only. “We will invite a brand if it’s in the right position with the right aspirational value. The main thing is to have aspiration, to grow in the business. We need to see enthusiasm, the desire to learn and adapt. The brand should be eager to grow, and growing well, with business ethics,” Sainani opines.

Meanwhile CMAI’s Apex Awards will be held in November this year. Under the skill development scheme, CMAI has been appointed a complementary agency by the government. “We have been given a target to train 35,000 people in the next three years. We will set up our own training centers across India. The first one is slated to open in September at Baramati. We are looking at Karnataka, Mumbai and Gujarat. We are looking at catchment areas where we can get people to be trained,” shared Sainani.