Designers find etailing a lucrative option

With studies predicting a boom in the Indian e-commerce market, many designers are now opting for the online medium to boost their business. They are either launching their own websites or tying up with fashion portals. Earlier consumers stuck

to brick-and-mortar retail, especially when it came to fashion shopping. Factors like feel of the fabric, visually seeing the colours, designs and checking the fits played a larger role in Indian customers’ choice.

Designers take advantage of etailing

Not only designers, even big fashion houses like Madura Fashion & Lifestyle and others are taking the e-tailing route, citing huge growth momentum in the segment. Of course, designers logging on to take advantage feel that one needs to set up a different department to handle the e-tailing business with a team required to look after planning and logistics to ensure that the right product is delivered as per consumer’s requirements.

And even though relatively a small customer base is logged on to the net for shopping fashion, designers and exclusive fashion portals are not deterred. In fact, they put in a lot of effort to make things work in their favour. They are paying keen attention to timely deliveries, efficient back-up system and infrastructure apart from offering wide choice and price-points. Web-only clothing retailer Freecultr, for example, as part of its ‘Fashion Freedom Project’, has collaborated with designer labels such as Lecoanet Hemant and Shivan & Narresh on capsule collections designed by the latter.

Bridalwear scores

Interestingly, while designers find the medium working in their favour most are addressing bridal or occasion-specific demand in their collections. But there are some who offer lifestyle products as well. Platform such as Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop, started by stylist Pernia Qureshi is a successful example of how within just a year of starting operations, a portal can manage to have on board labels ranging from Rohit Bal, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Manish Malhotra to newer ones such as Shift by Nimish Shah. With such portals, designers don’t have to bother about anything else except designing and providing clothes.