ONLINE: NOT YET … WHY? |
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Less margins: Less margins is definitely a challenge in overall online segment. Exporters working for various platform labels are of the view that local sourcing staff, besides overall price pressure and very high number of suppliers, are some of the reasons of less margin specially compared to export. Some manufacturers shared that few wellknown platforms ask for 30 to 40 per cent commission to sell their brand / label which is too much and not viable. To offer product with such high percentage in commission, one has to play with the product’ s quality which will again spoil the business. Some exporters do share that even payment terms were not clear by some of the websites and they have a complicated MoU. Most of the websites prefer to work with small vendors only.
Fair balance between export and domestic stores: Many exporters that are having excess capacity, insist that a balance between export and domestic stores, rather than working for online is better as they are not used to this business model and don’ t see any benefit, at least for the next few years. Their prime concern is that machines should not stop working with domestic stores which is a better option compared to Online stores.
Niche collection; different teams: As most of the exporters are doing value-added garments, which are of high price too, it is not viable to keep enough stock of these garments. Also, it is difficult for these exporters to have extra or different staff for PD and managing overall activities for online. They do not want to mix it up with their existing team. Some exporters shared that they will prefer having their own website so that they can get proper feedback also.
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some platforms pay monthly. Issue of payment in the case of individual brands is little complicated to manage as‘ returns’ come in even after a month and despite having systems in place, it is a little challenging.
Some concerns …
Some of the manufacturers are of the opinion that selling own brands through these portals is not difficult if someone is having strong control over PD, proper quality, reasonable price and knowhow of social media and digital marketing. With good design, perfect quality and proper delivery, chances of return remain less. If the product is of good quality, and has proper fitting, and yet despite all this it is returned, then there are enough chances that it will be bought by another customer.“ Return is not a big issue as we take care of all aspects before dispatch. Whatever returns are there, are being reduced, now,” says Satish Bansal, MD, Sriyansh Knitters, Ludhiana, having his brand‘ TSAVO’. But Satish has a
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TAP FOR ONLINE PRESENCE …
• Myntra
• Jabong
• Flipkart
• Amazon
• Snapdeal
• Ajio
• Voonik
• Limeroad
• Paytm
• Koovs
• Firstcry
• Tatacliq
• Faballey
• stalkbuylove
• Rediff
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different issue, as he mainly offers winterwear, so visibility is less.“ We are doing business through Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal from last 2-3 years but still order quantities have not picked up. Overall process is very timeconsuming. We are trying to grow but so far this segment is negligible for us,” he added. But few exporters doing their own brand / label are of the view that it is very challenging, as apart from courier charges, cost of finishing the returned garment is another issue. Sometimes, the returned garment is damaged also.
Successful ventures …
Despite all challenges, some good examples are also there, like women clothing brand‘ Eves Pret A Porter’. Ankit Aggarwal, Director, Eves Fashion, Delhi who joined his family business of garment exports is now successfully running his own initiative Eves Pret A Porter, available on all leading platforms and doing reasonably well. It can be a good example of an exporter selling his brand online.“ Without much promotion, we are selling 300
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