A stealthy but exciting revolution is taking place in online shopping. In the past six months, a number of Internet-based fashion companies have sprung up, offering affordable ready-to-wear clothes while forging brand identities.

Karan Sabharwal, a 26-year-old Visakhapatnam-based businessman, has purchased T-shirts, jeans and shoes from the month-old website Freecultr (www.freecultr.com), and says he was “really impressed by the packaging and quality of the products at those prices”. “I’ve gifted the T-shirts to my friends and they’ve loved it. I was a bit hesitant to buy jeans initially but they’ve given a very good size chart and the jeans fit right.”

Delhi-based venture capitalist Siddharth Talwar, 35, who has bought a number of items from Sher Singh (www.shersingh.com), says his favourite part of the buying experience is receiving the delivery. “The packaging, the box, the way it is presented to you—you feel like a king! I love it,” he says. Talwar says buying on the site is easy, not just in terms of navigating, but also because “you don’t need to leave your couch.”

Menswear at a click

Freecultr’s best-sellers: Men’s jeans and women’s stretch pants

Distinct from discounted multi-brand aggregators like Fashion and You (www.fashionandyou.com) and Myntra (www.myntra.com), which have so far dominated online apparel shopping, these fashion-focused websites are looking to create quality, branded high-street clothing for both the Indian market as well as overseas. Freecultr, Sher Singh, Yepme (www.yepme.com), Zovi (www.zovi.com) and The Stiff Collar (www.thestiffcollar.com) are among the fashion e-tailing sites that have emerged, and each offers a distinct experience.

India’s online retail market is valued at Rs 2,000 crore and projected to rise to Rs 7,000 crore by 2015, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). The Internet and Mobile Association of India has listed an estimated 110 million Internet users, growing at 13% overall year-on-year. Analysts say that anywhere from 10-20% of these users shop online.

Menswear in India has been the biggest segment of the apparel market, so it’s no surprise that The Stiff Collar (read Lounge Loves | Roll up your sleeves), www.livemint.com/loungeloves.htm Yepme and Zovi launched as men’s-only clothing sites. “Men have more standardized body types and the quality in supply chain for women’s wear is difficult, so we decided to focus on men,” explains Gurgaon-based Yepme’s CEO Vivek Gaur.

Sher Singh’s best-sellers: Men’s polos and scarves

With easy-to-navigate pages and simple layouts, these e-retailers are attempting to bring ease and approachability to fashion. “Indians are very good at custom shirts and suits but when it comes to inward domestic distribution of ready-to-wear, there is a big gap in quality,” says Sujal Shah, co-founder and CEO of Freecultr, an online high-street fashion site based out of Gurgaon. Partly because of the inefficacy of distribution in India, and the high costs of organized retail, the Internet offers an attractive alternative. Retailers have the flexibility of trying different pricing options quickly, and consumers benefit from cheaper prices.

Cash on delivery, which Indians are more comfortable with, has been a game changer for online retailers. All the sites mentioned here offer delivery within two-four days, although it can take up to a week depending on the location. Most sites offer free shipping, or for orders costing less than Rs 1,000, a nominal fee of Rs 60. Most of these sites offer a 30-day, no-questions-asked return policy with full refund.

The ABC of the new sites

YEPME: “We cater to tier II and III towns, where high-street brands are not available,” says Gaur. The site has close to 700,000 registered users. The typical customer is someone in their early 20s, entering the job market for the first time and with a bit of disposable income, looking for some self-confidence. The site is in active discussion with both Amazon and Aesos to sell its products overseas, and has just closed a second round of funding with Helion Venture Partners. Since Yepme’s launch in early 2011, the company has served 580 out of the 640 districts in India, including places like Kargil, Bijapur, Tawang and Tiruvallur. Gaur claims they handle 10,000-15,000 orders in a month.

What works: Yepme’s trousers are among its best menswear offering. The virtual dressing room tool, replete with a model in his underwear, allows users to “try on” clothes. Yepme has done no advertising till now, but at the time of writing, had 583,355 “Likes” on Facebook. Best-selling items include wallets and belts.

Pricing:The average price of products on the site is Rs 1,000, with dress shirts going up to Rs 1,999, and trousers to Rs 1,100.

Yepme’s best-sellers: Denims shirts and jeans

SHER SINGH: This site (launched in late March at the time of the cricket World Cup, with polo tees added to their product line in August) is a spin-off of fashion site Exclusively.in. It appears to be taking a page out of Ralph Lauren’s successful Polo label, using logos as its leitmotif, including one inspired by cricket that seems to have defined the brand so far. The Delhi-based co-CEO and co-founder, Sonny Caberwal, says that while the look is aspirational, the pricing is not. “The marketplace is so new, there are perhaps 25 players in e-commerce right now, but the market is growing very fast,” he says. The company raised $16 million (around Rs 83 crore) from Tiger Global Management, Accel Partners, Helion Venture Partners and angel investors.

What works: The most appealing clothes on the site include the Cricket by Sher Singh—polo tees for men. There are no trousers or jeans on offer yet, either for men or women. The site offers Indian women’s wear, which doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the brand profile. Caberwal says they plan to revamp the site shortly to streamline such offerings and claims that the site is handling “a few hundred orders” a day on average, with 40% of the customers from Delhi and Mumbai.

Pricing: Prices range between Rs 499-1,499.

FREECULTR: Like Sher Singh, this site has a distinctly urban, hipper, sophisticated appeal. It looks like an overseas high-street website, in tune with The Gap or Old Navy, and it is the only one offering lycra-based clothing. In its first month, Freecultr says it has had sales across 25 states. Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital has put in about $4 million. “The Indian customer is evolving,” says Shah, who has been associated with Lakme Fashion Week. “The access, the opportunity, the influence of branding is getting a wider audience across India.” Yet he and some of these other sites have bigger ambitions. “India has the capability to create a global high-street brand,” he explains. “The world is our market, and India is our starting point.”

What works: Unlike some of the other sites, Freecultr’s focus is on casual wear basics, so most of its T-shirts and pants are in solid colours. The Shop by Look section on the site is a good idea, although it would be helpful if the clothes on the model changed when choosing between colour options. T-shirts, shoes, jeans/pants are its top sellers.

Pricing: Prices range between Rs 499-2,299.

ZOVI: Funded by Asia-based private equity firm Saif Partners, which has had considerable success with Chinese fashion site Vancl, the site was launched in July. It introduced women’s apparel last month, but the selection is limited. Headquartered in Bangalore, Zovi says its target consumer is in the 18-35 age group, understands fashion and wants to make a statement. The site offers a combination of office, active and casual wear, as well as shoes and other accessories. It also features a selection of winter wear, which is not available on other sites. The management refused to disclose specifics, except to say that they serve 300 “destinations”.

What works: Shirts and shoes are their best-sellers.

Pricing:Prices range from Rs 239 for T-shirts to Rs 1,699 for jackets.

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