BackOnline retailers trying offline route with stores, trial rooms
Myntra has plans to open stores next year, while online innerwear seller Zivame.com has already launched trial rooms
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Online retailers such as Myntra.com, Zivame.com and Bluestone.com are trying to establish an offline presence by setting up stores and trial rooms as they seek to build greater brand awareness.
Online jewellery store Bluestone recently opened guide stores in Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi, where it displays prototypes of jewellery designs available on its website.
“Jewellery is still considered a category where people want to touch and feel the product before making the purchase," chief executive officer (CEO) Gaurav Singh Kushwaha said.
Myntra, India’s largest online fashion retailer, has plans to open stores next year, while online innerwear seller Zivame.com has already launched trial rooms.
“We have launched a pilot initiative called ‘home try on’ for Bangalore where we are sending free innerwear to people to try," Zivame’s CEO Richa Kar said. “The touch-and-feel experience remains a barrier to online purchase. We’re also starting a ‘fit lounge’ where customers can come and get advice on the products."
Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest online retailer, which started its India website last June, is tapping grocery stores and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) petrol pumps to reach out to customers, cut product delivery time, improve its brand awareness and compete better with local rivals, Mint reported on 2 May.
Online retail is valued at $3.1 billion, or 10% of the organized retail market, and is estimated to grow to $22 billion, or over 15% of the organized retail market, in five years, according to a November 2013 report by brokerage firm CLSA.
“Stores will help online retailers gain more visibility and build a market presence rather than spend on customer acquisition, which is probably the largest cost head after technology and logistics," said Anand Ramanathan, associate director at KPMG. “It is also especially important in the ‘touch and feel’ category or the high-value items."
The efforts of e-commerce firms to forge an offline presence come at a time when brick-and-mortar retailers are slowly building their online business.
After seeing sales hurt by the e-commerce boom, several brick-and-mortar retailers including Arvind Ltd, Reliance Retail as well as smaller firms such as Chumbak Design Pvt. Ltd are now pushing into online retail.
Textile maker and retailer Arvind is close to launching an e-commerce platform, Mint reported earlier this week. Reliance said in its latest annual report that it would launch a commercial website this year.
Increasingly, both online and brick-and-mortar retailers will need to offer their products across mediums in the race for customers, executives and experts said.
“Physical stores help you showcase your product and build your brand, while an online presence helps you get instant feedback which you can use to improve your product or decide where next to open your store in," said Vivek Prabhakar, founder of Chumbak Design.
The company, which designs and sells its own products such as souvenirs, clothes, footwear, bags, wallets, jewellery, and laptop and phone cases, is working on a closer integration of its online and offline businesses.
“At present, we ship all our online orders from our warehouse in Bangalore. But we plan to ship orders from our stores in Mumbai and Delhi soon."
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