Ajio accounts for 25% of Reliance Retail’s apparel biz

New Delhi: Reliance Retail's fashion marketplace Ajio, now accounts for 25% of the retailer's apparel sales. The company owns multiple fashion and lifestyle brands such as Reliance Trends, Marks and Spencer as well as other premium brands sold through Reliance Brands Ltd.

“Ajio has emerged as one of the leading digital commerce platforms for fashion and lifestyle with a portfolio of over 2,000 labels and brands and listing of over 5 lakh options. Driven by innovation, Ajio now contributes to over 25% of our apparel business,” Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries (RIL), said at the company’s 44th annual general meeting held virtually on Thursday.

Overall, its apparel business has reached significant scale, the company said.

“Our apparel business sold nearly five lakh units per day and over 18 crore units during the year. This is equivalent to dressing the entire population of UK, Germany and Spain once,” Ambani said.

Meanwhile, Reliance Retail is on "hyper growth trajectory" and is set to grow its business three times in the next three to five years, Ambani added.

This will come on the back of expanding its store footprint multi-fold this year, investing in research, design and product development capabilities and acquiring consumer-focused businesses.

“Reliance Retail continues to be amongst the fastest-growing retailers in the world. We are committed to grow our business so that we are among the top 10 retailers globally. I am confident that Reliance Retail is on a hyper growth trajectory to grow at least 3x in the next 3-5 years,” Ambani said.

India’s apparel and accessories market is estimated at $67 billion or roughly 8% of the overall retail market, according to a 2020 report by Technopak. Of this 14% comes from sales via e-commerce (as of FY20)—by 2025 close to 20% of all apparel sold in India will be sold online. This will be a $16 billion market.

Ajio competes with Walmart-backed Myntra that too specializes in sale of apparel, footwear and accessories.

Meanwhile, companies have been bolstering their fashion portfolio.

Last year, Flipkart picked up a stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited. It also invested Rs260 crore for a 27% stake in Arvind Fashions Ltd’s subsidiary Arvind Youth Brands which owns the Flying Machine brand. Through this investment, the Flipkart Group and Arvind Fashions will work collaboratively to identify opportunities and synergies to innovate and develop products with strong value propositions at attractive price points, the two said then.

Reliance Retail operates several retail formats across consumer electronics, fashion and lifestyle, grocery, pharma retail.

In the last fiscal, the company added a record 1,500 stores across formats, Ambani said. Reliance Retail has a store footprint of over 12,700 stores.