Amazon reports 40% growth in fashion category in FY21

New Delhi: Online marketplace Amazon reported 40% y-o-y growth in its fashion category in FY21 as the industry “re-strategized” amid the strict lockdowns enforced last year that prompted more users to buy goods online. Interestingly, 65% of this demand emerged from tier-2, -3, and -4 regions, the company said.

“Fashion and beauty are among the largest categories for Amazon in India and also the fastest growing category in terms of acquiring new customers for Amazon India as one out of every three new customers starts her shopping journey with Amazon Fashion,” said Saurabh Srivastava, director and head, Amazon Fashion India.

Amazon Fashion is set to go live with its Wardrobe Refresh Sale starting today. Amazon will retail over 1,000 fashion brands and over 12 lakh beauty products.

Srivastava said the fashion industry had to re-strategize during the pandemic. The future of fashion will be more flexible and responsible, he said.

"From not restricting themselves to specific seasons to preferring comfort along with style and showing an inclination towards sustainable and eco-friendly fashion, consumers are making conscious changes to their shopping habits,” he added.

Apparel as a category suffered significantly as the lockdown rendered stores shut. Meanwhile, retailers moved online in a bid to liquidate stocks. Consumer demand shifted too as shoppers bought more casual wear online. As a result, more sales moved online.

Overall order volumes for the fashion category across marketplaces as well as brand websites were up 45% in FY21 compared to the year-ago period, according to a recent report by Unicommerce on the online fashion market.

It added that the trend of online shopping was gaining prominence in India’s smaller cities, with 118% growth coming from tier-2 cities and over 192% order volume growth from tier-3 cities.

Amazon has reported similar trends with the fashion category reporting an increased penetration and coverage of online shopping from tier 2 and 3 regions. The top cities include Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kanchipuram, Gurgaon, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Lucknow among others, said Srivastava.

This is Amazon’s 9th edition of Wardrobe Refresh Sale. The marketplace that hosts the sale twice a year is pushing more offers such as—instant discounts, credit EMIs apart from cashback and free delivery for first-time fashion shoppers—as consumer sentiment remains rather muted amid the ongoing second wave.

Amazon Fashion has also added initiatives such as brand-specific size charts, multiple-angle product imagery and videos, and technological features such as outfit builder, virtual try-on, etc over the years.