Flipkart Fashion Eyes Half of Online Market Share
Flipkart Fashion Eyes Half of Online Market Share

Flipkart Fashion, the fashion arm of homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart has said to have set the target of achieving half the online fashion market with its unit.

In the next five years, the online fashion market in India, which currently stands at around $4 billion (Rs 260 billion), is estimated to touch $15 billion (Rs 975 billion).

The online fashion retailer claims to lead the online fashion category with a market share of 35 percent, with the aim to extend its lead and control 50 percent of the pie by 2023.

The parent company says it controls 75 percent of the online fashion market if its subsidiaries Myntra and Jabong are accounted for.

Rival Amazon Fashion, however, contests this claim, saying it is the single-largest online retailer in the country, with fashion sales growing at 80-100 percent in the past one year.

Flipkart Fashion head, Rishi Vasudev said, “Online is a dominant sales category with 34 million shoppers looking for fashion products on the web in India at present. This will rise to 100 million in the next five years. Currently, about 70 percent of all fashion shoppers shop on Flipkart, and we will have a base of 73 million in the next five years.”

The company is working towards personalising lines and building selections so that the growing customer traffic finds more options. The SoftBank-backed company will continue to partner celebrities who drive aspirations for fashion.

Vasudev said, “About one-fourth of all the selection that will be available on Flipkart this year will be available exclusively on our platform. We are partnering closely an array of brands such as Fossil, Puma, and Wildcraft to develop exclusive lines, which India wouldn’t have seen outside Flipkart. This will give shoppers a superior selection on the platform.”

Flipkart, however, will continue to be an online-only platform unlike rival Amazon, which launched a fashion studio in Gurugram in September, its third store, after New York and London.

While fashion is one among the largest categories in e-commerce in India, it continues to pale in comparison to smartphones in driving gross merchandise value (GMV). However, as it focuses on driving revenues, fashion is finding favour over electronics because it offers higher margins and can drive larger volumes.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart said, “From a customer and transaction point of view, more than 50 percent of our platform today is driven by fashion. But in terms of GMV, it will take time as 85 percent of fashion products are still unbranded in India.”

 
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