Womenswear held 50% market share of Indian online fashion in FY21

The menswear segment maintained its consistent growth with 37 per cent order volume growth and 33 per cent market share in FY-2021 in the e-commerce fashion market of India, according to the Fashion E-Commerce Report by Unicommerce.

“The fashion industry is setting new benchmarks of innovation in the e-commerce industry. The rising adoption of D2C amongst fashion brands has helped them build a strong connect with the consumer leading to higher growth,” the report said.

Brand websites reported 66 per cent order volume growth and 77 per cent Gross merchandise value (GMV) growth in FY-2021 as compared to the previous financial year, which led to a 6 per cent increase in average order value. As compared to websites, marketplaces reported 45 per cent order volume growth and 33 per cent GMV growth, with an 8 per cent decline in the average order value for FY-2021.

The fashion segment or the apparel category is often the first choice for consumers to experience e-commerce in tier-II and tier-III cities. The trend of online shopping is gaining prominence, with 118 per cent growth coming from tier-II cities and over 192 per cent order volume growth from tier-III cities, while tier-I cities reported a muted order volume growth of 14 per cent.

Last year, a majority of fashion brands embarked on their omnichannel journey by integrating their offline and online store. Companies are fulfilling 20-25 per cent of their omnichannel orders from the store, indicating increased adoption of omnichannel across brand stores. While a majority of omnichannel orders (55-60 per cent) are still being generated from the website, the marketplaces’ omnipresence grew significantly in the last 15-18 months from being a negligible contributor last year to now contributing 40- 45 per cent of overall omnichannel orders. Fashion-focused marketplaces were the first ones to embrace omnichannel solution, the report said.

Westernwear segment grew at a rapid pace with 57 per cent order volume growth in FY2021 as compared to the previous financial year, and it accounted for 65 per cent market share in FY-2021. The men’s apparel segment was the biggest contributor to the overall westernwear segment as it accounted for 55 per cent market share of overall western wear in FY-2021 and reported 40 per cent order volume growth. As for the kid’s western wear segment, it reported a sharp order volume growth of over 300 per cent and its market share increased from 3 per cent in FY-2020 to 28 per cent in FY-2021. On the other hand, the ethnic wear segment reported an order volume growth of 41 per cent in FY-2021 vis-a-vis FY-2020 and accounted for 35 per cent market share in FY-2021.

Casualwear has a dominant position in the fashion apparel market as it accounted for 84 per cent market share in FY-21 and 49 per cent YoY order volume growth in FY-2021 compared to the previous financial year. However, the formalwear category gained momentum as the market share increased from 11 per cent in FY-2020 to 16 per cent market share in FY-2021 and over 100 per cent order volume growth. The growth of the formal segment can be attributed to the increasing number of offline shoppers shifting towards online shopping platforms, as per the report.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)