Big brick-and-mortal retailers Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle International and Spencer’s Retail plan to sell their products on e-commerce marketplaces following top retailer Future Group facing the reality of online shopping boom in the country.
“It is clear that Indians are adopting to online space faster and this adoption will only grow in the years to come,” Mr. Govind Shrikhande, MD of store chain Shoppers Stop said. “Also, it is becoming clearer that discounting is going to be the norm of these (e-commerce) guys because they are getting funded and you can’t really face this disruptionist. So, either you join the battle or leave it. You can’t be a bystander anymore.”
So, in the coming weeks, Shoppers Stop will start selling its private label fashion brands including Stop and Haute Curry among other labels on the online marketplaces. In a bid to maintain different products for online and physical stores, it plans to create entirely separate products to be sold only on online.
Similarly, Lifestyle and Spencer’s Retail, too, will foray into online space this calendar year and are currently finalising plans to sell on their own online shops as well as on e-commerce marketplaces.
E-commerce companies such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal have grown their business enormously, particularly during the festival season last year, offering huge discounts and backing it up with heavy advertising.
Aggressive online discounting and subdued consumer demand have forced most traditional retailers to advance their end-of-season sales from January 16 to the last week of December, while the second such sale has shifted from around mid-August to end-July. This is despite their best efforts to reduce dependence on discounts and even reducing the merchandise which goes under sale.