India’s consumer spending is now heavily influenced by ‘mobile’ where fashion retail/shopping is emerging out as a key segment thriving in the digital era, as per the report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Facebook titled ‘Fashion Forward 2020’.
The report mentions that the Indian fashion market is currently estimated at US $ 70 billion, where online contributes to about 5 per cent of the total at around US $ 4 billion. The report further highlights that this influence is projected to reach US $ 30 billion by 2020.
Furthermore, the digital footprint, which refers to fashion buyers with internet access, has more than doubled in the last three years. It may be noted here that mobile is the primary device for internet access for 73 per cent of urban users and 87 per cent of rural users. Also, internet penetration is expected to grow 2.5 times by 2020 in India.
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“One out of every three people that are shopping, online or externally, buy apparel and fashion so fashion is a good logical entry point. Of the 184 million Facebook users in India, 56 per cent highlight fashion as an interest category, and if you break that down to the demographics it is the 18-34 year olds that are driving this category,” explained Umang Bedi, Managing Director – India and South Asia, Facebook.
According to him, the online fashion market will treble to reach US $12 – US $ 14 billion by 2020, which is 11-12 per cent share of the total fashion market. Also by 2020, nearly half the fashion buyers will be digitally influenced. “Digital influence in fashion has grown more than five times since 2013. Some 40-50 per cent of brand spend is already digitally influenced,” added Umang.
