New Delhi: With emergence of online shopping portals catering exclusively to high-end brands, consumers in India seem to have found their luxury fashion fix.
The desi shopper can now access creations of top notch global designers such as Emilio Pucci, Valentino, Bottega Veneta, Jimmy Choo, DKNY, Gucci, Burberry, Versace besides others through the single click of a mouse.
Luxury portals such as Darveys, GenesisLuxury, Elitify, Stylebop, Exclusively and others have stepped in to offer an unique platform for fashionistas to choose from larger collections of high-end brands with door step deliveries.
Nakul Bajaj who owns Darveys.Com, a members-only shopping portal, says he started the site as a way to revolutionise the outlook towards high-end brands in India.
"Our aim was to revolutionise the way people look at luxury fashion shopping in India. Such a portal allows people to share their thoughts and preferences sensitizing luxury fashion shopping," says Bajaj.
According to an Assocham-KPMG study the Indian luxury market grew at a healthy rate of 30 per cent to reach USD 8.5 billion in 2013 and is likely to continue growing at a healthy pace of about 20 per cent to reach USD 14 billion by 2016 owing to rising number of wealthy people, growing middle class, affluent young consumers and other related factors.
Although, India currently enjoys just one-two per cent share in the global luxury market, it is the fifth most attractive market for international retailers, says the study.
With luxury shopping comprising a sizeable market size, Darveys has come with the concept of a 'Wedding Trousseau' for the soon to be married couples to offer a user friendly service for pre-wedding days in purchasing, packaging and gifting luxurious wedding essentials.
"We intend to make the day a memorable and extremely special moment for the bride and the groom. One can easily select their favorite luxury designer products from a huge variety. All we need to know is their preferred designer(s), preferred products and the special date of the occasion for delivery," says Nakul Bajaj of Darveys.
With ruling trends dominating fashion, most websites source products right from the runway to ensure the shopper gets to choose from the latest collections. The websites also tend to offer bigger discounts compared to retail stores.
"In Fall 2014, we gave our consumers hot off the runway access to the Spring Summer 2015 collections. Continuing this, we will also shortly give shoppers the chance to pre-order Fall Winter 2015 Collections," says Sanjay Guleria, General Manager Business at Exclusively.Com, another luxury online portal.
In a bid to expand clientele, websites have also come up with indulgences such as the 'White Glove' service by Exclusively.Com, to deliver customers' specific requirements.
"Our White Glove service team will simply take your specifications like measurements, preferred colour, required alterations et al to create a look that best suits you," says Guleria from Exclusively.
With their target consumers in the age group of 25-35 years, the luxury websites have not limited their audience to metropolitan cities and are looking at smaller cities like Chandigarh, Agra, Jaipur, Lucknow and Bhopal among others.
"The target customer is from the age group 25-35 ...We are not only targeting metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai but we are reaching out to tier 2 and tier 3 cities as well. The response has been phenomenal since we are dealing with clients who are well aware of international brands and upcoming trends," says RockNshop.Com owner Priya Sachdev.
Keeping in mind, the higher retail value of luxury products, portals like RockNshop are even providing a special EMI offer to give luxury brand shoppers access to coveted fashion items without worrying about immediate payment.
Apart from standalone luxury online portals, e-commerce sites have also slowly begun to incorporate luxury products - clothing, bags, shoes and watches in their catalogues.
"Premium brands are magnetizing great response from the Indian customers as the online luxury market in India has evolved.
"There has been a rise in demand for designer labels especially after we exclusively introduced international designers such as River Island, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge," says Arun Chandra Mohan, founder of Jabong.Com which recently partnered with the Mumbai Fashion Week.
