Online retail is changing how Indian men shop

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Dec 28, 2017

More and more Indian men are entering the online fashion market and, picking up on this, India’s e-commerce giants are looking to profit.

A Boston Consulting Group report has found that somewhere between 55 and 60 million customers currently purchase through online retailers and trends show that the market is continuing to grow. Part of this growth is being stimulated by an increasing number of men starting to shop online.

"Over the years, we are seeing the otherwise active e-com shopper - who is male - foraying more and more into fashion online,” said Rishi Vasudev, Vice President (Fashion, Home, and Furniture) at Flipkart.

Vasudev explained: “[The] market size of both men's and women's clothing online is at neck and neck now. However, in terms of footwear and accessories, men's market online is far ahead."

This means that large e-commerce sites are starting to tailor more of their marketing towards men moving into 2018.

The men’s online footwear market in particular is expected to grow rapidly over the course of the next few years and Flipkart aims to claim around 45 percent of this market. While online penetration of clothing is expected to be between five and six percent over the next two years, footwear is expected to reach 18 percent.

It is not only Flipkart that is looking to profit from this growing market; Koovs’ online sales also reflect this trend. Menswear now accounts for 40 of their total sales, a big rise since their launch in 2014.

"Online shopping is now making men more trend-aware as it enables brands to showcase looks and help men to evolve their look," opined Samantha Chilton, Head of Design at Koovs.

Online shopping has made global fashion trends a bigger part of the Indian man’s consciousness and this in turn has encouraged them to shop online.

Online shopping could also gel better with many men’s shopping habits.

"As a trend men are more likely to shop on occasions, as opposed to indulging in the activity as leisure. They are also shoppers of habit and tend to research thoroughly on any expenditure they make when it comes to luxury ensembles. Given this, the online landscape has drastically changed," explained Kabir Mehra, a co-Founder of the suiting brand Herringbone & Sui. Marketing for men’s online fashion is starting to take note and many campaigns stress how the online shopping experience is easy and trouble free.

It must be noted that men’s online shopping figures, however, reflect only the gender of the clothing purchased and not of the actual customer. Many women shop for men in their family online as they find this easier.

"They [women] can simply share a link of what they think is a good purchase and all the men need to do is check this on their phones, thereby making the process quicker," added Samarth Hegde, the other co-Founder of Herringbone & Sui.