Club Factory supports Indian government customs stance, plans to invest in India operations

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Nov 28, 2019

Chinese fast fashion retailer Club Factory has voiced its support for the Union Government’s proposed plan to stop shipments to India marked as “gifts” and maintains that it adheres to Indian customs regulations and does not import from China.

"We think the Indian government is looking to protect the rights of sellers and buyers and build a healthy e-commerce ecosystem via the new policy,” Club Factory’s founder Vincent Lou told ET Retail. “We are completely aligned with this policy and believe in facilitating a level playing field which will only benefit the industry in the long term."

Club Factory was implicated in the recent customs scandal when Indian officials seized numerous shipments from China allegedly avoiding customs duty. The brand maintains that it does not import items from China to sell in India. Club Factory’s sellers on its India platform are 70% small and medium sized businesses based in India and the other 30% are larger sized Indian businesses, according to Lou. 

The brand also plans to invest an undisclosed amount in the Indian market where it is seeing sizeable growth. “We are looking to make significant investments in warehousing, delivery, technology and marketing to strengthen our presence further by scaling up operations in an endeavour to further connect with masses across the country,” said Lou.