Indian online fashion GMV grew 45% in FY21

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jun 14, 2021

While brick-and-mortar fashion boutiques spent much of the 2021 financial year closed or facing retail restrictions, online fashion order volume grew by 51% and gross merchant value by 45%, according to SaaS technology platform, Unicommerce.

In the 2021 financial year, Indian online fashion grew year-on-year both in terms of volume and value, continuing the pre-pandemic trend, according to Unicommerce’s new study titled ‘Fashion E-commerce Report’. The increased adoption of direct-to-customer online sales by fashion brands aided this growth, according to Unicommerce, and many brands launched dedicated e-commerce stores during the past financial year, in part in response to the pandemic. 
 
“Fashion segment is one of the biggest contributors to the e-commerce industry of India with the highest order volume,” Unicommerce’s CEO Kapil Makhija told YourStory.

“This report sheds light on the changing consumer buying patterns and preferences, rising adoption of D2C and omni-channel and new segments in the online fashion space.”
 
Omni-channel retail is also continuing to grow, according to the report, with brands fulfilling on average between 20% and 25% of omni-channel orders in-store. This has also enabled brands to adopt strict social distancing measures in-store by reducing necessary face-to-face interactions with customers. 
 
Brand websites witnessed more pronounced growth in the 2021 financial year at 66% order volume growth compared to marketplaces, which saw 45% order volume growth in the same time period. Another area which saw significant growth was children’s wear which saw over 200% order volume growth during the fiscal year and its share of the overall market increased from 3% in the 2020 financial year to 17% in the 2021 financial year.