No doubt the eCommerce Industry is on the rise in the country, it appears that India has given a skip to organized retail and has jumped onto the bandwagon of online commerce.
Narrowing the discussion down to relevance; in an industry that is not even a decade old, there are names like Flipkart and Snapdeal that are almost at the billion-dollar milestone. Then there are other names like Myntra and Jabong, who have maintained a solid recall in the minds of a fashion savvy consumer by fearlessly trying new tactics to fight for the top spot.
In my mind, this ‘revolution’ in the business of fashion is piggy backing on technology (3G penetration) and the entrepreneurial culture brought back home by the returning Indians of the Silicon Valley.
The industry thus, is build on 4 pillars (not listed in the order of priority):
In context with the fashion industry, it is clear that we as human resource can create value in the last two (pillars) i.e. Product and Marketing & Communication.
In the following section, I will now scope out opportunities in these two departments.
Product
This is the essential part of any business, unless there is a commodity to trade in lieu of money, there can be no transaction. In the case of fashion and lifestyle eCommerce, this product could a piece of clothing or an accessory.
Although, the product for a purely eCommerce business is not very different from a product that could be sold through any other channel, it could be sensitized differently. For a pure eCommerce brand / label, one could really fine be more fashionable than the conventional brick retail since the penetration and visibility increases multifold. A brand does not necessarily have to be seasonal as in our country one can find the need of a tee or a heavy jacket depending on the geography all year round. Also, pricing plays a very important role, put yourself in the shoes of a customer and you will know that it is very hard to shell out money for things that cannot be ‘touched’ or ‘tried’. It is hard to shop for clothes without trying from physical stores where at least they can be touched or felt, so one can imagine what happens when both these handicaps come in action.
The product department, has the following divisions:
Design and Development: Simply put, this is the source. A good product is the center of the business universe. Here, what is required is the uncanny ability to design based on bestsellers, competition analysis and trend research. Needless to say, the end result has to be commercially viable. What is needed here is a very strong sense of fashion awareness (talent) and understanding of fabrics, silhouettes, washes, surface ornamentation (skills)
Merchandising: I couldn’t say it enough, but this is the ‘hub’ of the product division. Once the design has been created, it is the merchandising team that will realize it in the right quantities and make it available at the right time. A thorough understanding of garmenting and the aptitude of paying attention to detail is of paramount importance here. Two of the other very important requirements are to be highly organized and to manage communication effectively.
Sourcing (Production & Quality): Well, what good is a great idea unless it is realized and has acceptable quality standards. Sourcing plays a very important role as it ensures that the prototypes created by the design team get mass-produced in the right quality. Sourcing in eCommerce could have slightly different guiding principles than that of a regular brick retail business. To give you an example, since the customer is nor viewing the styles as part of many (like on a store hang rail), slight individual differences may be allowed; but at the same time, the quality inspection has to be almost 100% as a single return from an unhappy customer leads to many problems in the eCommerce space (problems like bad viral publicity and expensive returns). Much of the eCommerce players do not have factories of their own, so the avenues for fresh graduates are not many. New entrants in the industry may either find place in the QA department or assisting the vendor management team. However, it is highly recommended that some experience be gained on the factory shop floor before joining any eCommerce player in their sourcing team. On a footnote, be ready to follow lot of processes, as most of the players are heavily dependent on sophisticated ERP systems. Integrity, people management and a passion for quality are the key skills required over and above having a thorough knowledge of garment making. One should also possess the willingness to travel and do a lot of legwork.
Planning: This is a very critical function that closes the loop. A planner will break down the business plan into a category plan for the design and merchandise team to follow. This is essentially done with a two-pronged approach of mixing experience with analysis. A pure analytical approach will result in a stagnant line, and one created without any analysis could result in huge losses. This one is not for the weak hearted; one has to have a questioning attitude mixed with a very keen sense of analysis and understanding of statistical patterns and a pragmatic approach. Be ready to make excel your best friend for life
Before we get on the Marketing & Communication, let us give this a little breather and let me tell you a joke.
I once walked into an army surplus store and asked if they had any camouflage trousers. (Since they were so trendy back then.)
“Yes, we have,” replied the assistant, “but we can’t find them!”
Marketing & Communication
eCommerce is a fast industry. While otherwise, A new brand shows patience and takes years to establish itself, it must do so in a much shorter time online. In the Internet space, opinions are born and established at the speed of thought. Thus, a lot of money is spent on communication.
This too can have much segmentation based on the operational structure of the company. But broadly can be classified as two. Namely marketing (that I think is best left for hard core marketing professionals) and Cataloging. Cataloguing in a sense is the eCommerce version of visual merchandising. Further, it is even more critical in this case since there is ‘absolutely no sales staff’ to guide and educate the customer. (On major part of VM, that is customer navigation is also the responsibility of the portal’s UI, a topic not within the scope of this discussion). The cataloging team is responsible for styling the articles that go onto the portal and also coordinating the shoot to an extent, so that the final images that go online do their job. Every thing like hair & make up, styling & accessorization, poses & expressions needs to be perfect and well in sync with what the brand stands for; well it is only true that a picture is worth a thousand words. At this point, just like what a smart sales staff would do, the cataloging team also must up-sell by suggesting co-ordinates with the style. It is like actually saying, “Ma’am, that dress is perfect, how about shoes to match”. Another very important aspect is the description of the style. This has to cover all the technical information spiked with just the right amount of romance. After all, the customer must be convinced that this is exactly what he needs to ‘add to the basket’.
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