Queen of the ramp: Flipkart or Amazon?

As the country’s top two e-tailers, Flipkart and Amazon.in, engage in an all-out battle to wrest consumer mindshare and marketshare in smartphone and large appliance categories during the ongoing sales, fashion — the largest category in terms of units for both — is also a hotly contested battleground this festival season.

While Flipkart says it is the leader with control over 70 per cent of the online fashion market along with Myntra and Jabong (Flipkart-owned companies), Amazon says it is India’s largest online fashion store with the largest selection of styles and brands.

In the run-up to the biggest annual festival sales, both e-tailers have been working overtime to onboard new brands, curate new lines, create new brand stores and offer everything from apparel, accessories, shoes, jewellery to sunglasses, luggage and outdoor gear.

It is important to note that, while consumer electronics as a category has so far been the largest online category for e-tailers, fashion is set to overtake it to become the largest category by 2020, according to a Google and AT Kearney report. At present, while electronics leads in value terms, fashion leads in unit terms.

“Amazon is the largest online fashion store in India in selection, with over two million fashion products and 15,000 brands. In the US market, in clothing alone, Amazon is already much larger than Macy’s. Almost 30 per cent of new customers on Amazon.in come from Amazon Fashion,” Arun Sirdeshmukh, Director, Amazon Fashion, told BusinessLine .

Amazon Fashion has launched over 200 top fashion brands, with close to 50 top brands launched since the start of 2017.

Countering Amazon’s claim of being the top online fashion store in India, Rishi Vasudev, Vice-President - Fashion, Flipkart, said: “We are leading in online fashion with over 70 per cent market share, including Myntra and Jabong, and the rest of the 30 per cent includes shares of all the other horizontal and vertical players. After the end of the Big Billion Days sale, we will further our leadership with over 80 per cent share of the online fashion market.”

Flipkart has a selection of 350-400 brands and 35-40 exclusive fashion collections across all the fashion categories.

Vasudev said an infinite selection of fashion styles is not what the consumer is looking for and could be confusing. “We have a highly curated selection of fashion which is easy to find by product, trend, celebrity, etc. We have created special stores around what is trending this season; so searching becomes very easy for consumers.”

To make a bigger splash this festival season, Amazon has entered into a long-term partnership with Shoppers Stop, in time for its Great Indian Festival. “Half of Shoppers Stop’s 500 brands will go live this sale along with our 15,000 brands. At least 50 of their 500 brands are new,” Sirdeshmukh said.

To ensure faster delivery, Amazon has linked its back-end with four mother warehouses of Shoppers Stop. On its part, Shoppers Stop will host an Amazon.in experience centre in all of its stores. Amazon has also opened its third Fashion Studio in the world, in Gurugram.

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