Even while footfalls at malls and expos seem no less than in the past, surveys reveal that Coimbatore has been catching up rapidly in the online shopping space.
The city, according to online fashion portal (for branded products) – Myntra, is currently in the 28th position (Chennai ranks 6th). “It is catching up with some of the bigger towns rather rapidly, month on month. Around 75 per cent of male shoppers transact online,” says Ganesh Subramanian, Chief Merchandising Officer at Myntra.
Sharing some online shopping trends in tier II cities, he said, “smaller cities are clearly overtaking the bigger ones in online transactions. This could be because there are not as many malls and branded outlets in tier II and III towns as in the metros. Further, there is the advantage of looking up various brands on offer, convenience of shopping without lengthy queues and being able to transact with just the click of a button when you shop online,” he said.
The online shopping company’s survey also revealed that Coimbatoreans earlier travelled to Chennai and other places to make their purchase. “Now, we deliver their order within 48 hours; and they can pay on delivery. Two-thirds of our business is pay-on-delivery,” said Myntra’s Merchandising Chief.
Myntra not only offers a 30-day product exchange service but accepts returns as well, if the customer is not satisfied with the product. “Returns and exchange account for 6-7 per cent of our business,” he said.
Orders
According to Subramanian, the company receives around 10,000 orders a day, of which close to 65 per cent is men’s wear or related item for men.
The brands on offer at Myntra include Being Human, Caterpillar, Steve Madden, Diesel, Merrell, South Park, New Balance, Breakbounce etc.
To a query on turnover, he said, “we did close to Rs 400 crore last year (2012-13) and are looking to double it this year.”
The on-line portal has invested heavily on logistics, admits Subramanian. “Close to 20 per cent of our shipment is done in 24 hours and about 2 per cent of our business through our own conveyance,” he said.
Myntra has a warehouse at Gurgaon and Bangalore at present. “We will consider more distribution points in future, but not now,” he said.
Despite the growing business volume, Myntra is yet to break-even. Subramanian is hoping the online fashion portal to break-even early next year.
>revathy.lakshminarasimhan@thehindu.co.in
Published on July 21, 2013
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