Global brands struggling in the local market are benefitting from the tremendous growth of e-commerce in the country.
According to those in the know, Arvind Fashions is apparently holding talks with Flipkart to relieve India licences of a bunch of foreign brands that also includes, Nautica, Gant, Ed Hardy, etc. Furthermore, owner of the Vans brand, US-based VF Corp is also in talks with the e-commerce platform to sell its India licence.
Mr Harminder Sahni, Co-founder, Wazir Advisors, a retail consultancy said that now the trend is that those brands that aren’t doing favourably through retail are looking at online channels.
A Flipkart person stated that to list and grow their brands on the online platform, the company works closely with all the Indian brand owners/partners. The brands too, viewed the e-commerce company as an unparalleled and unique channel to grow as well as strengthen their positioning in the country, which was quite satisfying as well, he added. Along with its Myntra and Jabong portals, the Flipkart group controls about 65 per cent of the online fashion business in the country.
Mr Sahni further said that as there weren’t any fixed costs attached to the brands themselves, the online channel was an effective and a low-cost one. Flipkart, according to sources, is only interested in negotiating for online sales in the country and wasn’t interested in running brick-and-mortar stores.