The retail industry has seen many transformations globally as well as in India, the growth of E-commerce Industry is rapid but still only contributes less than 4% of the overall retail Industry. Today consumers have many options from fast fashion retailers, multi-brand outlets, to single exclusive brand available offline and online.

For each type of the retailing medium, it is imperative to embrace the different strategy for the brands to work out to stay competitive and on trend.

The exclusive brand stores have benefits of focused approach towards their customer's demand. Based on their reviews brands could recreate their product strategy to further come up new seasonal styles.

It is very crucial for retailers to recognize there is invariably demand for the new products each time customers visit website or shop. Sometimes it has been seen customers don't buy from the store due to many reasons, one of the biggest reason they are unable to get the products they are searching for.  Thus, for better success, retailers and brands need to understand the gap between the best-selling products and the tangible consumer demands. 

Retailers need to learn by the time customer's choices improve and they look for the new refreshed item. In most of the cased retailers and brands are unable to acknowledge the actual demand of their loyal customer.  For such cases, it is imperative to follow the consumer's changing values and demand insight.

Successfully identifying, analyzing and acting on consumer demands is crucial for success in product development planning. The technological innovations have caused the rapid transformation in society faster than ever, and it is becoming gradually difficult to keep up with competitors as technology drives both the rate of and admittance to innovation.

Amidst this change, it is difficult for the Indian ethnic wear brands to understand why industries are evolving in the way they are today, much less predict how they will evolve into the future.

This is must-have for the brands to focus on consumer's behavioural analysis allowing companies to build a long-term strategy that is proactive, rather than reactive, making sense of where they stand today, but also ensuring they have a plan to remain relevant moving forward.

With consumer expenditure in developing economies experiencing growth, and multinationals facing increased competition from the local business in rising markets, securing the consumer trends and meeting the requirements of consumers is imperative to gaining market share and expanding the consumer base.

Consumers are exploring to reassess their values and priorities and focus on achieving the most out of life, whether this is prioritizing experience over possessions, sharing over owning, or time over money.

Technology has enabled people with the new tools that are constantly changing shopping behaviours, allowing consumers to deal directly with other consumers, compare prices and get the best deal at the touch of a button.

In a dynamic operating environment such as this, gaining in-depth insight into consumers’ lives, attitudes and motivations is a competitive advantage. However, this is easier said than done. Identifying megatrends can be difficult and separate long-term, significant trends from fads and overnight sensations are not always straightforward.

Nishka Lula

The Mass fashion and luxury fashion have the complex set of the consumer. 

When its come to readymade market- retailers and brand should follow fashion trend as a very crucial part of the strategy.
From fabric, colour, print to silhouette it is very critical to have the in-depth insight of the consumer’s behavioural changes and the demand from the brands and retailers they seek for!

Retailers must follow trend direction while deciding the assortment planning and brands should follow forecast for their next season’s range planning. 

Following the trend not only helps companies to refresh their assortment and range but also consumer finds the brand and retailers very engaging this, in return, improves customer loyalty and recommendation. 

According to the data analysis by Researchandmarket, ethnic wear market to grow at 10% CAGR during 2018-2022. Ethnic wear market is dominated by saree with the share of around 47% followed by salwar kameez and lehenga. While saree dominates in the east, west and south, northern India witnesses majority of demand for salwar kameez and Kurti

Indian luxury fashion relies on the seasonal demands such as wedding season, Diwali and many other cultural rituals. Being seasonal and traditional companies have very little freedom for innovation and change. 

Among regular traditional style worn commonly, Indian fashion also caters the traditional luxury fashion. In Luxury segment designers work with high level of craftsmanship, intricate embroidery work usually based on their clients demand. The interest for luxury style is fuelled by seasonal demands. 

The Luxury ethnic market is motivated by the celebrity’s styles as well as the runway bents. This is why many entry-level designers and companies do not prefer to take the risk

The work of trend forecaster at this point is very limited while deciding the range plan as the customers are very few and the demands are seasonal.

retail growth

With the emergence of the eCommerce platform, the biggest issue companies struggle in focusing target market. Their selling strategy solely depends on the product rating, customer reviews, and the sales data analysis. 

Here the pricing strategy plays the big role to stay relevant to the competitions.

The fashion industry must learn how to focus their range planning based on the invariably growing consumer expectations. The product consumers buy should support their emotional and lifestyle changes caused by external influencing factors such as technology, politics, and other behavioural shocks.

The online industry has to develop the medium to regularly update its assortment