Online fashion industry clocks 51% growth order volume in FY21: Report

New Delhi: Online fashion industry witnessed an order volume growth of 51 per cent and gross merchant value (GMV) increase of 45 per cent in FY21 as compared to the previous financial year, a report by Unicommerce said on Thursday. The faster volume growth as compared to GMV has led to a marginal decline of 4 per cent in the average order value, the report titled 'Fashion E-commerce Report' said.

Unicommerce, e-commerce focused SaaS (software as a service) platform, analysed fashion trends for the period of FY2021 and FY2020 with a sample size of over 70 million orders.

"Fashion labels have been at the forefront of re-inventing, re-strategising, and re-aligning themselves to rapidly evolving business environments and changing consumer needs. The industry has also observed multiple retail brands establishing their niche in the e-commerce industry," it said.

The rising adoption of D2C (direct to consumer) amongst fashion brands has helped them build a strong connect with the consumer, leading to higher growth.

The brand websites have reported 66 per cent order volume growth and 77 per cent GMV growth in FY2021 as compared to the previous financial year, the report said.

The strong order volume growth supported with higher GMV growth has led to a 6 per cent increase in average order value, it added.

As compared to brand websites, marketplaces have reported 45 per cent order volume growth and 33 per cent GMV growth, with an 8 per cent decline in the average order value for FY2021 - which strongly reinforces that the fashion brands are investing aggressively to build a stronger D2C presence.

Notably, the trend of shopping fashion online is getting prominent in tier-II and III cities, with 118 per cent order volume growth coming from these locations driving 192 per cent order volume growth.

Womenswear held the majority share of the e-commerce fashion market with a 50 per cent share and reported 30 per cent order volume growth in FY2021 as compared to the previous financial year.

On the other hand, the kids wear segment registered over 200 per cent order volume growth and the market share significantly increased from 3 per cent in FY2020 to 17 per cent in FY-2021.

The menswear segment maintained consistent growth with 37 per cent order volume growth and 33 per cent market share in FY2021, the report said.

Casual accounted for 84 per cent market share in FY21 and 49 per cent y-o-y order volume growth in FY2021. Formal wear category saw over 100 per cent order volume growth.

"Fashion segment is one of the biggest contributors to the e-commerce industry of India with the highest order volume. This report deep dives into the fashion industry to analyse the trends in the online fashion space... this report will help fashion e-tailers in understanding the changing dynamics of the fashion e-commerce industry," Unicommerce CEO Kapil Makhija said. SR MKJ

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Courtesy: ET Retail