WFH garments drove fashion sales grew 210% in H1 2021, says Snapdeal

Other reasons for the spike were the desire to buy new clothes to meet friends and family after a long gap and for travel needs

E-commerce company Snapdeal said today that sales in its fashion category have grown by 210 per cent in the first six months of 2021 (January-June).

The growth was driven by users replenishing their wardrobe to meet work-from-home clothing needs (“Zoom fashion” that includes mostly waist-up garments such as T-Shirts, shirts and tops). Another factor that drove fashion purchases was the desire to buy new clothes to meet friends and family after a long gap and to meet travel needs, the firm said.

With people continuing to work from home post pandemic-induced lockdowns, Snapdeal has seen volume growth in casual wear including lounge wear (tracks, shorts, t-shirts, tops, dresses etc), athleisure sportswear and masks.

'Value-buying' emerged as a common theme cutting across buyers and categories in the apparel sector. "On an average, the popular price range for a single fashion item on Snapdeal is now anywhere between Rs 300-450, as compared to Rs 450-550 in 2020. In fact, on Snapdeal the purchases within the Rs 450 segment have doubled to 40 per cent in H1 of 2021 as compared to H1 2020," Snapdeal said in a statement.

The wallet share of fashion buyers moving from expensive brands to more affordable value for money brands can be attributed to multiple reasons including the impact of second wave, apprehensions of further waves, increased online supply of value-merchandise and consumers re-priotising their budgets. In a recent Snapdeal survey, consumers mentioned that “while they expect to spend less per garment than they usually do, that doesn’t necessarily mean they plan to buy less.”

“Many of our fashion customers are between the ages of 18-27 and they have mostly been at home since the beginning of the pandemic. However, instead of waiting for the chance to socialize more freely, they are adapting to virtual interactions. This includes sharing their new wardrobe choices with their networks over social media and in virtual interactions.  The desire to  update their social media with their latest images and videos has been a  strong reason for them to buy newer trends, albeit at more affordable and reasonable prices,” a Snapdeal spokesperson said.

In the women’s fashion category, while total sales of units grew by 3.5 times in the past six months, salwar suits grew 7 times clocking the highest growth in the category.  Sarees, kurtis, dresses, activewear and nightwear also showed multi-fold growth.

In men’s fashion, the segment grew 3.25 times, including loungewear, athleisure and innerwear. Daily average orders in the upper wear category especially  T-shirts, polos, shirts, and innerwear went up by 100 per cent, and shoppers preferred seasonally relevant, summer cool collections made of light fabrics, soft colours and summer prints.

Snapdeal’s approach to fashion has been to quickly adapt to consumer expectations - focusing on utility, styling, and sizing--all designed to align with the fashion needs of Indian buyers. To meet this Snapdeal now launches fresh products every month across categories and has value-buys in the Rs 249-499 price range and attractive collections and combinations for GenZ and millennials.