IPL merchandise goes online

E-tailers expect sales to grow 50% during the IPL season

Cricket fans can go online for shopping for Indian Premier League (IPL) merchandise till the IPL season lasts. E-commerce companies plunged into the IPL fever with specially curated shops to lure customers. These companies have tied up with authorised vendors who have licenses to sell IPL merchandise as cricket has its own positioning which drives sales for these portals.

E-tailers are selling jerseys, caps, bats, bags, sippers and souvenirs autographed by cricketers. And Snapdeal expects its sales to grow by 50% during IPL season as the merchandises are a hit this season, says the company's vice president - fashion merchandising, Amit Maheshwari. In fact, sales of Snapdeal's sub-category ‘Cricket’ is already near 50%.

E-commerce companies say they cater to all price points. The cricket range starts from Rs 275 and goes up to Rs 21,000 on Snapdeal.com. On Tradus, cricket jerseys cost between Rs 299 and Rs 699, bat-ball as a combos sells for anywhere between Rs 399 and Rs 11,000, cricket kit bags sell for Rs 799 and onwards.

Maheshwari says the autographed cricket souvenir can cost in the range of Rs 1,000 and goes up to as much as Rs 16 lakh. These merchandise are signed by the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh besides the signed jerseys of the Chennai Super Kings team.

According to Nimit Grover, associate director - marketing at Tradus.com, cricket merchandise like branded bats, balls, leg and head gears are some of the best sellers in this category. “IPL T-shirts” is the most searched key word on Snapdeal's website.

Even Fashionandyou.com is selling IPL merchandise on its portal.