Data analytics can help retailers know consumer behaviour

In fashion business, analytics can provide alternatives based on how users go online or to the brick-and-mortar stores to buy clothes

With e-commerce firms and retailers keep on finding out ways to lure customers to buy their products, data analytics can help them understand the changing consumer behaviour in the country's fashion industry, which is likely to touch $77 billion in the next 5 years.

Experts say in a fast moving business like fashion where categorising products across retailers and to constantly experiment with apparels is challenging, analytics can provide alternatives based on how users go online or to the brick-and-mortar stores to purchase clothes and accessories.

The share of apparel and lifestyle in e-commerce, which is currently 25 per cent, is likely to increase to 30 per cent by 2020, according to research firm Technopak.

Currently, e-commerce in India is a small contributor to retail with 0.4 per cent share but it is growing rapidly. It is pegged at $32 billion by 2020 from $2.3 billion last year.

E-commerce will contribute about 6 per cent of the total apparel sales (online and offline) of around $77 billion by 2020, Technopak Senior VP Amit Gugnani told PTI.

"With this in mind, there will be greater challenges of managing a fast fashion high SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) portfolio with what consumers want and will require quick access to market dynamics and how a fashion firm should react to this need and fill it in before competition does," he added.

Market insiders say in recent years movement has become more omni-channel and the commerce in fashion retail is moving towards all-channel and so firms are more looking at advanced analytics to help them understand consumer behaviour.

Retail analytics tools like WGSN INstock brings merchants insight into what is and what is not trending and performing.

WGSN Executive VP (Asia-Pacific) Dan Cotton said: "WGSN Instock gives maximum visibility on how best to adapt to these trends and ensures that tracking them across markets is quick and accurate, giving firm an extra certainty on how to place their products and what products to place on shelves."

INstock is an online retail analytics system providing fashion retailers with fast, in-market intelligence to inform business-critical buying and merchandising decisions.

It tracks over 40 million products from 12,000 retailers in the UK, the US, Australia and Spain. It will also include retailers from India starting this month.

"The USD 585 billion Indian retail market is expected to become USD 1 trillion by 2020, out of which around 10 per cent is fashion and apparel retail alone. This exponential growth of retail in India makes it one of the most important markets for WGSN INstock," Cotton said.

It helps retailers capture market share by identifying future best-sellers, opportunities in pricing architecture and time product drops to maximise revenue, Cotton said.

Fashion retailer YepMe's President Anand Jadhav said: " WGSN INstock's real time data insights from 4 continents and analysis will help YepMe create successful retail market strategies.