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Clothing retailers are increasingly focusing on online sales amidst the surge in coronavirus infections as they seek to salvage their sales during the two biggest spending seasons–Pahela Baishakh and Eid-ul-Fitr.
The rising caseloads left the clothing brand executives to apprehend a repeat of last year’s situation when sales plunged to less than 10 per cent during the two seasons, which accounted for about 50 per cent of their total annual sales before the pandemic hit the country in March last year.
The stores are now arming themselves with better automation for online sales, building their delivery mechanisms or partnering with logistic aggregators, setting a target to make at least 20 per cent of the sales online.
The strategy of lifestyle brand Sara is worth emulating as it has built a new unit to cater to online orders.
“Now we can deliver products through our own arrangement in Dhaka city,” said SM Khaled, managing director of Sara Lifestyle, which has five outlets and witnessed an annual growth of 100 per cent since its 2018 launch.
“We have built a small but efficient team with IT experts, technicians and a fleet of delivery personnel so that we can deliver our product to customers in the capital in the shortest possible time,” he said.
The brand’s customers can also order clothes from anywhere in the country as district-level deliveries are being made through partner logistic companies.
Sara’s online sales jumped to 10 per cent of its overall sales in 2020, up from 2 per cent in 2019.
“Online customers can avail all options—exchange of product, cancellation of orders, return of products—free of cost,” said Khaled.
Sara has set a target to make 20 per cent of its Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla calendar, and Ramadan sales online this year.
Another brand, Le Reve, is trying to close all the loopholes that obstruct effective online sales, said its CEO Monnujan Nargis.
“For the coronavirus disease, last year’s online sales were down, and we faced some difficulties. So, we introduced better automation, quicker delivery this year,” she said.
Le Reve, which has 16 outlets in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Sylhet and Khulna, made 15 per cent of its total sales online last year.
“We are now evaluating the situation as we are getting the news of new lockdown measures,” Ashraful Alam, CEO of leading lifestyle brand Aarong, told The Daily Star yesterday.
The government yesterday announced that it would enforce a weeklong countrywide lockdown from tomorrow. The restriction may be extended further if the situation worsens.
“We hope we can manage some business through online orders as we have recently upgraded our online platform, launched a new mobile app, developed back-end and sorting, and improved delivery systems,” Alam said.
Aarong, which has 21 stores, witnessed a couple of hundred per cent increase in its online orders during Ramadan last year.
The retail clothing industry has started to rebound from pandemic-induced woes, and the sales have nearly reached pre-pandemic levels in recent months.
Last year, the loss in revenue was tremendous as they had to sell products at hefty discounts—from 40 per cent to 70 per cent—to clear out inventory. And now they are in for another onslaught of the pandemic.
Kay Kraft, one of the leading clothing brands, has adorned its 25 showrooms with collections marking Pahela Baishakh.
“But people are anxious about the current situation. No one knows what’s going to happen next. As time goes on, this will have a negative impact on business,” said Khalid Mahmood Khan, the brand’s owner.
Kay Kraft is now working on finding ways to take its products further outside Dhaka through the enhancement of online sales.
“If the situation worsens, we will deploy additional workforce for the online platform marking Eid and Baishakh,” Khan said.
Baishakh and Eid account for 50 per cent to 60 per cent of Kay Kraft’s annual sales.
“We have to introduce new strategies in the business. Otherwise, brands will not survive,” he said.
However, most of the brands believe online sales alone will not be able to rescue them from the downturn.
“Like last year, the sales in Baishakh and Eid-ul-Fitr festivals will fall drastically as the government has already announced lockdown measures,” said Shaheen Ahmmed, president of the Bangladesh Fashion Designers Association and the owner of fashion brand Anjans.
He thinks that the fashion houses would incur losses of Tk 6,000 crore to Tk 7,000 crore this year.
“Online is an alternative medium to selling products as most of the houses have digital platforms. Loss cannot be compensated just by selling products online. The lion’s share of the products is sold in brick-and-mortar stores,” he said.
Raihan Kabir, head of marketing at Yellow, a brand owned by Beximco Group, said people were not in a shopping mood as they were in a panic over coronavirus.
“However, we will focus on e-commerce so that we can meet the needs of those who still want to buy clothes. We will concentrate on digital marketing as we have preparations to cater to online customers.”
Raghunath Basak, owner of Jagneswar & Co and a resident of Chandi village in Delduar, Tangail, has been involved in the local batik garment manufacturing and marketing business for 47 years.
Every year, during the festival of Pahela Baishakh, the company used to sell products worth at least a few lakh taka.
“I faced losses last year because of the virus. Now I’m shocked by the rise of new infections and reinstatement of lockdowns,” he said.
Considering the collapse in sales last year, Jagneswar & Co has made less than 50 per cent of the products this time.
“I invested all of my cash. I don’t know what to do now. I received only 30 per cent of the orders this year compared to previous years. I am very worried,” Basak said.
(TDS)
