The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on consumers’ lives all over the world. We are although now slowly returning back to normal as stay-at-home orders and country-wide lockdowns start to ease a little. Where has this pandemic left us? Consumer behaviour especially has been redefined, consumers are now driven by more personal circumstances, such as changes in disposable income and spare time than what’s happening on the outside. Consumers are now reconsidering their values and priorities before making any purchase decisions.
When it comes to the Indian fashion industry, things started to change even before the COVID-19 crisis hit us, many of these changes though might have been accelerated by the onset of the crisis. Online shopping may have surged, but not enough to erase the damage done by store closings and economic imbalance, which caused people to curtail spending on nonessential goods.
The Indian government is now beginning to reopen its economy and companies and people are gradually returning to work. However, fashion shouldn’t return to simply what it was, it must be more sustainable, more innovative, etc. The evolved consumer behaviour, preferences, and shifts in the overall mindset that people have adopted during the pandemic will lead to permanent changes, including diversified spending, accelerated adoption of online, digital and e-commerce, and a 100 per cent increased demand for purpose-driven brands endorsing sustainable fashion. Preference for fast fashion may decline due to economic uncertainty, while a steady increased movement towards work-from-home arrangements is increasing the demand for more organic casual comfortable home clothes.
Moreover, even today, as we continue to fight the ongoing pandemic, one brand store can open without any restrictions but another location offering the same brand in a nearby town or state may be limited in its foot traffic capacity. For some Indian fashion retailers, the secret to recovering sales in such an uneven competitive landscape is the use of omnichannel touch points (omni-channel retail or omnichannel commerce) is a multichannel approach to sales that focuses on providing seamless customer experience whether the client is shopping online from a mobile device, a laptop or in a brick-and-mortar store). No matter the economic condition, timely decisions are essential to run an omnichannel model without narrowing sale margins and impacting the bottom line.
From a brick and mortar store retailers, I would suggest to employ a location strategy that is two steps ahead of where the virus is trending, allowing enough time for swift changes. It is important to understand that as consumers change their daily routines to limit coronavirus exposure and businesses embrace a remote work or a hybrid work model, they may no longer be where they’ve traditionally been, their commute routes may no longer be the same. For instance, stores in corporate districts that once relied heavily on shoppers from the commuter workforce now must adapt to new patterns.
The current issues faced across our fashion retail industry have indeed prioritised, elevated and accelerated the need for innovation to meet multiple challenges – this is the need of the hour, the only thing that will help our industry to emerge stronger from this crisis. As an industry, we have persevered through challenging times, have shown our resilience, ingenuity and creativity to emerge stronger…and we must continue to work together to stay strong.This article is authored by Babita Jain, a textile designer, artist and the founder of The House of Prana.
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