SUMMARY
Local tailors will pick up packages from warehouse and deliver at customers' doorsteps
The move will help Myntra cut down on returns
Return on sale makes up for nearly 15-20% of all merchandise sold online
Returning clothes bought online is not only an unnecessary burden for customers, it is also a huge business loss for etailers. To address this issue, Flipkart-owned fashion platform Myntra has come up with an innovative idea, wherein local tailors will act as delivery agents and if required, will do the alterations at customer’s doorsteps.
“Most of the garments that are returned today on the platform are because of minor alterations required like the length reduction of jeans or top sleeves. It means business loss, and more importantly, bad consumer experience for us,” said the head of Myntra Jabong, Amar Nagaram. This move will help Myntra reduce the return on sale which makes up for nearly 15-20% of all merchandise sold for the online industry.
This is the first time tailors will act as delivery agents, pick up products from the warehouse and deliver at customers doorsteps. The Bangalore-based fashion etailer has rolled out the initiative in Delhi-NCR recently and will soon be moving to other places, particularly Tier-2 and 3 cities.
Myntra was founded by Mukesh Bansal, Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena in 2007. In 2014, the company was acquired by Flipkart at a deal value of INR 2K Cr ($290 Mn). Myntra partners with over 2K fashion brands and lifestyle brands.
Myntra claims that it offers its services in more than 19K PIN codes across the country and has the largest in-season catalogue and 100% authentic products.
Measurement is the biggest issue faced by fashion ecommerce platforms today as there is no standardization of size among brands yet. Every brand uses its own set of measurements created in consultation with the company’s tailors. These differences in measurements lead to maximum number of returns.
While ecommerce industry in India witnesses an average of 19 lakh shipments a day, merchandise return accounts for 15-25% of the total shipments. This is in spite of technology changing the way customers shop with images size charts, video catalogues and others.
While local tailors acting as delivery agents is new, partnering with them to fix fitting issues isn’t. The sales gap created because of measurement issues has widely been addressed by many ecommerce platforms including Myntra, Abof.com and others by offering alteration services at throwaway charges.
Recently Myntra also came up with a technological upgradation of its offline store with the launch of a new store of Roadster Go in Bengaluru. The store has claims to have 100% RFID (Radio-frequency identification), which also supports 30-seconds check out.
