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<ul><li>What goes around comes around, especially when it comes to fashion and clothing.</li><li>According to PwC and Assocham, landfills are brimming with so much urban waste that by 2050, India is reportedly going to need a landfill that's the size of its capital New Delhi.</li><li>Before World Environment Day, we talk to Myntra about its new e-store, <keyword id="11376339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="myntra-for-earth">Myntra for Earth</keyword>, that is targeting environment-conscious shoppers and aiming to focus more on sustainability as it moves forward.</li><li>Ayyappan Rajagopal, Chief Business Officer, Myntra tells us about the kind of response Myntra for Earth has seen so far, what kind of sustainable choices do consumers have, changing fashion trends in the future and Myntra for Earth’s goals for this quarter.</li></ul>The future of fashion is upcycling, recycling and sustainable clothing. Brands in India have already started taking baby steps towards converting fashion into a sustainable choice for consumers. More and more consumers are becoming aware of their fashion choices and realising that a worn-out piece of cloth they decide to throw, even as simple as a plain t-shirt, never really goes ‘away.’ It all ends up in a landfill. According to an Assocham and PwC report, landfills are brimming with so much urban waste that by 2050, India is reportedly going to need a landfill that's the size of its capital, New Delhi. At the same time, fast fashion is becoming a trend, which offers consumers the opportunity to buy more clothes at a lower price and that has taken a toll on the environment. It offers consumers an option to swiftly discard their clothes and buy new ‘trendy’ dresses. Consumers and brands aren’t ignoring these horrifying numbers anymore. This World Environment Day, many fashion brands have sworn to make a difference and be cognizant of the harmful effects their products can have on the environment. E-commerce giant Myntra has also stepped up. It has officially launched a sustainable e-store called ‘Myntra for Earth’ that only features eco-friendly fashion choices for all genders and age groups. It has already onboarded 70 leading fashion and lifestyle brands over the last 6 months to offer over 5500 styles to customers on its sustainable store. The store includes handloom and handcrafted, organic, natural-dyed, recyclable and eco-friendly, vegan, and cruelty-free options. The products ordered through this store are delivered in packets made from 100% recycled paper. It is now working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment. We caught up with Ayyappan Rajagopal, Chief Business Officer, Myntra to discuss the challenges of launching a new e-store during a global pandemic, its sustainability roadmap, a few trends that we can expect to see in sustainable fashion and platform’s goals to grow the store this quarter. Excerpts: Q. Tell us more about the 'Myntra for Earth’ store. When was it launched? What kind of response have you seen from the consumers? Launched in October 2020, "Myntra for Earth" is Myntra's sustainable store showcasing a more conscious choice to fashion and lifestyle shoppers. About 70 leading fashion and lifestyle brands have partnered with Myntra over the last 6 months to offer over 5500 styles to customers on its sustainable store. The store offers an immersive and engaging shopping experience for truly ‘sustainability-inclined’ conscious shoppers. As of now, we have seen increased growth in store visits and an uptick in revenue since its launch. The specially-curated store recognises the fashion industry’s sustainability efforts and also aims at augmenting the income opportunities of artisans and NGOs involved. Since its launch, Myntra For Earth store has received a phenomenal response. We are working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment. Q. How are you planning to market this store? Is there a larger campaign-in-the-making to raise awareness? Currently, we are focussing on having the right assortment of brands and products for the consumers in the store as the topmost priority. We have already received phenomenal response from consumers for the products of the store. Nearly 62% of the visitors to the ‘Myntra For Earth’ store are women, with metro cities contributing about 40% of the overall visits to the store. People of all age groups are seemingly conscious about their fashion choices and their impact on the environment in varying degrees. However, those in the age group of 21 to 35 are contributing the highest to the growth of the ‘Myntra For Earth’ store. Q. You have 70 brand partners on Myntra For Earth already. Can you mention a few names? Which are the most loved brands so far? Key names among many include H&amp;M, Mango, Unnati Silks, Bharatsthali, Pothys, Metro Kids Company, Kama Ayurveda, Forest Essentials and Fab India among others. <keyword id="2712840" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Myntra-Fashion">Myntra Fashion</keyword> Brands featured on the platform for their conscious collection include Taavi, Roadster and Ether. Q. So far, we have only seen a few start-ups that are completely sustainable. Are Indian legacy brands following suit? The MFE store has a combination of both home-grown brands like Taavi, Taniera and global brands like Levi, Mango &amp; H&amp;M that give importance to sustainability. Most of the legacy brands have a dedicated charter of well-defined goals on sustainability to educate consumers on organic fashion. Q. Is the packaging for Myntra Earth products different from others? Considering it aims to have a minimal effect on the environment? The majority of the orders are delivered using paper packaging at Myntra. We are gradually moving towards a complete eco-friendly paper for delivery purposes.

Myntra for Earth is working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment: Ayyappan Rajagopal of Myntra

<ul><li>Kidswear witnesses 90% growth in a pandemic year, as parents choose to shop online from the comfort of their homes. </li><li>Myntra added 200+ kids brands during the pandemic to meet the latest need states of the consumers. </li><li>Myntra launches ‘Toys’ in the segment to boost the category. </li></ul>Kids’, as a category of apparel and accessories is emerging as a strong and promising segment for Myntra. As a platform that is aiming to holistically cater to the fashion needs of people under one roof, the kids’ category is an integral part of the overall value proposition of the online fashion platform and has registered a 90% growth over the last year. This may be attributed to the growing attractiveness of online shopping, from the perspective of safety, during the pandemic. As the nation’s largest destination for fashion, Myntra currently houses over 1.1 lakh styles from over 450 leading brands, in the kid’s category. Some of the leading brands on the platform in the Kids’ segment are, H&amp;M, UCB and GAP, among others, while leading products include, Dresses, T-shirts, Sweatshirts, Value Packs and Night Suits. The category also performed extremely well during the course of the pandemic, when its share of revenues doubled, registering strong organic growth for home wear and day wear article types, such as value packs, night suits and innerwear, among others. During the current year-end festive season, Myntra witnessed huge demand for party and outer wear, with sequins and embroidered dresses for girls and blazers and suits for boys. Winter Jackets and sweatshirts are also emerging as favourite among kidswear. Interesting facts on Kids wear: <ul><li>The ratio of products for boys and girls being sold on Myntra – 45:55 </li><li>Most searched product/style in the category – Girls (Dresses), Boys (T-shirts), Kids (Jackets)</li><li>Peak seasons – Festive season, summer holiday season, Children’s day</li><li>Upcoming trends in Kidswear – Printed joggers, colour blocked sweatshirts, brand carriers, casual dresses, smart sleepwear with witty quotes and cartoon printed T-shirts </li></ul>The ongoing End of Reason Sale, EORS, on Myntra which will end on 24 December, offers the perfect opportunity for parents to shop for winter wear for their children. On offer are over 150 brands and 11000 winter styles, with some of the top brands offering ‘Specially curated for Myntra’ ranges, bringing a very differentiated and fashionable line-up that is priced sharply. Strengthening the kids category even further, Myntra has launched ‘Toys’ on the platform recently, expanding its offerings in the segment. Coming as it does, ahead of Christmas, the section is live with 850 styles currently and on track to launching 1500 more in the next 3-4 months. Some of the leading brands in the segment include ToysRus, Disney, Barbie and Mattel among other leading toys brands in the country. Speaking on the segment, Ayyappan Rajagopal, Head of Business, Myntra, said, “The kids’ category is one of the major areas of focus for Myntra, especially after a very successful run in the recent months, peaking during the festive period. We have always been stronger in this segment in the metros and up north, and with the launch of a number of south and regional selection and brands our penetration into T2 and T3 cities has also increased significantly. Right now, we are witnessing over 100% growth in kids’ winter wear, with teens and pre-teens in the age group of 8 to 16 years, growing the highest. Overall, we are expecting strong traction in winter wear, T-shirts, dresses, infant apparel and ethnic wear, as a category in the days ahead.” Myntra strengthened its portfolio in the infant space with big launches like Chicco &amp; Mothercare. Along with that, many new launches like Max, Levi's kids, converse, Jordan helped the platform grow its footprint in the branded space.

Exclusive: As Myntra’s kidswear segment grows by 90% in 2020, the platform forays into toys and adds 200 kids brands

<ul><li>The <keyword id="36208" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="festive-season" source="Orion">festive season</keyword> has always been important to brands, especially to e-commerce players who line up big bumper discounts, look for more retail brands to partner and ramp up their product offerings.</li><li>This festive season, e-commerce platforms are focusing on bringing more personalisation and curation to customers shopping online through greater tech and marketing integration.</li><li>More and more e-commerce platforms are also exploring social commerce, turning their apps into super apps by bringing content, products and trends under one roof for consumers to watch and shop at once.</li><li>With increasing internet penetration, e-commerce players are expecting new growth from Tier II, III and beyond this festive, which will cumulatively contribute to $150 billion of e-commerce as per RedSeer Consulting’s report.</li><li>We speak to India’s leading e-commerce players to find out more about their festive plans and revival expectations.</li></ul>The year 2020 accelerated e-commerce industry, perhaps by a decade, revolutionising the way brands operate, run, and grow their businesses, as well as how consumers choose to shop and pay. In the initial months of the lockdown, businesses witnessed a clear shift in consumer behaviour. Historically offline shoppers also came online due to convenience and safety. Consumers are still hesitant to return to in-store shopping completely and audiences from Tier II and Tier III are also preferring to shop online. The pandemic has evidently caused an inflection point for e-commerce in the country. With the second-largest internet user base, India has emerged as one of the most prominent markets globally. Around 480 million people in India have access to the internet out of which 90 million are online shoppers, according to estimates from management consultancy RedSeer. Shoppers from India’s small towns and cities will cumulatively contribute to $150 billion of e-commerce GMV in the coming decade, until 2030, revealed RedSeer. <div type="image" title="redseer - ecomm report" msid="85901903" hostid="261"></div> After spending a glum year and a half, consumers are excited to celebrate the festive season with upcoming shopping sales for Diwali, Dussehra and Christmas. IPL and ICC T-20 World Cup will further improve consumer sentiment this year. According to a survey conducted by The Trade Desk and YouGov, 82% of consumers shopped online at least once a month in the past six months, and nearly one in four made online purchases several times a week or more often. Titled ‘<a href="https://pages.thetradedesk.com/rs/527-INM-364/images/TheFestiveSeasonPulse2021.pdf">The Festive Season Pulse 2021</a>,’ it further said that 91% of Indian consumers are planning a purchase during the upcoming festive season and six in 10 are interested in learning about new brands during festive season sales. To leverage this uptick in consumer sentiment, the e-commerce category is all set to begin its festive marketing blitz and is preparing to line up big discounts for the season in a few weeks. For this 30-day period leading up to the festive season, leading fashion e-commerce platform <keyword id="319719" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="myntra" source="Orion">Myntra</keyword> has planned ‘Big Fashion Festival,’ which will be followed up with Myntra Diwali Sale, with a focus on ethnic wear. It will also be focusing on emerging categories like Beauty and Personal care, kidswear and categories such as innerwear and essentials which have experienced tailwinds post-Covid. Myntra’s Chief Business Officer, Ayyappan Rajagopal said, “We are expecting this festive season to be bigger than last year with more customers using online channels to make their purchases. Demand usually peaks in the 30 days leading to Diwali and we expect this year to be no different. In fact, the demand in the 2 months leading to the festive season is expected to be far more than last time (because people have learnt with time to adapt to a pandemic world). We expect high demand from across geographies and markets - metros, Tier 1, Tier 2, T3 cities and beyond. To cater to that, we have built the right ethnic wear, beauty, and home selection, and have partnered with brands on best deals. Hence, to leverage this demand and provide best value to our customers, we are organizing Big Fashion Festival and Myntra Diwali Sale to make this season a resounding success.” Right on the heels of the festive season, Myntra ramped up its marketing game by onboarding Hrithik Roshan, Vijay Deverakonda and Dulquer Salmaan as its newest brand ambassadors, alongside the existing celebrity ambassadors Kiara Advani, and Samantha Akkineni. Now, it is hoping to double its customer base and cater to Gen-Z shoppers with its high-decibel marketing. “With the optimism coming from recovery from Covid and revival in shopping sentiments along with the habitualisation of digital foray across all customer segments, we see a lot of new customers shopping during this festive season. We have also seen trends in Metro/T1 markets where Myntra has been traditionally strong, pointing towards such a revival. With a positive overall sentiment, we will be looking at doubling our customer base during this period. There will also be an added focus towards expanding our footprint in southern markets, deeper penetration into Tier 2 / 3 towns and exploring customer addition through emerging categories like Kids wear, Inner wear, fashion accessories, Beauty and persona care, etc. The greatest focus will be on Gen-Z cohort of shoppers,” shared Rajagopal. E-commerce platforms are also focusing on bringing more personalisation and curation to customers shopping online through greater tech and marketing integration. More and more e-retailers are exploring social commerce, turning their apps into super apps by bringing content, products and trends under one roof for consumers to watch and shop at once. D2C fashion platform Bewakoof.com that recently raised Rs 60 crore in an investment round led by InvestCorp, IvyCap and Spring Marketing Capital, is expecting to Rs 120 crore in brand sales this quarter. It recently rolled out celebrity-led digital campaigns with Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra and Farhan Akhtar. It plans to further build its market presence by signing more A-list celebrities to its roster and launch a 360-degree campaign by October. On the technology side, the company intends to launch a gamification-led loyalty program as it upgrades its Bewakoof Tribe with new and exclusive launches for the club members. Sharing the platform’s festive plans further, Prabhkiran Singh, Founder CEO, Bewakoof.com said, “Post pandemic, we saw a strong recovery and growth in certain categories like casual wear and leisurewear because of customers staying at home and with the pandemic slowing down, we expect a strong recovery in categories like ethnic wear, bags, accessories, etc in the festive season ahead. We’re also looking to capitalise on winter wear more this year than usual with winter around the corner and have put in investments accordingly. We expect our brand sales to be Rs 120 crore for the festive quarter.” For Bewakoof, the northern and western markets see the highest demand, followed by West Bengal and Assam because of Durga Puja. Currently, over 6 million customers visit Bewakoof.com every month. Singh told us that the festive season serves as a crucial window in the year for new customer acquisition and bringing back customers that haven’t shopped again for a while. The platform is also planning on increasing its marketing spends this festive. “For this year, 15% of our total marketing budget will be spent for the upcoming festive season.” We’re in the process of rebranding Bewakoof in the next 1-2 months and we’ll have a new look, logo, tagline along with a new set of celebrities that will endorse Bewakoof so we’re excited to roll this out and create buzz around it along with backing it up with top-funnel marketing investments. We plan to go heavy on top-funnel marketing investments starting October,” said Singh. E-retail platform OLX has upped its UI to woo its customers, digitising the entire process of online retailing, including verification of all its premium items. OLX Autos launched a verified inventory of cars with a new interface, which provides a detailed history of the car right from the ownership period all the way up to the service history of the car, and access to a host of financing options and after-sales products like insurance and warranty. As a result, OLX has witnessed a surge in demand for pre-owned cars. Sapna Arora, CMO, OLX India said, “Green shoots are already visible in the used car retail segment. The demand for pre-owned cars has been 25% higher than the pre-Covid levels while there has been an 82% plus growth in demand for pre-owned smartphones. Our goods category has also witnessed a strong rebound, as demand and supply have gone up by an average of 68% and 25%, respectively, compared to pre-Covid levels. The upcoming festival season is important for us as we expect the gap to be narrowing down between pre and post-Covid levels. There has been a strong uptake of e-commerce across regions, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, with consumers there making the greatest shift to online shopping. We will continue to focus on the pre-owned auto segment and are expecting to surpass the demand this festive season.” At an industry level, Arora told us that e-commerce players are leveraging on hyper-personalisation to create individualised experiences on the platform and AI-powered chatbots are being implemented by the online retailers to bring customers close to an offline retail experience with a high engagement rate. Sharing OLX’s plan, Arora added, “This festive season we plan to use innovative solutions via relevant messaging at different levels of the retail journey. Our consumer base is growing organically. During this year’s lockdown, a lot of people moved online and we saw growth, about 30% more daily active users (DAUs) from our previous pre-Covid peak. In the festive season, our huge inventories across segments will contribute to increasing the DAU’s on the platform.” As per Nielsen India’s E-commerce Consumer Panel (E-Analytics Solution), there was a double-digit increase in average spend of online shoppers for electronics and accessories (39%), mobile and accessories (12%), and fashion, including apparel, footwear, and accessories (10%) after the pandemic. Appliances (e.g.TV, WM, refrigerators, etc.) also saw notable shopper spending increase at 9%. E-commerce giant Amazon is also ramping up its product range for the festive season. “Together with thousands of small &amp; medium business and brand partners, we continue to offer our customers the widest selection, convenience, and fast delivery. We are humbled by how millions of Indian customers have made us a part of their daily lives. Also, customers continue to believe that online shopping is the safest way to shop which has been reflecting in all the recent events of Amazon like Prime Day 2021, Great Freedom Festival, Rakhi Store, Onam store and so on. This festive season is not a normal one for reasons we all know and our success metric would be focused on how we can make our sellers successful. Customers can look forward to shopping from a wide selection of products across categories like Home &amp; Kitchen, Fashion &amp; Beauty, Appliances and Smartphones, Grocery essentials and more from the comfort and safety of their homes," said an Amazon India spokesperson. This growth trajectory of e-commerce platforms in India testifies how customers are increasingly recognising the importance of comfort shopping within closed doors, and after seeing their businesses take a plunge in the first three months of the lockdown, more and more sellers are also coming online.

This festive season, e-commerce platforms are betting big on Tier II and III markets, which are likely to contribute $150 million to e-commerce growth this year

<ul><li><keyword id="31174" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="brands">Brands</keyword> have seen early signs of recovery during <keyword id="126295" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Akshaya-Tritiya">Akshaya Tritiya</keyword> and <keyword id="6385850" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raksha-Bandhan">Raksha Bandhan</keyword> and their businesses are approaching normalcy. </li><li>After surviving the storm during the lockdown, brands have a lot of hope resting on the festive season to bring in cheer and profitability in their businesses. </li><li>With Ganesh Chaturthi around the corner, we decided to speak to a few brands across categories on how they are preparing for the festive season and what kind of expectations they have pinned on the latter half of the year for recovery. </li></ul>Brands are pinning a lot of hopes on the festive season this year to help them bounce back. They have started working on their advertising campaigns in full swing to win back consumer trust and help shape the <keyword id="29547" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Market">market</keyword> sentiment. The festive season, which begins in August and continues till January, often results in a disproportionate increase in demand of goods and services, marking an important period for most consumer brands. However, the pandemic this year has made consumers frugal and the current market unrest has taken a sharp toll on the total spends. As per Madison’s report, AdEx collapsed by as much as 65% because of COVID-19 in Q2, indicating how badly the economy has been performing so far. Last year for Television, the Indian Premier League (IPL), ICC World Cup and Elections in Q2’19 contributed around Rs 3,000 crore (34% to the TV AdEx in Q2’19). However, the pandemic removed both these money-spinners from the AMJ quarter this year, which has added to the decline. This year, brands are trying to come up with innovative solutions to reach out to their consumers at their door steps and are optimistic about seeing a stable growth in the next few months. Fashion e-commerce giant Myntra has seen early signs of recovery and <keyword id="1549018" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="consumer-sentiments">consumer sentiments</keyword> picking up during Raksha Bandhan as it witnessed a surge in demand for women's ethnic wear, men’s occasion wear, kids wear, and accessories such as watches, handbags. It also saw 3.5 million customers shopping during the June edition of EORS, a testimony of how consumer sentiments are getting back on track. “The festive season, followed by winter, is the most exciting quarter for Myntra. This year we are expecting a massive scale and growth in festive buying as consumer sentiment continues to be strong. Myntra is already operating at a pre-lockdown scale, and this upcoming festive season will definitely help us in boosting our growth further. Our focus will continue to be on enhancing customer experience by providing high-quality merchandise in a curated and personalized store, along with safe and fast delivery. Our new customer acquisition is at an all-time high and we are ensuring we help them in all their lifestyle needs. We are witnessing a spike in our Tier II and Tier III customers and orders as well,” said Ayyappan Rajagopal, Head of Business, Myntra. Another new-age brand Melorra that specializes in modern jewellery, has managed to avoid the losses incurred by various other businesses during the pandemic months. It saw a 400% growth in the last financial year, and is confident of matching that level of growth with a strong performance in the upcoming festive season. “The festive season this year is expected to be even more impactful than the past for Melorra. Firstly, the lockdown that started in March slowed down the jewellery purchase due to disruption in the delivery logistics, and most of the people are looking to buy jewellery now that the deliveries have resumed. Given the pandemic, all festivities in the first 2 quarters of the FY was a washout, hence there could be a trend reversal during festive season – but not at the previous levels. Since the prices are also at an all-time high, customers would opt for lightweight and trendy gold jewellery that is not only stylish but also easy on the pocket. Melorra caters to women who live in the moment and do not keep gold stacked away in lockers like before. Hence, it is definitely a key period for the brand and the jewellery industry at large,” said Sharat Krishnan, Head of Marketing, Melorra. The festive season has always been the most important part of the year for the jewellery business. Titan has already seen 80% recovery because people are celebrating their milestones with their families at home. It has a campaign and launch of a new collection lined up for October. Ajoy Chawla, CEO Jewellery Division, Titan Company Ltd sees no reason why the festive season shouldn’t be as good as last year. “It would be as good as last year or slightly lesser. The most optimistic expectation is that it should be as good as last year. Even if it is 90% or 80% close to last year’s performance, that’s good. We’re currently seeing 80% recovery and this is my best estimate. We’ve seen this recovery because people are still celebrating milestones like anniversary, birthdays, etc. They understand that the reality is grim but how long can you keep your life on hold? They want to feel good. Also, Q3 is wedding season but the festive season is delayed this year so the season may start a little slower unless there are massive rebound cases. Some markets also take two steps forward and three steps back, there is always some fluctuation. However, after October, we are hoping to see more stability. We will also launch a new collection and campaign around October,” shared Ajoy Chawla, CEO Jewellery Division, Titan Company Ltd. On what the consumer sentiment would likely be this festive season, Nidhi Sinha, Head of Content, Mintel India said, "One of the most important things people are looking forward to once the restrictions of the pandemic are lifted is meeting friends and family. However, according to research from Mintel’s Global COVID-19 Tracker in August, 42% of Indian consumers are looking forward to meeting family and friends in person compared to 34% of consumers in early July. This desire has accelerated due to the onset of the festive season." Mintel's research data indicates that consumer sentiment is improving and there is more willingness to spend on luxury items and good brands in the market. Sinha added, "Ganesh Chaturthi, which is round the corner, would be one such important festival that would entail celebrations in a different way so as to be in line with the pandemic protocols. As people continue to be under restrictions due to the pandemic, this festival is expected to be low key compared to regular times. However, Mintel research highlights that 30% of Indian consumers are planning to spend more on clothes and accessories, presenting an opportunity for brands. This is indicative that people are planning to spend on indulgences despite a negative economic outlook. Brands like Gemini oil, Ferns and Petals and Cadbury have been very agile in talking about the changing face of the festivities and how it is an opportunity for people to spend such festivals at home with their loved ones.” Festive season is an important period for the retail industry. It is a time when consumer spending is at an all-time high. One of the leading sportswear brands PUMA has multiple new launches planned throughout the season to cater to increasing demand. Telling us how the consumer sentiment changed in retail, Abhishek Ganguly, General Manager, PUMA India and Southeast Asia said, “As we’re witnessing right now, online channels will continue to be a convenient option for consumers to shop. Given the precautions around health and safety, we are seeing people shop online or go to a store where they are confident about the hygiene measures being implemented. Having said that, as lockdown continues to be relaxed across the country, we are seeing a steady week-on-week increase in footfalls with consumers visiting our stores to buy fashion essentials.” On festive expectations, Ganguly added, “Over the last 3-4 months, we have been seeing steady growth across both our offline and online channels. The conversions have increased substantially from pre-Covid times as people exactly know what they want to buy and are shopping with a clear intent. Given the trend of how things are continuing to improve compared to the previous months, we are very hopeful of a strong September and October. We hope this trend continues through the festive season and beyond.” Electronics giant Philips has launched a few new products like Smart Hair Dryer, Eyebrows Trimmer this month to ride on the improving consumer sentiment due to the festive season. Gulbahar Taurani, Vice-President, Personal Health, Philips Indian Subcontinent, Philips India, said, “The trends indicate that this is going to be a good season. We will have our challenges in terms of supply chain, partial lockdown, movement of products because the number of COVID cases are going up. From a demand standpoint, we see a very positive sentiment. I believe that this is going to stay, which will drive the festive season. As a part of the festive season, we had a couple of new launches last month itself.” The furniture segment, which was on complete halt during the lockdown as it did not fall under essentials, is also gearing up for the festive months. Given that individuals are spending more time at home due to the lockdown, home-grown brand Pepperfry witnessed an uptick in demand for WFH furniture and décor. In fact, Pepperfry is already at 100% of its pre-lockdown sales volumes. Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, Pepperfry is now anticipating to see this trend boost their sales further as people continue to focus on making their home spaces better equipped for everything. The brand is upping its digital media game and has launched a new campaign called ‘Swadeshi is Great’. “Given that household products and celebrations at home play such an important role during the festive season, consumers are constantly looking to revamp/renovate the space such that the home category witnesses a natural upswing in demand during festivals. With this combination of consumer adaptation and brand innovation, we are positive about the consumers’ outlook and demand for categories like home décor and furniture. As consumers have become apprehensive with regards to shopping offline or even stepping outside, they are increasingly adapting to buying online. Our online business is already at 120% of pre-COVID levels. As we move along, we plan to keep innovating with digital tools to enhance our consumers’ buying experiences,” said Vadapalli. The sudden outbreak of the pandemic brought a lot of businesses to a standstill. However, one of the few sectors that have seen an upturn amid the nationwide lockdown is EdTech. Now, to evolve with changing times and to prepare for the upcoming festive season, upGrad is looking at altering its marketing strategy. It is shifting its spends towards TV as consumers would want to spend more time together, while supplementing it with digital. Telling us what kind of changes EdTech has gone through lately, Arjun Mohan, CEO-India, upGrad said, “Given the current scenario, consumer priorities are being re-calibrated. They are now undergoing a behavioral shift which is directly reflecting on their spends. Unlike earlier, individuals today have ample time and money to spend on upskilling options, which otherwise, was parked for a later date. upGrad has seen a big behavioral shift in the mindset of parents too towards learning online, as they have seen their kids benefiting from it in real-time. This is one of the major drivers that has created a massive demand for our specialised online programs, which not only enhances the domain knowledge, revise skill sets, etc. but also help professionals achieve desired career outcomes.” All brands voiced their confidence that the worst has passed, and the markets will only move towards normalcy hereon.

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Myntra for Earth is working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment: Ayyappan Rajagopal of Myntra

Karuna Sharma

Exclusive: As Myntra’s kidswear segment grows by 90% in 2020, the platform forays into toys and adds 200 kids brands

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This festive season, e-commerce platforms are betting big on Tier II and III markets, which are likely to contribute $150 million to e-commerce growth this year

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Festive Marketing: Brands are optimistic that improving consumer sentiments will help them bounce back and bring in profitability

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