India’s Myntra hires tailors as delivery agents to reduce returns

Myntra, a Flipkart-owned Indian fashion platform, has roped in local tailors to pick up packages from warehouses and deliver to customers to mend the sales gap caused by the return of ill-fitting clothes. 

The move is set to minimise business losses by cutting down on the return of clothes and refunds, says GlobalData, a data and analytics company.

Tying up with local tailors in apparel delivery is not a new concept and companies such as Raymond and Birla-owned Abof.com took initiatives to partner with local tailors as last-mile delivery agent.

Shagun Sachdeva, consumer insights analyst at GlobalData, says Myntra started offering alteration services in Bengaluru back in 2016. 

“The company is now looking to address the discomfort of consumers in searching for tailors for altering purposes. This is aimed at mending the sales gap and at the same time improving customer satisfaction by fixing fitting flaws on the doorstep.”

According to GlobalData, online retail in India accounted for US$17.2 billion in 2017 and is projected to reach $69.9 billion by 2022.

In line with this growth, the online retailing of clothing in India grew exponentially in the last few years, reaching $5 billion last year, owing to increasing penetration of the internet and discounts offered by online retailers.

The market is currently fragmented, with market leader Amazon commanding just 5 per cent market share across all categories. Therefore, in order to break the clutter, companies such as Myntra are finding innovative ways to please the customers.

Sachdeva says Myntra has reduced its losses from $96 million in 2017 to $22 million last year and aims to turn itself profitable down the line. 

“Such loss-reducing measures might be helpful.”

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