Why should women have all the fun? Now, India’s fashion conscious men have a new online address to head to. Fetise presents Indian men with a brand new shopping address, and one that maintains exclusivity as well. Fetise.com is a new fashion e-tailer that works on the members-only policy. The online channel calls itself “… India’s first private fashion sales club for Men selling apparel, shoes and accessories from top-tier luxury brands.” Fetise.com’s tagline is “Real Fashion For Men.” The company has tied up with twelve international luxury brands.
Fetise Retail Pvt Ltd is the brainchild of Abhishek Shah, co-founder of group buying platform WanaMo.com. After German firm Group Buying Global AG and Smile Interactive group acquired WanaMo.com in June 2010 and relaunched it as Dealsandyou.com, Shah ceased to look after the day-to-day running of the site. However, he continues to hold equity in the site, which offers daily deals in dining, gadgets, travel and more across 18 cities.
According to Shah, e-commerce site Fetise.com records some 100 transactions daily, with the average transaction amounting to Rs 2500. The site currently boasts of some 50,000 members. This should belie initial doubts about whether a men’s-only fashion site can prove profitable.
Shah offers the example of Gilt Man, a niche shopping website for men under the Gilt Groupe which recorded a $100 million annual sales vertical. Soon enough, Gilt Man was launched as bricks-and-mortar stores in London. This clearly indicates that there is plenty of growth potential in this niche segment, an area that is yet to be tapped fully in India. Fetise.com estimates that e-commerce for men could grow into a $100 million industry in India by 2012.
Internationally, there has been a surge in the number of online flash sales sites. The idea of offering limited-time sales of luxury fashion items is taking off all over the world. Gilt Man, Rue La La and Vente Privee are among the bigger players in this growing market. In the Indian context, sites like Exclusively.in, 99Labels.com, BagItToday and FashionAndYou.com are attracting plenty of interest from venture capitalists.
Recently, the Group Buying Global AG-held Fashionandyou.com managed to raise a whopping $8 million from Sequoia Capital India. The e-commerce site belongs to a brand alliance of members-only sales clubs across 8 nations. Among the other e-commerce sites in this global alliance is Russia’s KupiVIP, the Middle East’s Sukar and Australia’s BrandsExclusive.
Recently, BagItToday.com (which is owned by the India Today Group) sold 19.1 percent stake to German multimedia group Axel Springer AG. The search for funding from venture capitalists will continue as business grows.
In India, flash sales sites haven’t made deep inroads yet. But they are gaining ground. Giving competition to Fetise.com are Brandmile.com and ThePrivateSales.com. However, in markets like India, sustainability and accessibility will remain a question. Exclusively.in co-founder Sunjay Guleria at the VCCircle e-commerce forum raised the dual issues recently.
However, the growing Indian economy and increasing disposable income should prod Indian consumers to head to e-commerce sites that run exclusive flash sales. And the rise of sites like Fetise.com that promise discounts of up to 80 percent for members, are a nudge in that direction.
Via: TechCircle.in
