Who buys shoes and socks online? That would theoretically be lot ofpeople - students, professionals and senior citizens; does that not cover theentire population who knows about shoes and socks? :-)Way back in 80's and 90's, wearing 'canvas' shoes for playing sportsat school was a big deal. Students used to get real sports shoes only aftergoing to college. After brands like Reebok, Adidas and Nike arrived in India,there was no stopping of students from buying these brands. Just like any otherproducts, cities were the starting point for shoe sales, but they penetratedinto smaller towns also very fast.
Now the same shoes are available online as well in India. There arededicated online shops which sell shoes only, like BeStylish or Fashos.The latter offers 'personalized' shoe store, which you can customize once andvisit every time to check-out the latest that matches your preferences.
There are shoes-only online stores which turned into full-fledgeonline shopping malls like Yebhi.
There are other lifestyle e-commerce stores like Jabong and Myntrawhich sell footwear along with apparel and other items.
Branded companies like Bata and PUMA sell their exclusive footwear in their ownonline stores.
I really wonder how long it takes to get a correct pair of shoes bypurchasing them online? As there is a return-offer from literally all the shoestores, I can order 5 pairs and keep the one that I like most, returning therest. But given so many variations like color, size, design, look & feel,what is the probability of someone liking what they order in the firstinstance?
With success of zappos.com in USA, the model of online stores inniche spaces like shoes has increased across the globe. Zappos has soared fromzero sales in 1999 to 1 billion USD gross sales in 2009 and got acquired byAmazon. If anyone is interested in building their startup into a large-scaleenterprise, they should read 'Delivering Happiness' by Tony Hsieh, CEO of thenZappos. It is not about rags-to-riches story, but about encouraging properculture in an organization, which ultimately leads to delivering happiness tocustomers.
Talking about the niche areas in footwear industry, it isinteresting to watch Footsy Design, a company which sells socks online. They design the socks, get themmanufactured and sell only online right now. A niche space and a unique modelbrings socks for all occasions - day or night, office or home, indoor oroutdoor - and age-group.
Thanks to these e-commerce stores, I am improving on 'footwearvocabulary' - ankle boots, loafer shoes, hiking shoes and ballerina shoes. Itmight take 6 months for me to get a hang of this vocabulary.
While the feet are getting so much of attention and choice, whatabout our head? Someone should be thinking about designing well-branded hatsfor all those last-mile logistics guys, chasing time to meet e-commercecustomer requirements. For all those faces in the crowd - Hats Off !
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