As per an Indian Express report, the retail sector is yet to recover from the sales slump due to the pandemic. But as footfalls continue to remain low at shopping malls and complexes even after easing of restrictions, big fashion brands, including Levi’s Strauss, Pepe Jeans, Max Fashion, Forever New and Bata, are sending retail trucks and pop-up stores in residential colonies, in a bid to reach out to customers and boost sales.
After practically no sales for about three months, Pepe Jeans recovered around 30 per cent of its last year’s sales numbers in June. It went up 50 per cent in July. But people are hesitant to go out and shop, said Manish Kapoor, CEO, Pepe Jeans London. Although there has been an increase in online sales, it cannot deliver that “brand experience” to the consumer. The denim and casual wear brand has now started sending fashion trucks to residential colonies in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR this month.
Footwear brand Bata has set up mobile stores in over 40 cities and are witnessing a steady increase in sales. They have segmented consumers in three categories — digital natives, digital adopters and digital novices. For its digital novices, like the elderly, children and homemakers, who have not been stepping out of the house as much, it has launched Bata Store on Wheels, as it wanted to enable them to make hyperlocal purchases from the safety of their condominiums and apartments, said Sandeep Kataria, CEO, Bata India.
