Brick and mortar stores now in cyber space as Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle jump on e-commerce bandwagon

Unable to ignore the boom in e-tail, large brick and mortar retailers like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and and Spencer’s are looking to start selling their products on online marketplaces like Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and Jabong among others, The Economic Times reported today. Shoppers Stop is expected to start selling garments from its in-house brands like Stop and Haute Curry on these online channels within the next few weeks. The company will also be ramping up its own website to increase its online sales, which currently constitutes less than one per cent of its total turnover. Meanwhile Spencer’s Retail could also launch non-food merchandise such as apparel at opening price points like Rs 99 and Rs 199 on e-commerce websites, while Lifestyle could follow suit. However, Interestingly, Lifestyle’s in-house brands such as Code, Ginger & Fame Forever are already available on Flipkart and Jabong. Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail was the first to give in to the ‘disruptions" caused by e-commerce boom in India.and sell its private brands on Amazon. [caption id=“attachment_1989319” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative Iamge[/caption] The move comes amid signs that aggressive discounting by online retailers are likely to continue in FY 2016. The situation has come to a head, where brick and mortar stores can no longer allow etailer’s to eat into their market share. A recent report by Edelweiss said Shoppers Stop doubled the number of ‘Sale’ days to 65-70 days last year from 34 days in the year before while Lifestyle too, had increased the number of sale days by around seven days last year to keep up with discounts offered by online companies. “Today, manufacturers and retailers running brick-and-mortar stores are anxiously asking the government to intervene with the creation of a regulatory body to stop e-retailers from undercutting prices. Physical retailers are definitely feeling the heat by the marketing blitz of their online counterparts, and the question of whether e-commerce is pushing out brick-and-mortar retailers looms large. Many big companies are rising to the challenge and adopting smarter strategies to guard their turf. The likes of Tata, Future Group and Reliance are expanding their reach by foraying into e-commerce via alliances with leading online players. Indian retailers have clearly read the writing on the wall. As the competition grows, an omni-channel approach to delivering a unified and consistent customer experience is the new watchword,” Anuj Puri Chairman & Country Head, JLL India told Firstpost.