Shop on wheels finally takes off in India as brands arrive at societies with retail trucks

Advertisement
Shop on wheels finally takes off in India as brands arrive at societies with retail trucks
A Levi's retail truck in GurugramNatasha Adlakha/@Grammar_nazzzi
  • The shop on wheels concept has caught the fancy of Indian retailers, who are taking a bus around societies in India's top cities in the hope of making a sale.
  • Levi's jeans is currently experimenting with the concept in Delhi and Gurugram but hopes to scale it up to multiple cities.
  • While malls reopened across India on June 8, the retailers still had a problem – how do they get the customers to the stores.
Advertisement
Move over food trucks, in India the coronavirus hit retailers have taken to retail trucks. The shop on wheels concept has caught the fancy of Indian retailers, who are taking a bus around societies in India's top cities in the hope of making a sale.

Levi's jeans is currently experimenting with the concept in Delhi and Gurugram but hopes to scale it up to multiple cities.

“Our main motive is to ensure that our consumers feel safe and comfortable while shopping at Levi’s®. We have tops, shorts, and lightweight comfortable denim led “work from home ” collection for this store concept. Our consumers can try out the garments at their homes and for alterations the team on the ground takes measurements and the final product, after being modified at the nearest store, is dropped back to the customer,” Sanjeev Mohanty, managing director of Levi’s told Business Insider.

In Mumbai, Max Fashion too has taken the shop on wheels route to garner customer attention. Earlier during the lockdown in May, grocery stores and bookstores had also turned to a similar shop on wheels approach to reach the customer.

But the shop on wheels concept is not new. While it has existed globally for a long time now, in India it is yet to take off. In January, try and buy fashion rental startup Stage3 had launched its ‘Fashion on Wheels’ bus which went around different spots in the national capital trying to sell the concept of rental fashion. Calling it India’s first Fashion Mobile, the vehicle had a walk-in closet that allowed customers to ‘Touch, See, and Rent’ their preferred outfits.

Advertisement

Shop on wheels finally takes off in India as brands arrive at societies with retail trucks
Stage3.co

While malls reopened across India on June 8, the retailers still had a problem – how do they get the customers to the stores. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, customers have been staying away from retail stores and malls.

Moreover, with the second phase of lockdowns across many states in India, retailers who were hopeful for a recovery after the lockdown until June, are once again sceptical.

SEE ALSO:

Radhakishan Damani has a string of challenges ahead of him and falling profits at DMart don’t help

Amazon India took over four years to get $2 billion in exports from India - it now wants to get 5 times the number in the next 5 years



{{}}