This is the reach of app installs of fashion platforms started by traditional fashion retailers or Indian business houses.
1. Why does it matter? User attention is an ephemeral thing. Especially these days, we are bombarded with so much content and have so many advertisements thrown at us that getting 2 minutes of an individual’s attention is really quite remarkable. This newsletter is an example — we try to keep it short and crisp keeping in mind that people won’t be inclined to read too long a piece. AJIO’s initial growth in reach and subsequent inability to retain customers is indicative of this larger issue — acquiring customers is hard but keeping them is harder.
2. E-Commerce is a hard place to win in no matter who you are. Many of us were inspired into entrepreneurship by the rise of e-commerce; few people realize that this is a story still in the making. In constant flux and without a definitive winner or a profitable ending.
3. Brick and Mortar players need to start afresh. Unlike other businesses like media for example. Traditional players don’t enjoy any front end advantage. What I mean by that is if you were big in offline media, the likelihood of you leveraging that presence to build an online business is high. However in fashion e-commerce, this trend doesn’t really repeat itself. Being big offline is no guarantee of online success. Zara is a good example of this.
4. Mentality Matters. A large number of Indian business houses don’t want to jump into a bloody battle for customer acquisition. They want to get into businesses with positive unit economics. E-commerce doesn’t necessarily fit that bill yet. I wonder if when that time comes they will find that the winner of the current show down in e-commerce has already taken the game away.
Thanks for your time,
Ashish
— Team KG
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You can reach me on ashish@kalagato.com
