Women shoppers are a potent force for lifestyle focused eComm players: FASHOS Study

Women love being pampered and the good thing about pampering women online consumers is that they respond positively and keep coming back for more. You have a slew of lifestyle focused ecommerce product sites in India that are gradually tweaking their offerings to cater to the specific needs, tastes and preferences of online women patrons.

Take a site like FASHOS.com that is a direct-to-consumer ecommerce vertical e-tailing footwear. It has a unique proposition that has struck a chord with women online shoppers- the site's personalization platform! Everyone likes individualistic attention. FASHOS.com customizes the footwear buying experience such that a lady can create her very own "My Store' based on her style quotient across shoe segments like sports, sandals, casuals, formals, party wear. For most women it's simple, it's easy and it cuts through the clutter of foraging through irrelevant products - as the shoes they see are shoes they like; the experience made possible by a quick survey they answer at the time of site registration.

As much as 40% of FASHOS.com transactions come from "My Stores' or personalized user showcases online. Orders placed by women in the month of March on FASHOS.com contributed 52% of all orders placed. The online brand weaved an exclusive offer specially targeting women all through the month to elicit that kind of response. Celebrating the spirit of womanhood all through March with special offers across the site only for lady patrons made FASHOS.com a compelling "online footwear destination' for women shoppers. Specially, given the fact that women are passionate about shoes!

But are women really a potent force online or fast becoming one on Internet India? According to a recent Comscore study 1 in every 3 users in Internet India is a woman. This number is up from 1 in 5 in 2009. Of those women who are online in India 1 of 3 are on Facebook. According to the Microsoft Starcom Mediavest, May 2010 study: Indian mothers spend 3X more time on the internet than on television. AMAZING, one would never think that! As per the same report 63% of all Indian mothers who are online search for self- related information based on Fashion and accessories (read lifestyle). According to the Synovate survey in 2009 titled "Role Of Digital Medium in Asian Mums' Lives' conducted in 8 countries including India: 81% of Indian digital moms are between the age band of 20-39 yrs, 75% are working, 44% with monthly HHI of 1lac+. The same study claims 48% of all digital mom's in India share their purchasing experiences online. Today, the online Indian woman uses the internet as a tool for continuous self-improvement and for shopping needs. A brand like FASHOS.com can cater to this segment.

The bigger question is: does targeting women online audiences lead to a sustainable, viable business proposition? After all, any brand that does that is addressing just 30 percent of a relatively small universe of about 80 million online users in India. So let's look at the advantages of such a focused online strategy:

1. It brings immense focus to an ecommerce player's marketing plan. You can go after a smaller segment with the same amount of spends making your marketing budget look larger than it actually is.

3. From a value proposition stand point there is clarity in concept from day one!

The trend of women online shoppers increasing is here to stay and for the big players it might be difficult to bring focus at the scales they are operating at. But for the more nimble footed ecommerce players in lifestyle product categories it may well be an attractive differentiator for the customer ecosystem.