E-commerce, which was a decade ago considered an indolent aspect of the unorganised Indian retail industry, has today become the platform on which the wheel of the industry runs. In a span of approximately 10 years, e-commerce has played a major role in organising the industry and also making it more convenient and accessible for the users. The additional infl uence of the cyberspace has enabled e-commerce to reach and make an impact even in rural areas as well. Currently, Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to US$ 200 billion by 2026 from US$ 38.5 billion in 2017. By 2021 India is expected to generate $100 billion online retail revenue out of which $35 billion will be through fashion e-commerce. Online apparel sales are also set to grow 4X in the coming years. The July edition of IMAGES Retail brings its readers the complete story on why this enormous demand has caused companies to be more creative in terms of reaching audiences online by introducing new and innovative technologies. The cover story will go over the impact of e-commerce, the role of Omnichannel services in luring modern consumers and how AI, VR and other innovations have impacted the e-commerce industry. The issue also brings readers up to speed with the top innovations by leading brands to add more footfalls and revenue in their respective stores. In other news, we have introduced a new ‘Retail Design’ in which we bring our readers a roundup on how Shoppers Stop has turned its fortunes by focusing on good visual merchandising. We also take a look at how retail design aff ects clicks-to-bricks brands and their store experience learnings. Finally, the edition brings to its readers a roundup of IMAGES’ fl agship fashion retail event, India Fashion Forum 2019, featuring sessions on e-commerce, phy-gital retail and technology innovation, where experts share their experiences from the retail and fashion perspective. As always, I hope you fi nd the issue informative and useful.
The largest read magazine in the Indian retail industry, ‘IMAGES Retail’ is a comprehensive and authoritative one-stop information resource for the top and middle level retail professionals. A powerful catalyst for the profitable growth of the Indian retail industry, Images Retail covers the entire gamut of retail operations in India addressing key issues such as investments and opportunities in retailing, innovation in formats, store design & VM, merchandising, real estate, IT, supply chain & logistics, CRM and analytical reports backed by in-depth market & consumer research.