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.