Online clothing retailer expands portfolio across geographies through cross-border trade
Digitization is encouraging Indians to shop online for ethnic wear from any part of India. Small business owners can now reach out to a global customer base. PayPal’s Cross Border Trade 2021 report reveals that ready-made garments present a US $16 billion opportunity for exporters*.
PayPal Cross Border Trade 2021 Report – Readmade Garments Segment
From sarees to an entire apparel portfolio
YourDesignerWear.com is an online retail shopping site that sells ethnic wear for women, men and kids. It is an example of a small business that ramped up in the backdrop of a digital wave, even before the pandemic. What initially began as an online saree-selling platform in 2007, has expanded its market by diversifying into a variety of customized Indian wear. Today the store offers the entire range of ethnic Indian wear from salwar kameez to lehenga choli.
The seller today attributes much of its growth journey to the functional ability of PayPal in connecting them to a global audience. “PayPal’s presence across 200 markets, large customer base and its card acceptance ratio has been a growth driver for us. We have been able to deal with customers across multiple countries and process payments in a secure and seamless manner,” said Dhruv Mehta, Director of Peripleko (YourDesignerWear.com).
Peripleko’s (YourDesignerWear.com) growth journey with PayPal through multiple crises
PayPal has been Peripleko’s trusted partner for close to 14 years now and has been a key enabler of seamless trade. This has helped the business streamline operations through the pandemic. “COVID-19 is not our first crisis together. We were able to face strong headwinds during the global financial meltdown of 2008 when consumer demand and sentiment was badly hit during the recession that followed,” said Mehta.
Dhruv Mehta, Director, Peripleko
Through the following years, the company was able to enjoy heavy demand from markets such as the US, the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and the Middle East. Peripleko was able to further expand its scope through its online retail shop, YourDesignerWear.com by offering custom stitching services for blouses, bridal wear and lehengas to international customers.
Mehta remains hopeful that 2021 will be no different for the business from that period. “Our partnership with PayPal had enabled us to emerge stronger then by leveraging demand from markets that were reviving and we’re confident of the same this time too” he added.
Evolving with time
Understandably, there was a need to modify current business strategies according to a digitalized ecosystem for achieving business goals. YourDesignerWear.com has resorted to offering maximum discounts, free shipping, running social media campaigns and email marketing to ensure continuity of demand.
Peripleko’s journey is a testament to the fact that Indian businesses have created a market for themselves and deliver goods and services across major markets across the globe. This is echoed by UNCTAD’s Global Trade Update which highlights that global trade fared relatively well in 2020 and is expected to further increase during the year. This signifies that business owners can ride the digital payments’ tide to be well-positioned to capture the next wave of growth as eCommerce expands globally.
As global trade continues to grow, there is enough room to shine for small and medium-size business owners. This is an opportunity for Indian merchants that they should not miss!
* PayPal’s Cross Border Trade (CBT) report delineates the opportunity exports presents to MSMEs and freelancers. This is the 3rd article of a 5-part series on PayPal’s CBT report through which we will call out key sectors and corridors that small businesses should target to ensure that they maximize resource allocation and returns. PayPal has been enabling CBT for over a decade in India and has unmatched scale to help small businesses reach our 377 million global consumer base across 200 markets.