Fastest Finger First

Tata CLiQ Luxury believes it has unlocked luxury e-commerce in India with its unique ‘phygital’ model. COO Vikas Purohit, who takes over as the CEO next month, speaks to BlackBook in an exclusive interview

- Pankti Mehta Kadakia

In April this year, e-store Tata CLiQ Luxury signed on a new brand; an old Indian favourite—Montblanc. The German manufacturer made unprecedented sales of its writing instruments, leather goods and cufflinks—and encouragingly, these orders came from far and wide, from towns including Bilaspur, Kanpur, Coimbatore and Raipur, where Montblanc has had little presence. That, as they say, is the power of e-commerce, especially in a country as diverse as India.

Last month, the parent e-tail brand, Tata CLiQ, celebrated its second anniversary. In October 2016, the brand had launched a separate identity, website and mobile app for its luxury arm, christened Tata CLiQ Luxury. Tata CLiQ Luxury hopes to fill the gap for an Indian Net-a-Porter or Matches.com, and currently stocks premium and bridgeto-luxury brands such as Armani Exchange, Brooks Brothers, Coach, Diesel, Hugo Boss, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Movado, Ted Baker and TUMI.

According to an ASSOCHAM report released in February this year, India’s luxury market is set to grow to $30 billion by the end of the year, up from $23.8 billion in 2017. In the same month, market research company Euromonitor International projected the luxury goods market to more than double in five years, to $53 billion by 2020 from $25 billion in 2015. However, the report also noted that store-based retailing remained the dominant channel for luxury goods. ‘The trend whereby consumers are checking out luxury goods physically before making a purchase continued during 2017. Consumers in India associate luxury goods as a big investment,’ the report said.

How, then, does a luxury e-commerce website like Tata CLiQ Luxury, with prices ranging up to a few lakhs, work to change consumer habits?

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