Wedding Wear: Indian Retailer's Diary

In this part of the wedding wear study, Images BoF focuses on the changing retail market of wedding wear in India. This article highlights how Indian retailers gear up to do great business in this important season. We also look at the new fashion trends in Indian wedding wear.

- Gurbir Singh Gulati & Rosy N Sharma

The economic impact of the wedding season

The wedding season adds a lot to the retailer’s business, Deepak R Ajwani, Proprietor, Deep Garments (Leebas) shares, “The wedding season adds more value to the retailer and I can say with my experience that it adds an approximate 30 to 40 percent increase in sales.” His brand Leebas is today present across 150-200 doors pan India and has one flagship store.

Anshul Paul, Director, Nargis, shares even more glowing numbers when he explains, “Wedding season is considered to be the most happening season of all the seasons as our sales shoot up due to increased purchases of different varieties of dresses, specially lehengas. This begins post September and also becomes important for the festivities it celebrates. For us, once this season starts, our sales automatically rise and contribute to 70 to 80 percent of annual total.”

There are some specialty retailers like Neeru’s who are established destinations and generate consistent sales throughout the year. And, even they report buoyancy. Harish Kumar, CMD, Neeru’s, says, “Wedding season is definitely one of our favourite seasons. It is a time when everyone wants to shop. Further, online shopping is now becoming very lucrative because of the various deals, discounts, accessibility and payment options that make the process very convenient. The wedding season contributes almost 60 percent to the annual sales.” Kumar further adds, “Year on year, during these seasons, we see the demand going up by as much as 40 percent.” Clearly it is good and it is getting even better.