Online fashion retailers resume business eyeing Eid

Online fashion houses are resuming their operations eyeing the Eid market after remaining closed for more than a month amid the Covid-19 shutdown.

Many Facebook-based businesses started taking orders from customers for clothing products from May 1.

Ahmed Iftekhar, a public university student, told The Business Standard that he ordered two pairs of pants through a Facebook-based shop. "I placed the order on May 1, and the next day the product was delivered to my home," he said. 

Creative Fashion Gallery, a men's fashion outlet operating on Facebook, said the response has been overwhelming.

"We resumed our online services and the response has been double that of usual times," Abdullah Al Mamun, the business' owner said on Sunday. He added that currently the orders are mostly being delivered through courier services.

According to a report released last year by German statistics firm Statista, the online fashion market in Bangladesh is worth $598 million, and it has the capacity to reach up to $1.24 billion by 2023.

Hritisha Sifat, manager at the Woman's Fashion BD, said the response is good after reopening business and they expect it to increase in the coming days.

"We have just resumed operations and the number of orders coming through is satisfactory. As we are making deliveries using our own channels, the customers are getting the products quickly," she said. 

Some fashion outlets on Facebook, however, started taking orders on the condition deliveries will be made only once the shutdown is over.

One of the partners of fashion brand Slides, Tanjila Tanya, said the products will be delivered after the lockdown as they need shipment clearance.

"We are accepting orders only on the condition they will be delivered after the lockdown, and our customers are still relying on us. As some products come from abroad, we have to operate in such a way for now," she said.

Industry insiders said there are thousands of small businesses that operate on Facebook, selling fashion and lifestyle items.

According to industry sources, around 90 percent of the e-commerce firms had almost zero business during the Covid-19 crisis that escalated on March 26 with a nationwide shutdown.

The majority of the country's e-commerce businesses are related to fashion goods and electronic gadgets.