“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” - Eric Schmidt, CEO - Google
On 17 Nov 2010, Google announced its foray into the online fashion industry by launching Boutiques.Com – A fashion centred search platform, which lets its users find and discover fashion goods/ accessories through a collection of boutiques customized by celebrities, stylists, designers, and fashion bloggers.
Experts say that, Google aims to become the first stop for online shoppers of apparel and accessories. As expected, Boutiques.com doesn't sell the items on its own , it just guides the users reach the best possible purchase decision with the help of multiple parameters and its internal algorithm. The products listed, comes from hundreds of online merchants such as Ralph Lauren, Steve Madden and Juicy Couture and boutiques.com directs the shoppers to original merchant's sites when they are ready to make a buy.
The big question many fashion industry experts asked – Why is Google taking such active interest in such a niche market. The fact of the matter is that, the online fashion market is a rapidly growing segment and is touted as the next big thing in the world of e commerce.
The retailers along with fashion labels have realised that now is the time to jump into the bandwagon and profit by becoming early adapters otherwise they will remain behind in the race and watch a golden opportunity being missed by a whisker.
Many fashion business houses including the exporters and manufacturers are trying to evaluate the pros and cons of such services and how much can they benefit from the same (after the hype).
Fashion accessories suppliers are more excited about this as their stuff like jewelry, gloves, handbags, hats, belts, scarves, watches, sunglasses is a relatively easy proposition to sell rather than the actual dresses or other high end products. These accessories have a predefined and widely accepted shapes and size and doesn't need too much of a - personal look and feel experience, making it an attractive segment to sell/promote online.
Fashion accessories industry has given a thumbs up to Google's initiative with a general feeling that it might become a turning point, in the times to come for the e-commerce industry. As Google itself say that - market for soft goods online is growing tremendously, its time for the fashion pundits to take a pro active approach and laugh their way to the bank.
PS : If you are a fashion accessories suppliers get your online catalog today and make profits by tapping the business queries being generated across the globe on the web 24/7 . To know more, click on wholesale fashion accessories.
The latest buzz in the Indian handicrafts market is about the recent revelation that, the handicraft industry stands at $100 billion worldwide and India has just 1.2% of this market. Rubbing the salt on the wounds is another fact that, China, Indonesia and Vietnam are the biggest three exporters of handicrafts, across the globe.
Even though Indian handicrafts industry is showing signs of improvement (the first half of the current financial year was $1.07 billion, about 24 per cent up from $864 million achieved in the first half of last year), the matter of fact is - it is still miles away from the coveted top 3 slots. Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran recently announced that his Ministry would give top priority to put together schemes and other initiatives to promote marketing of handicrafts and handloom products. His ministry has set an export target of $2.2 billion, exclusively for handicrafts segment.
Many small exporters, owe their under performance to three main factors: unavailability of information regarding market demands, their small size and use of obsolete machinery /technology.
India has many USPs to help it become one of the major exporters globally. These factors are
Easy availability of labour, that too at at cheap price.
Easy availability of raw materials.
High domestic consumption.
The handicrafts industry provides livelihood for more than six million artisans out of which a big share is constituted by women artisans usually from the weaker sections of the society.
US, Canada, France, Britain, Italy, and Germany have been the biggest importers of Indian handicrafts products. One of the encouraging sign, is the development in sectors like retail, real estate etc. which has increased the demand for the handicraft products in the urban sector.
Despite of all the positive signs which we have discussed above, there are some problem areas as well (mainly with the small scale handicrafts segment )
Lack of application of new technological innovations despite of awareness.
Lack of funds for setting up handicraft firms/factories etc.
Inability to stay in touch with the ever changing trends and market demands.
Lack of adequate infrastructure.
Image problem - The industry is confined to small cities and rural areas and is not considered a lucrative career option.
Slowly but gradually things are improving in the indian handicrafts sector. With the renewed interest from the present government, the Indian handicrafts industry seems to be well on its way to speedy recovery. Corporates too have started taking keen interest in the handicraft sector which would further accelerate its growth. Many handicrafts exporters are also using online media as a distribution channel for tapping the western market. Hopefully in the times to come, Indian Handicrafts Exporters would be able to script one of the remarkable success stories of all times.
PS : Indian handicrafts exporters get your online catalog today and make profits by tapping the business queries being generated across the globe on the web 24/7 . To know more , click on Indian handicrafts manufacturers
Recently, the India's Ministry of Textiles announced that USA has removed Indian carpets from the list of products "produced by forced labour or child labour in violation of international norms.” The US dept. of labour quickly clarified that it hasn't taken such a decision and would comment upon after studying the findings of an undergoing research report.
The Indian carpets industry used to be largely unorganized in the 90s where in few instances of such violations were observed, however as this sector is getting more regularised, such practises has significantly reduced.
The US dept. of labour has a strict policy against import of those articles or products where in child labour violations have been reported. Unfortunately, carpets from India is currently included on such a list. Let us take a brief view of the Indian carpet industry and why exclusion from this list is very important for our carpet manufacturers.
Carpet industry is one of the oldest industries in India. It is said that, carpet weaving was brought to India by the Moguls. Due to easy availability of resources, carpet manufacturing was restricted mostly to northern India. Major centers of carpets production have been Bhadohi, Agra, Jaipur & Kashmir.
Indian carpet industry's main strength lies in talented artistic weavers, lower cost of production, willingness to innovate and ability to offer a diverse variety to the buyers.
Having talked about its uniqueness and strength, India has its fair share of weaknesses as well. The sector has largely remained unorganized and hence the lack of professionalism and the existence of trade malpractices is quite common. Another factor, which eats into their profits is the over dependence on the agents due to less awareness about the various marketing options available to the sellers.
Other negative factors include poor infrastructure, informal training and unhealthy competition at the domestic level. Last but not the least, scant respect for IPR, which results in massive duplicacy of designs and patterns which further dampens a weaver's urge to innovate.
Experts believe that, there are still a plethora of opportunities for Indian carpets suppliers and manufacturers to improvise further e.g.
Emergence of new markets.
Growing disenchantment of the world community with the Chinese manufacturing industry.
Availability of better technology to lower down the cost of production to remain competitive.
Heavy Investment of foreign majors in the Indian carpet segment.
Acknowledgment of Indian weaver's talent in the global arena.
In the end it can be fairly concluded that the Indian carpet industry is going through a massive transformation. The fact that the traditional markets have saturated, has forced the carpets suppliers to exploit newer and emerging markets. The Indian carpets industry is looked upon by the world community as one of the game changers. Carpet suppliers from India will find it difficult to compete globally unless and until, it addresses some serious confrontational social issues. The time is ripe for Indian carpets manufacturers to begin their dominance over the world market of carpets provided they resolve the issues raised in a reasonable time.
PS : Carpet manufacturers get your online catalog today and make profits by tapping the business queries being generated across the globe on the web 24/7 . To know more , click on carpet suppliers
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