BHOPAL: Clothes and garment sellers in the city say that their business has not been much affected by the growing trend of buying things online. Most of the customers Free Press talked to say that they prefer buying garments from offline stores because they can make a better choice there. They also say that if they don't like the clothes received from online sellers or if they don't fit them, the process of returning them is quite cumbersome.
Pradeep Shewani, president, Bhopal Readymade Assoication
The clients of online and offline shopping are quite different. Most of the youth buy online especially readymade items like tops, T-shirts, jeans etc but middle-aged and older people prefer offline shopping. In fact, people who shop for weddings don’t prefer online. So, it may affect readymade garments business but the market of unstitched clothes remains unaffected.
Sumeet Garg, vice-president, Rajdhani Vastra Vyapari Sangh, Lakherapura, Chowk Bazar
Online purchasing has hit our business hard, especially during Covid -19 because customers are not visiting shops. They prefer to buy online. It is a huge loss for traders, especially those who sell saris because saris are unbranded. We sell the products cheaper than online but they misguide the customers by bombarding them with advertisements. They would put a price tag of Rs 4,000 on a sari that is available for 2,000 offline and then offer discounts on it.
Satish Gangrade, owner, Laxmi Garment shop and president, New Market Vyapari Mahasangh
Most of the customers still prefer to buy garments from shops because there are any number of varieties and sizes in clothes. So I don’t think that it has affected our business.
H D Satwani, owner, Shri Banke Bihari, Hosiery shop, Marwari Road
It has not hit us. The market is down but it is due to covid -19 and not because of e-commerce platforms. Customers still feel satisfied when they buy garments from shops.
Vandana Nayak, artist
We prefer to buy clothes from shops. We don’t buy online because there is risk in it. If the clothes don't fit then they have to be returned. I find the process very cumbersome. So, it is better to go to a shop, buy clothes of our choice after checking for any issues. By the way, online shopping paison ka khel hai…
Iqbal Beg, social activist
We don’t buy clothes online. Most of the time, the colour and size of the dress which we select are different from what is delivered. And we have to waste time in returning it So, we mostly prefer to purchase from stores. We order only such products which we don’t get in the market.
Vishal Yadav, student
If we talk about clothes, I prefer to buy from shops. The colour, texture, fabric and size of clothes are not mentioned clearly in online brochures.. Sometimes, though, good qualities branded clothes are available online. I prefer buying only electronic gadgets online.
Priyanka Tripathi, software engineer
I mostly buy clothes online because it is convenient, especially in these Corona times, when one has to maintain physical distancing. Also, we don’t get that much variety in stores and things are comparatively expensive. Online platforms also offer the facility of returning the product within 20 days. We use the garments after sanitising them. The companies also keep the returned parcel in quarantine for 48 hours and then steam and iron it. I think online shopping saves time and money both.
