Textiles are to be felt with hands and seen with naked eyes.
This was the way in which the textiles industry worked for hundreds of years.
Merchants would travel across the world in search of the right manufacturer.
They would touch it and feel it to understand more about the material.
This was the case till the pandemic pushed us to find alternate ways of shopping.
Online fabric shopping has seen tremendous growth in India and across the globe.
What is behind this growth?
Let’s find out.
Online fabrics shopping in India
Indian textile industry plays a significant role in the global textile market.
It contributes around 6% to the global market with an estimation of $150 billion in 2020 that includes a wide range of players such as manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, and exporters of textiles, handloom and woolen textiles.
It is expected to reach a staggering $209 billion by 2029.
Now, the pandemic has not faded away.
Even with vaccination crossing a billion in numbers!
Variants keep appearing every three to six months.
How are we going to reach these great targets?
But the pandemic has turned out to be a pivotal moment for many businesses to come online.
Throughout India, every year, hundreds of textile shows and conferences are organized to attract buyers from around the world.
But with travel restrictions, most of the events were canceled or got the least participation.
Did it affect the textile exports in general?
Let’s see what the numbers are saying.
During the period of April-October 2021, the cumulative textile exports from India were at $233.54 billion, breaking all targets and records.
Comparing this with the same period in 2020, it was only $150.54 billion.
This is a 56% positive growth rate.
We can surely say that the pandemic never really affected the Indian textile industry.
Online Fabrics Sampling
One of the best ways in which manufacturers tackled the challenges of restrictions faced by buyers to hand feel the fabric was to create a digital catalog of products available for purchase.
Just like Dinesh Exports was able to present its products online via our website.
Sampling a fabric is a key stage in fabric purchase.
Even though there was a restriction in travel, samples were sent out via couriers.
- The buyers would go through the wide range of products listed on the website or the catalog.
- Handpick a few items from the collection to be sent out to the company office or buyer’s home (since WFH).
Once the buyer receives the samples and selects the fabric out of them, production starts as normal.
All the later stages of approvals are done in a similar way.
Online fabrics presentation
Instead of merchants and buyers flying to various destinations to show their collections, it is now conducted online.
If you like to see our fabric collections, book a slot here.
Buyers and manufacturers are met in an online video meeting.
And the presentation is done virtually.
Online fabric presentations are increasingly becoming popular and it is expected to stay in the future.
A lot of time and energy is saved by using this method.
Time and ease of access are the two most important factors for manufacturing houses and buyers.
Adopting the Omni-channel strategy for online fabrics sales
Manufacturers are leveraging all the online platforms to increase their visibility.
B2B platforms like Alibaba, Indiamart, and Trade India are used extensively to find clients from around the world.
This way the manufacturers can be present on multiple channels increasing the possibility of becoming seen by future prospects.
The pandemic has shown us that the textile industry is fragile.
But it has also shown that the players are strong and adapting.
As per various studies, the virus will stop spreading sooner or later.
And the post-pandemic world will be a hungry world.
The textile industry will see a sharp rise in demand for all types of products.
Reach out to us for any type of woven fabrics.
We manufacture cotton, hemp, viscose, rayon, linen, modal tencel, bamboo etc and all its blends.
