Women shopper's are increasingly becoming a force to reckon with online.

India is still awakening to the potential of eCommerce. Buyers are yet to understand the benefits of ecommerce platforms. and to differentiate between horizontals that sell everything from a pin to a plane from verticals that specialize in ‘a' particular product category. Ecommerce players are still trying to address perception barriers that potential buyers carry - Trust deficit, reluctance to transact via payment gateways (sharing of financial data), sizing issues, reluctance to pay shipment costs. Therefore, most players will have cash-on-delivery options, 30 days no question asked return policies to address trust issues, 360 degree product displaysto address sizing issues and provide a showcase experience, and free shipment above a basic order value threshold.

Under the scanner

In this back-ground are women really a potent force online or fast becoming one on Internet India? According to a recent Comscore study 1 in every 3 users in Internet India is a woman. This number is up from 1 in 5 in 2009. Of those women who are online in India 1 of 3 are on Facebook. According to the Microsoft Starcom Mediavest, May 2010 study: Indian mothers spend 3X more time on the internet than on television. AMAZING, one would never think that! As per the same report 63% of all Indian mothers who are online search for self- related information based on Fashion and accessories (read lifestyle). According to the Synovate survey in 2009 titled ‘Role Of Digital Medium in Asian Mums' Lives' conducted in 8 countries including India: 81% of Indian digital moms are between the age band of 20-39 yrs, 75% are working, 44% with monthly household income of Rs 1 lakh and above. The same study claims 48% of all digital mom's in India share their purchasing experiences online. Today, the online Indian woman uses the internet as a tool for continuous self-improvement and for shopping needs. This was reflected by a brand like FASHOS.com that caters to the interests of women.

The bigger question is -does targeting women online audiences lead to a sustainable, viable business proposition? After all, any brand that does that is addressing just 30 percent of a relatively small universe of about 80 million online users in India. Tapping this potential are some e-commerce portals.

"Our lifestyle category and specifically ‘buying shoes online' witnessed significant traction with women online shoppers. Today women online are a potent force and have deep pockets. Not only do women have control of household income, they supplement their family buying power with their own income as well. Not just that women in India are known to be decision makers wrt what families end up buying. Purchases made online by this segment are no different. Drawing inspiration from this trend, FASHOS.com offered deals that were specific to women online shoppers. The results were an overwhelming success. In the month of March specially transactions made by women on FASHOS.com attributed 52% of the months sales, compared to 35% a month earlier. Not just that, women are passionate about footwear and tend to drive repeat purchases on sites like FASHOS.com. There is merit in driving ‘focused strategy' and address this segment with customized offerings and product ranges," informs Navin Joshua, Co-Founder of Fashos.com.

Shilpa Shanbhag
shilpas@cybermedia.co.in

Nothing like walking down your office aisle with people complementing you about your 'new suede shoes'! But to look good you have to buy the best and the latest!!! fashos.com added fresh new fashionable suedes to its growing private label- fashos shoes. They are soft, they are comfortable and they look good if you pair them with chinos or khakis.

Summers are here, so put your leather shoes at the back of the shoe rack as fashos.com, India's No.1 personalized online fashion footwear destination introduces a range of semi-formal suede shoes for men that are a must have for your breezy summer ensemble.

As the mercury soars, start and end your day with these cool and comfortable pair of shoes that are made to make you look and feel cool in this season. You can wear these stylish and comfortable shoes to make a style statement, while doing hectic traveling throughout the day, or just for a day out with friends.

The latest collection of men shoes from fashos.com is cool, chic, and stylish and can complement all types of semi-formal attire. You simply cannot go wrong with your cool summer look with these classy shoes from fashos.com on your feet.

One will easily fall in love with the pair of navy and brown colored pair of brogues designed beautifully with an ethnic touch. These shoes are a rare combination of design, color and material with self designed upper suede and inner cushioned material which will go best with a t-shirt and a simple pair of denims.

Another addition to the range are the desert boots available in brown, navy and tan which are made from suede upper material with white color thread detailing to highlight the shoes. They are extremely comfortable on the feet and the TPR sole provides the perfect grip to the wearer. You can flaunt them while doing hectic traveling throughout the day or just for a day out with friends by teaming them up with a well cut shirt and a pair of jeans.

Next in line are the suede ankle length boots in brown and navy blue which comes with a zip fastening at the side, making it more appealing and easy to wear. The TPR sole material gives the perfect traction while you walk in style, and the inner mesh cloth makes it comfy for your feet.

Also, a must have this summer are the derby shoes. They come in three colors of brown, tan and navy blue and are crafted from exclusive tan suede upper material, which makes these shoes look very different from its competitors. The design scheme used enables an easy and comfortable sliding in of your foot, and the leather suede used as inner material is very kind to your feet. Team it up with semi-formals or formals to add elegance and style to your persona.

Simple and classy in appeal for the less serious and more fun-loving men, the collection is available at an affordable range of Rs 1799 to Rs 2199.

Talking about this new collection, Sumit Agarwal co-founder of fashos.com said, "We recently launched our very own private label footwear range under the name of fashos. We have added a slew of stylish suede's to our collection to compliment the range. The shoes are comfortable, super stylish and different from what you might come by in the offline retail market."

So, set the trend and flaunt your latest style with the new collection of men shoes from fashos.com!

FASHOS.com, a personalized online footwear destination, is a direct to consumer ecommerce vertical that e-tails shoes. Having footwear for men and women, they cover all 5 segments of footwear: formals, casuals, sports, party, slippers (sandals).

Based in New Delhi, they have been operational since the 1st of November, 2011. Currently, they are a team of 15 ecommerce enthusiasts across functions, with a technology orientation and a passion for Internet consumer marketing.

"FASHOS.com is positioned as 'The SMART way of buying shoes online'. SMART is a creative leap from one of FASHOS.com's core uniqueness drivers- personalization. Users can create their own personalized shoe shopping experience on FASHOS.com by answering an intuitive questionnaire online, once they register with FASHOS.com. Users can go to their own 'My Stores' which have been stocked with shoes that match their tastes and preferences. The algorithm based code ensures that even if there is a gap in a user's visit, the stock the user views is already refreshed based on the ongoing season he/she visits in. In other words, 'My Stores' are updated real time. 40% of all sales on FASHOS.com come through 'My stores'. Personalization is an efficient and SMART way of buying shoes. As whatever the user views the user ends up liking and therefore, chances of transacting are higher as opposed to going through annals and annals of irrelevant products on similar sites within one category," says Co-founder, Navin Joshua.

Consumer Base:

Online shoe sales market size, of overall footwear category, as per the latest ASSOCHAM report is 8% of INR 22000 crores. This is estimated to scale to 20% of about 38000 crores by 2015. The online lifestyle category operates around a 35 – 40% gross margin, where Fashos.com claims to make margins mapping to industry levels. Their typical customer is a male or female in the age group of 22 – 40 yrs. Their target group is predominantly young working professionals and individuals who are lifestyle oriented, high on grooming and have a fair SOW (Share of Wallet).

On the sourcing side, Fashos has partnered with several brands as well as authorized distribution channels. For marketing, they have engaged with leading ad networks as well as organic channels both above and below the line. FASHOS also claims to have a presence on selective marketplace models to enhance outreach channels. Still in very early days, they are testing waters with changes in the channel mix of their partner ecosystem.

Starting up:

The brainchild of the duo – Navin Joshua and Sumit Agarwal, Fashos.com believes in striking the right chord in a short span and aims at carving a niche for itself in the Indian market.

Navin and Sumit worked together for over a decade in the CRM space, engaging with retail clientele across global as well as the Indian ecommerce space. Their motivation of building a business in the online segment was to create a customer ecosystem that found value in a differentiated engagement experience that is personalized and effective. The lifestyle/fashion vertical enables that level of interaction and customer expectation that the founders were excited to build out.

Seed capital for this venture was put in by the founders. "Some pre-operative angel capital has also been pooled in by a couple of HNIs within the Founder network. The team is evaluating additional funding and mentorship opportunities that will enable sustainable scale for FASHOS from the proof of concept stage," Navin concludes.

Women shoppers are proving to be a potent force for lifestyle focused eCommerce players.

Women love being pampered and the good thing about pampering women online consumers is that they respond positively and keep coming back for more. You have a slew of lifestyle focused ecommerce product sites in India that are gradually tweaking their offerings to cater to the specific needs, tastes and preferences of online women patrons.

Take a site like FASHOS.com that is a direct-to-consumer ecommerce vertical e-tailing footwear. It has a unique proposition that has struck a chord with women online shoppers- the site's personalization platform! Everyone likes individualistic attention. FASHOS.com customizes the footwear buying experience such that a lady can create her very own 'My Store' based on her style quotient across shoe segments like sports, sandals, casuals, formals, party wear. For most women it's simple, it's easy and it cuts through the clutter of foraging through irrelevant products - as the shoes they see are shoes they like; the experience made possible by a quick survey they answer at the time of site registration.

As much as 40% of FASHOS.com transactions come from 'My Stores' or personalized user showcases online. Orders placed by women in the month of March on FASHOS.com contributed 52% of all orders placed. The online brand weaved an exclusive offer specially targeting women all through the month to elicit that kind of response. Celebrating the spirit of womanhood all through March with special offers across the site only for lady patrons made FASHOS.com a compelling 'online footwear destination' for women shoppers. Specially, given the fact that women are passionate about shoes!

But are women really a potent force online or fast becoming one on Internet India? According to a recent Comscore study 1 in every 3 users in Internet India is a woman. This number is up from 1 in 5 in 2009. Of those women who are online in India 1 of 3 are on Facebook. According to the Microsoft Starcom Mediavest, May 2010 study: Indian mothers spend 3X more time on the internet than on television. AMAZING, one would never think that! As per the same report 63% of all Indian mothers who are online search for self- related information based on Fashion and accessories (read lifestyle). According to the Synovate survey in 2009 titled 'Role Of Digital Medium in Asian Mums' Lives' conducted in 8 countries including India: 81% of Indian digital moms are between the age band of 20-39 yrs, 75% are working, 44% with monthly HHI of 1lac+. The same study claims 48% of all digital mom's in India share their purchasing experiences online. Today, the online Indian woman uses the internet as a tool for continuous self-improvement and for shopping needs. A brand like FASHOS.com can cater to this segment.

The bigger question is: does targeting women online audiences lead to a sustainable, viable business proposition? After all, any brand that does that is addressing just 30 percent of a relatively small universe of about 80 million online users in India. So let's look at the advantages of such a focused online strategy:

It brings immense focus to an ecommerce player's marketing plan. You can go after a smaller segment with the same amount of spends making your marketing budget look larger than it actually is.
As a business focused on women online shoppers you can afford to pace your investment in offline marketing channels or even if you do invest you can cherry pick marketing channels like radio that are cost effective and highly localized for effective message dissemination for timely schematic promotions.
From a value proposition stand point there is clarity in concept from day one!
Focus brings efficiencies not just in marketing spends but inventory and stocking. You can offer depth in range, wide choice without excessive capital outflows.

"We are seeing high adoption by women online shoppers, this could be a play of several factors like our personalization tool built into the FASHOS.com platform, women focused offers in the month of March, site look-and-feel that has cues that women might like. We see merit in driving women focus, as lady patrons drive revisit and repurchase numbers on online categories like shoes", says co-founder of FASHOS.com, Navin Joshua.

Sumit Agarwal, also co-founder at FASHOS.com says, "Going after women audiences actually brings capital efficiency and creates a set of loyal patrons. Focused strategy brings natural efficiencies in marketing and sourcing – two major expense heads in any ecommerce business."

The trend of women online shoppers increasing is here to stay and for the big players it might be difficult to bring focus at the scales they are operating at. But for the more nimble footed ecommerce players in lifestyle product categories it may well be an attractive differentiator for the customer ecosystem.

Thursday, April 12, 2012: FASHOS.com - the 'SMART' online platform to buy shoes, has redefined INNOVATION in consumer offerings across the Indian ecommerce landscape. Online users can NOW be beneficiaries of snazzy shoes for just INR 69/-. But it's not just about buying shoes! It's Fun, Its Fast, it's indicative of the future in consumer offering for product level ecommerce! It gets you as a user to quickly pace through the entire site… then wait, watch and win BIG. It's fun for sure!

Here's how it works: All that users have to do is place a nominal online transaction worth INR 69 at Fashos.com and thereby participate in a Sweepstake. Every week 6 lucky winners will be declared via a randomized computer draw. The great thing here is that winners can choose from a rich selective catalogue of shoes on Fashos.com. What's more – Everyone's a winner too - Those that participate but don't win the big windfall, still walk away with a cool 3 times worth reward points credited to their Fashos Account to be redeemed via a purchase from the entire range of products across the site.

Navin Joshua, co-founder at Fashos.com feels, "It's a refreshing change in site visitor behavior where we are seeing quick and scalable traction that too without spending a bomb on marketing. We leverage the opportunity for customers to spend more time on the site and go through a transaction process end to end. It also gives us the chance to convey the site value proposition to the customer through repeat interaction. That's appealing and bringing an element of freshness to pure play ecommerce."

"Product level ecommerce needs some innovation for first time consumers to bite in, taste the opportunity, and build their appetite for more. How do we move the needle from that 1 in 10 transacting online to 5 in 10? Innovations such as these need to be tried, tested and the impending response studied". We have many such initiatives that will unfold over the coming weeks, that can enthrall our target audience consistently via Personalization and Social Engagement strategies", says Sumit Agarwal co-founder at Fashos.com

All we can say is if you haven't yet tried it, just go ahead! Sit back. Wait. Watch and Win Big on India's best online personalized footwear store!

India has a long way to go with respect to internet penetration, although numbers have increased any gain in penetration from here will have a positive cascading effect on ecommerce/e-tailing in India.

E-tailing is closely linked to broadband penetration and other economies have clearly demonstrated that etailing scales significantly once internet penetration increases. Internet penetration is closely linked to PC penetration and PC broadband access.

Any government policies that encourage broadband connectivity in India and further brings down prices of PCs and other internet access devices will be good for the e-commerce industry in India.

Prices of broad band connections and avialibility of conections have been bigger constraints to the growth of broadband in India. Broadband prices in India remain one of the heighest in the world.

Beyond the Metros: Tapping true Potential!

According to Navin Joshua, founder of FASHOS.com, " The real potential of eCommerce in India will unlock, once Tier 2/3 towns can enjoy the impending benefits of ecommerce platforms like FASHOS.com. There are a slew of challenges that raise the barriers such as broadband connectivity, lack of infrastructural hubs and spokes for forward logistics and reliable warehousing facilities to make delivery easy, fast and hassle free across the country. In line with this we hope that Budget 2012 unveils special concessions that leads to growth of PC Broadband access, affordability and mass adoption, so that we see a cascading effect on eCommerce".

Increased connectivity will see the contribution made by Tier2/3 towns to total sales of ecommerce companies significantly increase from present levels of 20-30% to 40-50% and higher. What this will do is broaden the market and allow more players to co-exist and meet the excess demand. After all India's true potential is in its internal demand and India's voracious appetite for services and products.

Fashos.com, an e-commerce initiative of Styleshore eMarketing Pvt. Ltd, is India's first personalized online footwear store. Fashos.com was launched in November 2011 with the purpose of redefining the concept of online shopping and becoming India's preferred online destination for fashion footwear products.

The brainchild of young duo - Navin Joshua and Sumit Agarwal, Fashos.com has been able to strike the right chord in a short span and is well on its way to carve a niche for itself in the Indian market. Fashos.com team brings together a diverse set of skills and industry vertical expertise of over decades in Footwear Retail, Client Relationship Management, Marketing, Technology and E-Commerce to make this possible.

With a diverse range of brands on the site, Fashos.com is built on the cornerstone of an excellent shopping experience, sweeping over the inefficiencies of offline retail while introducing the SMART way of buying shoes. This is demonstrated in the personalized showcase that is a recommendation based model, coupled with best in class customer service their choose to call 'Guest Relations'. Features like 'My Store', 'Welcome Kit' for registered users to transcend the virtual world and connect with the customer at a pre purchase phase, and 'Stylist's Pick' section on www.Fashos.com are some of the cool facets of this shopping portal. It facilitates filtered search by multiple product attributes, and also allows product comparisons at a single glance – thus saving time and providing accurate options.

With shopping experience as the focal point, all payment options like credit cards, debit cards, online banking, cash cards, mobile payment and COD payment are available. Further, the company offers no-hassle product delivery of product at desired destinations absolutely free., and a 30-days no questions asked Returns Policy to boast above that.

According to a recent report from Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), total Indian market for e-commerce is around Rs 50,000 crore, of which 80 per cent is captured by travel e-commerce and 20 per cent by retail e-commerce. By 2025, the total e-com market is expected to reach at least Rs 4,00,000 crore and the share of retail will be half at Rs 2,00,000 crore. Given this growth and increasing penetration of internet, Fashos.com is bullish on the future potential of the Indian e-commerce sector and the traction it will gain.

I often get asked the question - why SHOES? Isn't that a touch and feel category - is there really market adoption for this segment in India already? Being in the thick of this segment, I must say that the answer is an overwhelming YES, and definitely a long way to go! What if we told you that arguably India buys an estimated 8,000 pairs of footwear online each day, and that is projected to double within the next year or so! (Staggering isn't it!)

A host of vertical and horizontal fashion players in the ecommerce space across formats like flash sales, deals, etc caters to the online demand of footwear. According to a recent study released by ASSOCHAM, the Indian footwear industry is currently pegged at 22,000 crores INR and online shoe shopping currently accounts for about 8% of the overall industry and is expected to reach about 20% by 2015. Currently, the Indian footwear market is dominated by the men's segment that accounts for about 55 per cent followed by ladies' and kids' segment which account for about 30 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

A tabular representation of some key aspects of the Footwear vertical and what ecommerce providers are attempting to bridge the gap:

Men are from Mars and Women from Venus (gender based buying trends):

An interesting aspect across research forums in the past year, suggest that majority of women are more concerned about style and looks than comfort and endurance. They are not that brand conscious and throng local markets more often for what they need. While nearly 50% per of the men prefer buying branded shoes, as they are more concerned about quality, price and strength of the product. Men are opportunistic while women impulsive in terms of online purchase behavior.

There are several ‘SMART’ reasons why users are increasingly shifting to buying shoes online:

• Return policies: are flexible and build an element of trust and seed in a comfort factor.
• Easy Payment terms: Cash on delivery allows a consumer flexibility to check his order once it comes to him/her and then pay.
• Bargain deals: the value for money proposition where online retailers are able to pass on discounts to customers across brands throughout the year - opportunity buying & opportunity selling.
• Variety: the kind of variety you get online is actually staggering as you get all categories be it sports, casual, lifestyle, home wear, formals all on one domain. This is the real value proposition as it saves buyers time, effort and cash.
• Technology: Refined search, Custom profiling, Personalization, Product comparisons across brands, Smarter showcase views...are all part of the evolving improvements in the visual experience and user interface that promise to engage customers at a smarter level.

The market -

Being a player in the online fashion segment, Fashos.com believes that engaging the customer socially on Style can be viral...fun, witty, topical interactions via Facebook, Blogs & Twitter. The personalization model is one such step that differentiates itself from all other ecommerce players as it’s a unique and answers the customers ‘basic question - “what’s in it for me”! That coupled with an unparalleled level of customer experience is the secret sauce that will be the key value proposition in building a sustainable business model. Players across the globe have evolved to transcend from a mass volume based experience to a recommendation based curated experience that promises to offer more to its loyal customers over a longer period.

At an industry level, the long-term challenge staring in our faces is the opportunity to build a business on grass root principles of profitability and value proposition. In all the hullabaloo of this space, somewhere these basics are getting lost and the cost of acquisition has reached astronomical levels by burning cash and expecting magic over the lifetime value. The fact is that magic does not happen, at least very rarely so. Looking forward to differentiation and delight being the hinges around which the ecosystem evaluates existing and new ecommerce providers. Innovation in payments, supply chain, inventory models will also evolve and those that adapt & integrate their offerings faster will derive greater value. May the best men win and the good ones survive..........

Navin Joshua is currently the Founder at Fashos.com, along with Sumit Agarwal. Prior to this entrepreneurial venture, he was the Executive Director at vCustomer. Navin can be reached on navin.joshua@fashos.com

Fashos.com, a Delhi based online retailer in footwear vertical has been registering 2X growth in terms of orders and revenue Week on Week (WoW). It is an interactive fashion footwear portal that caters to the needs of traditional shoppers as well as the social online shopper through suggestive buying.

Interacting exclusively with iamwire, Navin Joshua, Co Founder, fashos.com said "We have launched in November and since then we are experiencing 2X growth WoW. In November, we had around 1,000 clicks, however in February; we have registered around 5,000 clicks on the website on everyday basis". At the same time he also added that these growth numbers are quite obvious from start-up perspective.

Talking about shoppers at fashos.com across demographics, Joshua said "top 8 cities accounts around 55 percent orders at Fashos, however remaining 45 percent come from tier 2 and 3 cities despite of less marketing efforts in these demographics". According to Joshua, unavailability of brands, latest designs along with price range are major drivers of sales from tier 2 and 3 cities. Speaking on the split of orders between COD and plastic card payment, Joshua said "currently it is 50:50 in ratio".

The average ticket size of per purchase at Fashos is around INR 1,800 with INR 1,000 per consumer acquisition cost. The consumer acquisition cost covers all cost incur to acquire a consumer including marketing, promotion and gift and coupon voucher. Throwing light on the trends at Fashos, Joshua said that we have observed the trend of more women shopping at website; however he also reiterated that average ticket size per purchase will come down with more participation of women shoppers as foot wears for women are relatively cheap and unorganized than men in India.

Pointing out the unique personalized shopping experience at Fashos, Joshua said "in online era, consumers are willing to take recommendation through social network mediums like Facebook and Twitter. And we at Fashos gets more than 50 percent orders rout from our personalized shopping based offerings. Further he added that Social networks help online retailers to understand the concerns of consumers and give etailers to engage, bond and establish loyalty factor across its consumer base.

Source: www.iamwire.com

The innovation that is happening in the e-commerce start-up scene today is phenomenal. Since people in India are slowly but surely getting bitten by the online retail bug, it is imperative for a new e-commerce start-up to have a USP so that it can break through the clutter to get noticed by people. FASHOS is one such e-commerce venture. Their USP is pretty simple as they focus on giving the customer a choice. Entrepreneurs who started this venture, Navin Joshua and Sumit Agarwal both have experience in the retail segment and they felt that many players in the market were not focusing on engaging the customer even while giving them great deals. So they took it upon themselves to set that right and launched their venture at the beginning of this year. They chose footwear because of Sumit's experience in footwear which made the choice very simple, "Considering the opportunity and success of this vertical across key markets around the globe," Navin added.

FASHOS has adopted the suggestive buying model. Visitors can go throughout their site and check all their offerings through their 'Brands' feature. Alternatively, if they could go to the 'My store' section and register themselves. The site will then check your 'footwear style quotient' via a brief questionnaire and from then on every time you visit 'My Store', it will show you products recommended by its style experts especially for you. Customers have the choice to see their personalized recommendations while also retain the choice to browse through the remainder online. Basically, its your own store filled with products that you will prefer. The choice offered is enormous and this is definitely an interesting new approach in the e-commerce plethora.

But it's a dog eat dog situation in the E-commerce sector with new ventures popping up everyday. So is there room for every venture to thrive? According to Navin there will only be few winner. "Yes there is room for more than a handful but not all", he added. He continued by adding that it will be interesting to notice along the way in which players are here to create a quick money-spinner versus players that are here to build a long term value proposition that can live to the customer promise and uphold the brand they represent. Clearly much easier said than done.

Regarding the state of Digital media and start-ups in India, Navin told WATBlog, " The overbearing feedback Sumit & I gather from players is that its more about pouring in the dollars at the top end of the funnel and shaking it hard enough for something to filter out in the end. However, from our past experience, we do believe that intelligent Alternate Channel marketing and Affiliate marketing can be very effective forms of customer acquisition, if used correctly".

When asked about the future path of FASHOS he replied, "The FASHOS team is committed to building a business that its customers can rely on and related to our end-to-end service as best in class. We will mix caution with aggression and study our market and customer preferences very carefully while we push for growth and tackling challenges of scale that accompany it". But is there a formula which is full proof? "There isn't any formula or mix that definitely works, and it's more a factor of each player's individual strategy and focus via this highly crucial channel of customer acquisition," he replied.

All said and done, it is safe to assume that a combination of caution with aggression and knowledge of customer preferences will act as a push for growth for FASHOS. "It may be better served to talk about specifics a quarter down the line, while we deliver value proposition to more of our guests and focus on getting the basics of this business right for us, so that we can look at this opportunity for the long run," concluded Navin.

Have you shopped for footwear on FASHOS.com? Share you experience with us.

Online shopping has suddenly been given a new dimension in the Indian e-commerce landscape. Recently launched, FASHOS is an interactive fashion footwear-shopping portal, started by Navin Joshua and Sumit Agarwal. FASHOS.com is a fresh approach to suggestive buying online. It very carefully caters to the needs of the traditional shopper as well as the social online shopper. The model is recommendation based, and caters to the unique style requirements of customers by creating their personalized showcase. So no more endless browsing through options that don't suit your fashion sense!

Navin Joshua (Founder) has worked extensively with leading online retailers across the US, UK and India markets, devising their customer engagement strategies. With a strong retail background of over twelve years in the Customer Relationship Management space, Navin says they "felt the need to empower the Indian consumer with an enriching and differentiated online shopping experience, something that the global markets have demanded from online retailers". A no questions asked return policy and a well-equipped multi channel Guest Relations Helpdesk will make sure you come back wanting more.
Sumit Agarwal (Co-founder) has a strong leadership background built over ten years, with a forte in business process re-engineering, technology initiatives, digital marketing strategies and consumer analytics. His family lineage has over 50 years of history in footwear retailing that adds tremendous depth to the team. Having supported major retailers across the globe in their planning processes, Sumit believes that "an intuitive recommendation based model will reach the Indian customer and become viral in nature, with a potential to change the game in online retailing".
Armed with a sound customer understanding amalgamated with innovation to take the online experience to its next stage of evolution, it only seems a matter of time, this young team of entrepreneurs at FASHOS will be poised as a strong player in this space.