About 10 per cent of garment manufacturers in Tirupur knitwear hub were selling their products online through major online shopping websites. “We predict that it will grow rapidly in the next few years due to increasing online consumers across the country and all over the world,” T. R. Vijaykumar, Coordinator of Sripuram Trust and a garment exporter, said. The Tirupur knit wear hub was concentrating on online marketing of garment products.

Leading online shopping sites, including Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, have already begun selling garments from Tirupur and now many other online shopping firms were keen to join the fray. Mr. Vijaykumar also said: “About 30 per cent of many consumer products are being sold online and it will double in the near future, as online and smart phone users are increasing significantly every day.”

A garment exporter Girish, said: “Online market for garments is huge in India and the world over. Now T-shirts and leggings in demand, and demand for other garment products is also increasing. The online demand will increase three to four times in the next few years.

Speaking about the growth forecast of the sector, Mr. Vijaykumar, said: “Online shopping firms are interested to tie-up with garment manufacturers in Tirupur and for this the required infrastructure should be developed. Since those firms have promised to support, we have to develop online portal and stocking facilities. We have already begun the initiatives, and we expect positive response from the garment manufacturers, since online sales will result in a high profit margin compared to the retail sales.”

However, garment exporters from Tirupur are still hesitant to tap the potential in online sales.”We plan to conduct awareness and guidance meeting for about 500 garment manufacturers in Tirupur, about connecting with shopping firms soon. It will also be helpful to be update with the current trend in the business.”