Textile traders take to social media to rev up sales

Hyderabad: The emergence of social media and online apps has transformed all walks of life. And, businesses are no exemption. Even as there is a heated debate over how e-commerce biggies are taking a heavy toll on small retailers, traders and our neighbourhood stores, especially those in the textile business, are using social media channels, including YouTube, to rev up sales. Many have succeeded in their online endeavours, too!

Says Srikanth, a Hyderabad-based entrepreneur who has been running Classic Polo brand outlet for a while: "We established our own social media platforms to inform our customers about new arrivals, news offers and new developments. These platforms helped in increasing our sales both directly and indirectly".

Encouraged by the positive response and enhanced sales, his firm hired two people specifically to run social media campaigns. The firm is spending anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh a month on its social media campaigns to reach out to prospective customers.

Srikanth is not alone in tapping social media for business growth. It has, of late, become imperative for many businesses in India to think and invest in social media marketing strategies to reach out to their potential customers and increase their sales volumes effectively. Apart from YouTube on which video campaigns are posted, traders are piggybacking on other social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter to generate new business leads.

Ammanabolu Prakash, President, Telangana State Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Trade (TSFCCT), said that social media and other technology apps benefitted traders during the lockdown period as people received what they wanted, sitting at home. "Especially sale of under garments and nightwear has increased two-fold during that period compared to normal times," he said.

Prakash, however, lamented that e-commerce majors which have an advantage of reaching out to customers with a number of offers are actually harming the traditional retailers who cannot afford to upgrade to new technologies.

According to ComScore survey, currently there are over 2,500 creator channels reaching over one million subscribers on YouTube in India. This figure was around 1,200 Indian creator channels for one million subscribers in 2019. This represents a 45 per cent jump in the number of YouTube channels year-on-year in India, which is a testimony for the growing opportunities for businesses through social media.