Blink: After London and NY, Amazon’s 3rd fashion studio in Gurgaon

After New York and London, Amazon has opened its third fashion imaging studio, Blink, in Gurgaon, near Delhi. The studio is spread over 44,000 sq ft and is the first of its kind in the country.

The fashion imaging studio is equipped to produce large volumes of high-quality images, collaborating with various brands and partners. It is provided with 16 photography bays, an editorial suite, video editing facilities and creative spaces.

An Amazon executive said the company will work with its partner brands to create lakhs of images out of the studio and help brands reach out to a wider audience.

The fashion business for Amazon India grew by 90 per cent in the first half of this year.

Since the start of this year, the company has added around 50 top fashion brands to its umbrella such as Steve Madden Jewelry and Juicy Couture Watches, which debuted in India via Amazon. New Balance, Forever 21, Forever New and Marks & Spencer are other niche brands which are offered to the customers through the online platform of the company.

Ritesh Mishra, head of buying and merchandising at Marks & Spencer India, said their association with Amazon Fashion allows them to reach a wide customer base across the country and with an offering of over 1,500 styles on the website and they are able to make it more convenient for customers to shop quality clothing collections in India.

''The launch of the new Amazon Fashion Studio is really exciting and we're looking forward to showcasing more of our latest styles and outfit ideas,'' he added.

According to India Business of Fashion Report 2017, the Indian fashion retail market, which was worth Rs2,97,091 crore in 2016, will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.7 per cent to reach Rs7,48,398 crore by 2026.

With a stronghold of offline players in the fashion market, India's ecommerce fashion market is expected to quadruple to around Rs2,00,000 crore by 2020. Two of every three products sold online would be branded apparel. Currently, Rs900 crore of the Rs7,000 crore India fashion market is digitally influenced, with 85 per cent of the customers preferring to use the mobile over desktop to buy products online.

Amazon India business head Arun Sirdeshmukh said at the launch, ''With this studio, we will continue to strengthen our relationship across the entire industry - with brands, designers and creative talents. This is a part of our plan to innovate in how fashion is displayed on the site."

Overall, about 200 people at Amazon, including at the front end and the back end, will be involved in the new studio to push the fashion segment ahead of the festive season sale, said Sirdeshmukh, who is also head of fashion at Amazon India.

The local arm of the Seattle-based ecommerce major also announced the dates for its annual sale event – the Great Indian Festive Sale, from 21 to 24 September. This year, for the first time, prime subscribers will get access to the sale 12 hour before others, the company announced.

"While the studio will not be used for selling directly to consumers, we may consider having special events where brands and consumers can come together some of the products might be sold during a special event,'' said Sirdeshmukh.

For third party brands who want to utilise Amazon's fashion studio, they might have to arrive at a commercial agreement with the company when they want Amazon to create certain campaigns to boost their sales using the studio.