Best Online Shopping Sites for Luxury Brands in India

If you’re one of the people who believes in retail therapy and moreover, firmly believes that retail therapy should be covered in your health insurance, then this one’s for you. If you’re a devotee of luxury brands and if buying a Prada purse or a pair (or two) Gucci shoes make you really happy then you will remember there was a time when luxury would be sold only in their stores and boutiques. And sadly, if you didn’t stay in some hoity-toity city like New York, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles or Tokyo you would have to wait till your ‘relative from America’ returns and gets you your favorite brand or you travel to one of the places where the designer clothing or high-end luxurious accessories were available.

Thank you, technology! Those days are far gone now. Now you could be in the remotest place on Earth and through a few clicks on your phone or laptop get access to the alluring world of high-fashion. Wait for a few days and voila! Your Louis Vuitton bag is at your doorstep.

With technology jumping leaps and bounds and affecting every sphere possible, it is only natural that luxury brands take a step into the online world. True, we all have various reasons to think that luxury is best when sold in the classic and sophisticated boutiques but it is now on luxury brands to adapt to their audience’s new needs. Many times, questions like, is using our cards safe or what if it’s a fake one haunt us when it comes to purchasing luxury brands online. But brands are now making efforts to eliminate such questions and there is a visible increase in the expenditure by the forwarder-thinking audience who are now willing to spend $10,000 on a cashmere coat or a $20,000 on the leather handbag.

“Whoever said that money can't buy happiness, simply didn't know where to go shopping." —Bo Derek

While we can’t get into the lifelong debate of whether money can buy happiness or not we definitely agree that shopping can help you with a better mood- and this is where we come in. Here we have a list of the best online shopping sites for luxury brands in India.

1. Darveys:

In June 2014, India witnessed an increase in the sales of luxury good sales and that’s when the opportunist entrepreneur Nakul Bajaj, started one of the leading websites for online shopping for luxury goods- Darveys. The whole idea of Darveys came to Nakul when his mother visited him in Atlanta in 2009, where he was completing his graduation. Along with all the Indian goodies, his mother sported a Prada bag which she had purchased from Delhi. When Nakul came to know that it had cost a whopping two lakhs he realized the same bag in Atlanta would probably be half the price. That’s when he got the idea of Darveys.

In an interview with Economic Times, Nakul says, “The platform was launched with a thought to fix two basic concerns that Indians confronted –limited availability of collections and prices that were way higher than at international stores.”

The site boasts about its authenticity and guarantees double the paid amount if a fake is spotted. Nakul says that on every product sold, all purchase receipts are collected by Darveys from the boutiques, which stands as proof that the item has been procured from the brand directly. After that, the product is checked with the actual product and only then is it given clearance to be shipped from the boutique.

The site has many designers like Armani Collezioni, Balmain, Bottega Veneta, Diane Von Furstenberg, Fendi, Chloe, Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Bulgari, Burberry and 500 more brands under its roof!

2. Luxepolis:

2014 has definitely been a game-changer in the Indian luxury industry as another popular site for luxury goods was launched in December, 2014- Luxepolis. It believes that "luxury is timeless" and that every luxury piece, whether newly obtained or savoured for long, is an investment. In Greek, ‘polis’ means a city or a community of citizens. When two entrepreneurs came together to create India’s largest online luxury marketplace then it’s no surprise that the place would be called ‘Luxepolis’. Founded by Namrata Valecha and Vijay KG, Luxepolis claims to be the first in the online market to provide an authenticity and grading certificate for every pre-owned purchase. All the new products come with the original price tag.

Besides having more than 500 international as well as Indian brands onboard, Luxepolis has brand offers upto 70% to attract the customers. Luxepolis believes that approx 3 percent of the population buy luxury goods at least once in their lifetime and mainly want to cater to this segment, hence they also sell pre-owned luxury goods. Luxepolis has also partnered with various credit card companies and NBFC’s to provide EMIs with a tenure of approx 5 years! The website has a huge following and with biggest brands like Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Botega Venetta, Cersace, Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen, Givenchy and many more under its portfolio.

3. Elitify:

With a simple vision of creating exceptional luxe experiences Elitify comis is here. One of the things that make luxury goods exceptional is the service you get with it. Even if it is an online marketplace, it doesn’t let that element fade away. It provides a personal stylist and shopping service that takes client’s experience to the next level. One of the rising websites in luxury online market, founder of Elitify, Amit Rawal believes that everything about Elitify including the visual aesthetics of the site, their premium packaging, and the customer-first service is what will set them apart from the basic clutter of e-commerce in India.

Elitify is a leading online platform for luxury goods and offers a range of products like clothing apparels, accessories, perfumes, shoes, handbags, for both men and women. With a wide list of designers like Valentino, Hugo Boss, Stella McCartney, Michael Kors, Miu Miu, Burberry, Bulgari, Guess under its roof, Elitify is set to become a leading platform in the Luxury industry of India.

4. Rock N Shop:

Founded by two fashion forward sisters, Priya Sachdev and Charu Sachdev, Rock N Shop was launched in India in 2015. Rock N Shop has over 300+ brands and is growing with the aim to deliver luxury and premium emerging brands to the doorstep of every indulgent customer in India as well as worldwide. The start-up based in New Delhi, was started when the founder realized that there was a gap between supply of luxury goods and demands by the two-tier and three-tier cities. The platform also provides EMI options for payment and targets people who fall with the age group of 25-50. Besides selling luxury fashion from the biggest designers, Rock N Shop also focuses on categories like beauty, home décor. Besides the shopping feature, the website also offers an e-magazine called the Rock Blog which has various blogs right from the fashion runways to the latest styles.

Few of the popular designers housed by Rock N Shop include Oscar de la Renta, Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen, Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana and many more.

5. The Collective:

An Aditya Birla- Fashion and Retail concept; The Collective is known for its breadth of exclusive fashion under one roof. It offers all connoisseurs a way to express their individual, personal style. Besides the website, it also has stores in Delhi, Mumbai as well as Pune. The website covers all wardrobe needs. Right from formals to semi-formals and casual, denims to active wear for both men and women of all age groups;. Its brand portfolio consists of popular names like Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, Kate Spade, Coach, Chloe, Versace as well as Armani Collezioni. The store also includes watches, shows, ties, belts, cufflinks, jewellery and sunglasses besides clothing. The online site offers so many celebrated designers which are easy to locate and an easy user-interface.

Amit Pande, Brand Head of The Collective said, “The Collective has been bringing alive global fashion through an expert curation of great brands, making it a one-stop destination for connoisseurs.”

Conclusion:

We all love the finer things in life, and getting our favorites and premium brands under one roof is a cherry on the cake for us. While we have to visit 50 different brand boutiques for the perfect shopping session, e-commerce sites like these come to our aid and within a few clicks our work is made easy. While the store hopping and shopping will always be an experience we cherish, the online shopping for luxury goods is an industry which is just in the beginning phase in India and has a long way to go.