Indian Shoppers Shift to Curated Commerce
                     INDIAN 
SHOPPERS 
SHIFT TO 
CURATED 
COMMERC
E 
Have you endlessly scrolled through E-commerce 
pages in search of that elusive product that is 
different from all, stopped after sometime and just 
flung your phone on the side ? 
Human mind gets bogged down with the gazillion 
choices made available for its own pleasure; 
ironically, mind likes lesser stimulus so that its 
decision making power functions better. 
Curated Commerce has 
taken a small but a 
hopeful leap in the retail 
world. 
Conceived to provide 
select but tasteful 
products that aren’t 
readily available on 
bigger sites, curated 
commerce is the game-
changer in the retail 
scenario globally. 
India is catching up too, in time. From a mere 
$680 billion market in 2017, the Indian retail 
industry is expected to be worth a whopping $1.2 
trillion by 2020 as per Indian Retailer.
But as the consumer behavioural psychology 
works, the desire to look and feel different from 
others is never going to go away. 
Shopping through the large retail sites is an 
exercise in searching page after page for a 
specific product, while scouring hyper-local 
review websites, home-grown designer shops and 
smaller online stores is a new way to discover 
unique, interesting products that are hard to find 
on large or generalist retail sites. 
The erstwhile scenario of shopping from retail 
giants for heavy discounts is now shifting towards 
curated shopping experience for the sheer ease in 
shopping. 
RISE OF CURATED COMMERCE 
Known as curated commerce, this trend is helping 
newcomers and smaller designers develop a more 
distinctive brand voice while cultivating brand 
loyalty and increasing average order values and 
sales. 
At its core, curated commerce is about organizing 
customer segments around niche demographics 
(think 30-something high-income women) or self-
identified style profiles (preppy cool) and offering 
a limited number of product options intended to 
appeal to those customers. 
 
Ciceroni, Gujarat’s premier Fashion & Lifestyle 
Hyperlocal Discovery platform, recently forayed 
into curated e-commerce with the launch of ‘Pari-
Sangam’ - its first curated online store. ‘Pari-
Sangam’ featured a carefully selected mélange of 
11+ labels in clothing, accessories and décor 
categories from across India. 
With an engaged digital community of 1.2 lakh 
followers across social media platforms, Ciceroni 
aimed to ease the journey of a consumer from 
discovery to purchase by giving them a direct 
shopping option.
Portals like Ciceroni cater to the evolved 
aesthetics and sensibilities of urban millennials. 
True blue fashion and lifestyle conscious 
consumers are shifting their shopping 
experiences from giant retailers to smaller 
curated online sites in search of local, hand-
crafted and unique products. 
Shopping through these sites is like entering a 
quaint well-curated boutique where everything is 
arranged tastefully and each product has a story 
to tell.
Most of us do not have the time or resources to 
hire a personal stylist, but if we did we would 
expect that person to understand our lifestyle and 
taste preferences; the latest fashion or product 
trends; and have access to designers and 
boutiques we don’t usually shop from.
We would want our personal shopper to bring us 
products that they think we might like, rather 
than overwhelm us with too many choices. 
And, we would also want to know why we should 
love a particular product—is there a story behind 
this particular item or designer?
“When we started off, we realized that most 
buyers were suffering from brand coma while 
browsing through e-commerce sites and yet due 
to lack of information on local brands, they would 
go back to buying from high street brands and 
big retailers. 
Vocal for Local has been the underlying 
philosophy of Ciceroni right from its inception.”
“We shed light on artisanal labels that were 
handcrafted and slow in their approach and 
consumers found an alternative platform that 
provided them options. Our Curated E-commerce 
foray is just one step further to facilitate buying 
from these meticulously curated designers and 
labels.”
-Comments Ms. Neha Sheth, Founder & CEO 
– Ciceroni on why is curated e-commerce the 
way forward for retailers. 
Whether retail e-
commerce giant will 
subset their offerings 
through guest curated 
online stores within 
their sites or not is 
something to be seen 
going forward. 
Retailers and 
consumers both are 
benefitted by this 
curated online shopping 
model as there is 
attention to detail and 
not scale
In the world of multiple choices, shoppers will 
seek the one 
that gives them the best within limited 
offerings.
Thank 
You
Contact Us:
Website: 
https://www.ciceroni.in
Email: [email protected]