Why volume fashion still eats premium’s lunch

Zudio’s weekly refresh and hard price cap continue to pull footfall that once went to mid-market department stores. Nykaa’s beauty-led 25% rise shows digital can still premiumise, yet pure apparel floors feel the pinch. DMart’s 15% growth under everyday-low-price discipline underlines the same point.

A store manager at a tier-2 Westside now watches Zudio across the atrium steal the under-25 wallet. The till prints more units but lower average selling price. Riders for quick-commerce fashion apps report higher order frequency on value SKUs than on full-price brands.

Sub-₹999 machines keep posting faster growth than curated premium floors.

Premium players respond with better curation and private label, helping their own margins yet ceding share. Mass retailers gain traffic that can later be upsold into private label or adjacency categories. Marketplace sellers on Meesho and Amazon feel the same volume pull.

Watch festive sell-through data in October and Trent’s next store-addition number. If Zudio keeps adding cities faster than premium peers can raise ticket size, the gap widens further into FY27.