The presence of Internet for business has created a large amount of scholarly literature on Internet marketing and consumer behavior. But relatively little empirical work has been undertaken on branding strategies over Internet. In recent years, customers are giving more value to brand and online experience. Also, the shift of power from companies to customer has pushed businesses to redefine their marketing and branding strategies. The paper contributes to the knowledge on online branding through exploratory research and identifies the ways in which the online channel is being used to support brands. The focus of this research is the online fashion store and multichannel retailers in India. The findings of the research confirm a consistency in multichannel brand visibility approaches over online and other channels, but their strategy for online brand relationship is still underdeveloped.

Many companies have incorporated Internet into their business practices. The comparative advantages of using the Internet appear compelling in providing cost, time, reach and interactivity benefits to consumers as well as for businesses. Internet shopping is also showing a steady rise in the marketplace. A recent report on online shopping released by Indian industry chamber Assocham (2013) showed that India’s e-commerce market rose from about $2.5 bn in 2009 to $6.3 bn in 2011, $8.5 bn in 2012 and further to $16 bn in 2013. The survey shows that small companies have also facilitated group buying through online stores, which means that customer can avail discounted goods when specified people make online purchase. Most of these purchases include gift articles (58%), railway tickets (39%), electronic gadgets (41%), and apparel (36%). Internet is also becoming a compelling channel for fashion goods. Even though this Internet sales account for a small percentage in total retail sales, it is the fastest growing sector of retailing. Retailing fashion online was seen as unlikely to be successful in the early days of e-commerce, because of people’s need to touch and try on clothes and the social experience associated with clothes shopping (Goswami and Mathur, 2011). The volumes and revenue from clothes and footwear sales online have grown progressively between 25-30% each year since 2000 (IMRG, 2006).

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