An online store for clothing brands, boutiques and garment makers that shows fabric, fit and drape properly. Size charts built from your own garment measurements. COD rules that confirm risky orders before they ship. Exchanges that keep the sale instead of refunding it. One stock count for your shop, your site and your marketplaces. And product pages that carry the declarations Indian consumer and Legal Metrology rules expect. Built from Navi Mumbai for brands across India.
Reply within one business day · Navi Mumbai team · Website, app and admin under one roof
One catalogue, one stock count and one customer record across your website, app, shops, Instagram and marketplaces.
A fast, mobile-first store that shows fabric, fit and drape, ranks for the styles people search, and keeps your margin on repeat orders.
For brands with loyal repeat buyers who want new drops, saved sizes and alerts that Instagram reach cannot guarantee.
The admin behind the store: SKU-level stock, COD rules, shipping, returns, GST invoices and links to your POS and marketplaces.
Most fashion businesses we meet started the same way: an Instagram page, a WhatsApp number and a few hundred loyal buyers, then a listing on Myntra, Ajio, Amazon, Flipkart or Meesho, then a Shopify or WooCommerce store. A boutique in Vashi or Bandra adds online orders to its shop. A garment maker in Tiruppur, Ludhiana, Jaipur or Surat starts selling under its own label. Getting the first orders is not the hard part. Keeping the profit from them is.
A buyer orders two sizes to try at home and returns one. A COD parcel is refused at the door after three delivery attempts, and you pay shipping both ways while the stock sits in a courier hub for two weeks. The boutique sells the last piece of a kurta an hour before an online order comes in for the same piece. A generic S-M-L chart sends out the wrong size, the exchange takes ten days, and the buyer never orders again. Marketplace commissions, fixed fees and return charges take their share of every sale.
The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020 already require seller details, a clear return and refund policy and a grievance officer. Amendments notified in September 2026, coming into force on 1 January 2027, add rules on showing a “prior price” beside a discount, labelling sponsored listings and a yearly self-audit for dark patterns. Legal Metrology rules require online listings to show the same declarations as the physical package, and recent amendments put extra weight on country of origin. GST on apparel was restructured in September 2025 on a per-piece value basis.
Infoways is a web, app and software company in Mahape, Navi Mumbai. We build fashion stores on Shopify, WooCommerce or a custom stack, shopping apps, and the back office that ties stock, shipping, returns and GST together. Below: what each part of a fashion store does, the consumer, labelling and tax rules it must respect, an honest comparison with the platforms you already know, the numbers that decide whether online sales make money, and how to roll it out.
Talk to us about your fashion businessEight modules, who uses each one, and the everyday cases in clothing, from try-at-home orders to festive rushes, that decide whether online sales are profitable.
Used by your catalogue team and seen by every buyer. Each style carries several photos, zoom, a short video where you have one, fabric and composition, lining, care instructions, the model’s height and the size she wears, and a line on how the style fits: relaxed, regular or slim. Colour swatches switch photos, not just the label. The same page shows the mandatory details: MRP inclusive of taxes, the manufacturer, packer or importer’s name and address, country of origin and consumer care contact. Those fields are required in the admin, so a new style cannot go live without them.
Solved in your appUsed by your design team once per pattern. Instead of one chart for the whole store, each pattern links to its own chart built from garment measurements (bust, waist, hip, length, sleeve) and, where useful, body measurements it suits. A slim kurta and a flared anarkali show different guidance even in the same size. Buyers can save their usual size and see “people who wear M in our regular fit usually take L in this style”, worked out from your own exchange history. Kids wear can be sized by age and height, and sarees and dupattas by length and width.
Solved in your appUsed by buyers, set by you. UPI, cards, net banking and wallets through Razorpay, PhonePe, Cashfree or a similar gateway. COD can be allowed, limited or switched off by order value, pincode, product type and the buyer’s past refusals. High-value or first-time COD orders get a WhatsApp or call confirmation before they ship. Any COD fee or prepaid benefit is shown clearly before the buyer pays, because charges that appear only at the last step can count as drip pricing under the dark pattern guidelines. Partial prepaid, such as a small advance with the balance on delivery, is also possible.
Solved in your appUsed by your dispatch team. Orders are packed from a pick list by SKU and bin, labels print through Shiprocket, Delhivery or another courier or aggregator, and tracking goes to the buyer on WhatsApp. When a delivery fails, the non-delivery report (NDR) comes back into the admin with the courier’s reason: buyer not available, refused, wrong address. Your team or an automated message contacts the buyer the same day and reattempts or cancels. Every RTO is tracked to the pincode, product, courier and reason, so COD rules can be tightened where refusals actually happen.
Solved in your appUsed by buyers and your returns desk. The buyer chooses return or exchange within the window your policy sets, picks a reason, and adds photos for damage or a wrong item. For size exchanges, the new size is reserved at once and a reverse pickup is booked, so the sale is kept instead of refunded. Returned pieces go through quality check: restock, send for repair or write off. Refunds go back to the original payment method or to store credit, as your policy and the buyer’s choice allow. Defective, damaged or wrong items cannot be refused, as the e-commerce rules expect.
Solved in your appUsed by store staff and the owner. Stock is counted once per SKU (style, colour, size) across your shops, warehouse and website. A sale at the boutique counter reduces online stock within moments, so the same piece is not sold twice. Marketplace stock can be pushed from the same count through a multichannel tool such as Unicommerce or EasyEcom, or through the marketplace’s own connector. A buffer per channel keeps the last few pieces for your own store if you choose. Transfers between shops and the warehouse are recorded, and stock counts can be done by barcode scan.
Solved in your appUsed by your social team. The store catalogue syncs to Instagram and Facebook shops and to a WhatsApp catalogue, so price and stock are the same everywhere. A reel can tag products that open on your store with the right colour and size picked. Orders taken in WhatsApp chats are entered as proper orders, not screenshots. Creator and affiliate codes track which posts actually sold, and payouts are worked out from delivered, not returned, orders. Any “only 2 left” or countdown message reads from real stock and real offer end times, because false urgency is a listed dark pattern.
Solved in your appUsed by the owner and marketing team. Every buyer has one record across store, app and shop counter: sizes, styles bought, returns and lifetime spend. A new Diwali or wedding-season drop goes first to past buyers in their saved sizes by WhatsApp, email or app alert, with consent recorded as the DPDP Act expects. Loyalty points and store credit work the same online and in the shop. Discounts show the prior price honestly, and from January 2027 the amended rules define that as the lowest price in the 30 days before the reduction.
Solved in your appShare your number of styles, shops and the channels you sell on. We will tell you which part of your store to fix first.
These rules apply to brands selling clothing online in India, whether on their own store or on a marketplace. Several were amended in 2025 and 2026, so check the current text with your adviser.
| Term or rule | 1What it means | 2How the software handles it |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020 | Apply to e-commerce entities, which commentators read to include a brand selling its own goods on its own website. They require seller details, return, refund, exchange, warranty, delivery and payment terms to be shown, and a grievance officer who acknowledges complaints within 48 hours and resolves them within one month. | Company details, policies and grievance officer contact appear on every page footer and at checkout. Complaints are logged with acknowledgement and resolution timers. |
| No refusing defective or wrong goods | Under the 2020 rules, sellers should not refuse to take back goods, or refuse a refund, when the goods are defective, deficient, spurious, not as described, or delivered late (except for force majeure). | Damaged, defective and wrong-item reasons always allow a return, whatever the style’s normal return setting. Only fit or change-of-mind returns follow your own policy. |
| Cancellation charges | Under the 2020 rules, a consumer who cancels after the purchase is confirmed should not be charged a cancellation fee unless the entity bears similar charges when it cancels on its own. | Cancellation fees are off by default. If your adviser approves them, the matching rule for seller-side cancellations is set too. |
| E-Commerce Rules amendments in force from 1 January 2027 | Notified in September 2026. Reported changes include: show the “prior price” (lowest price in the previous 30 days) beside a discounted price, label sponsored listings clearly, show the seller’s GSTIN or MSME number, disclose return shipping costs, give the complainant a copy of the complaint as recorded, and carry out a yearly dark-pattern self-audit with a certificate on the platform. | Price history is stored per SKU, so the prior price is worked out automatically. Policy pages show return shipping costs. Complaint records can be shared with the buyer. |
| Dark pattern guidelines 2023 | CCPA guidelines list practices such as false urgency (“only 1 left” when untrue), drip pricing (charges revealed late or more than shown) and basket sneaking (adding paid items without consent). Delivery charges and taxes disclosed at purchase are not basket sneaking. | Stock and countdown messages read from real data. Every fee, including COD charges, is shown before payment. Nothing is pre-ticked in the cart. |
| Legal Metrology declarations online | Rule 6(10) of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 2011 requires e-commerce entities to display the declarations required on the package: name and address of manufacturer, packer or importer, country of origin, generic name, net quantity, MRP inclusive of taxes and consumer care details. Commentators note the month and year of manufacture can be left out online. | These are required fields per product. A style cannot be published until they are filled, and they show in a fixed place on the product page. |
| Country of origin, 2026 amendments | Amendments in 2026 put extra weight on showing country of origin prominently before the purchase is complete and keeping origin data at SKU level. A country-of-origin filter applies to platforms, with effective dates reported as July 2026 or July 2027 for different provisions. | Country of origin is stored per SKU, not per brand, so a collection mixing Indian-made and imported pieces shows the right origin for each. |
| GST on apparel after September 2025 | From 22 September 2025, apparel and clothing accessories are taxed at 5% up to a per-piece value threshold and 18% above it, according to the government’s factsheet. The rate is reported to follow each piece’s value, not the bill total. | Each SKU carries its HSN code and the rate is picked by the piece’s sale value, including after discounts. Your CA confirms the threshold, the treatment of discounts and the invoice format. |
| Personal data under the DPDP Act 2023 | Names, addresses, phone numbers, sizes and purchase history are personal data. Marketing messages need valid consent, and buyers can ask for their data to be corrected or deleted. | Consent for WhatsApp, SMS and email is recorded separately from the order. Buyers can manage preferences, and data exports are logged. |
These points come from the E-Commerce Rules and their 2026 amendments, the CCPA dark pattern guidelines, Legal Metrology commentary and the government’s GST factsheet, as reported by law firms and official sources we checked in October 2026. Some changes are recent and their details may still be clarified. Confirm each point with your CA or legal adviser before it goes into your store. We build what your advisers approve; we do not decide the rules for you.
Most brands already sell on at least one marketplace: Myntra and Ajio for fashion, Amazon and Flipkart for reach, Meesho for value price points, Nykaa Fashion and Tata Cliq for some categories. For their own store, most use Shopify, WooCommerce or a hosted builder such as Dukaan or Wix. Around these sit checkout and COD tools such as GoKwik and Shopflo, shipping aggregators such as Shiprocket, multichannel stock tools such as Unicommerce and EasyEcom, and retail POS software such as Ginesys or GoFrugal in the shops. Features change often, so compare current versions with your needs.
Be honest about where you are. Marketplaces bring buyers who would never find you, and they are the right place to test demand. A Shopify or WooCommerce store with a good theme, proper size charts, COD rules, a shipping aggregator and a WhatsApp catalogue is the right first own store for most brands. It goes live in weeks and the apps around it cover most needs. Our Shopify development and WooCommerce development teams build exactly that.
Custom work makes sense when you outgrow the standard setup: several shops and a warehouse whose stock must agree with the website to the piece, a loyalty and store-credit scheme that works at the counter and online, wholesale and retail pricing on one catalogue, made-to-measure or alteration orders, or an app for a buyer base large enough to install it. Often the answer is a Shopify front end with a custom back office. Read our guides on starting an online store in India and custom software vs off-the-shelf before you decide.
Most brands use more than one channel. The real question is where your own repeat buyers should land.
| Factor | 1Marketplaces only | 2Shopify or WooCommerce store | 3Custom store, back office and app |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Testing demand, no setup | Most brands starting D2C, up to a few thousand SKUs | Many shops, complex returns, loyalty, wholesale |
| Customer data | Mostly stays with the marketplace | Yours | Yours, across shop counter and online |
| Size charts and COD rules | Set by the marketplace | Apps plus some custom code | Built exactly to your rules |
| Shop and site stock | Separate per channel | Through POS apps or a multichannel tool | One count per SKU, built in |
| Exchanges and store credit | Marketplace process | Apps, with limits | Your own flow, online and in the shop |
| Time to start | Days | A few weeks | About 3-6 months, in phases |
Product names are mentioned only to help you compare. Check each vendor’s current features and terms directly.
Revenue on the dashboard means little in fashion. These are the figures to check every week, each worked out from orders, shipments and returns your store already records.
Value of orders actually delivered and not returned, after discounts, for the period. Gross orders flatter a fashion brand. Net delivered revenue is what pays the bills.
Solved in your appOrders returned to origin divided by orders shipped, split by COD and prepaid, by pincode cluster and by courier. It shows where to limit COD, where to confirm orders and which courier struggles in which area.
Solved in your appExchanges for size divided by units delivered, per style. A style with a much higher rate than its category has a size chart or pattern problem. Fix the chart before the next production run.
Solved in your appSelling price minus product cost, shipping both ways where relevant, payment fees, packaging, marketplace fees and the cost of returns, per order and per channel. It shows whether your own store or a marketplace actually leaves more per order.
Solved in your appOrders from buyers who bought before, divided by all orders, by month. Repeat buyers cost far less to bring back, and this share is the best single sign that your own store is worth investing in.
Solved in your appPrepaid orders divided by all orders. Prepaid orders are rarely refused at the door. Watch how this moves when you change COD rules or prepaid benefits.
Solved in your appUnits sold divided by units received, per style and size, at 30, 60 and 90 days. It tells you which sizes to cut deeper in the next run and which styles to mark down before the season ends.
Solved in your appCount of returns by reason (size too small, too large, colour different, quality, damaged, changed mind) per style. “Colour different” points to photos. “Quality” points to the factory. “Too small” points to the size chart.
Solved in your appWe review your styles, sizes, SKU codes, shops and channels, and agree on Shopify, WooCommerce or custom. You decide your return, exchange, refund and COD policy with your adviser, in writing.
A clean SKU structure (style, colour, size), garment measurements per pattern, fabric and care fields, and the mandatory declarations: MRP, manufacturer or importer, country of origin and consumer care. Photography is planned now, because it is usually the slowest part.
Large images, zoom, swatches, video and fast mobile pages in your brand’s look. Checkout, COD rules, gateway, courier aggregator, GST by HSN and piece value, and the returns flow are built and tested.
POS in the shops, the multichannel tool or marketplace connectors, the WhatsApp catalogue and Instagram shop are linked to one stock count. Store staff are trained on billing and stock transfers, in Hindi or Marathi where needed.
Test orders on low-cost Android phones and slow networks, test parcels shipped, a return and an exchange processed end to end, and a COD refusal followed through NDR to RTO.
Launch first to your existing Instagram and WhatsApp buyers, with a few hundred orders as a final check before ads, festive drops or marketplace traffic arrive.
We check policies, declarations, prices, tax and reports with you before full launch. The app comes later, once repeat buyers justify it. Maintenance and support continues, including changes for the 2027 e-commerce amendments.
We will show you where your store loses orders and margin, and tell you honestly whether Shopify with the right apps is enough or a custom back office is worth it.
Every brand is different, so we quote after we understand yours. A Shopify or WooCommerce store with a custom theme, size charts per pattern, COD rules, a shipping aggregator, compliant product pages and a returns flow is a small to medium project. Adding shop POS and marketplace stock sync, loyalty and store credit, WhatsApp and Instagram selling and creator tracking makes it medium. A custom back office with several shops and warehouses, wholesale and retail pricing, made-to-measure orders and a shopping app is large.
Cost goes up with the number of shops and warehouses whose stock must agree, custom loyalty or store-credit rules, B2B wholesale on the same catalogue, the number of channels to sync and the size of the catalogue to migrate. It comes down if your SKU codes and photos are ready, if you start on Shopify or WooCommerce, and if the app waits until repeat buyers justify it. Product photography and content are often the slowest part, so plan them early.
Timelines: a well-built Shopify or WooCommerce store usually goes live in 4-8 weeks. Store plus shop and marketplace sync takes about 2-3 months. A custom back office and app runs 4-6 months in phases. See our guide to ecommerce website cost for how pricing works, and ecommerce development for the platforms we build on.
Do not copy a generic size chart. Every pattern fits differently, and buyers know it. Measure your own garments, add a line on how each style fits, and look at exchange rates by style every month. It takes a few days and saves months of exchanges.
Do not offer COD to everyone with no checks, and do not switch it off either. Many Indian buyers still prefer to pay on delivery. Confirm risky COD orders, give a clear reason to prepay, and show every charge before payment so the checkout does not slip into drip pricing.
Do not leave marketplaces overnight, and do not let them own your buyers either. Use them for discovery, and bring repeat buyers to your own store with a card in the parcel and WhatsApp follow-ups, with consent.
Do not treat product page declarations as optional. MRP, manufacturer or importer details, country of origin and a clear return policy are rule-driven, and missing them is an easy complaint to lose. And do not build an app if most sales are one-time gifting buyers or you have under a hundred styles. A fast mobile store, a WhatsApp catalogue and good Instagram content will do more. Build the app when repeat buyers would actually install it.
Ask us on WhatsApp. A real person from our Navi Mumbai team replies.
Ask on WhatsAppShopify or WooCommerce suits most brands starting D2C, up to a few thousand SKUs. A custom store or back office makes sense with several shops to sync, unusual return or loyalty rules, wholesale and retail on one catalogue, or made-to-measure orders.
By confirming risky COD orders on WhatsApp or by call, limiting COD by value, pincode and product, blocking repeat refusers, handling failed deliveries the same day, and giving a clear reason to prepay. RTO is tracked by pincode, courier and reason so the rules improve over time.
We did not find a rule that bans a COD fee outright, but any fee must be shown clearly before the buyer pays. Charges revealed late or higher than shown can count as drip pricing under the CCPA dark pattern guidelines. Confirm your approach with your legal adviser.
Legal Metrology rules require online listings to show the package declarations: name and address of the manufacturer, packer or importer, country of origin, generic name, net quantity, MRP inclusive of taxes and consumer care details. The e-commerce rules add seller details and your return, refund and exchange terms. Your adviser should confirm the list for your products.
Amendments notified in September 2026 are reported to require showing the prior price (lowest in the previous 30 days) beside discounts, clear labels for sponsored listings, the seller’s GSTIN or MSME number, disclosed return shipping costs, a copy of the complaint to the buyer, and a yearly dark-pattern self-audit. We can prepare your store well before the date.
You can set your own policy for fit or change-of-mind returns, as long as it is clearly shown before purchase. Under the 2020 rules, you should not refuse returns or refunds for defective, damaged, spurious or not-as-described goods, sale or not.
From 22 September 2025, the government’s factsheet says apparel is taxed at 5% up to a per-piece value threshold and 18% above it, based on each piece’s value. The store picks the rate per SKU by HSN code and sale value. Your CA should confirm how discounts and bundles are treated.
Yes. Each pattern links to its own chart with garment measurements and a fit note, so a slim kurta and a flared anarkali show different guidance even in the same size.
Yes. We connect your shop POS so stock is counted once per SKU, and a sale at the counter updates the website within moments. Marketplace stock can be pushed from the same count through a multichannel tool or connector.
Yes. The buyer picks the new size, it is reserved at once and a reverse pickup is booked, so you keep the sale instead of refunding it.
Yes. The store catalogue syncs to Instagram and Facebook shops and a WhatsApp catalogue, so prices and stock stay the same everywhere, and chat orders become proper orders.
Usually yes, for discovery. Your own store is where repeat buyers come back without marketplace fees. We help you run both from one stock count without double-selling.
When you have a meaningful base of repeat buyers who would install it for drops, saved sizes and loyalty. Until then, a fast mobile store and WhatsApp do more for less.
Names, addresses, phone numbers, sizes and purchase history are personal data under the DPDP Act 2023. We record marketing consent separately from orders, let buyers manage their preferences, set access by role and log every export.
We write product descriptions, fit, fabric and care content and SEO copy, and set up the mandatory declarations. For photography, we brief your photographer on the angles, sizes and shots the store needs.
Tell us your catalogue size, your shops and where you sell today. We will suggest the right store, a timeline and a price.
Tell us what you want to achieve with your website, software, SEO or AI automation. We reply within one business day, usually the same day, with specific advice, at no cost and with no commitment.
We’ll go through what you send and get back to you within one business day, usually the same day.
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