Online fashion shops booming

Lesies, which originated in Hangzhou, was established in 1993. Provided to China Daily

Na Wain's brick-and-mortar shops continue to offer customers high-end and professional services at higher prices, while its online shop sells clothes to younger clients. Hu views online shoppers as potential customers for his brick-and-mortar shops.

"As they get older, online customers will gradually become offline customers," he said.

However, for Hu, the development of brick-and-mortar stores is still and will continue to be for some time the focus of the company.

"After all, the sales revenue of our online shop last year accounted only for 8 percent of our total sales. The online business helps us to expand rapidly and to a larger range of customers, but the main profits still come from our brick-and-mortar shop sales," he said.

Qian echoed that view.

"The online business can only be a complementary service to our brick-and-mortar shops. The question is how to balance the branding strategies of online shops and those of the other shops. That's a big problem because both of them share the same brand name," he said.

Meanwhile, Gu said that brand owners in Hangzhou should not be afraid to venture online.

"Willingly or not, Hangzhou's fashion brands have entered the e-commerce era along with other companies. Concerns and challenges remain, but opportunities and profits will come as well," Gu said.