by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Large Enterprise, Markets, Online Marketing, Sales, SMEs, Social Media, Technology
New Delhi : It is time again to loosen your purse strings! With attractive deals and huge discounts across various categories on offer, almost all major e-commerce platforms are geared up to commence their sales for the festive season.
While e-commerce giant Flipkart and the online retail platforms it owns — Jabong and Myntra — will start with their five-day-long “Big Billion Days” sales from September 20, Amazon India’s “Great Indian Festival” will begin exclusively for its “Prime” customers on the same day at 12 p.m.
However, the festival sale for all customers of Amazon India will be from September 21 to 24.
“For the first time ever, the Great Indian Festival will start early at 12 noon on September 20 only for ‘Prime’ members,” Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Category Management, Amazon India, told IANS.
“We expect more customers to join the digital ecosystem and shop with us during this festive season. With expanded selection and a robust logistical support system, we are ready to handle the massive customer traffic that we are bound to receive this season,” Tiwary added.
Amazon India will offer deals across several categories, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, large appliances, baby products, clothing and accessories, beauty products, home and kitchen products, furniture and stationery products.
Swati Bhargava, co-founder of CashKaro, said: “What is interesting this time is that earlier, very often it used to be only Flipkart and Amazon trying to announce sales. This time, all the main six to seven e-commerce retailers, like Jabong, Shopclues and Myntra, Paytm Mall… are doing sales on the same day.”
CashKaro, partner to more than 1,500 e-commerce sites, provides its members with cashback offers on their online shopping at various sites like Flipkart, Amazon.in, Paytm, Shopclues and Jabong.
“Typically, we see about a 300 per cent increase in our GMV (gross merchandise volume) which goes through CashKaro during the festive season. Even in September, if we were to compare with the numbers of August, I am sure we will see at least a 300 per cent increment,” Bhargava told IANS.
She added: “We will probably be driving over Rs 100 crore of sales in this month alone to all our partner retailers.”
In online retailing, GMV indicates a total sales dollar value for merchandise sold through a particular marketplace over a certain time frame.
“Also, this time, it is not ‘start of the month’ sale, it is mid-month. There will be a little bit of cash crunch also, which is why this is a good time to bring in cards and EMI offers,” Bhargava added.
Online marketplace ShopClues’ “Maha Bharat Diwali Sale”, which will run from September 20 to 28, will offer a wide range of products with discounts ranging from 50-80 per cent off across the home and kitchen, electronics and accessories, and fashion and lifestyle categories.
“ShopClues aims to achieve 75 per cent plus growth in business over September-October,” said Radhika Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CBO, ShopClues.
“We have also ramped up our associations with top banks, portals and e-wallets, to enable a seamless and delightful shopping experience for our customers during this Diwali,” she added.
In line with the e-commerce giants, Paytm Mall, owned by Paytm Ecommerce, will also launch its first ever festive season sale — “Mera Cashback Sale” — from September 20 to 23.
“This is our first festive season sale and we are expecting 5-6 million new customers on our platform during the four-day sale,” said a Paytm Mall spokesperson.
While the full-on sales are slated to start from Wednesday, some other e-commerce sites such as LimeRoad have their festive sales ongoing.
“LimeRoad introduced ‘The Festive Love Affair’, a collection featuring an array of handpicked kurtas, sarees, suits, heritage jewellery, traditional home décor and a lot more… It is live from September 15 to 26 and caters to both budget buyers and luxury shoppers,” said Suchi Mukherjee, Founder and CEO of LimeRoad.
Mukherjee told IANS that approximately 30 per cent of the total revenue inflow is seen during the festive months.
Flipkart will also run its “Flipkart For India” campaign as part of the sales offer during which it will ship festive gift hampers to the families of army martyrs, and current personnel of the army, Border Security Force and the Central Reserve Police Force, posted in hostile locations away from home.
“The specially-packaged boxes, numbering a few hundred, will contain an assortment of dry fruits and a gift voucher worth Rs 10,000 that can be used to shop on Flipkart,” the company said in a statement.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Chaitanya Mallapur: Although India’s use of the internet is lower than many poorer countries, the country’s e-commerce sector tripled – or grew by 209 percent over the last five years – from $4.4 billion (Rs.20,020 crore) in 2010 to $13.6 billion (Rs.83,096 crore) in 2014.
This data was contained in a reply given to the Lok Sabha in March 2016.
India’s e-commerce market is likely to reach $38 billion (Rs.252,700 crore) in 2016, according to an Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (Assocham) report released in January 2016.
The online retail sector in India is expected to be a $1 trillion (Rs.660,000 crore) market by 2020, according to a recent report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Deloitte, a consultancy. The study indicates that more e-commerce will trigger big innovations in India.
The Goods and Services Tax, once implemented, is expected to boost the growth of e-commerce by simplifying taxation and logistics, said the CII-Deloitte report.
Internet penetration across the country is rising with as many as 354 million users reported as of September 2015. Online shoppers in India have increased from 20 million in 2013 to 39 million in 2015, an increase of 95 percent over three years.
India’s e-commerce market rises despite low net use
But India’s internet penetration – the percentage of Indians who use the net – is low, 19 percent in 2014, as IndiaSpend reported earlier. Compare this with Australia (90 percent), the US (87 percent), Japan (86 percent), Brazil (53 percent) and China (46 percent).
In 2014, only 18 of 100 Indians used the internet, against 49.3 for China and 48.3 for Vietnam. Even poorer countries, such as Ghana, had greater internet penetration – 18.9 users per 100 people, according to a Mint report. Similarly, mobile subscriptions in India were 74 per 100 people in 2014, lower than Bangladesh (80), China (92), Indonesia (129) and Vietnam (147).
Mobile internet spend has increased from 54 percent to 64 percent from 2014 to 2015, attributed to high-speed 3G and 4G internet connectivity at some of the world’s lowest prices, fuelling e-commerce growth.
Despite the rise in broadband and mobile internet users, speed remains a major constraint. The average broadband speed in India is 2 mega bits per second (mbps), ranking 115 globally, IndiaSpend has reported. Similarly, the average mobile internet speed is 1.7 mbps, ranking below Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.
In March this year, the government allowed 100 percent foreign direct investment in online retail marketplaces-electronic platforms that connect buyers and sellers.
India’s e-commerce giants battle a survival of the fittest
As competition grows, and international competitors step in, domestic online retailers will struggle, experts predict.
US retailer Amazon became the second-largest online marketplace by shipments in India last month, after domestic rival Flipkart, pushing former number two, Snapdeal, to third place.
Flipkart’s growth has virtually stalled since the middle of last year and the leadership team hasn’t figured out a way to kick-start sales, according to India Value Fund Advisors partner Haresh Chawla.
“Its gross merchandise volume (GMV) – sales or revenue in online retailing – sold over a given period of time has not grown substantially, which had grown by over 200 percent per annum for the past three years,” Chawla added.
Similarly in the taxi business, multinational Uber is in race with India’s Ola, the current domestic-market leader. Last month, Uber claimed it would overtake Ola by market share within 30 days.
Jabong – an online fashion portal – reported a drop in sales and cut losses in 2015 and is now struggling to find a buyer.
“Consumer internet start-ups find it difficult to navigate slowdowns,” said Chawla.
“Traditional companies usually recover from these cycles. But technology-led companies simply go bust. They have very little consumer loyalty to start with. Most bribe consumers to grow rapidly and cutback (on profits), causing them to implode.”
(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform, where Chaitanya Mallapur is a policy analyst. The views expressed are those of India Spend. The author can be contacted at respond@indiaspend.org)
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz
New Delhi, (IANS) The parent company of online portal Jabong, Global Fashion Group (GFG), has secured funding of 300 million euros from Rocket Internet, a company statement said here on Monday.
“While Rocket Internet will underwrite around 100 million euro of the financing, it will invest around 85 million euros including the conversion of an existing investment at the terms of the financing,” the statement said.
“We have had success over the past few months, with Jabong recently recording its best month in terms of revenue. GFG sees good progress with Jabong in India and this trust will help us strengthen our operations in the country,” said Sanjeev Mohanty, managing director and chief executive, Jabong.
“The funding will greatly help Jabong, which is on a path of transformation from a start-up to a professionally run, profit oriented company,” the statement added.
