Aditya Birla Retail buys Jubilant Industries' hypermarket business in slump sale deal

By PTI | 12 May, 2015, 01.06PM IST

Post a Comment
READ MORE ON Pantaloons Fashion | Madura Garments Lifestyle Retail Company | Jubilant Industries |
Future Retail | Bengaluru | Aditya Birla Nuvo | Aditya ..
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47245054.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

MUMBAI: The battle for supremacy in India's bulging e-commerce market

between Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal is rapidly heating up with multibillion-dollar investments, trolling on Twitter and squabbling over exclusive
selling rights.
Gaining ground after entering India in 2013, Amazon has been embroiled in
rounds of one-upmanship with its local counterparts as competition intensifies
for a greater slice of the lucrative market.
"In such a crowded marketplace it is difficult to distinguish between the firms
based solely on the products they sell or the customer service provided,"
industry analyst Shriram Subramanian told AFP.
"It's brutally competitive so there's a strong itch to take a dig at the opposition
in an attempt to stand out to customers," added Subramanian, head of Indian
corporate advisory firm InGovern.
Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce firm, and US behemoth Amazon
exchanged barbed comments on Twitter recently when portal Reddit India
tweeted a photo showing an Amazon delivery box sitting at Flipkart's
reception.
The tweet suggested Flipkart staff preferred to order from Amazon. The Indian
company hit back, posting "We recycled said packaging as our reception's
dustbin."
Amazon then weighed in, tweeting: "There is a bit of Amazon in every
eCommerce company #justsaying," -- an apparent reference to the fact that
Flipkart's founders used to work for the American company.
Internet entrepreneurs Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who are not related,
quit Amazon to start Flipkart in 2007, with the Bangalore-headquartered
company rapidly establishing itself as India's largest online store.

Sachin and Snapdeal co-founder Rohit Bansal, again no relation, traded jibes
on their personal Twitter accounts recently over the latter's purported
comments that it was difficult to find good staff in India.
"Don't blame India for your failure to hire great engineers. They join for culture
and challenge," Sachin wrote to Rohit.
The Snapdeal chief operating officer responded saying his company had been
voted one of the best places to work in India.
Flipkart is estimated to be worth $15 billion and commands up to 44 percent of
market share, well ahead of Snapdeal, which was launched in 2010 and
enjoys around 22 percent of sales, according to analysts.
Amazon occupies around 12 to 14 percent, insiders say, and has its rivals
firmly in its sights despite coming to the party in India late.
"Amazon has done very well in the two years since launching in India because
already it has managed to start challenging market leaders who had early
movers' advantage," retail analyst with Technopak Pragya Singh told AFP.
India's e-commerce market, although small in comparison to China's or the
United States', is expected to rise swiftly to be worth over $32 billion by the
end of the decade.
According to recent local newspaper reports, Amazon plans to invest $5 billion
in India to turn the country into its biggest market outside of the US, while
Flipkart and Snapdeal are spending big just to stay ahead.
Flipkart raised $1 billion in funding last year while Bloomberg reported on
Monday that Snapdeal is set to receive a $500 million war chest from Chinese
e-commerce giant Alibaba and Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn.
The investment, which may also include Japan's SoftBank Group according to
Bloomberg, values Snapdeal at around $5 billion, the report said.
Amazon India's vice president and country manager Amit Agarwal refused to
comment on how much the company was spending to capitalise on India's
growing middle class but claimed its website was receiving more hits than
Flipkart's.

"We are today the largest online store in India with over 25 million products,"
he told AFP in an email.
"Not only that we have the largest in-stock selection of about 800,000
products available for guaranteed next-day delivery. This is by far multiple
times higher than what anyone else in the same space offers," he added.
Amazon and Flipkart have also tussled over exclusive selling rights with both
accused of alleged infringement in two separate cases, one of which is before
the High Court in Delhi.
Flipkart reportedly sold novelist Amish Tripathi's latest book when Amazon had
sole rights. The US company faced a similar allegation over author Chetan
Bhagat's "Half Girlfriend", which only Flipkart was apparently allowed to
distribute.
Both companies rejected any violation, saying they were open marketplaces
connecting sellers with buyers, according to the Economic Times.
While analyst Subramanian welcomes the bullishness currently on show, he
suggested the "brashness" should be tempered down.
"Ultimately it's business cycles that will separate the men from the boys in the
e-commerce sector," he said.

Shoppers Stop to set up

its own store on Snapdeal
The partnership will allow consumers to buy Shoppers Stop
merchandise on Snapdeal and collect it from the brick-andmortar stores.ET Bureau | 07 August 2015, 7:44 AM IST
NewsletterA A
Share

6
Tweet

13

Share

50
Share

MUMBAI: Department store chain Shoppers Stop has inked a deal to

launch its own store on online marketplace Snapdeal, joining a
growing list of brick-and mortar retailers who have tied up with
online players to widen their reach. The retailer, which also sells
merchandise through its website, is keen on tapping the potential of
online marketplaces which are gaining favour among consumers.
"Our reach is limited to over 30 cities while Snapdeal reaches
thousands of pin-codes with an extremely large consumer base,"
said Govind Shrikhande, managing director of Shoppers Stop, which
recently said it will invest Rs 60 crore in omni-channel. "Snapdeal
will help us understand technology and different set of consumers
that will come handy in our omni-channel strategy."
Under the deal signed on Thursday, Shoppers Stop will dictate
discounting strategy and price tags. The pricing, however, will be
kept close to that in Shoppers Stop stores to prevent canabalising,
Shrikhande said.

The partnership, which will cover around 17 stores in northern India

by Diwali, will allow consumers to buy Shoppers Stop merchandise
on Snapdeal and collect it from the brick-and-mortar stores.
There could be initial hiccups such as duplication of brands that
Shoppers Stop sells and are also listed on Snapdeal separately,
perhaps with different price tags. "We will have discussions with
brands on how pricing and merchandising overlap can be managed,"
Shrikhande said.
Snapdeal already hosts online stores for enterprises such as Tataowned Croma. Similarly, Amazon has an exclusive partnership with
Future Group as part of their omni-channel strategy to leverage
multiple channels such as mobile, web or stores.
Kunal Bahl, co-founder and chief executive of Snapdeal, said, "We
will offer our strong presence across 5,000-plus cities and towns to
further expand Shoppers Stop's reach by adding newer geographies
of the country. This partnership marks a strong beginning of the
bright future for online and offline retail collaboration in India."

Trendin.com betting big

on smaller towns and
cities
In terms of reach, Trendin gets about 50% of its orders
from tier III and IV cities where our brands are not available
in full glory, said Shivanandan Pare, head of ecommerce at
Madura Fashion and Lifestyle.Varun Jain | 06 August 2015, 3:51 PM IST
NewsletterA A
Share
Tweet
Share
Share

New Delhi: Small

towns and cities are driving the business at Trendin.com, the
ecommerce initiative of Aditya Birla Group-owned Madura Garments,
accounting for about half of its sales, a top executive said.
"In terms of reach, Trendin gets about 50% of its orders from tier III
and IV cities where our brands are not available in full glory," said
Shivanandan Pare, head of ecommerce at Madura Fashion and
Lifestyle.
Madura owns over half a dozen marquee brands including Louis
Philippe, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Peter England and People. It sells
apparel under these brands through a network of around 1,800
exclusive stores, department stores like Shoppers Stop and other
trade partners.
Trendin is seeing significant traction from women consumers, a
sharp contrast from Madura's offline stores where men are the
primary customers.
Pare said engagement by women consumers from smaller cities
such as Nasik, Dhule, Aurangabad and Raipur has been exceptional.
"We were surprised that women from these cities were buying
extremely premium pricing products and the contribution level
improved to almost 22% from the women category alone. For us,
markets never existed at these places," he said.
"The biggest learning is if we manage to ramp up the distribution
and fill that gap, women will start buying our products even in small

cities. Hence, in the last one year, the company has invested
significantly to ramp up the distribution of the women products,"
Pare said.
Trendin, which was launched two and a half years ago, has been
growing at 180% in terms of revenue since inception, he said.
Pare said Madura decided to launch its own ecommerce venture
instead of selling the brands through established fashion portals
because of its long-term objective. "If our objective was to only sell
and look at the bottom line, then selling only through fashion portals
like a Myntra or a Jabong would have made sense for us. But our
objective is long term, which is to ensure that the customer also
latches on to our brand experience and have access to the whole
range of our styles and products. This is where setting up our own
ecommerce venture made sense for us," he said.
Trendin says it covers 95% of the pin codes in the country and
witnesses a monthly traffic of 5 million. The venture accounted for
close to 1% of Madura's revenue of Rs 3,735 crore in the last
financial year.
"Last year, other portals and Trendin put together did approximately
2% of Madura sales, where Trendin sold 50% and 50% was sold by
other partner sites put together," said Pare. "This year, we are
witnessing the same trend. But, as we progress further, in my
opinion, partner sites would take a lead over Trendin as their
awareness levels are much higher."
Trendin, which employs 100 people, is also looking to raise its
workforce to 180 by the end of this financial year.

Tatas rope in top talent

for its e-commerce foray
The Tata Group has roped in top talent to steer its maiden
new-age businesses as the 147-year-old conglomerate
broadens its portfolio with bets on digital ventures.Reeba
Zachariah&Vipashana V K | 06 August 2015, 11:33 AM IST

NewsletterA A
Share

Tweet
Share
Share

MUMBAI: The Tata Group has

roped in top talent to steer its maiden new-age businesses as the
147-year-old conglomerate broadens its portfolio with bets on digital
ventures. The $109-billion Tata Group has brought in Muthu Krishnan
from US-based Athenahealth and Deep Thomas from Citi as CEOs for
its two businesses digital health and data analytics, sources said. Its
third business, a lifestyle and electronics e-commerce platform, is
being led by Ashutosh Pandey, former COO of the group's bookstore
chain, Landmark.
Each of the ventures incubated by Tata Industries, which is known
for creating and promoting new businesses, has already recruited
35-40 people. While the digital health and data analytics are
operating out of Bengaluru, the e-commerce is from Mumbai.
Changing times and consumer behaviour have prompted the Tata
Group to transform itself and foray into next-gen businesses. "The
consumer and the world are going digital. We don't have a choice,
we have to go," said Nirmalya Kumar, member-group executive
council, Tata Sons.
Though the group is making a late entry into the startup space,
Kumar refuted this, saying, "Right now, we are at the start of the
digital revolution as only a small percentage of the country's
population using mobile phones is connected to the internet all the

time."
When asked why the group chose to go organic instead of acquiring
a well-established company, the professor-turned-strategist said that
though the group receives numerous startup investment proposals,
the industrial house prefers having controlling stake.
Moreover, the startup companies ask for astronomical valuations,
something the group feels is not worth. "It is cheaper to build than
to buy."
The digital health business a cloud-based service for electronic
health records which will connect doctors, labs, pharmacies to
patients will be rolled out in two months, starting with chronic cases
in two cities, and will function on subscription basis. This, in a way,
marks the conglomerate's major entry into the healthcare sector,
where it so far had a limited presence.
Customer data analytics, which already has four Tata companies on
its rolls, made a soft launch recently and may include external firms
in future. The idea is to use a database to customize services and
offer customers products based on their purchasing behaviour,
income and choices.
The e-commerce venture, which will be rolled out in the next few
months, will have a marketplace-like model with over 80 brands
including in-house labels, and an omni-channel facility where
customers can opt to get products delivered or can pick them up
from nearby stores.
"The model is based on generating profits and not on luring
customers with discounts," said Kumar. Currently, most e-commerce
firms have turned into money guzzlers as they compete to grab
customers' attention by offering throw-away deals.

NEW DELHI: A motley group of small retailers has moved the Delhi High
Court, seeking a government probe into possible foreign investment violation
by ecommerce companies for allegedly funneling foreign capital into selling
products to consumers.
"Government should investigate these ecommerce companies as they have
obtained FDI and that money is used in actual retailing to customers," said a
person involved with the group of mostly small shoe sellers that filed the case
on Wednesday.

India does not allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in any business-toconsumer, or B2C, ecommerce companies. Foreign-funded companies,
including Amazon and homegrown giants Flipkart and Snapdeal, are operating
as marketplaces, whereby they merely lend their technology platform for
Indian vendors to sell.

Small retailers are disputing this and have sought a probe against ecommerce
firms under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. "We are saying this
ecommerce is destroying us. We are saying that if a pair of chappal is for Rs
100, these ecommerce companies are selling it for Rs 80," said the person
quoted earlier. He alleged that the Rs 20 is being subsidised by the online
retailers using foreign capital.
Snapdeal and Flipkart declined to comment on the development Amazon India
did not respond to ET queries.
Shoes as a category is a huge repertoire for ecommerce companies in India
and is among the top five sellers for general ecommerce companies, including
Flipkart and Snapdeal. This is the second lawsuit in three months against the
ecommerce business, which has gained rapid popularity across the country
helped by unprecedented discounting.
In May, top brick and-mortar retailers had dragged the central government to
court, demanding level playing field in FDI norms vis a vis ecommerce
players. Retailers Association of India, which represents top retailers such as
Future Group, Shoppers Stop and Reliance Retail, had accused the ecommerce companies of "circumventing" FDI laws by calling themselves
marketplaces. Offline retailers, ranging from large branded store operators to

small traders, accuse ecommerce companies of using the marketplace model

as an eyewash to indulge in actual retailing themselves.

Myntra's new platform to

transform it into
Facebook-like fashion
network
The new platform will let users invite friends, form groups,
chat, upload pics and seek opinion of friends and experts
before buying clothes or accessories.Richa Maheshwari | 03 August
2015, 7:22 AM IST

NewsletterA A
Share

7
Tweet

15
Share

50
Share

BENGALURU: Online fashion site

Myntra wants to turn itself into a fashion network where users can
invite friends, form a group, chat, upload photos and seek out the
opinion of friends and experts before buying clothes or accessories,
a senior company executive said. The idea, it appears, is to become
the Facebook of fashion.
"When you come just to shop and avail discounts, you visit maybe
once or twice a month. But fashion is a category where you get
inspired everyday," Abhishek Rajan, head of mobile business at
Myntra, told ET. "Hence we are building a platform where it is more
of an engagement which will give our users a reason to keep coming
back to our app."
In May, the Flipkart-owned company shut its website and turned into
a mobile app-only e-tailer. There were two reason for this 70 per
cent of revenue was coming from mobile apps and India's mobilefirst
generation is Myntra's target audience. Hence, losing out on the
desktop audience was "a cost they were ready to bear." The new
platform, rolled out to a few users, will allow them to follow friends
and brands and like, comment, share and buy products.
This will help the company keep track of subscribers' tastes and
suggest products according to their browsing pattern. Analysts are
not sure whether Myntra's new plan will succeed. "I don't see this as
a need for people who are shopping on their mobile phones. They
are not missing out on trends and fashion updates," said Arvind
Singhal, founder of retail consultancy Technopak.
"In case they want to discuss, they do it among each other on the
social sites. So will they be coming to Myntra to find out about
fashion and get information? I am not sure. Such information is
available widely on the internet already."

But Myntra's plan is all about building a "community," said the

company. "When you go to a mall and buy something, it is not that
you go to the trial room, like it and buy it. You would want somebody
to give their opinion. The community on the site will help you do
that," said Rajan. "You may want to send it as a message asking,
'Hey, how does it look?' Then the community can give its opinion.
Somebody else may buy something better for you and share that
with you. Brands will help us curate some looks and even you can
also create a look and share it with your friends. If they like it, they
will buy it."
More users will be able to use the new platform soon. "Our home
page will no more be the way it is today where you have offer
banners and catalogues. It is going to be like the news feed you see
on Facebook," Rajan said.
The company plans to introduce features such as a virtual wardrobe
with pictures of users' clothes and image searches. The latter works
by subscribers taking a photo of something they like and using that
to search for something similar.
Ecommerce Companies are now trying to focus on experience and
comfort. "We are spending a lot on content and content marketing
on our site as well as outside on social media such as YouTube," said
Prasad Kompalli, head, ecommerce platform at Myntra. "Right now
we have a content team of about 30 and very soon it will go up to 75

to 80. We think it is an important part of our experience so we will

invest a lot into writers, photographers, videographers, content
creators and we will also tie up with freelancers and we will have a
lot of syndicated content."

Retail Sales Worldwide Will

Top $22 Trillion This Year
Ecommerce eclipses $1.3
trillion, led by China and US
December 23, 2014 | Retail & Ecommerce

SHARE
EMAIL
PRINT
Retail sales worldwideincluding both in-store and internet purchases
will reach $22.492 trillion this year, according to new figures from
eMarketer. The global retail market will see steady growth over the next
few years, and in 2018, worldwide retail sales will increase 5.5% to reach
$28.300 trillion.

SHARE THIS
98
76
20
80
22

This is eMarketers first-ever forecast of the global retail market and retail
ecommerce sales worldwide. The complete forecast also includes a
breakdown of total retail and retail ecommerce sales in 22 countries, as
well as the number of consumers who shop and purchase goods via the
internet in each of those markets.
When it comes to retail products and services purchased on the internet,
ecommerce will account for 5.9% of the total retail market worldwide in
2014, or $1.316 trillion. By 2018, that share will increase significantly to
8.8%, yet retail ecommerce will still account for just a fraction of in-store
purchases even as it nears $2.5 trillion by the end of our forecast.
Retail sales worldwideincluding both in-store and internet purchases
will reach $22.492 trillion this year, according to new figures from
eMarketer. The global retail market will see steady growth over the next
few years, and in 2018, worldwide retail sales will increase 5.5% to reach
$28.300 trillion.

China and the US are by far the worlds leading ecommerce markets,
combining for more than 55% of global internet retail sales in 2014.
Chinas growth over the next five years will widen the gap between the
two countries, and China will exceed $1 trillion in retail ecommerce sales
by 2018, accounting for more than 40% of the total worldwide. The US will
maintain its position as the second-largest retail ecommerce market in
2018, totaling nearly $500 billion that year, while the UK will account for
about one-quarter of that figure, landing in a distant third place.

Ecommerce share of total retail sales can mean different things in

different markets. In the case of the US, this metric shows the continued
strength of brick-and-mortar retail, as well as US consumers appetite for
purchasing in-store. Approximately 63% of the US population will make a
digital purchase this year, yet only 6.5% of US retail sales are expected to
come from internet transactions, increasing to 8.9% by 2018. In other
words, a majority of US consumers are making purchases online, but more
than $10 out of every $11 are still spent in stores.
The other two largest ecommerce markets, China and the UK, have much
higher proportions of online-to-total retail sales than the US, and
ecommerce trends in each market are unique. For example, digital buyers
consumers who purchase online at least once during the yearwill
represent only 27.5% of Chinas population in 2014, while more than 10%
of all retail purchases occur via the internet. This points to the fact that
consumers in China who buy online do so often.

On the other hand, more than 73% of the UKs population will make a
purchase online this year. With ecommerce accounting for 13.0% of total
retail sales in the UKleading all countries by this metricthis high
volume of digital buyers who purchase online often positions the UK as the
third-largest ecommerce market, despite being only eighth-largest in total
retail sales.
eMarketer bases all of its forecasts on a multipronged approach that
focuses on both worldwide and local trends in the economy, technology
and population, along with company-, product-, country- and
demographic-specific trends, and trends in specific consumer behaviors.
We analyze quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of research
firms, government agencies, media outlets and company reports,
weighting each piece of information based on methodology and
soundness.
In addition, every element of each eMarketer forecast fits within the
larger matrix of all its forecasts, with the same assumptions and general
framework used to project figures in a wide variety of areas. Regular reevaluation of each forecast means those assumptions and framework are
constantly updated to reflect new market developments and other trends.

- See more at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Retail-Sales-Worldwide-WillTop-22-Trillion-This-Year/1011765#sthash.376tTfV5.dpuf