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TODAY vs TOMORROW
44 2.3 150 32
Big
(8%) (0.4%) (14%) (3%)
479
(91%) 858
(83%)
IS 2014
BEAUTIFUL
Figures in $ billion; Source: Technopak Analysis
Billion Day, a discount carnival in- 3,000 pieces to these websites out of
tended as a tribute to the flat number which 2,500 went to Amazon India.
610 in which Sachin and Binny We have just started selling online
Bansal set up the company in 2007, and we are still testing this channel.
Nagpal sold 11,000 items on the site. A bigger e-commerce company can
Nagpal, who has nearly 15,000 help us in understanding the market
product varieties and an online stock better, says a Havells spokesperson.
of 1.5 lakh products, says that even Likewise, consumers, too, are
in terms of listings and catalogue he moving towards the biggies. In Pune,
is biased towards large players. At 28-year-old Mohua Mandal was
The oth- the end of the day, I have limited in- shocked out of her wits when her fa-
ers Naaptol, ventory and bandwidth. I will put my thers customary Diwali gift this year,
ShopClues, efforts behind the big names. a saree, was delivered to her by
HomeShop18, He is not the only one to think Flipkart. Kolkata-based Santosh,
Limeroad and Indiatimes like that. In January this year, electri- Mohuas father, found it the most
where, too, Nagpal ped- cal equipment maker Havells India convenient way. The choice was vast
dles his wares, brought in little started selling its 700 products online and the discount deep. And there
AJAY THAKURI
more than chickenfeed. through tie-ups with Amazon, would be no need for him to find a
IN THE FESTIVE SEASON FRENZY OF ONLINE SHOPPING, THE BIG Large e-commerce sites generate
more traffic and therefore we tend to
Naaptol, Pepperfry and Indiatimes.
The company quickly realised that
courier to carry the saree from
Kolkata to Pune.
PLAYERS HAVE ELBOWED OUT THE SMALL ONES, IN MORE WAYS focus more on them, says Nagpal. the large ones, with their scale, gave Santosh, a retired railways profes-
On October 6 alone, Flipkarts Big more for less. In October, Havells sold sional, is hardly the kind that listens
THAN ONE. By MANU KAUSHIK and ARPITA MUKHERJEE
A
hmedabad-based Anish his own brands, Cenizas and Macoro. around 90 per cent of his sales, in
Nagpal has been selling In October, as festival buying terms of the number of items, were on
products online since peaked, Nagpals company cashed in Flipkart and Snapdeal, the two big
December 2011. He by selling over 80,000 items, much e-commerce rivals which, fattened
sells clothing, footwear higher than the average of some with funding, have unleashed high-
and home decor under 50,000 in other months. However, decibel advertising campaigns.
VIVAN MEHRA
sells furniture in its store, but people
still go to Ikea.
That they do, but the money-
bags have veered largely towards
the big e-commerce players in India.
SANJAY SETHI With the recent round of investment
squeezed by the march of the e-com- Co-founder/CEO, ShopClues.com of $627 million from Japan-based
merce biggies because most of its SoftBank, which it announced on
revenues come from television. The October 28, Snapdeal has now raised
web audience is evolved and can do We see huge trafc about $1 billion from investors such
its own online research. Television whenever big players as Temasek, Myriad, Tybourne, and
audience is different; you need to hold
their hand, says Vikrant Khanna,
advertise Blackrock.
Flipkart has also raised substan-
Chief Operating Officer, TV Business, tial sums from investors such as Tiger
Homeshop18. Global, Accel Partners and Morgan
The smaller firms also say that with a Snapdeal-branded question, Stanley. Then there are the Indian
profitability is supreme for them. for which it would be paying a pre- arms of the global biggies Amazon
Infibeam Founder and CEO Vishal mium of 25 to 30 per cent. and eBay.
Mehta says size is important, but so is ShopClues, with much less Experts say that e-commerce in
profitability. Those who have the money to play with, decided to stay India is in a habit forming stage and
largest market shares will not neces- away from the print and TV advertis- money will have to flow in advertis-
sarily be the last men standing. ing frenzy. As compared to around ing and discounts to lure more
Infibeam, he says, broke even last nine to 12 per cent of the top line for consumers, and bring them online
year and expects profits this year. large players, ShopClues spent more frequently. That is why inves-
The small outfits say they benefit around 6.5 per cent on marketing in tors do not mind punting on the
from the rub-off of the advertising the festive season. It confined itself to promising ones like Flipkart, which
campaigns of the big players. We see a small awareness campaign. many have taken to calling Indias
huge traffic whenever big players Gaurav Gupta, Senior Director, Amazon, and Snapdeal, its close rival.
advertise, says Sanjay Sethi, Co- Deloitte India, says the smaller play- The question is, for how long will
founder and CEO, ShopClues.com, an ers will continue to get squeezed. It they continue to pump in money
online marketplace. requires a large amount of capabili- without worrying about profits? For
Advertising spends by e-com- ties to become a large player: building the smaller ones, it is the opposite:
merce players this festive season in brand, product catalogue, offering how long will they make do with
the week leading up to Diwali were competitive prices, and customer ex- claims of profitability, without worry-
40 to 60 per cent higher, says ad re- perience. In all these areas, large ing about funding? ~
targeting company Vizury. Take the players clearly have an advantage. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY
case of Snapdeal. A 10-second spot Experts believe in specific catego- ARUNIMA MISHRA AND
on Sonys game show KBC costs ries such as fashion, those other than TASLIMA KHAN
around `6 lakh, and Snapdeal has Jabong and Myntra clearly lost out on
gone in for an in-show integration, the discounts battle. @manukaushik; @arpitamukherjee