|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Goans can now make their homes more beautiful with the best in class furniture, home decor products and service offerings from Urban Ladder. The company has expanded its presence and launched services in Goa from January. Urban Ladder’s vision is to make a million homes beautiful. It has consistently strived to ensure customer delight with a dedicated, well-trained delivery and assembly team. This delivery centre in Goa will be instrumental in ensuring exceptional service quality to consumers in the city.

Goa has the highest per capita GDP, of Rs. 2.24 lacs, in India, which is three times India’s average of Rs. 0.74 lacs, making it an attractive market. Urban Ladder has seen a lot of demand from Goa, particularly from customers furnishing their second homes.  The average ticket size of Goa customers is three times higher than the average ticket size of other Urban Ladder customers.

Speaking on the occasion, Kaustabh Chakraborty, VP Operations and Customer Service, Urban Ladder said

Even prior to the launch, Goa has been an active market with special delivery requests from several loyal Urban Ladder customers. The aesthetic sense of people in Goa is closely aligned to what we offer, making the market even more promising. We look forward to Goa being among the top 7 cities for us in the coming months, contributing significantly to our overall growth.

From early consumer trends of the cities, there is high demand for sofas followed by solid wood dining sets, coffee tables and crockery units. The other potential categories will be bar units, lounge and balcony furniture. There has been exponential growth in demand for online shopping, and furniture is the third largest segment in e-commerce, after electronics and apparel. Urban Ladder has been at the forefront in delivering superior quality furniture to cater to this growing segment.

Urban Ladder is currently available across 19 cities in India and this number is expected to grow soon.

|In: acquisition|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Bengaluru-based conversational m-commerce start-up, Goodbox has acquired SmartPocket for an undisclosed amount. SmartPocket started out as a mobile app that allowed customers to digitize their loyalty cards. They were working towards making SmartPocket the online wallet for customers to make online payments, place orders with offline partners as well as store all their virtual cards in one place.

SmartPocket was co-founded by Kiran Shastri and Mayank Shah. They will be joining the leadership team at Goodbox post acquisition. Goodbox enables small businesses to become e-commerce ready, on the Goodbox app, within minutes by providing seamless discovery, ordering and payment. Consumers can buy directly, over messaging, from their trusted stores across multiple categories without having to download multiple apps.

Abey Zachariah, CEO & Co-founder of Goodbox said

The SmartPocket team is very talented and tenacious. During our discussions with them, we realized we share a similar vision and it made sense to join forces to empower millions of SMEs to come online. We are building very strong mobile capabilities and this is a step towards that objective. We are very excited to be building Goodbox along with them.

Kiran Shastri, CEO & Co-founder of SmartPocket said

We are excited about joining the team at Goodbox. We have a shared vision and now a shared goal. At Smartpocket, we wanted to create a marketplace with a focus on repeat business and customer loyalty through a digital wallet. We will now look to bring that mindset, technology and expertise with us into Goodbox. There is a clear need among businesses for a platform that enables them to sell on mobile and Goodbox is catering to that need -while it creates one of the largest consumer platforms that enables them to buy directly from their trusted businesses on a single app.

Goodbox had recently announced its Series A funding of $2.5 million from Nexus Venture Partners.

About Goodbox

Goodbox gives an app presence to businesses. It enables a business to create a storefront on the Goodbox app. Businesses want to adopt new technologies such as being on app, having a storefront and being able to interact with their consumers real-time. However, creating or maintaining an app is a very costly and complex affair. Goodbox enables SME businesses with an app presence within 5 minutes at an unbelievably low price, along with a payment gateway. Businesses can host their menu on the app and create their business profile as well. Every business can now be on the Goodbox app and start conducting commerce with their consumers. Goodbox app for Android can be downloaded from here

[Image Credit* – IndiaWeb2]

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Altimetrik, a business transformation and technology solutions company, part of the $100 million Vattikuti ventures, partners with HackerEarth to host the world’s largest  developer confluence, IndiaHacks 2016. Through this partnership Altimetrik aims to hire close to 50 design engineers as part of their expansion plans for the year 2016.

Altimetrik as a company is heavily invested in and at the epicenter of powering the next wave of business transformation through its new methodology that is based on the fundamentals of Design-Thinking and Design-led Engineering. It is this outlook that led Altimetrik to sponsor HackerEarth’s IndiaHacks 2016 which is predicted to draw over 1,00,000 programmers from across the globe to celebrate the spirit of coding.

As a transformational company that believes in nurturing young talent, Altimetrik through IndiaHacks aims at encouraging programmers and coders to transform themselves into Design Engineers by bringing out their best and rewarding the top 50 hackers. Altimetrik is enthusiastic to take a step further and open its doors with offer letters to the outstanding coders who participate at IndiaHacks.

Commenting on the same, Asha Poluru, Chief -People Experience (HR),  Altimetrik said

Gone are the days where we hire looking at resumes. The future of any company is in finding the right talent and the only way towards identifying this, is through events such as these. We at Altimetrik have made it a practice to hire through Hackathons and Ideathons.

And thus, this synergy with IndiaHacks is only organic to our hiring culture that gauges talent against the best in the industry. IndiaHacks has already seen over 1,00,000 registrations from across the globe, and we’d like to make spot-offers to at least 150 of the top coders from this Hackathon. The team at Altimetrik is looking forward to a fresh batch of ‘Design Engineers’ from this hackathon.

Sachin Gupta, CEO & Co-Founder, HackerEarth said

The Indian developer ecosystem has matured over the past decade. We are witnessing some top class tech innovations coming out of India, and a slow movement from services to product development – and all of this requires world-class developers. IndiaHacks 2016 is an ode to such developers and also a platform to encourage programming.

We are excited to partner with Altimetrik and are extremely happy that they have chosen to engage with the developer community via IndiaHacks. This will help the HackerEarth developer community to grow bigger and stronger.

IndiaHacks 2016 comprises of two levels of programming contests comprise of three programming tracks – Advanced Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning & Big Data. These hackathons will see developers build unique and interesting products based on themes in a duration of 48 hours.

Hacks will be evaluated on criteria like uniqueness of the idea, usability of the hack, code quality, design etc. The second phase of IndiaHacks is an offline developer conference. Top 20 teams/individuals will be shortlisted from each track and will be invited to this conference, where they will again hack for 24 hours and present their ideas to a panel of judges. The top winners of IndiaHacks win the opportunity meet technology companies in San Francisco.

About Altimetrik

Altimetrik is a business transformation and technology solutions partner to global enterprise customers covering three global mega trends of modernization – Digital, Connected Solutions & Consumer Technologies. Additional information can be found at Altimetrik or connect with Altimetrik on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Flipkart continues its dominance of mobile commerce in India with 47% of share of visits among the major shopping apps in India, according to December 2015 data by analytics firm SimilarWeb. Myntra occupies the second position with over 16% share of visits. The combined traffic share of Flipkart and Myntra stands at an overwhelming 63%. Amazon stands at the third position with 15.86% followed by Snapdeal with 13.84%.

Flipkart also leads in total app installs with an install base of 37% of the total Android smartphone base in the country. Combined with Myntra, the total install base goes up to 47% of the total Android smartphones in India. Amazon and Snapdeal are at less than half of Flipkart’s install base with 18% each. Android smartphones account for around 85% market share of total smartphones in the country.

The Indian e-tail market is overwhelmingly mobile dominated with around 70% percent traffic coming from mobile devices. Desktop contributes to only around 30% of the total traffic, a share that has been declining rapidly.

Smartphone sales and usage in India have soared in 2015. According to IDC, smartphone shipments grew by 44% in quarter two and by over 21% in quarter three of 2015. At the same time, 4G phones also saw a three-fold jump in demand. The total smartphone ownership in India stands at over 160 million. According to IDC, India is set to overtake the United States as the second largest smartphone market in the world by 2017.

On the other hand, PC shipments have seen a precipitous fall. According to IDC, world PC shipments have suffered a year-on-year decline of minus 10.6%. This is the largest decline in history for PC shipments. The Indian PC market is also declining rapidly with MAIT reporting a fall of over 10% in July 2015.

Note – The visit share has been computed by comparing visits among top shopping apps – Flipkart, Myntra, Amazon, Snapdeal, Jabong and Shopclues, as reported by SimilarWeb for December 2015.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Mindtree, a leading digital transformation and technology services company have announced the launch of its Flooresense platform to increase in store conversions for retailers. The solution will enable retailers to enhance customer experience and improve the productivity of store associates.

A big challenge faced by brick and mortar stores today is identifying and engaging a high potential shopper needing assistance to make a purchase decision, among a crowd of shoppers. Flooresense helps retailers identify real-time sales floor opportunities to enhance shopper experience and optimize sales time.

The cloud-based platform which runs on Microsoft Azure, offers intelligent recommendations that connect the right store associate with high potential shoppers needing assistance. The solution identifies and prioritizes potential shoppers using video feeds and custom algorithms while maintaining shopper anonymity.

Gaurav Johri, Senior Vice President and Head, Platforms & Solutions Group said

Over 80% of retail sales still take place in brick and mortar stores, especially for complex purchase decisions. Solutions that improve shopper conversion in stores can have an outsize impact on retailers’ revenues. Store associates are a retailer’s primary brand ambassadors and Flooresense equips them with relevant information to provide a superior customer experience leading to increased conversions.

Brendan O’Meara, managing director, Worldwide Retail and Consumer Goods at Microsoft said

Modern retail chains can use platforms leveraging technologies like cloud, mobile and video analytics to empower their employees and power their business. The combination of Flooresense purchase-intent learning algorithms and a collection of Azure integrated services allows retailers to deliver a great customer experience with flexibility and scale across their entire store network.

The solution requires low investment from retailers, as it utilizes the stores’ existing infrastructure such as video surveillance to sense the floor and is easily deployed on corporate networks. It requires minimal integration with store systems, making it a fast and affordable choice for improving in-store conversions.

More about Flooresense can be found here

About Mindtree

Mindtree delivers digital transformation and technology services from ideation to execution, enabling Global 2000 clients to outperform the competition. “Born digital,” Mindtree takes an agile, collaborative approach to creating customized solutions across the digital value chain.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Organized by UNICOM, the IoT Conference 2016 brings together the brightest innovators and business visionaries from India for one day of focused networking, strategy sharing, and technology showcasing at the cutting edge of IoT.

According to Gartner, there will be nearly 26 billion devices on the Internet of Things by 2020. ABI Research estimates that more than 30 billion devices will be wirelessly connected to the IoT by 2020. The data generated and the business opportunities created will be staggering. Now is the time to position for success.

The conference is a unique opportunity to share IoT insights and strategy with professionals across the full range of industry verticals, including Smart Building/Home Automation, Consumer Electronics and Connected Living, Smart Cities, Environmental Monitoring, Intelligent Transportation, Medical and Health Care Systems etc.

Theme – Internet of Things (IoT) – Link your World
Date – 4th February, 2016
Venue – Le Meridien Bangalore

Detailed Agenda

Main Attraction of the event

  • Learn How IoT is most closely associated to machine-to-machine [M2M] communication
  • Opportunity to network with experienced Business and Technical practitioners and Start Ups in the area of IoT
  • Know – What are the key aspects of IoT that businesses should know about ?
  • Case Studies
  • Key Note presentation
  • Exhibition area, where you can find what Start-Ups are doing in the area of IoT. Experience their products, their Ideas
  • IoT Workshops
  • Startups Showcase

Great opportunity to strategically brand your organization

As a sponsor, you will receive a tremendous amount of visibility and numerous other benefits at the conference. This conference has three sponsor categories, which helps organizations of all cadres to participate at their level. Sponsors will also have the added benefit of tailoring their sponsorship packages, based on their strategic intent.

Who Should Attend

The conference is designed especially for both technology experts & end-user business executives across industries, who are looking to leverage the emerging IoT opportunity. This includes –

  • IoT Developers, Designers & Project Managers
  • Entrepreneurs, Senior Executives & Business Strategists
  • IoT hardware vendors and software developers
  • Commercial & industrial business executives looking to apply IoT technologies
  • VC investment and financial professionals
  • Public policy and municipal government representatives
  • Regulators and government policy makers
  • Academic researchers and university professionals
  • IT and software providers
  • Internet service provider and communication companies
  • Consumer electronics and computing companies
  • Start-up firms and incubators

Registration

Registration for One Day Conference [till 4th February] : Rs 9,999+ 14% Tax. Click Here to register

Know more about the Conference : Click Here

[Image Credit* – TechQuark]

|In: Social Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, a joint initiative of the Tata group and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta [IIMC], celebrated India’s most promising early-stage social enterprises, which could bring about long-term solutions to India’s social problems.

The grand finale of the fourth edition of the programme held on January 16, 2016, at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta [IIM-C], saw HelpUsGreen from Kanpur [Winner], Jeevtronics from Pune [1st Runner-up], & Hasiru Dala Innovations from Bengaluru and Disease Diagnose Group from Boston, USA [joint winners of the 2nd Runner-up position], emerge as the most promising social ventures, winning prize money of Rs. 2.5 lakh, Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 1.5 lakh, respectively [Details about the idea can be found here]

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge [TSEC] is a quest to find India’s most promising early-stage social enterprises. The endeavor of the challenge is to create an ecosystem for social entrepreneurship and encourage sustainable, scalable and measurable social impact.

This year’s edition received 600+ registrations from across India, out of which 210 met all the eligibility criteria and moved to the next round of the competition. These impact proposals were in the area of agriculture, food and dairy; healthcare, water and sanitation; technology and development; education & skills development; housing; handicrafts; and energy and micro-finance/financial inclusion. The ventures were judged on three parameters – Business Model, Social Impact and Sustainability.

Ankit Agarwal, the winner of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2015-16 has started HelpUsGreen. A Kanpur based social enterprise, HelpUsGreen preserves the rivers by flower cycling the waste from the places of worship into bio-fertilizers and lifestyle products like incense and bathing soaps, among others, and in doing so also empowers women self-help groups [currently the venture is managing five women self-help groups with sixteen members each].

Ecstatic with his win Ankit said

It’s been an overwhelming experience. We have won many competitions before but Tata Social Enterprise Challenge is like the Filmfare of social entrepreneurship.

Jeevtronics, a Pune based venture, was declared as the 1st Runner-up. Ashish Gawade representing the venture said, It was a great experience for us. The knowledge, mentoring and feedback that we received from the jury was really helpful, and it was good to collaborate with the other start-ups too.

Jeevtronics is dedicated to designing and implementing affordable medical devices for underdeveloped and rural areas. It has patented a hand-cranked defibrillator – a life-saving device for heart patients – which has a built-in power generator that enables it to work in off-grid rural areas, mini ambulances and disaster relief camps, among others. The hand-crank generator requires 12 seconds to charge and comes at one-fourth the cost of competition.

(more…)

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

In yet another move to disrupt the traditional shopping landscape in India, Flipkart, India’s leading online marketplace, is now available for Windows 10. Available to consumers across all Windows 10 platforms [mobiles, tablets, desktops], the new universal Windows app is a reflection of the company’s focus to redefine online shopping.

Building on Flipkart and Microsoft’s constant efforts to make technology adapt to consumers and deliver an enhanced end user experience, Flipkart’s new universal Windows app will offer consumers a seamless app experience across all form factors.

The new universal app will offer a more personalized app interface with features such as customized shopping recommendations, merchandising and notifications, and interactive guided search. Additionally, consumers will also be able to avail all the ‘App-only’ offers right from the app.

The Flipkart app for Windows 10 has been developed specially for hybrid devices [touch and non-touch] and optimized for use of different inputs such as touch, keyboard, track-pad and mouse. Another ground-breaking addition is that the Flipkart app for Windows 10 is one of the first apps to introduce the product tabs feature, enabling consumers to open tabs in the background to view products later as well as compare different products for a faster browsing experience. Users can also access the ‘Image search’ feature to find visually similar items when shopping.

Commenting on the launch, Amar Nagaram, Director, Mobile Engineering, Flipkart, said

At Flipkart, we strive to innovate and re-invent the customer experience at every touch-point. Over the last few months, we have been working on the Windows 10 platform to create richer and more personalized experience for our consumers. We have been working towards creating a seamless experience similar to that of an app and Windows 10 surely provides opportunities to introduce innovative features.

Harish Vaidyanathan, Director of Independent Software Vendor Programs at Microsoft added

The Flipkart app for Windows 10 has been designed to offer a seamless and consistent experience across various form factors. By virtue of an online store being available 24×7, consumers will be able to pick up their selection and shopping process from where they left off across their range of Windows devices. Apart from the added convenience and enhanced experience, consumers will also get access to app-only offers and in-app notifications that will keep them updated on the latest deals and discounts. The new app integrates beautifully with the Windows 10 interface and we’re confident that our consumers will love the Flipkart experience.

Users with Windows 10 OS can download the app from here and share their experience on Twitter  or write to flipkart-win10@flipkart.com