All Posts in e-commerce

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

India’s leading B2B e-commerce company, Industrybuying announces that it has selected Ozonetel as a cloud telephony service partner to maximize the workflow and accelerate its business growth.

In the past one year, Industrybuying has emerged as one of the largest B2B e-commerce platform in the country. The company has more than 5000 sellers, 75000 registered businesses, over 150 enterprise customers transacting through its platform and the growing business required a reliable telephony partner to automate and manage the entire workflow.

Rahul Gupta, Co-founder Industrybuying said

With Ozonetel’s cutting edge technology, we are able to automate the entire telephony process. Integration of such technology has reduced the overall operations cost and we are able to provide seamless experience to our end customers. We intend to make this association into a long term relationship and further enhance the back-end process as per our requirements.

Ozonetel helps businesses to manage their calls without any hardware or software installation. The services allows its customers to use their multi-channel modes of communication – be it voice, email, social media, SMS, chat, all on one platform.

CSN Murthy, CEO and Founder Ozonetel said

Cloud telephony has become an integral part of businesses and integrating such technology greatly minimizes the operational cost and maximizes the productivity of the sales and support executives. We are pleased to offer cloud telephony services to Industrybuying and join them in their growth story.

As per the agreement, Industrybuying will be using a range of services, which entails multi-channel Cloud Contact Center with ACD & Dialers, Missed Call, Conference, Promotional SMS and APIs. Industrybuying app is available for android users to download on Google Play and will soon be launched on the iOS store as well. Industrybuying Android app can be downloaded from here

About Industrybuying

Industrybuying is a leading Business e-commerce platform, selling a wide range of business and industrial products to SMEs as well as large businesses. It has over 4,000 registered sellers and more than 60,000 registered businesses – SMEs & large corporates that are procuring online from Industrybuying. Industrybuying offers over 1 million products across 45+ categories ranging from Safety and Security, Electrical and Lighting, Power and Solar, to MRO supplies and many more categories.

Industrybuying is backed by some of the leading Indian and global investors. Based out of Delhi NCR, the company has a Pan-India footprint with fulfillment centres in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad & Bangalore. For more information, please visit Industrybuying.com

About Ozonetel

Ozonetel, a Telco grade CaaS (Communication as a Service) platform on the Cloud provides the right tools to reach, engage, support and retain your customers. Ozonetel allows its customers to use their multi-channel modes of communication – be it voice, email, social media, SMS, chat, all on one platform with no capital investment. Ozonetel is available across 65+ countries.  Ozonetel has its IP of CLOUDPSTN making the platform accessible across the globe.

The Ozonetel platform comes with a 99.9% up-time as the platform maintains redundancy at every level – be it switches, firewall and lease line connections. The intelligent routing of the calls also comes with redundancy. Being on the Cloud, Ozonetel solution can be used on plug & play basis at a fraction of the price provided by legacy on-site box providers. For more information, please visit Ozonetel

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

Flipkart, India’s largest ecommerce marketplace celebrates the spirit of World Music Day by identifying consumer purchase trends around new-age audio devices. Flipkart survey shows massive spike for hi-tech audio devices.

With Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Hyderabad topping the charts in terms of demand for on-the-go music devices, here are some interesting insights:

  • Music accessories category has witnessed a 40% growth in the last six months. Close to 50% of shoppers of audio devices are young professionals and students.
  • Brands like Philips, Zoook, JBL, Konerk are the front runners amongst students.
  • Shoppers are increasingly shifting towards quality and premium headphones. Premium brands like Audio Technica, Bose, Harman Kardon have witnessed a 3X growth in the last six months.
  • With 60% growth in demand for wireless devices like Bluetooth speakers and headphones etc., majority of Indians enjoy music on-the-go.
  • Growing trend around adventure and fitness has curved out a whole new market for music on the go products with additional features like dust proof and water resistant speakers. Altec Lansing outdoor speakers are the top performing products under this segment.
  • Desire for high quality audio-visual experience amongst shoppers is one of the biggest demand driver for sound bars, home theatre and Chromecast speakers. Adoption of sound bars have increased by 50% in the last six months.
  • Demand for bluetooth speakers have doubled in the last six months. Trendy and colorful speakers are very popular amongst shoppers.

More detailed insights are in the Infographic below

Click to Zoom

Speaking about these trends, Adarsh K Menon, VP – Electronics & Auto, Flipkart, said

Music accessories category on Flipkart has witnessed phenomenal growth in the recent months. India loves especially on-the-go which has led to a huge growth in demand for portable music devices. It is interesting to see how shoppers today are looking for a superior audio experience. Most of our customers are either investing or upgrading to new-age smart audio products. This is being made easy by the host of products that both national and international brands are continuously introducing on our platform.

In the last six months, bluetooth speakers, sound bars and home theatres have emerged as the most popular segments. We expect the music accessories category to grow by three folds this year.  While budget brands are doing well, we have seen a huge shift in customer preference towards premium brand. In the coming months, our focus is to make premium brands accessible for the Indian shoppers.

About Flipkart

Flipkart is India’s largest e-commerce marketplace with over with over 60% market share of mobile commerce. With a registered customer base of 50 million, Flipkart offers more than 30 million products across 70+ categories including Smart Phones, Books, Media, Consumer Electronics, Furniture, Fashion and Lifestyle.

Launched in October 2007, Flipkart is known for its path-breaking services like Cash on Delivery, experience zones and a 30-day replacement policy. Flipkart was the pioneer in offering services like In-a-Day Guarantee [50 cities] and Same-Day-Guarantee [13 cities] at scale. With over 85,000 registered sellers, Flipkart has redefined the way brands and MSME’s do business online. For more information, please visit Flipkart

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

Flipkart, the largest e-commerce marketplace, has introduced India’s first-ever online exchange program for watches. This first-of-its-kind initiative is in partnership with leading watch brand Fossil & Goonj. The watches that are received through this exchange program will be contributed to Goonj-an award winning voluntary organization in India. Once the sale is over, the watches will be distributed by Goonj in the areas where they currently offer humanitarian services.

Customers can avail upto Rs. 1500 off on watches under Fossil brand [Skagen, Emporio Armani, DKNY & Michael Korrs] in exchange of old watches till end of May 2016. The program is aimed at offering customers’ value for their old watches as well as a chance to upgrade to premium styles, designs and technology.

Commenting on the latest exchange program, Rishi Vasudev, VP – Fashion, Flipkart, said

Flipkart Watch Exchange, is the first-ever online exchange offer on watches in India which will help customers make a difference. With this new initiative, our focus is to offer customers an easy way to exchange and upgrade to premium models that they desired to buy next. Additionally, our partnership with Goonj will also help customers with the right channel to donate their watches. Last year, we launched our exchange programs for mobiles and appliances which has been a great success. Introduction of exchange program for watches is a first-of-its-kind effort that the Indian watch industry will see.

Rishi Vasudev, VP – Fashion, Flipkart, added

Customers are increasingly browsing and shopping for watches online. Flipkart has witnessed tremendous growth in demand across budget and premium watch brands. With close to two lakh watches from across 50 brands, this is one of the fastest growing category under Flipkart lifestyle.

About Flipkart

Flipkart is India’s largest e-commerce marketplace with over with over 60% market share of mobile commerce. With a registered customer base of 50 million, Flipkart offers more than 30 million products across 70+ categories including Smart Phones, Books, Media, Consumer Electronics, Furniture, Fashion and Lifestyle.

Launched in October 2007, Flipkart is known for its path-breaking services like Cash on Delivery, experience zones and a 30-day replacement policy. Flipkart was the pioneer in offering services like In-a-Day Guarantee [50 cities] and Same-Day-Guarantee [13 cities] at scale. With over 85,000 registered sellers, Flipkart has redefined the way brands and MSME’s do business online. For more information, please visit Flipkart

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

IBM have announced that online fashion portal abof.com is working with IBM to provide an enhanced personalized shopping experience tailored to millennial shoppers. IBM solutions offer abof.com a scalable platform, seamless order fulfilment options and innovative customer engagement features.

According to a recent study by ASSOCHAM and PwC almost 55 million consumers made online purchases in 2015 and the number is expected to grow to 80 million this year. abof.com, a part of Aditya Birla Group, is an online one-stop fashion portal for apparel, footwear and accessories for men and women. The retailer targets millennials, with an aim to offer the latest style tips, fashion content and trends. The company needed a well-integrated e-commerce solution that would help it create a dynamic and interactive online platform that could better target consumers and increase brand loyalty. IBM delivered abof.com customer engagement and order fulfillment capabilities that allow it to constantly refresh the e-commerce experience and seamlessly add new content catering to the dynamic demands of millennials.

Prashant Gupta, President & CEO, abof.com said

For instance, to enrich the shopping experience, abof.com has added a 3D virtual trial room to the store front. Powered by IBM and integrated technology from business partner Metail, the feature enables customers to input their body measurement and virtually try any apparel before placing an order. The average return rate in the apparel industry is 20 percent with the most common reason being unsatisfactory fit. Since launching the virtual trial room, abof.com has reduced the product return rate to nearly zero. In addition, the conversion rates for products available with 3D trial is 400 percent higher than the industry norm.

Another set of interactive capabilities that differentiate abof.com is the superior search and curated fashion content it offers to shoppers. For instance, a shopper looking for a particular shirt can upload an image using visual search and seamlessly be led to a similar looking item. In addition, a shopper looking for a fashion trend inspired by a celebrity will be seamlessly led to their desired products with an intuitive search. By leveraging IBM’s content management solution, abof.com is able to offer fresh, targeted and relevant fashion content to its customers. The fashion portal now reaches out to over 7,000 pin codes and across more than 500 cities in India.

Prashant Gupta, President & CEO, abof.com said

In order to tap and increase the market share in a highly competitive industry, it is imperative to differentiate ourselves from already established players. We aim to grow our market share by offering a curated range of merchandise that goes beyond conventional boundaries to deliver quality service to our customers. IBM helped us to set up our online business in a record time of five months. With IBM’s global expertise and local experience in eCommerce space, we are optimistic that the company will emerge as the most admired player in online fashion segment.

One a customer has made a purchase, abof.com is leveraging IBM’s Order Management and Supply Chain solution to provide customers with an accurate view of order status and real time inventory. This capability has helped streamline warehouse processes for an on time and convenient delivery.

Harriet Green, General Manager, Watson IoT, Commerce and Education, IBM said

Many online retailers struggle to engage millennials in meaningful, thoughtful ways, all based on their behavior and preferences. Through this collaboration with IBM, abof.com will create truly unique buying moments and ensure prompt delivery of each item, exactly the type of experience that builds brand loyalty.

About IBM Commerce for Practitioners

IBM helps clients IBM helps practitioners – marketers, merchandiser & e-commerce professionals – understand customer behavior and use insights to help deliver highly personalized and relevant experiences at every touch point. For more information, please click here and follow on Twitter at #ibmamplify

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

A friend of mine owns a mid-sized supermarket in Bengaluru and one fine day, I got a ping from her on WhatsApp. She required a small help from me – She wanted to transfer Rs. 10K that her vendor had deposited into her Paytm account to her savings account. Well, she could have done it herself but due to the Rs. 10K limit in Paytm Wallet, she had to take this route. Doesn’t this sound very familiar 🙂 Gone are the days when we were required to carry huge amount of cash since “Digital” payments has completely taken over the usage of plastic money.

Be it transport service, shopping, ordering groceries, payment of fees etc. there is no Vertical that is left un-touched by Digital payments. Things are getting better with the current government’s push in making India a “Digital India”. The Union Budget 2016 stressed upon Digital literacy even for rural households which is great news for Digital startups. When we discuss about Digital, one sector that needs to have a huge mention is “e-commerce” or “Online Shopping”. With the advent of e-commerce, offline shopping slowly & steadily moved online and sites like Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Shopclues etc. became the new-age shopping destinations.

Customers are lured to these sites primarily due to the “Heavy discounting model” followed by most of these companies in order to gain significant market share. Leading e-commerce companies created the “Discount Economy”. The usage of credit cards increased considerably and next innings in the online commerce commenced with “Digital Wallets” [Closed & Semi-Closed wallets] where Paytm, Freecharge, Mobikwik etc. provided the facility where customer can store money in their digital wallet. Apart from the deals, discounts & coupons in the online shopping world, one thing that has been disruptive in the recent times is the extra cashback offering on top of your shopping bill.

The “Consumption Economy” has now transformed into “Cashback Economy” where along with discounts, customers also get cashbacks [similar to cashback’s offered by many credit cards] and the money is stored in their “digital wallet”. With the rise of online commerce and cashbacks, new spring of startups emerged that operated in the space of Cashback, Price Comparison and Couponing. Some of these sites also offered cashback when user performs mundane tasks e.g. Installation of UC Browser on Android phone, keep for 10 days and user gets Rs. XXX in their wallet. This money can be later used for mobile/DTH recharge or for online shopping.

Cashback on purchase coupled with Cashback on performing tasks is a formidable combination. Dealsnprice is a startup that is passionate about offering cash backs on your online shopping across e-commerce players and finding Coupons that suit your requirements. They operate with the motto – Spend Less, Save More. It is a very handy option when you have made the decision to buy a particular product but you are still in search for the “Best Deal” 🙂 Dealsnprice aggregates products from sites like Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal, Jabong & many more.

Though there are so many Cashback & Deal websites, this startup has a differentiating factor – Other deal sites list only a handful number of deals or coupons whereas Dealsnprice adds New deals & Coupons to it’s database every 15 minutes. To stay true to it’s mantra, this startup passes the major portion of its commission which they receive from generating sales for their e-commerce partners to it’s customers. This means that you not only get your favourite product at the “Best Price” but also get “significant cashback” with every purchase.

If that’s not all, Dealsnprice also rewards it’s users for performing tasks [some of which were mentioned earlier] on their Android application. You can use those reward points for recharge etc. In a nutshell, cashback and coupon websites are an icing on the cake since they spoil customers by pushing them to spend more so that they can save more 🙂

[Image Credit* – AVBob]

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

Zappfresh, a fast growing online fresh meat brand focusing on delivering high quality ready to cook meat products has tied up with SRS Grocery, a Delhi based e-tailer having both, online and offline presence with over 100,000 plus customers. This tie-up will not only help Zappfresh to reach out to the customer base of SRS grocery but also give them access to newer markets.

Customers of SRS Grocery will now be able to choose from a wide range of over 40 high quality fresh non-vegetarian options including chicken, mutton, fish & pork and pre-cooked items like ham, sausages and salami. SRS’s already has a comprehensive online product catalogue of over 7500 SKU’s and reach in Gurgaon, Noida & Faridabad. This tie-up will enable them to enter into a new product category altogether. This service is currently available in Gurgaon and South Delhi and would shortly be available in other cities.

Zappfresh, founded by Shruti Gochhwal and Deepanshu Manchanda in 2015, is one of the fastest growing direct to consumer online fresh meat brand focusing on delivering high quality ready to cook meat products. Currently available in the Gurgaon and Delhi, Zappfresh is already delivering to over 10,000 happy customers in these two markets and aims to reach 30,000 customers by mid-2016.

Zappfresh currently delivers fresh meats, fish, pork, chicken, sea food and other non-vegetarian ready to eats. The company has also partnered with ‘ColdEX’, India’s number one cold chain logistic company for managing their supply chain inventory.

Commenting on the tie up, Shruti Gochhwal, co-founder, said

The meat business in India is growing at an impressive rate. The segment has grown at an average 18% CAGR across category. Chicken tops the list followed by fish and other meat products. The Poultry industry alone is a INR 40,000 crore market now. Even if we are able to scratch the surface of this market, we are talking about Zappfresh being in pole position. We have aggressive expansion plans and are looking at similar synergies in newer markets.

Deepanshu Manchanda, Co-founder, Zappfresh further added

We are very pleased on our association with SRS Grocery, as it aligns with our strategy of delivering high quality products to customers.  With this tie-up we look forward to further increasing our market share in the geographies we are currently present in and also get access to newer markets. Currently we are reaching out to over 30,000 unique customers a month and expect to double this number by the mid-2016.

Pratik Jindal, Managing Director of SRS e-Retail Ltd., said

Zappfresh has created its own niche in the meat space industry by providing neatly packaged and carefully inspected high quality meat products. With this association we want to leverage Zappfresh products and offer a convenient solution to consumers who want to shop for quality and hygienic meat products but are strapped for time.

Zappfresh had earlier raised INR 2 crore [$300,000] in angel round of funding from a couple of high profile investors in 2015.

About ZappFresh

Founded by Shruti Gochhwal and Deepanshu Manchanda in 2015, Zappfresh is one of the fastest growing direct to consumer online fresh meat brand focusing on delivering high quality fresh and ready to cook meat products. Currently available in the Gurgaon and Delhi, Zappfresh is already delivering to over 10,000 happy customers in these two markets and aims to reach 30,000 customers by mid-2016.  The company has already created local fulfillment centers in these markets and have partnered with several online and offline channels to further boost delivery. They have one central processing unit in Gurgaon and two delivery hubs in Delhi. The company has also partnered with ‘ColdEX’, India’s number one cold chain logistic company for managing their supply chain inventory.For more details, please refer Zappfresh

[Image Credit* – WorkAdvantage]

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

Shimply, one of India’s fastest growing, multi-­category online bazaar for Indian products has launched its mobile app. The app features a patent pending technology of Virtual Trial Room which gives you the freedom to see in advance how the products of your choice look on you, before you decide on one. These products have been sourced from different states of India & Shimply guarantees dual benefit of unmatched selection of products and value for money.

The virtual trial room by Shimply.com addresses the common problem that every woman faces while shopping online – trying on the product. With this feature, Shimply.com will make online shopping experience as close to physical shopping.

This technology makes use of the camera on the customer’s phone to click their picture and then place a product on it to see how it will look. With the app, customers can try on multiple products, virtually; the product can be dragged to any part on top of the picture with hand gestures and touch features. The product and base picture [of customer] can be resized to generate a parallax and 3D effect that allows the customer to see the product in a way as if customer is actually wearing it.

Another amazing quality of this technology is that the customers can actually try home decors [like paintings/furniture, etc.] virtually to see how it looks on their wall/room. This ground breaking technology can also be used in shopping malls to let customers try on various dresses, without actually going to a trial room.

The patent pending technology aids the users to click their picture and try the products on the app without saving the picture on the phone. Also, it saves the customers from the peeping tom problem.

Rajat Garg, Founder and CEO of Shimply.com said

In e-tailing categories like apparel, accessories, and furniture, consumers want to touch, feel and try before buying. Not only the consumers’ hesitation about the look of clothing or an accessory, disappears with our app, it also helps them try unique products which represent the Indian diversity and culture. This is the reason why we encourage people by saying ‘India ko try kar ke dekho’.

Features of Shimply.com App

Virtual Trial Room – With this feature, Shimply.com’s app will not only come home to deliver your product, but also give you the freedom to see in advance how the outfits of your choice look on you, before you decide on one. We are bridging the gap between online and offline through its virtual trial room technology and is enabling users to try India in the online world.

Huge Selection – Choose from an exhaustive collection of 1.7 crore products. You can shop for Sarees, Jewellery, Salwar kameez, Bridal Suits, Kurtis, Men Apparel, Bollywood Actress Dresses etc. Shimply.com online shopping app will also provide you with huge discounts on ethnic wear, jewellery, beauty & personal care, ayurveda, books and more.

Authentic products, fast shipping – We take pride in having hand-picked sellers who have certificates like pure silk mark, hand-loom mark, GI certification etc to make sure that you are getting the best of the products. These products are sourced from different parts of India and reflect India’s diversity & culture.

Shimply app can be downloaded from the Google Play store from here

[Image Credit* – Shimply]

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

IBM have announced that Chumbak, India’s leading retailer of lifestyle products, has selected IBM Cloud to ensure seamless operation of business processes to fast-track their growth. IBM will enable Chumbak to significantly improve management efficiency of critical data across multiple locations. As part of the agreement, Chumbak will host and run their enterprise resource planning [ERP] applications on IBM Cloud.

Chumbak is a leading retail company with wide range of products across an assortment of apparel, home and accessories. The company runs over 40 stores across India and also has large format flagship stores in six cities.

Chumbak plans to increase their large format store count across the country and is also poised for strong growth in its online business. Given the rapid scale of expansion, Chumbak needed an IT infrastructure that could scale up adequately, and propel the critical applications necessary for such growth. Among the decision factors used to evaluate the options, one of the main requirements was seamless integration with the ERP being deployed. Cost effectiveness and performance efficiency rounded off the top three considerations posted by the business requirements.

Rajath Kedilaya, CIO, Chumbak said

Over the last five years, Chumbak has grown over 300 percent year on year. As we plan to scale our presence both online and offline, we wanted a technology partner who could support us over the next phase of our hyper growth. The IBM Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, with its unique combination of virtual and bare metal features, has helped us streamline our operations seamlessly.

While evaluating the IT partner for our requirement, we considered Microsoft Azure and AWS as well. But in the process we realized that IBM Cloud offered the most cost effective solution and could be deployed and integrated seamlessly with our ERP infrastructure. Also, the bare metal feature is a unique offering that provides on-demand access to the right resources for the right workloads.

Vivek Malhotra, Cloud Leader, IBM India/SA said

Today, enterprises require their IT infrastructure to enable them to enhance business performance, spur innovation and get better insights into complex supply chains and distributed development environment. Chumbak also required a holistic approach to manage their IT infrastructure. IBM not only proved to be the IT backbone of the organization but also reduced Chumbak’s overall IT services costs significantly. 

IBM Cloud delivers fast, easy and automated access to public, private and hybrid cloud services to help clients digitally transform. IBM Cloud is a growing collection of services including analytics, mobile, networking, storage, Internet of Things and cognitive computing. With more than 40 global cloud data centers, IBM helps companies securely manage and gain insight into their data no matter where it resides.

About Chumbak

For more information, please visit Chumbak

[Image Credit* – SocialSamosa]