E-Commerce....

Future gets ready for big e-bazaar



To Sell Wide Range Of Products Through Net, Mobiles, TV & Dedicated Kiosks
Sruthijith KK NEW DELHI
Kishore Biyani’s Future Group will launch a slew of digital commerce initiatives in the next few weeks as India’s largest retailer moves to sell a wide range of products from bedspreads to treadmills through the Internet, mobile phones, television and dedicated kiosks.
“We were not satisfied with our digital presence, and now we have decided to enter that space in a big way,” Kishore Biyani, CEO of the Rs 9,000 crore group, told ET.
While the group’s online retail arm, Future Ecommerce, already operates an e-commerce portal, it will launch new initiatives such as SMS short codes, teleshopping, proximity marketing through mobile phones and virtual shopping through manned kiosks in the coming weeks.
“Most people in urban areas spend 8 to 10 hours in a day on one of the four screens we are targetting. This translates into huge sales potential,” said Mr Biyani.
The initiative will make Future Group one of the first modern retailers to move into digital commerce in a big way. It will compete with portals such as eBay.com, Indiatimes.com and Rediff.com, as well as with websites of Shoppers Stop and Landmark, on the Internet.
E-retailing is yet to take off in a big way in India and its not at all comparable with mature markets. The size of online retailing in India is estimated at about Rs 500 crore a year and that of teleshopping is estimated at Rs 900 crore. That makes a total of just over $300 million. In comparison, a recession-hit US recorded $131 billion retail e-commerce in 2009, according to Emarketer.com.
Mr Biyani hopes to change that with his new initiative.
“We will sell across four screens and we hope the scale of what we bring will completely transform that space,” he said.
He targets sales of Rs 300 crore from digital commerce in the first year after the new initiatives are rolled out fully.
The company is in talks to acquire a small IT company with about 150 personnel to develop and maintain content and websites, he said, but declined to identify the target.
Mr Biyani himself is incubating the new business unit that will be part of Future E-commerce, where venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Ram Shriram’s Sherpalo Ventures together hold 15% stake.
Its online store, FutureBazaar.com, will increase the number of products available online significantly.
At present, about 4,000 SKUs, or stock keeping units, are available at FutureBazaar.com compared with 1.6 lakh SKUs that an average Big Bazaar store stocks.
SKU is the most basic accounting unit of a product. Two sizes or two flavours of the same product will be accounted as different SKUs.
“Whatever we sell through the digital platforms will be cheaper by 5% to 20%, compared with the prices in the shop,” Mr Biyani said. The cost of selling a product is much lower when it goes from a godown directly to a consumer’s home without taking up shelf space in a retail store that is expensive to run.
The website will also add more information about the products, including videos.
As for teleshopping, Future Group plans to buy airtime in bulk on TV channels. But Mr Biyani ruled out launching a dedicated channel for that.
In what will be an entirely new initiative, Future Group also plans to erect manned kiosks where customers can browse through products and access information as well as videos on a screen and even place an order and pay cash.
The company will extensively promote its SMS short codes and will also carry out proximity marketing using Bluetooth and cell towerbased technologies.
Every week, three or four products from a particular category will be heavily promoted across all the digital platforms, Mr Biyani said.
DIGITAL DRIVE
India’s largest retailer moves to sell a wide range of products from bedspreads to treadmills through the Internet, mobile phones, television and dedicated kiosks
While the group’s online retail arm, Future E-commerce, already operates an e-commerce portal, it will launch new initiatives such as SMS short codes, teleshopping, proximity marketing through mobile phones and virtual shopping through manned kiosks
The initiative will make Future Group one of the first modern retailers to move into digital commerce in a big way
It will compete with portals such as eBay.com, Indiatimes.com and Rediff.com, as well as with websites of Shoppers Stop and Landmark, on the Internet. E-retailing is yet to take off in a big way in India and its not at all comparable with mature markets
The size of online retailing in India is estimated at about Rs 500 crore a year and that of teleshopping is estimated at Rs 900 crore. That makes a total of just over $300 m
US recorded $131 billion retail e-commerce in 2009
KISHORE BIYANI CEO, FUTURE GROUP
We were not satisfied with our digital presence, and now we have decided to enter that space in a big way Whatever we sell through the digital platforms will be cheaper by 5% to 20% compared with the prices in the shop Most people in urban areas spend 8 to 10 hours in a day on one of the four screens we are targetting.

My Comments:
I read this news in todays ET .....
EBazar......what is that....People will buy through internet site instead of going to the store....and that will be cheaper then in store...Why?Because when business is done through internet, they have not to spend on salaries, daily wages , Rents for the shop,electricty bills etc and hence the price willbe cheaper then those sold in shops......and in USA I am seeing that......
So E-Commerce is going to be big thing here in next decade....and hence BPO service in India is going to be a very big market...and I don't have to write which is the Co who is the leader in Indian BPO Space.....if one do not know then try to explore through internet.....
and if people will shop through internet ,there will be more usuage of Credit Card and then the maintenance etc.....
One have to just imagine where this business can go....