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In what is being termed as the biggest acquisition ever in the Indian e-commerce space, online retailer <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> has bought out fashion e-tailer <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword>.com. The move is being seen as a response to counter its fast-growing rival <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>. 
 
Although it was not officially confirmed, analysts’ speculations pegged the buyout at over $300 million. 
 
However, both companies will work independently for now and there is no immediate plan to merge their fashion businesses. 
 
As per the deal, Myntra CEO Mukesh Bansal will join Flipkart’s board and will head the fashion vertical at both Flipkart and Myntra. While Myntra employees will ‘remain in current positions,’ they will also be offered stock options in Flipkart. 
 Flipkart co-founder <keyword id="225032" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sachin-Bansal">Sachin Bansal</keyword> insisted that it was a ‘completely different acquisition story’ as it was not ‘driven by distress.’ The heads of both the companies said they were scripting “one of the largest e-commerce stories.” 
 
According to Mukesh Bansal, Myntra alone holds 30% of the market share and together, both the companies will account for 50% of the online fashion market. “We hope to take this figure to about 60-70% in the long term,” he said. 
 
Sachin Bansal further said that Flipkart would invest $100 million in its own fashion vertical in the near future.

Flipkart Acquires Fashion E-tailer Myntra For $300
Million

Gurgaon-based Fashion e-tailer <keyword id="1153436" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Yepme">YepMe</keyword> has planned to open 400 stores by the end of this financial year, as a part of the omnichannel strategy that most e-tailers are following in order to boost sales. 
 As of now, YepMe has four stores in Gurgaon, and for its expansion plans, has identified cities including Noida, Meerut, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ludhiana and Latur, where it would expand through franchise, CEO <keyword id="2430540" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vivek-Gaur">Vivek Gaur</keyword> told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/yepme-to-open-400-stores-by-the-end-of-this-financial-year/articleshow/53482739.cms">ET</a>. While metro cities would have company-owned stores, tier II towns will have franchisee-owned stores. 
 
A new initiative of the company, as a part of its offer of a seamless shopping experience, would be to run similar schemes and offers and allow "anywhere returns" of products, which means that products bought by customers anywhere across different cities could be returned to any store they like. 
 
Founded in 2011, YepMe raised $75 million in September 2015 from investors led by Malaysian state fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and existing investor Helion Advisors. 
 
<a href="http://images.newsinshorts.com.edgesuite.net/app_assets/images/2016/1jan/17/36434223-0013-0001-6870-000012345678-1453036434431.jpg?resize=1024px:*&amp;">Image source</a>

YepMe aims to open 400 stores by March 2017

Websites that offer coupon codes and cash-back deals are hiring ‘mystery shoppers’ to keep a tab on their partner sites. Reason, this way they will see invoicing and validity of coupons on the partner sites and upgrade their own technology for better traffic. 
 
The websites that keep offering discount coupons and cash-back guarantees derive their revenue from commissions on transaction routed through them. 
 
Most of the coupons turn effective due to expiry of the deal or usage terms. 
 
So to update their websites in real-time with valid and appropriate coupons, these firms are banking on employees, friends, family, as mystery shoppers and giving them cash to buy stuff online. 
 
"A lot of coupons work for app users, first-time users or don't work across brands in the fashion segment. These glitches cannot be monitored through tech upgradation and we need someone to test these aspects," Kulpreet Kaur, founder and chief executive of the one-year-old coupon site Shoppirate, which employs a mystery shopper told Economic Times. 
 
Depending on the e-tailer, up to 30% of the coupons issued turn ineffective. "With eCommerce players, our focus is on testing the user experience. Only one of the e-tailers we work with spends considerable sums on developing their graphic user interface," Gaurav Pachauri, CEO of WeMark Marketing, which offers its mystery-shopper service to e-tailers, told the financial daily. 
 
WeMark also works with Groupon on easing source deals, knowledge of Groupon call-centre personnel to the behaviour of local businesses once the customer goes to them with the deal. 
 
(Image: India Times)

Websites using ‘mystery shoppers’ to snoop on partners

MUMBAI: The combined entity of Flipkart and <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword> will soon launch a fashion incubator, a first of its kind move by an Indian startup, in its aggressive push to gain complete dominance of the fast-growing online apparel category. In typical venture capital-style investing, the e-commerce combine will select fashion entrepreneurs, give them a platform to retail and after six months to a year pick up equity stakes for up to a million dollars in the best performing brands. 
 Startup incubators are widely run by large technology companies, to spot new ideas and talent, but this would be the first such attempt by an Indian <keyword id="2180871" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="e-commerce-player">e-commerce player</keyword>. 
 
Flipkart-Mynta will look to select at least 3-5 such brands annually which can later be retailed on other platforms- online and offline-- said a top executive from the company. The first batch of the incubator is expected to roll out in July which will get on board as many as 20 such entrepreneurs. 
 “The idea is to create sizeable indigenous fashion brands by mentoring young entrepreneurs who do not have access to capital, supply chain and distribution platforms,” said <keyword id="705865" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mukesh-Bansal">Mukesh Bansal</keyword>, CEO, Myntra &amp; SVP, Flipkart Fashion. We want these budding designers to operate as independent entities in the long-term selling to even our rival e-tailers, Bansal told TOI. 
 
Having merged Myntra with Flipkart last month in a Rs 2,000 crore deal, Bansal said with increased focus on private brands, the combined entity may also evaluate acquisitions going forward to shore up its fashion portfolio. 
 
Abhishek Verma, business head at Myntra said they've roped in mentors for the first batch of the incubator. We’ve got fashion designers, entrepreneurs and successful names from the business of apparel to be a part of the programme. 
 
Myntra’s own set of brands clocking sales of upwards of $10 million include the likes of Dressberry and Roadster. We have an ambitious plan of building multiple hundred million-dollar private brands in the coming years but it’s not feasible to have such a large in-house team therefore, this incubator makes a lot of sense as we scale up our portfolio, Bansal said. 
 The fashion e-commerce category is poised to become the second largest, only after electronics, pushing e-tailers to adopt a frenetic paced growth strategy for the vertical. <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>, the world’s largest online retailer, which is starting to get a toehold in the Indian e-commerce market recently forayed into the fashion and apparel category. 
 In the offline retail world, Future group’s founder <keyword id="44950" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Kishore-Biyani">Kishore Biyani</keyword> has been an early backer of several local fashion entrepreneurs who have gone on to create successful brands like AND and Biba. Biyani exited these companies last year only to make windfall gains from his early investments.

Myntra Set To Launch Fashion Incubator

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Melia Robinson/Business InsiderJessica Lee and Lizzie Agnew are the cofounders of high-fashion e-commerce startup Modern Citizen.</div></div></div>The streets of San Francisco are paved with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/startups-not-fixing-diversity-problem-2016-12">young men</a> wearing hoodies, jeans, and T-shirts - the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-uniform-2014-5">tech bro uniform</a> popularized by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and other tech executives. In 2014, Stanford graduates Jessica Lee and Lizzie Agnew decided to offer a locally-run fashionable alternative for women. Their direct-to-consumer apparel company <a href="https://www.moderncitizen.com/">Modern Citizen</a> provides stylish, professional women with a curated collection of fashion-forward pieces, with many items priced under $100. Cashmere knits, wrap dresses, and relaxed-fit blazers <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/modern-citizen-san-francisco-affordable-fashion-label">provide comfortable alternatives</a> to the Valley wardrobe staples.At a time when <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-retail-apocalypse-has-officially-descended-on-america-2017-3">shoppers are fleeing mall chains</a> like J. Crew, Gap, and Abercrombie &amp; Fitch, Modern Citizen is growing. The company opened its first brick-and-mortar in San Francisco's Cow Hollow neighborhood in August and has plans for an outpost in New York next year. A spokesperson declined to share revenue but confirmed that yearly sales top $1 million.Business Insider sat down with Modern Citizen's cofounders, Lee and Agnew, to see what the high-fashion e-tailer is doing differently to evade the <keyword id="6354851" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Retail">retail</keyword> apocalypse.Additional photography by Caroline Cakebread.

A high-fashion apparel startup wants to create a better uniform for working women - and millennials are obsessed

<keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, India's largest e-tailer, is likely to start another round of fund raising as it looks to expand its range of products in order to cater to a wider base of customers. According to media reports, it will seek about $1.5 billion and has started the process of identifying potential investors. 
 The <keyword id="35621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> giant has raised about $1.2 billion this year. It had recently held festival sales, giving steep discounts. Following the mega festive season sale in October, during which it shipped about 80 lakh items as compared to 50 lakh on average, Flipkart has revised its internal target to reach sales worth $4 billion by the end of the current financial year. 
 
The Bangalore-based company is looking to increase the number of product categories in which they have leadership. "It has built a lead in fashion with the Myntra acquisition. The same push needs to happen across categories," said Manish Saigal, managing director at advisory firm Alvarez and Marsal. 
 <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> India had recently launched its gourmet and speciality foods category with more than 155 brands, both domestic as well as imported. Another e-tailer, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>, already sells products in these categories.

Flipkart To Raise $1.5 Billion, Looks Forward To Expand Its Product Range

<keyword id="1489410" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-commerce-in-India">E-commerce in India</keyword> is once again grabbing the headlines and this time, for all the right reasons. Bangalore-based <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword>, arguably India’s largest standalone <keyword id="1127700" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="fashion-e-tailer">fashion e-tailer</keyword>, has recently closed a <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> round worth $50 million from an investor consortium led by <keyword id="1430452" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="PremjiInvest">PremjiInvest</keyword>, the family office of the <keyword id="10862" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Wipro">Wipro</keyword> chairman <keyword id="6419840" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Azim-Premji">Azim Premji</keyword>. Myntra is also in talks with a clutch of investors to raise an additional $40 million at a higher <keyword id="51393" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="valuation">valuation</keyword>, according to an Economic Times report. So far, the <keyword id="2049121" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="E-commerce-firm">e-commerce firm</keyword> has raised $125 million in risk capital funding. Another fashion e-tailer that is also raising <keyword id="57924" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="big-money">big money</keyword> is Gurgaon-based <keyword id="6388367" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jabong">Jabong</keyword>.com, which is backed by Berlin-based <keyword id="1965711" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rocket-Internet-GmbH">Rocket Internet GmbH</keyword> – a venture arm of the Samwer brothers. The e-commerce firm is reportedly raising a fresh round of equity funding worth $100 million, of which it has already received $27.5 million from the British <keyword id="2049123" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Development-finance-institution">development finance institution</keyword> <keyword id="1613067" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="CDC-Group-Plc">CDC Group Plc</keyword>. 
 All this is good news for the cash-strapped Indian e-commerce segment. So we have taken a close look at the recent fundraising by the <keyword id="2049116" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-e-commerce-players">Indian e-commerce players</keyword> and identified five key trends that seem to be prevailing. Will they rule the <keyword id="2049126" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Fundraising-scenario">fundraising scenario</keyword> and determine the parameters of growth throughout 2014? Let us have a quick look. 
 
Growing big is the key priority E-commerce start-ups in India are finally coming of age and looking beyond the quickest possible exits. When Myntra closed $50 million in funding a couple of days ago, the company was immediately approached by its bigger rival <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> who had reportedly come up with an acquisition offer worth $200 million. According to a TechCrunch report, e-commerce giant <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> had also approached Myntra but the details of the proposed deal are not yet available. 
 Although rumours were rife that Myntra could be considering either of the deals as part of a bigger strategy, the e-tailer has decided to stay off the <keyword id="1949341" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Exit-route">exit route</keyword>. In fact, its ongoing talks for an additional round of funding worth $40 million clearly indicate that the company has in place some well-thought-out <keyword id="414633" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="growth-plans">growth plans</keyword> and big ones at that. The only other reason for back-to-back funding is to raise the valuation but at this point, Myntra doesn’t look like it is on the block. Neither has it decided to quit in a hurry like <keyword id="6359128" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Redbus">redBus</keyword>.in did last year. <keyword id="2049136" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indias-largest-bus-ticketing-firm">India’s largest bus ticketing firm</keyword> was acquired by the <keyword id="1643008" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ibibo-Group">ibibo Group</keyword> for around $125 million but the sale cut short a successful <keyword id="530125" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="entrepreneurial-journey">entrepreneurial journey</keyword> that could have become a $500 million business in terms of revenue and could have achieved a $1 billion valuation. 
 As for Jabong, the very fact that it is backed by Rocket Internet may tell the industry insiders a different story. Rocket is known in the market for its fast and furious build-and-sell business module, and the start-ups are essentially replicas of successful US businesses. But the kind of funding Jabong is raising right now shows that the company is in no hurry to down the shutters in India even though two of its four co-founders have recently left the company. Jabong started its India operations in 2012 and competes with key e-com players such as Flipkart, Myntra, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> and <keyword id="6354743" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Amazon-India">Amazon India</keyword>, among others. 
 
Only <keyword id="2049143" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Core-expertise">core expertise</keyword> matters Internet giant <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> has already given us a case in point when it sold <keyword id="487941" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Motorola-Mobility">Motorola Mobility</keyword> to Lenovo for $2.91 billion, less than two years after paying $12.5 billion to acquire it. The deal is not a total financial loss as Google has managed to keep patents worth billions of dollars and expects to turn Lenovo into a manufacturing unit for its <keyword id="6355645" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="android">Android</keyword> OS. But selling <keyword id="11148" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Motorola">Motorola</keyword> is a sure indication that Google should have focused more on its <keyword id="1430489" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Core-Competencies">core competencies</keyword> – search, software and selling ads – instead of developing hardware. 
 You will find a similar case here as Jabong has reportedly sold its <keyword id="2049146" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="logistics-arm">logistics arm</keyword> <keyword id="2049145" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="JaVAS">JaVAS</keyword> (Jabong Value Added Services) to Gurgaon-based QuickDel Logistics as part of its business restructuring and funding exercise. Jabong <keyword id="170488" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="co-founder">co-founder</keyword> <keyword id="536011" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Praveen-Sinha">Praveen Sinha</keyword> has also confirmed to the media that JaVAS is now an independent entity. 
 However, that brings us back to the basic question. Should companies try and provide end-to-end solutions to ensure a complete customer experience or should they focus on core competencies and leave the rest to the experts in those fields? We particularly raise this question as many Indian e-commerce firms are currently focusing on <keyword id="2049154" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Proprietary-payment-gateways">proprietary payment gateways</keyword> and customised logistics services in a bid to propel their services to the next level. However, such services can actually make you lose money unless a company is catering to a customer base as vast as <keyword id="6357395" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> or Amazon. 
 After JaVAS, the writing is definitely on the wall. The bells and whistles can always come in later, but the key focus must be core competencies. Of late, even <keyword id="6354427" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Apple">Apple</keyword> seems to be falling in this trap – its newest hardware products have ‘n’ number of <keyword id="2049161" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Incremental-features">incremental features</keyword> but real innovations seem to be eluding the iconic company. 
 
Investors showing better <keyword id="170907" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="risk-appetite">risk appetite</keyword> India’s e-commerce market is projected to grow sevenfold to $22 billion in the next five years, and investors, both national and global, want to have a piece of the pie. According to <keyword id="1981" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rahul-Khanna">Rahul Khanna</keyword>, managing director of the <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="venture-capital">venture capital</keyword> firm <keyword id="218905" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Canaan-Partners">Canaan Partners</keyword> (India), e-commerce players in India (and everywhere else for that matter) require very deep pockets to scale up to the level of breaking even and hitting profitability. In this space, sales margins are typically low; volume is high, and logistics &amp; back office <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> only become viable when companies are catering to a very <keyword id="2049169" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Large-customer-base">large customer base</keyword>. Consequently, <keyword id="2049171" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Follow-on-rounds">follow-on rounds</keyword> are extremely crucial for sustainable growth. Now that big institutional investors like PremjiInvest and UK-based development <keyword id="25455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="finance">finance</keyword> institution CDC Group are entering the arena, the much-needed <keyword id="2000080" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cash-burning">cash burning</keyword> is sure to propel growth to the desired level. 
 “E-commerce is fast maturing in India and that’s the main reason <keyword id="363248" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Global-Investments">global investments</keyword> are flowing in,” says another analyst. “When big players like Amazon show interest (the e-commerce giant has reportedly approached Myntra), investors are quick to sense the tremendous <keyword id="452394" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="growth-potential">growth potential</keyword> lying here,” she adds. 
 
Forget the buzz you are creating; it’s result time now Analysts, who have followed the course of events over the past few weeks, also point out another interesting trend. Be it Myntra or Jabong or other up-and-coming e-commerce businesses, it’s their <keyword id="2049173" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Growth-quotient">growth quotient</keyword> that has attracted <keyword id="2049174" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Big-funding">big funding</keyword>. In other words, start-ups who are delivering in a big way will get the valuable <keyword id="2049175" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Growth-dollars">growth dollars</keyword> as investors are now looking beyond the buzz and focusing on <keyword id="1730239" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="business-fundamentals">business fundamentals</keyword> and results. 
 Companies must have the numbers – in terms of customer base, <keyword id="169826" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="growth-figures">growth figures</keyword> and brand leadership – to justify the big money they are raising. For instance, Myntra expects to more than double its <keyword id="657194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="gross-sales">gross sales</keyword> to over $250 million by March 2015 and the fashion e-tailer’s <keyword id="2049176" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Monthly-gross-sales">monthly gross sales</keyword> could touch $20-25 million by April this year. Myntra is expected to end the current fiscal with more than $100 million in gross sales and it is targeting $1 billion in <keyword id="6399113" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="GMV">GMV</keyword> by 2016-2017. Flipkart, which raised $360 million last year at a valuation of about $1.6 billion, is also projecting a GMV of $1 billion by 2015. 
 Jabong, too, has aggressive growth plans and the latest round will be used to strengthen its <keyword id="2049177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Supply-chain-infrastructure">supply chain infrastructure</keyword> and enhance its <keyword id="2049178" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Technology-platform">technology platform</keyword>. According to industry sources, Jabong might have generated <keyword id="2049180" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gross-merchandise-sales">gross merchandise sales</keyword> of $100-150 million for the fiscal 2012-13. Other key investments in the Indian e-commerce space since 2013 included online marketplace Snapdeal raising about Rs 300 crore and baby care portal <keyword id="1615917" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="FirstCry">Firstcry</keyword> bagging Rs 92 crore. 
 
Inventory, <keyword id="6630005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="private-labels">private labels</keyword> are adding value 
With the lone exception of Snapdeal that runs a 100% marketplace, most of the big e-commerce entities in India are flourishing on a hybrid model – a strategic mix of inventory, private label and marketplace. In fact, Jabong has been doing all three for some time now, although a bit discreetly, and it could be now pushing hard to extract every penny from each of these categories. 
 
Myntra, on the other hand, focuses on both inventory and private label, with the share of private labels rising rapidly. A couple of years ago, the e-tailer acquired Exclusively.in Inc., the company behind the private label brand Shersingh.com and the fashion site Exclusively.in, in a cash-cum-equity deal. Myntra is reportedly eyeing more private labels to add to its portfolio as the margins are pretty high in this segment and add substantially to the profits. 
 
Bottom line: Is it a <keyword id="2049185" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Volatile-situation">volatile situation</keyword>? In one of her latest blogs in <keyword id="6359301" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Entrepreneur">Entrepreneur</keyword>.com, entrepreneur-writer Erika Trautman has nicely summed it up. “No matter how great the idea, if your start-up doesn’t create hard and fast results with analytics, targeted business solutions and mobile integration, it won’t survive in 2014. Launching a start-up can’t just be about how cool your product is. No business can subsist off just buzz and Press. This year, start-ups must focus on business fundamentals and start emphasising partnerships that generate results.” 
 
Can the Indian e-commerce players innovate, scale up and deliver (as the takeaways so amply illustrate) to justify the trust investors are now putting in them? Will there be new ventures to take up the gauntlet? Let us wait and watch. 
 
Image: Thinkstock Photos/Getty Images

Indian E-com Players
Are Raising Big Money; These 5 Takeaways Can Help You Understand What’s
Changing

<ul><li>Fashion house High Street Essentials which runs <keyword id="2401997" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="FabAlley">FabAlley</keyword> and <keyword id="5954969" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="indya">Indya</keyword>, has turned profitable.</li><li>The company has reported a net revenue of ₹90.2 crores for FY19, along with a profit of ₹1.3 crores.</li><li>The company now aims to have 50 exclusive retail outlets.</li></ul>High Street Essentials which runs FabAlley and Indya, has turned profitable today The company has reported a net revenue of ₹90 crores for FY19, along with a profit of ₹1.3 crore. “FY19 has marked our transition from a primarily online company to an omnichannel entity while ensuring our infrastructure, supply chain, and product lines expanded efficiently to accommodate both online and offline retail growth with continued capital efficiency,” said founders Shivani Poddar and Tanvi Malik. FabAlley was launched in 2012 and since then has grown from an online platform to have offline retail stores. The company now aims to have 50 exclusive retail outlets. “The company is on track to close FY20 with gross sales of ₹220 crore, at a growth of 75% over FY19, with EBITDA and PAT-level profitability,” said Poddar and Malik. The company last raised funds in December 2018. The series B round of funding for ₹60 crore was led by SAIF Partners with the VC firm’s Mukul Arora joining the board of the e-commerce company.

Fashion e-tailer FabAlley turns profitable, aims to grow 75% this year

<ul><li>Competition heats up after <keyword id="80487" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="walmart">Walmart</keyword> closes its $16 billion acquisition of <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>.</li><li>Alibaba and <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> are said to be eyeing large investments of their own.</li><li>Conventional retail and <keyword id="35621" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> players are coming together for a hybrid online-offline business model.</li></ul>A turf war is about to break out among Walmart, Amazon Inc. and <keyword id="163405" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Alibaba-Group">Alibaba Group</keyword> as the retail giants make aggressive moves to expand into <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>. And it is highly likely that this will lead to a massive shakeup of the Indian retail space. Last week, Walmart said it had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-competition-regulator-has-given-the-walmart-flipkart-deal-a-greenlight/articleshow/65337242.cms">closed</a> the $16 billion (₹1,118 billion) deal to buy the majority (77%) of Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce company, following regulatory approval. This is Walmart’s biggest acquisition till date. In its aftermath, Alibaba and Amazon are said to be eyeing large investments of their own, according to media reports. Alibaba is said to be <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/1mvbhDUjZd9khrSUroW5MM/Alibaba-may-invest-5-billion-in-JV-with-Reliance-Retail.html">considering</a> a $5 billion (₹350 billion) investment into a joint venture with <keyword id="58448" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Retail">Reliance Retail</keyword>, India’s largest retailer in terms of sales, in part to take on competition from Amazon and Flipkart. While Amazon, along with co-investors, is mulling an investment in the Aditya Birla Group-owned grocery chain, More, for an enterprise valuation between ₹45 billion and ₹50 billion. Alibaba has reportedly also held talks with other Indian retail chains including Future Retail. In the past few years, Amazon has pumped in over $5 billion into India, its fastest growing market. Amazon and Walmart have been in fierce competition in their home market, the US, for quite some time, while Alibaba and Amazon are head-to-head in China. Some fear that Walmart’s push into India could potentially have an adverse impact on the larger Indian retail space in the long term, particularly on the small brick and mortar retailers in the country. A nation-wide trade lobby group plans to protest the Flipkart acquisition by going on a nationwide strike in the coming months. Currently, over 95% of India’s consumer retail market remains unorganised, representing a huge untapped opportunity for organised retail chains. India has long restricted <keyword id="44749" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Foreign-Direct-Investment">foreign direct investment</keyword> in multi-brand retail to protect local grocers but allows 100% foreign direct investment in e-commerce companies that use the “marketplace” model. It is currently considering bringing in regulation for the e-commerce space and according to a recent draft proposal, may allow 49% foreign investment in e-commerce companies that use the inventory model. Walmart in its recent statement said its future investments into India will be directed at supporting farmers, supply chain development and reducing food waste. Strategy shift: Going hybrid Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart and Amazon’s interest in More are the latest examples of large retailers adopting a hybrid business model of offline and online after years of experts predicting the disruption of traditional retail by e-commerce companies. Alibaba and Amazon have recently been focusing heavily on offline and online in their home markets – Amazon with its acquisition of grocery chain Whole Foods and Alibaba’s ‘New Retail’ strategy, which combines e-commerce and conventional retail in China. That rationale appears to be flowing down into their India strategy as well, points out Mrigank Gutgutia, engagement manager with RedSeer Management Consulting. Amazon also owns a 5% stake in Indian brick and mortar retail chain Shoppers Stop. While the Walmart-Flipkart deal is certainly encouraging for e-commerce players, even after 10 years and 100 million shoppers, Indian e-tailers have thus far managed to penetrate only about 2.7% of the overall Indian retail market, indicating the pressure to diversify their reach, notes Gutgutia. “While e-tailers have got their growth mojo back, everyone is starting to realise that pure online models will only let them capture limited pie,” said Gutgutia. “There is a need for change,” he added. Overall, as Indian e-commerce market matures further, e-tailers are realising that pure discount-driven models are no longer going to work. “What is needed is genuine innovation to cater to specific traits and needs of Indian buyers -- especially in offline-heavy categories like fashion and grocery,” said Gutgutia. According to RedSeer, this multi-channel approach will become dominant among organised retail players in the coming years, particularly for e-commerce players. Other e-tailers who have ventured into offline include furniture retailer Pepperfry with its studios and fashion retailer Myntra's Roadster stores. Regardless of how the investment landscape pans out and who buys whom, and as competition gets more intense for existing e-commerce and offline retailers, ultimately shoppers and customers are expected to win. As for small retailers, Gutgutia says they could see a positive impact if they work on a partnership model with organised retailers.

Clash of the titans: Amazon, Walmart and Alibaba to battle it out in India

Competition in the <keyword id="436047" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ecommerce">eCommerce</keyword> space is getting hotter and hotter. E-tailers are trying their best to outdo the competition by offering discounts, organising flash sales, launching contests and more. However, another bigger trend that we are observing in the eCommerce industry is: ‘the <keyword id="235499" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="APP">app</keyword>’ move. 
 
E-tailers are encouraging consumers to shop using their apps these days by offering extra discounts, freebies and more such things. Does this ring a bell? If you are an eCommerce shopper, then it defintely will. But did you ever think, why are eCommerce players making this move? 
 
Coz mobile data is on rise 
We feel that eCommerce players are making this move considering consumers’ Internet consumption patterns. A recent study by Indian mobile network points out that 75% of Indians own a mobile device as against 15% getting access to broadband Internet. In addition, there are also studies, which reveal that an Indian user spends an average 200 minutes a day on smartphones and user base for the same is expected to grow to 205 million by this year. And what else could be a better way to tap this consumer base other than ‘app’. 
 
 
e-tailers to kill their desktop sites? The way eCommerce players are going aggressive about apps, saying that their desktop sites would have an untimely death would be wrong—but the scene could change in the near future. The first visible signs for this are the stats which suggest that online fashion companies like <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword> have 80% of traffic and 60% of sales coming from its <keyword id="6369871" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mobile-app">mobile app</keyword>. 
 
 
 
App: The next ‘in-thing’ in eCommerce 
 
As per analysts, the day isn’t far when 80-90% orders would start coming through app, the daily has reported. 
In Tier-II/ Tier-III cities, penetration of Internet is much less and people still rely on brick and mortar stores. In those areas, accessing to eCommerce through mobile is easier and convenient. 
 
A regular buyer through apps of various eCommerce companies, Sweta told BI, “It’s all about on the go! Since I’ve a fascination for shoes the entire stretch I travel in Delhi metro, I would browse shoes across all online stores. Whichever suits my pocket and choice, I just buy it instantly. Moreover, the mobile screen being smaller than web, the designing is more crisp and convenient.” 
 No wonder, to cheer up more buyers through mobile, eCommerce companies like Amazon and <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> are offering extra discounts to buyers ordering through apps. Amazon’s ‘Appiness’ offer last year had increased its traffic through app by 4 times and more. 
 
Mausam Bhatt, senior director, marketing (mobile and digital marketing) of Flipkart had said "Over the past year we have been seeing that there is an increase in growth coming from our mobile app. A majority of this growth is coming from outside of metro cities. So, we are taking this opportunity to connect with our consumers better and grow the user base for our mobile app by having a shopping festival exclusively there.” 
 
(Image: Reuters)

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