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World famous incubator <keyword id="834871" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rocket-Internet">Rocket Internet</keyword>, based in Berlin, Germany, runs a string of consumer internet companies in India. However, in a first of its kind sale of property, it is likely to sell the online furniture retailer FabFurnish to the <keyword id="44949" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Future-group">Future Group</keyword>, led by <keyword id="44950" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kishore-Biyani">Kishore Biyani</keyword>. 
 
Not only this, it also wants its fashion online retailer Jabong to be offloaded to the Future Group in a bid to reduce losses; however, Biyani has not shown much interest in the business. 
 
"The two are in definite talks to close the FabFurnish deal. Sale of Jabong is still at the proposal stage and no talks have started on it yet," said one of the persons cited above. Jabong, however, has denied the news of being up for sale. 
 
The company has "seen strong operating performance in recent months and has strengthened its management team with a number of hires," a Jabong spokesperson told ET. "Jabong is not in discussions, at any stage, with anyone, regarding a sale of the company. The company's largest see-through investor reiterated earlier this month its commitment to the business and the Indian market." 
 
The sources also cited that Fab-Furnish could be sold for $5-10 million, however the figure was not independently verified. 
 
If things go as per Rocket Internet’s plans, it will be the first time that Biyani would acquire an online retail business. He has, in the past, been a strongly outspoken critic of the country's ecommerce industry. 
 
<a href="http://businessbrokersaustin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/business-for-sale.jpg">Image source</a>

Rocket Internet’s selling 2 really big online brands to the Future Group

<keyword id="6388367" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jabong">Jabong</keyword>, which used to lead India’s online fashion portal, has been on the block for over a year, trying hard find a buyer even as its investors have drastically dropped the asking price. 
 
The firm, which was backed by Rocket Internet, saw a major drop in sales and cut losses in 2015. The investors have now settled for an estimated price of $100 million, which is unbelievably low from around $1 billion, the amount that it had sought during talks with Amazon India in 2014, a deal that didn’t see the light of the day. 
 
Even though Jabong was founded under Rocket Internet in 2012, it’s the Swedish investor Kinnevik that is asking for a sale. Kinnevik owns a big stake in Jabong's parent company Global Fashion Group. 
 
"They (Rocket Internet and Kinnevik) just want to park the company somewhere, find a home for it," said one person aware of the matter. "But there are no buyers yet." 
 It was earlier this month that Rocket Internet sold another of its India portfolio companies, the furniture portal Fabfurnish, to <keyword id="44950" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kishore-Biyani">Kishore Biyani</keyword>'s Future Retail for around Rs 11 crore. 
 
Jabong was not only in with Amazon India for a possible buyout, but also with several other Indian online marketplaces. In fact, in 2015, an offer to buy Jabong at around $200 million in 2015 was rejected, a source told ET. 
 
 
<a href="http://www.suitsbysuits.com/assets/htmlimages/iStock_No_Hand_Shake_000020725761Small.jpg">Image source</a>

Jabong has no buyers, not even at the unbelievably low price of Rs 663 crore

Be it <keyword id="6388367" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jabong">Jabong</keyword> or <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>, whenever a company is getting acquired, employees of the company getting sold are the worst hit. They undergo a trauma of getting fired and replaced by the company acquiring them, after all, in the wheel of cost cutting, employees get axed first. “When businesses get into the wars of winning and success, the focus is market share, power and control. Boards and bankers put on their thinking caps and focus all their energies onto how they can get the best of both worlds. The fact that nobody is indispensible sets in an environment that leads most employees to believe that the change is a serious situation and many get shaken to the extent of leaving the organization in search of stability and peace,” said Pramod Parkar, Principal Consultant &amp; Director, Edify Consultants. Most of the employees feel too much pressure, which leads to too much disruption in their careers and work-life. “The fact that should be most importantly understood is that the team coming into power needs to form a winning team. Sitting on a fence won’t help, you need to be firm, planted and patient. Your contribution and open mindedness can be a winning trump card to actually make hay while the sun is shining,” he said. In case your company is also getting acquired, keep these 4 points in mind for success during turbulent times

4 ways how employees can prepare themselves when their company is getting acquired

<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

The <keyword id="139820" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Competition-Commission">Competition Commission</keyword> has rejected allegations of unfair business practices against five online retail majors -- Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Jabong and Myntra -- as it did not find any prima facie evidence of violations. 
 The complaints were filed against <keyword id="1990166" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Flipkart-India-Pvt-Ltd">Flipkart India Pvt Ltd</keyword>, <keyword id="2810347" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Jasper-Infotech-Pvt-Ltd">Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd</keyword>, <keyword id="2837603" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Xerion-Retail-Pvt-Ltd">Xerion Retail Pvt Ltd</keyword>, <keyword id="2837662" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Amazon-Seller-Services-Pvt-Ltd">Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd</keyword> and Vector E-commerce Pvt Ltd. 
After looking into the matter for the past few months, the fair trade watchdog has ruled that these entities did not violate competition norms by indulging in cartelisation or by abusing their dominant position. 
 
Jasper runs Snapdeal.com, Xerion owns Jabong.com, while Vector is the company behind Myntra.com. 
"... the Commission is of the prima facie view that no case of contravention of the provisions of either section 3 or section 4 of the Act is made out against the opposite parties," it said in a 10-page order. 
 
It was alleged that e-commerce websites and product sellers entered into exclusive agreements to sell products exclusively on select portals. 
 
In recent months, there have been rising concerns that discount sales launched by various e-commerce websites, including Flipkart were anti-competitive in nature. With regard to exclusive agreements, the <keyword id="97393" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Competition-Commission-of-India">Competition Commission of India</keyword> (CCI) said that such pacts need not result in appreciable adverse effect on competition. 
 
"It does not seem that such arrangements create any entry barrier for new entrants. It seems very unlikely that an exclusive arrangement between a manufacturer and an e-portal will create any entry barrier as most of the products which are illustrated in the information to be sold through exclusive e-partners (OPs) face competitive constraints," the order, dated April 23, said. 
Agreeing with the contention of the opposite parties, the Commission said that every product cannot be taken as a relevant market in itself. 
 
"Irrespective of whether we consider e-portal market as a separate relevant product market or as a sub-segment of the market for distribution, none of the opposite parties seems to be individually dominant. 
"There are several players in the online retail market which have been arrayed as opposite parties in the present case, offering similar facilities to their customers," the order said. 
 
The regulator noted that it does not consider it necessary to go into the question of abuse of dominance by the opposite parties.

A huge relief for Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Jabong and Myntra. Know more

Is e-commerce 2.0 over in India? Going by the recent ripple of mergers and closures, impacted by an overall volatile economy, we often assume the worse. Investors’ loss of trust in the Indian ecosystem has become a litany for some time now but in spite of the downtime, a handful of Indian e-commerce firms have hit the headlines in 2013 for fast-paced growth and the big bucks they have managed to raise. Their operations vary widely – it can be as simple as business listing, as predictable as selling books and lifestyle items online or as unique as creating a whole new platform for a consumer requirement. But routine or innovative, these six Indian companies have gained both investors’ support and consumer trust that keep them going. Find out what’s making them tick while we bring you a tongue-in-cheek account of possible mergers &amp; acquisitions that may happen on their way. 
 
 
<keyword id="430602" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="JustDial">JustDial</keyword>: What’s next after a roaring listing business? 
Forget MakeMyTrip and its iconic NASDAQ listing – here is one success story just as good. Fresh from a mind-blowing IPO that was oversubscribed 12 times, this India-focused local business listing site has already entered online food ordering space and has some more projects in the pipeline. Of course, the Rs 950 crore IPO – a pure offer for sale in which founder VSS Mani and investors, including Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and SAP Ventures, sold some 1.75 crore shares – is the largest on the Indian bourses this year and one of the biggest by an Indian Internet firm. 
 
However, the start-up had done its fair share of tight-rope walking earlier in the day. Since his first-ever business directory service AskMe failed in the early 90s, Mani made sure to make the next initiative failure-proof – taking one cautious step at a time (initially answering consumer queries over phone, then graduating to web queries and next moving on to mobile apps). Finally, India got its biggest business listings company, built from a paltry seed capital of Rs 50,000. And here is another interesting bit of information. Since 1999, Mani had taken six shots at the bourses and the last one has gone right home. 
 
Road ahead: What feels good about this start-up is that, JustDial is already up and about, looking at new businesses. In a recent media interview, Mani confirmed that the company would soon expand its online service range – diversifying into cab, movie ticket and doctor appointment booking. 
 
If consolidation happens: What if... search giant Google wants to focus more on India and requires a local partner that has scale and reach across multiple businesses? In fact, <keyword id="45395" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Google-India">Google India</keyword> has already introduced Product Listing ads that will display features like product images, pricing and more, to highlight merchant offerings. Will it thrive more if JustDial comes on board? 
 
<keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>: All about pivots, deals &amp; marketplace, but can it do a TaoBao? Talk about pivots and you have Kunal Bahl who has done it as many times as Robert Bruce and courted success. His business pivoted seven times as Bahl started by selling restaurant deal vouchers (and printed ones at that); came up with a daily deal site and finally pivoted to a zero-inventory, e-commerce marketplace just like Amazon, with a B2C (business to consumer) focus. That definitely makes it different from <keyword id="161767" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="eBay-India">eBay India</keyword> where the focus is C2C. Snapdeal claims to be doing it big – with 20 million registered users and around 14-15 million visitors each month, according to his recent interaction with AllThingsD. And a total funding of $114 million or so (eBay is an existing investor in the company as well) definitely speaks a lot in terms of investor confidence. Snapdeal is not profitable yet, but it is eyeing an annual GMV of $400 million this fiscal and wants to do a billion dollar in GMV by 2015. 
 
Road ahead: Media reports say Bahl is all set to do a TaoBao Mall (a dedicated B2C e-commerce marketplace run by China’s Alibaba Group) right here in India. The seasoned entrepreneur prefers to call the marketplace a vast product discovery platform with fast and furious growth and has recently introduced a customer protection service called TrustPay – a service that ensures 100% money-back guarantee in case of any issue with product quality, size or delivery. It also serves as a seller protection service against any kind of consumer fraud. Snapdeal’s agility to move ahead of the market could be its USP, especially now that it has started working on ad revenues, but can it really achieve the momentum and the scale in the Indian context? 
 
If consolidation happens: That eBay is one of the investors in Snapdeal is an interesting fact. If the company ever considers a readymade marketplace with a B2B focus, this will be a good deal. Then there is <keyword id="6354743" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Amazon-India">Amazon India</keyword> who could be buying out all competition. But given a choice, would it buy <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> or Snapdeal? Well, your guess is as good as ours. 
 
Flipkart: Big bucks are rolling in, but is the business booming? 
Don’t shop, Flipkart it – that’s the new mantra of this prolific e-com player, founded by Sachin and Binny Bansal (they are not related). They started as a book e-tailer, but soon expanded into all possible categories – from fashion to fitness and accessories, gadgets &amp; electronics to home &amp; lifestyle products, baby care items, toys and more. The success mantra is simple – best pricing and speedy delivery, backed by a dedicated logistics team. Understandably, the traction is awesome – the company claims to have 10 million registered users and over 1 million unique visitors a day. 
 
Flipkart has recently raised a fifth round of funding worth $200 million from its existing investors – Tiger Global, Accel Partners, ICONIQ Capital and South African Internet company Naspers – taking the total funding to more than $380 million. But that doesn’t mean all is well in paradise. It has recently shut down some digital businesses like Flyte (a much-hyped MP3 store launched only a year ago) and cut down on a number of electronics categories. On the plus side, it has launched its own payment gateway called PayZippy, introduced a voice-based search on the site, started selling e-books and has come up with a marketplace where third party vendors can sell directly to consumers. Flipkart has also entered a deal with the US-based indie e-book distributor Smashwords, Inc., which gives it access to Smashwords’ eBook store – a catalogue of 2 lakh-plus vetted and formatted e-books from more than 60,000 authors and publishers. 
 
Road ahead: Ambitious, to say the least, especially after the Series E booster. Just like Snapdeal, this e-com biggie wants to reach an annual GMV of $1 billion by 2015 besides doubling up the number of sellers on the marketplace to 1,000 by the end of this year. Although Flipkart is constantly harping on global level hiring, the biggest chunk of the funds raised is bound to be spent on technology, supply chain and (don’t be shocked) product development. PayZippy could be just the beginning and going ahead, Flipkart may evolve into a technology enabler for offline businesses keen to have an online presence. Infibeam’s Build A Bazaar, SmartStore from BigFoot Retail and PayU India’s PayUPaisa are doing just the same, but Flipkart can actually do a PayUPaisa by integrating the proprietary payment gateway with the Web stores for additional revenues (just like PayUPaisa does). 
 
But it is the Smashwords deal that intrigues us most. According to Nielsen BookScan Retail Panel data, in 2013, Flipkart holds an average of 40-45% in terms of value when it comes to the organised books market in India and the company has plans to grow it substantially. If that happens, it will become the undisputed market leader in the books category – both online and offline. And before we forget, Flipkart may focus even more on private labels – it already markets a private label brand called Digiflip for digital accessories such as laptop bags and camera pouches. But the biggest challenge is to get over the few setbacks, bring back the positive drive and get ready for a much-anticipated IPO. 
 
If consolidation happens: A head-on between Snapdeal and Flipkart or Amazon and Flipkart will be extremely interesting. However, the company is not losing much sleep over the competition from existing marketplaces. Another possibility is Flipkart acquiring Tradus since they have a common investor in Naspers and such deals have taken place before. 
 
<keyword id="6388367" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jabong">Jabong</keyword>: Fashion e-tailing on a roll, but for how long? 
Shun the incremental and go for the leap, said Jack Welch of GE. And if there’s one online retailer in the fashion and lifestyle segment that has literally fallen for this mandate, it’s Jabong.com, the dark horse in the fiercely competitive Indian e-commerce space. In less than 20 months, the Rocket Internet-backed venture has banged into the top rung – the third most-visited online shopping site after Myntra.com and Flipkart.com, according to a recent report by comScore. Reasons for such eyeballs? Huge inventory, aggressive marketing, speedy delivery and best-in-class customer care (including third-party logistics services). The deep pockets of the Samwer brothers help it burn the cash left, right and centre, and around 50-60% of its sales are coming from small towns, its founder, Arun Chandra Mohan, said in a recent media interaction. 
 
Road ahead: Could be bleak, going by Rocket’s reputation of creating hype and disposing its assets at the earliest. Jabong claims to do around 14,000 orders a day (average ticket size not disclosed), but it is yet to hit profitability. The company is said to be experimenting with private labels, but does not seem to be pushing it big time in spite of potential big margins. Moreover, just like Flipkart, Jabong has also handed out the pink slips. At the end of the day, it has to find a viable business model and we hope that the third-party logistics can bring in some hard cash as e-tailing spreads across the country. 
 
If consolidation happens: A takeover bid, either by Myntra or by Flipkart, will definitely put the bidder on the top. However, Flipkart is an unlikely candidate as its late initiative to enter fashion and lifestyle space is yet to gain traction and scale. Of course, it is not lacking in funds, but considering that the firm has already launched a marketplace in April this year and facing some stiff competition from Amazon India and other desi e-com marketplaces, will it really invest in an inventory-led model? Myntra, on the other hand, could be game if it is seriously considering a No. 1 slot. Interestingly, Bangalore-based Myntra is one of the heaviest funded players in the e-commerce space and has raised around $64 million till date. It has also made some interesting acquisitions and a shot at a competitor might not be unlikely. 
 
Just Zomato it: You can’t find a spicier chunk of food business 
Is this online restaurant guide doing a Jabong in terms of fast and furious growth? Well, apparently, going by the latest report card. Just five years into the business, this Gurgaon-based firm has expanded to 28 cities across 8 countries (India, the UAE, Qatar, Sri Lanka, the UK, the Philippines, South Africa and New Zealand) – with listings of over 1,18,000 restaurants and 15 million monthly users (web and mobile). And it all happened because founder Deepinder Goyal, while working for Bain &amp; Co. in Delhi, decided to do something about easy access to food joints, rather than stomaching an overcrowded office cafeteria or flying blind to find nearby eateries. 
 
Zomato’s USP is its user-generated reviews (pretty stringent, going by the new parameters set up not too long ago). Moneywise, it is pretty well-funded. Info Edge (India) Ltd, which runs a string of consumer internet portals including the coveted job listing site Naukri.com, is the majority stakeholder in Zomato and invested around Rs 86.06 crore in the company. 
 
Road ahead: Next destinations are Brazil and Turkey, to say nothing of the recent tie-up it had with UK-based toptables for restaurant booking in London, Manchester and Birmingham. And for a change, this start-up has reached break-even in India and Dubai could be next on the cards. As of now, revenues roll in via ads, event ticketing and restaurant booking. 
 
If consolidation happens: If you are not on Zomato, you are not really there – that’s how the saying goes for restaurants. So the next logical step is to expand into restaurant booking (it has already done it in the UK) and online food ordering. Zomato has reportedly declined such expansion plans in India, but going by JustDial’s latest foray into the online food ordering space, a look at Foodpanda (India), a food ordering platform backed by Rocket Internet, or other homegrown restaurant reservation sites like TableGrabber.com, Dineout.co.in, PoshVine.com and Tablewalla.com may just work out well for Zomato.

Watch Out! These 5 Indian
E-com Players Can’t Stop Growing

<ul><li>Fashion retail startup <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword>’s <keyword id="3197885" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="End-of-Reason-Sale">End of Reason Sale</keyword> started on June 21 and concluded on June 25. </li><li>During the sale, Myntra saw a 3X rise in the traffic to its platform.</li><li>It also acquired 4.8 lakh new customers.</li></ul>Indian fashion retail startup Myntra just concluded its annual End of Reason Sale and it has many reasons to gloat. Over 2 million customers bought 9 million items on the site, across the five-day sale. Myntra’s traffic went up by three times on its platform during the sale period. It also registered a whopping 7,100 orders per minute at its peak. “So far, we have acquired 4.8 lakh new customers and a significant portion of the sales came from tier 2 and 3 cities. With 12,500 kirana stores under the MENSA ((Myntra Extended Network Through Store Activation) network supporting last mile deliveries, we have been delivering over 6 lakh shipments per day,” said Amar Nagaram, head of Myntra Jabong. The company also said that members of its loyalty program – Myntra Insiders – contributed to about 42% of the overall sales. Interestingly, Myntra’s in-house brand Roadster sold 1.35 million products. In May 2019, Myntra also launched an offline store <a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/myntra-self-checkout-roadster-go-store-bengaluru/">Roadster Go </a>in Bengaluru, and plans to launch 100 such offline stores in the next two years. Myntra is a part of one of India’s biggest e-commerce startup <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, after the latter acquired it in 2014.

Myntra's biggest annual sale had 2 million shoppers and the fashion e-tailer sold over 7,100 items every minute

Beijing, Chinese tech giant <keyword id="6357456" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="huawei">Huawei</keyword> has reportedly told <keyword id="6526802" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="suppliers">suppliers</keyword> that smartphone production will drop by about 60 per cent in 2021. According to Nikkei Asia, citing people familiar with the matter, Huawei has notified its suppliers that it plans to order enough components for 70-80 million smartphones this year. The company is reported to have shipped 189 million handsets in 2020 which was already a sizable decrease from the 240 million phones sold in 2019. The report did not mention if any specific Huawei smartphones will be affected by the cut. In regards to its upcoming 2021 releases, the company is set to launch its foldable smartphone successor with the new Mate X2 on 22 February. Meanwhile, Huawei is planning to step into the gaming segment with a set of gaming notebooks and a gaming <keyword id="18769" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Console">console</keyword> of its own. Its first-ever console tentatively named the 'MateStation' could be launched alongside the PlayStation 5 and <keyword id="8444413" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Xbox-Series-X">Xbox Series X</keyword> in <keyword id="1334" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> sometime in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021. It would probably rely on some of its in-house silicon to do the heavy lifting. Ahead of the release of the gaming console, the Chinese tech giant may be launching a new line of laptops that are designed for gaming. Earlier this month President Biden's nominee for <keyword id="84" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Commerce">Commerce</keyword> secretary, Gina Raimondo, said she has seen "no reason" to lift the trade restrictions off Huawei. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/pewdiepies-lyrics-targeting-cocomelon-and-jk-rowling-that-may-have-gotten-youtube-angry-enough-to-pull-the-video-down/articleshow/81102941.cms">PewDiePie's lyrics targeting CocoMelon and JK Rowling may have gotten YouTube angry enough to pull the video down</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/flipkart-gets-leaner-with-a-300-million-jabong-write-off-as-ceo-kalyan-krishnamurthy-lists-out-the-priorities-for-2021/articleshow/81105083.cms">Flipkart gets leaner with a $300 million Jabong write-off as CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy lists out the priorities for 2021</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/happiest-minds-is-leveraging-its-partnerships-with-big-players-like-google-microsoft-aws-salesforce/articleshow/81105035.cms">Happiest Minds is a smaller company that does the same thing as MindTree and L&amp;T Infotech — but clearly it is doing it a lot better</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-may-require-twitter-facebook-and-others-to-remove-unlawful-content-within-36-hours/articleshow/81104740.cms">India may require Twitter, Facebook and others to remove unlawful content within 36 hours</a>

You Searched For "jabong sold" and got 8 results

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