Now, Aditya Birla Group joins the bad world of e-commerce!

Textiles-to-telecom conglomerate Aditya Birla Group on Friday entered the world of ecommerce by launching fashion portal abof.com, which at the moment, sells about 55 brands including those of the parent group.

Unlike other shopping portals, abof will not give discounts and will display a curated collection rather than a lot of options. "We were choosey about what we put on the portal," group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla told ET.

"It is easier to give many options than make a selection and then give that as an offering." Birla said the venture is a "journey into the unknown world".

Aditya Birla Online Fashion (abof), a private and unlisted company, will mostly cater to those in the 18-25 age group.

Prashant Gupta, president and CEO of abof, told ET that the portal is more for 'discovery-driven consumer' than 'intent-driven consumer'. While the latter knows what they want to buy and therefore needs a wide range, the former does not know what they want and therefore product range should not be overwhelming

Abof also has a 3D trial room where customers can try the clothes priced between Rs 300 and Rs 4,000. On not offering discounts, Gupta said, "We don't believe in getting a shirt for 8,000 and then giving a discount on that."

Aditya Birla Group has created a new team of about 200 people— mostly based in Bengaluru and poached from online players such as Snapdeal, Myntra and Zomato—over the last nine months. The group has also tied up with third party vendors for logistics.

Image credit: Indiatimes