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<keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> has completed the process of acquiring the Indian arm of <keyword id="6357395" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> and now eBay.in will be a Flipkart Group company. Flipkart announced it will buy eBay.in in April this year when it raised $ 1.4 billion from global technology majors eBay, Tencent and Microsoft. In exchange of an equity stake in Flipkart, eBay had made a cash investment of $500 million and sold its eBay.in business to Flipkart. "Effective immediately, Flipkart will own and operate eBay.in, which will remain an independent entity as part of Flipkart," Flipkart said in a statement. "As a result, Flipkart customers will get expanded product choices with the wide array of global inventory available on eBay while eBay customers will have access to a more unique Indian inventory from Flipkart sellers," the statement said. "Our coming together directly benefits Indian customers and sellers for whom we want to provide the best possible e- commerce experience. This is a step in that direction," Flipkart CEO <keyword id="6379357" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalyan-Krishnamurthy">Kalyan Krishnamurthy</keyword> said.

Flipkart acquires eBay India; all formalities completed

The deal between <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="6357395" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> India will be finalised by the latter half of the 2017. EBay invested $500 million in Flipkart. India is not the first market that eBay is exiting. Devin Wenig, CEO at eBay, said, "We-'re committed to winning in India through this partnership.” EBay will close the deal and upon deal close, it will no longer report active buyer GMV and related financials for eBay India. "We do not expect the GMV or financial impact to be material to our overall 2017 results. However, we do expect to remove approximately 4 million buyers from our active buyer reporting,” said Scott Schenkel, chief financial officer at eBay. Recently, eBay along with Microsoft and <keyword id="212412" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tencent">Tencent</keyword> pumped in $1.4 billion into Flipkart. The deal included sale of eBay.in to Flipkart and an exclusive cross-border trade agreement. eBay had entered the Indian market in 2004 but failed to capitalise on its first-mover advantage and eventually lost out to Flipkart and Amazon. eBay had picked up a significant stake in Delhi-based online retailer <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> in 2013, a part of which it still holds.

Flipkart-eBay India deal to close in second half of the year

<ul><li><keyword id="6357395" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> was an early mover in India’s <keyword id="35621" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> space, investing $50 million in Baazee.com in 2004. </li><li>It was unable to make much of a dent in the market and its Indian operations were eventually sold to <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> last year. </li><li>As part of its second attempt, eBay will focus on <keyword id="6744826" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="cross-border-retail">cross-border retail</keyword>, and is reportedly considering a merger with ShopClues. </li></ul>Just when you thought India’s e-commerce sector couldn’t get any more crowded, eBay is said to be planning a <keyword id="6635306" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="relaunch">relaunch</keyword> in the country. The US-based e-commerce company, which is primarily known as a consumer-to-consumer service, will part ways with Flipkart next month. Flipkart will shut the eBay.in portal on 14 August, and replace it with a platform for the sale of used and refurbished goods through its local subsidiary, F1 Info Solutions and Services. As part of its second attempt to break into India, eBay will focus on cross-border retail - the purchase and sale of goods between businesses in countries that are close to one another. It will not make a solitary go of it, however. According to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/ebay-in-talks-with-etailers-including-shopclues-for-a-fresh-bid-in-india/articleshow/65157378.cms">media reports</a>, the company is planning to merge with a local e-commerce platform. It has held talks with ShopClues, an online marketplace established in 2011, in this regard. The Gurugram-based ShopClues is reportedly in negotiations with a number of companies for a potential sale. Early mover, early failure eBay was an early mover in India’s e-commerce space, investing $50 million in Baazee.com, an auction site, in 2004 - a year in which the concept of online shopping was relatively new. The deal was a landmark one, but unfortunately, it didn’t pan out according to the eBay’s expectations. The concept of auctions didn’t catch on with the Indian public, who preferred their discounted prices upfront, which led to low volumes. In addition, the rapid turnover of senior managers and cumbersome regulation didn’t help either. Hence, it was unable to make much of a dent in the market and lost out to other players. In April 2017, eBay’s India operations were sold to Flipkart after the latter completed a $1.4 billion fundraising round from eBay along with Tencent and Microsoft. eBay took an equity stake in Flipkart in exchange for a $500 million investment and a 100% stake in its Indian operations. The company, remained an independent entity, eventually reaching a customer base of 4 million users. However, after the dissolution of the eBay-Flipkart partnership, its customers will likely migrate to Flipkart’s new portal. eBay will have its work cut out for it in the short term, which is why it’s keeping its ambitions modest. Cross-border trade is a small piece of the e-commerce market. eBay’s immediate priorities will be to find a local partner and get foreign and local businesses onboard.

Take two: eBay is taking another stab at the Indian market

<ul><li>American online retail firm <keyword id="6357395" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> has bought a 5.5% stake in <keyword id="4225623" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Paytm-Mall">Paytm Mall</keyword>. </li><li>Vijay Shekhar Sharma owned Paytm Mall hopes to turn profitable in the next two years. </li><li>However, this isn’t eBay first bet on Indian e-commerce, its previous two – <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> and <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> – failed to work out for the company.</li></ul>American e-commerce giant eBay has <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/ebay-logs-into-paytm-mall-with-5-5-stake-eyes-pie-of-online-retail-1563420493902.html">bought</a> a 5.5% stake in Paytm Mall, Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s new e-commerce vertical. While the details of the transaction remain undisclosed, <a href="https://yourstory.com/2019/07/paytm-mall-funding-ebay-ecommerce-india-vijay-shekhar-sharma">reports</a> say that the American firm is pumping in about $170 million into Paytm Mall at a valuation of $3 billion. Paytm Mall, the e-commerce subsidiary of One97 communications which owns Paytm, aims to turn profitable in the next two years. The company said that it reduced its monthly spends by ₹400 million, is targeting an EBITDA breakeven by 2021-22. EBIDTA is earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortization. The company ended the last financial year with a Gross Merchandising Value (GMV) of ₹130 billion and is now aiming for ₹170 billion GMV by 2022. However, what’s interesting is eBay’s India growth trajectory. It had entered the Indian market in 2004, much before e-commerce really took off in the country. However, it has struggled to gain ground. eBay’s first invested in Indian e-commerce was in <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/ebay-takes-61-million-hit-snapdeal-writes-investment-76169">Snapdeal</a> which resulted in a $61 million loss. After the disappointment, eBay moved to the Indian e-commerce success story Flipkart, where eBay sold its India operations to Flipkart in 2017. However, within a year, Flipkart shut down the operations of eBay. When the Indian retail unicorn was acquired by global giant Walmart, eBay sold its stake in Flipkart for $1.1 billion.

eBay is trying to get third-time lucky with Paytm Mall after burning hands with Flipkart and Snapdeal

<keyword id="3749718" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="softbank-vision-fund">SoftBank Vision Fund</keyword> has become one of the largest shareholders in <keyword id="6354742" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> as it just raked in a significant amount of investment in the company. This investment in Flipkart is a mix of primary and secondary capital. The investment comes after <keyword id="541988" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Snapdeal">Snapdeal</keyword> cancelled the acquisition deal with Flipkart. Flipkart has also raised capital from three other companies - Tencent, eBay and Microsoft. Now, Flipkart will have in excess of $4 billion of cash on balance sheet. India has a thriving Internet market with close to 500 million Internet users and as per market research, the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow at a five-year CAGR in excess of 30 percent. “This is a monumental deal for Flipkart and India. <keyword id="163404" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="SoftBank">SoftBank</keyword>’s proven track record of partnering with transformative technology leaders has earned it the reputation of being a visionary investor. We’re excited to welcome the Vision Fund as a long-term partner as we continue to build our business with a focus on serving the needs of all Indians, and driving the next phase of technology adoption in India,” said <keyword id="6364080" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="binny-bansal">Binny Bansal</keyword> and <keyword id="225032" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="sachin-bansal">Sachin Bansal</keyword>, co-founders, Flipkart.

Flipkart bags huge investment from SoftBank Vision Fund; it has over $4 billion in cash now

A <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=morgan+stanley&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Morgan Stanley</a> mutual fund marked down <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart'</a>s valuation and pegged its worth at nearly $5.37 billion. This is the fifth time the mutual fund marked down <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>’s valuation. 
 As per the filing, <keyword id="48670" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Morgan-Stanley">Morgan Stanley</keyword> The mutual fund assessed the value of its Flipkart shareholding to be $50.51 apiece as of December, down 3.1% from its September estimate of $52.13 apiece and 64.5% lower from its June 2015 estimate of $142.24 apiece. 
 
It has marked down <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart+valuation&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart's valuation</a> in September last year by 38.2%. Apart from Morgan Stanley, other mutual fund investors such as T Rowe Price, Fidelity and Valic, too, have marked down Flipkart's worth the past year. 
 
However, Flipkart has always maintained the valuation markdowns are just theoretical exercises and its worth will be decided when it raises new financing. 
 
Flipkart will raise funds and is in talks with US-based online marketplace<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ebay&amp;sortorder=effectivedate"> eBay</a> to raise about $800 million at a valuation of $10-12 billion. 
 "In March, we will be in an extremely good growth momentum, going back to 40% year-on-year growth and then accelerating over the next year,” <keyword id="6364080" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Binny-Bansal">Binny Bansal</keyword> said in an interview to ET in December.

Morgan Stanley MF marks down Flipkart's valuation yet again; values it at $5.37 billion

In a bid to ramp up the operations, technology and ethnic offerings, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a> raised the annual budget of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=myntra&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Myntra</a>. <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword>, which was acquired by <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> in 2014 for $300 million, will also use the budget to invest in at least three small to medium ethnic brands. "This year we got 25% extra money from the Flipkart board," said Myntra CEO <keyword id="6397414" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ananth-Narayanan">Ananth Narayanan</keyword>. "We will just invest in those brands and that will eventually be run by the entrepreneurs. In addition to our operating budget, our board has asked us to thoughtfully invest more in areas such as technology and brands which will help us continue on our growth trajectory and achieve profitability by March 2018," Narayanan told ET in an interview. Flipkart has funds to rake in Myntra as it had raised $1.4 billion funding from global giants <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword>, eBay and WeChat-investor Tencent. Narayanan said, “The additional budget will boost Myntra's chance of reaching its milestone of becoming profitable by March 2018 along with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=jabong&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jabong.com</a>.”

Flipkart is pumping money in Myntra to ramp up operations; hikes annual budget by 25%

At a time when Indian ecommerce scenario is undergoing turmoil, <keyword id="6354742" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> has taken over the rein of the market by becoming the third most funded private company in the world. <keyword id="6355311" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword>’s telecom giant <keyword id="163404" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="SoftBank">SoftBank</keyword> has funded 2.4 billion USD recently and this has certainly established Flipkart in the new position. Till date, Flipkart has raised almost 7 Billion USD in capital. This is much higher than <keyword id="719382" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airbnb">Airbnb</keyword> ($3.3 Bn) and <keyword id="874458" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Xiaomi">Xiaomi</keyword> ($1.4 Bn). Flipkart having achieved this feat is now trailing behind China’s <keyword id="3141620" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="didi-chuxing">Didi Chuxing</keyword> and Uber in the <keyword id="6355055" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="USA">USA</keyword>, both of which are cab hailing services. Didi Chuxing has raised 5 Bn USD and increased its total fund to $15 Bn in April. In the top 10 list of privately funded companies of the world, India’s Ola is also there. The Flipkart funding reaffirms the faith of global players like SoftBank, Tiger Global, eBay , and <keyword id="10387" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> in Indian companies, according to a report in The Economic Times. "Since Flipkart has been the flag-bearer for the local ecosystem, this reinforces the positive belief around the long-term India opportunity," <keyword id="514036" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="nitin-sharma">Nitin Sharma</keyword>, principal and founding member at early-stage VC fund Lightbox told ET. The VC ecosystem, he said, eventually needs to show a large-value creation event, and seeing SoftBank, Tencent and others go long should allay some of the concerns that had been dampening the sentiment locally and giving global investors some pause.

This Indian e-commerce is the world’s third most funded private company

Is <keyword id="2364818" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="E-commerce-3-0">e-commerce 3.0</keyword> only about business tweaks? Almost all experts will tell you that the new format of <keyword id="35621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> is on its way, but nobody is quite sure what it is like. Some pinpoint it as online shopping, largely influenced by social media parameters, while others are betting big on the mobile impact. No doubt these are crucial indicators, but they only provide you a partial glimpse into the business-to-consumer (B2C) part of it. However, we need to take a more incisive look at the fast-evolving strategic context of e-commerce, which is throwing up some surprising trends that may affect the industry in the long run. Let us take a look at the recent happenings in the Indian e-commerce space to identify the most prominent trends and what they signify. 
	 
	 
	 
	1. Calibrated aggression for survival: That’s exactly what the much-anticipated cash-and-stock deal between <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword> has taught us. Competition has been ironed out by strategic <keyword id="42411" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Merger">merger</keyword> in order to survive against global giants like <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>. Flipkart is not new to the game but co-founders Sachin and <keyword id="6364080" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Binny-Bansal">Binny Bansal</keyword> have not gone the LetsBuy way this time, for pretty predictable reasons (for your recap, Letsbuy.com was the electronics e-tailer that was acquired by Flipkart in February 2012 and shut down in May that year). 
	 Before the acquisition, the Myntra brand was way ahead of Flipkart as the <keyword id="2364834" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Biggest-India-fashion-e-tailer">biggest India fashion e-tailer</keyword>. While Flipkart required size to survive against the likes of Amazon, the bigger margins enjoyed by fashion e-tailing was an added icing to the cake (after all, fashion is expected to be the largest category in e-commerce over the next five years). So this time around, it was a calibrated aggression on Flipkart’s part and the merger, along with the much-talked-about <keyword id="2364826" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Management-autonomy">management autonomy</keyword> enjoyed by <keyword id="705865" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mukesh-Bansal">Mukesh Bansal</keyword>’s Myntra, will continue to work for two specific reasons. 
	 One is local competition, not only from <keyword id="6388367" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jabong">Jabong</keyword>, which is promoted by Berlin-based <keyword id="1965711" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rocket-Internet-GmbH">Rocket Internet GmbH</keyword> (a venture arm of the deep-pocketed Samwer brothers), but also from <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>.com, quite a veteran in the marketplace model. It is too early to assume that Jabong has missed the bus in stamping its dominance in the <keyword id="902070" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-com">e-com</keyword> space and the same applies to Snapdeal, which has recently raised $100 million and could be opting for an IPO in the next 18-24 months. Moreover, if India eases its <keyword id="44528" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="FDI">FDI</keyword> policy further and allows <keyword id="2364830" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Foreign-e-commerce-companies">foreign e-commerce companies</keyword> to sell their products directly to Indian consumers (as of now, only marketplaces are allowed to do this), <keyword id="2364831" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Home-grown-e-commerce-firms">home-grown e-commerce firms</keyword> will require maximum <keyword id="573045" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Customer-loyalty">customer loyalty</keyword> to stay in business and the likes of Myntra will play a key role in ensuring enhanced <keyword id="485911" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="brand-loyalty">brand loyalty</keyword>.
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	The way ahead: Similar mergers may happen soon and we may see some monopolistic polarisation in the e-commerce space. If branding and management autonomy can be retained in the same way it had been done in the <keyword id="2196490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart-Myntra-deal">Flipkart-Myntra deal</keyword>, a Snapdeal-Jabong deal may very well be a possibility. On the other hand, Amazon may come up with a similar offer for Snapdeal (we don’t rule out <keyword id="161767" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="eBay-India">eBay India</keyword> either) and once again, we may witness the emergence of an e-commerce mega power in India. Also, in most of these deals, unequals could be gunning for merger-of-equals status, thus complicating the merger and acquisition operations. Ultimately, the <keyword id="2364839" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Entry-barrier">entry barrier</keyword> will be too high for small or niche e-commerce sites and staying profitable will become a tough proposition. 
	 
	 
	 
	2. SME focus for marketplace growth: A couple of days ago, Flipkart announced tie-ups with two SME (small and medium enterprise) promotion bodies and signed MoUs with the Federation of Indian Micro and <keyword id="6375845" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Small-and-medium-enterprises">Small and Medium Enterprises</keyword> (<keyword id="174192" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="FISME">FISME</keyword>) and the National Centre for Design and Product Development (<keyword id="2348217" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="NCDPD">NCDPD</keyword>). With this move, the Bangalore firm expects to create a powerful affiliation with 50,000 SMEs and artisans by helping them with data analytics, marketing and customer acquisition. The company is also holding talks with several <keyword id="533862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Manufacturing-clusters">manufacturing clusters</keyword> in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat in a bid to attract more sellers on board and thus ensure strong growth for its marketplace model. 
	 
	As of now, Flipkart has about 3,000 sellers on board, mostly SMEs, and offers 15 million products across 70-plus categories. The company aims to grow the seller base to 12,000 by the end of the current fiscal, according to Economic Times. Myntra, too, has about 100 sellers on board and plans to increase this number to 1,000 by fiscal-end. However, this is too paltry a number, compared to the largest Chinese <keyword id="2049184" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="E-commerce-marketplace">e-commerce marketplace</keyword> <keyword id="302749" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Alibaba">Alibaba</keyword>.com that has about 20 lakh SMEs on board, but has less than 20,000 in India. 
	 As for other key players in India, here are some mindboggling numbers according to media reports. Snapdeal currently features about 500 categories, 100,000 sellers and more than 5 million products (excluding books and movies); eBay has 1.1 million product listings at any given point <keyword id="54921" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="spread">spread</keyword> across 2,000 categories and 45,000 sellers on board while Amazon has 15 million products from 5,000 sellers across 24 categories. Amazon has already opened two Fufillment Centers in India, enabling home-grown SMEs to get a scalable and robust national platform. Sellers opting for FBA (<keyword id="2023087" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Fulfillment-by-Amazon">Fulfillment By Amazon</keyword>) send their products to these ‘fulfillment centers’ and once an order is placed, Amazon packs and ships the order.
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	The way ahead: Right now, no one can possibly predict whether the death of the inventory-led e-commerce model is imminent. But one thing is pretty certain – e-commerce businesses need as many products and categories as possible to enhance customer engagement. However, that won’t be possible without growing their marketplaces and bringing on board a huge number of sellers. Hence, the <keyword id="2364811" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="SME-focus">SME focus</keyword> and <keyword id="6630005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="private-labels">private labels</keyword> are going to dominate e-commerce 3.0. 
	 
	 
	 
	3. VAS for better customer loyalty: In spite of a Mumbai firm delivering pizza on an experimental basis, civil/commercial drones à la <keyword id="2364850" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon-Prime-Air-drones">Amazon Prime Air drones</keyword> are still not a reality in India (neither they are commercially ready in the US). However, Amazon, eBay, Flipkart and Snapdeal are trying their best to ensure ‘fastest possible’ delivery in the country. While <keyword id="6354743" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon-India">Amazon India</keyword> offers same-day and guaranteed one-day delivery, eBay is testing a 9-hour delivery model in Mumbai. 
	 Only recently, Flipkart has launched its annual subscription service called <keyword id="2230132" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart-First">Flipkart First</keyword>, offering a number of benefits including <keyword id="1591575" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="free-shipping">free shipping</keyword> for any purchase, free in-a-day guaranteed delivery, <keyword id="2364858" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Discounted-same-day-delivery">discounted same-day delivery</keyword>, 24×7 <keyword id="2364859" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Priority-customer-service">priority customer service</keyword> and more. This is similar to the lucrative logistics part of Amazon’s Prime subscription (currently not available in India), but Amazon offers a bigger service bouquet for its Prime subscribers, including access to songs, movies, TV shows and books. Flipkart, or any other Indian e-tailer for that matter, is yet to launch such extensive customer engagement programme, but the bait has been thrown by Flipkart and to some extent, by Snapdeal, which also offers free same-day delivery in certain regions and hopes to expand this service next year. 
	 
	The way ahead: Some experts feel that e-com businesses will soon curtail services like <keyword id="1972252" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Express-delivery">express delivery</keyword> and free shipping in order to generate more cash. High transportation costs and other logistics issues have been cited as the main culprits. But keeping in mind that <keyword id="758541" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon-Prime">Amazon Prime</keyword> works more as a <keyword id="1426078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="loyalty-programme">loyalty programme</keyword> and less as a revenue-churner, fixing fickle customer loyalty may lie in developing these services. Now that Flipkart is going to market <keyword id="2364868" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Affordable-tablets">affordable tablets</keyword> under its <keyword id="2338688" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="DigiFlip">DigiFlip</keyword> label, the Indian e-commerce giant can very well experiment with some Prime-like services and craft user experience based on ‘All things Flipkart’ just as Amazon does with its affordable <keyword id="785825" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kindle-Fire">Kindle Fire</keyword>. If that happens and other companies follow suit, e-commerce 3.0 in India will evolve into an inclusive and exciting user experience. For now, let us wait and watch. 
	 
	Images: Thinkstock/Getty Images

Life After
Flipkart-Myntra Deal: Will These 3 Trends Rule E-commerce In India?

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Amazon and Indian e-commerce company Flipkart have an interesting history.&#xa0;Flipkart's founders both worked at Amazon before ditching in 2007 to start their own new company with a very similar business model. The startup took off and it's now <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/indias-flipkart-raises-1-billion-in-fresh-funding-1406641579?mod=LS1">India's largest online marketplace in terms of sales</a>.Amazon, meanwhile, didn't enter India until 2012 when it acquired price-comparison site Junglee. It opened its official India website in June 2014. The next month, Flipkart &#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/former-amazon-executives-flipkart-2014-7" target="_blank">raised a mammoth $1 billion</a>&#xa0;funding round. Exactly one day later, Amazon said it planned to pour&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-amazon-to-invest-2-billion-more-in-india-as-e-commerce-race-heats-up-2014-30">$2 billion into its Indian operations</a>.The companies' track-record spurred some friendly fire Friday when Reddit India tweeted a picture of an Amazon box in Flipkart's HQ. Flipkart had a cheeky reply:<div><div></div></div>...To which Amazon reminded the company of its roots, which Flipkart had to acknowledge:<div><div></div></div>This isn't the first time the company's have publically duked it out. Last year, Amazon tried to steal Flipkart's thunder on its "<a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-01-31/news/58650592_1_big-billion-day-billion-day-sachin-bansal">Big Billion Day Sale</a>" by buying the domain bigbillionday.com, to make consumers looking for the sale more likely to stumble on Amazon's homepage instead. The company also bought ads for the keyword "Flipkart" so people would see its products when searching for Flipkart's deals, <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report-did-amazon-try-to-cleverly-hijack-flipkart-s-big-billion-day-sale-2023959">DNAIndia reported at the time</a>.&#xa0;Funny exchanges aside, international growth is serious business for Amazon. CFO Tom Szkutak said that Amazon was "very excited about India" in the company's Q4 earnings call, but investors and analysts aren't impressed with its growth rate abroad.&#xa0;"International revenue growth continues to be a mystery and is a confusing part of the Amazon story,"<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-international-growth-2015-2"> analysts at investment firm Stifel wrote in a post-earnings note</a>."Could you just help us understand why the international performance is so much weaker?" one analyst&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-q4-earnings-report-2015-1">asked on Amazon's Q4 earnings call</a>.&#xa0;Besides Flipkart, Snapdeal, which has eBay backing, and Jabong are also significant local competitors in India. Winning marketshare in India is big, because the country has the&#xa0;<a href="http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/">third greatest number of internet users</a>&#xa0;in the world, after China and the United States.&#xa0;Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-headphones-tricks-2015-2">14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o2OGM3czpWcydnvhjbkDBd6feXPuExiD" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Amazon and one of its biggest competitor in India got into a funny Twitter spat 

You might have come across the look-alike copied branded products while shopping online. In a country where first copy is a trend for the ones unable to afford the branded ones, ecommerce sites are gradually turning out to be virtual inventory of Lajpat Nagar market or Sarojini Nagar market in Delhi where copied products of a reputed brand is available at a much lesser rates. 
 As per a news report by The Economic Times, Mumbai-based saree distributor <keyword id="2831895" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shree-Meena-Creations">Shree Meena Creations</keyword> is dragging Flipkart, Amazon, eBay and about two dozen sellers on these e-commerce platforms to court, accusing them of selling replicas of its copyrighted sarees. 
 
Although most of these sites claim to be delivering 100% original products, this move will certainly create a breach of trust. Shree Meena, a nationwide distributor of sarees and other Indian ethnic wears, says its Joh Rivaaj-branded sarees are priced between 3,600 and 4 lakh but their copies are available online for as low as 1,200 to 2,700. The company's sarees are retailed by top southern retailers including Chennai-based Pothys and Kumaran Silks, RS Brothers in Hyderabad as well as many dealers in Delhi's Chandni Chowk area. 
 Amazon, eBay and Flipkart sell replica sarees and other designer clothing, including those worn by <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword> actors. For example, Amazon sells replicas of a white net saree worn by <keyword id="1655" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Priyanka-Chopra">Priyanka Chopra</keyword>. 
 
Amazon India said sellers were mandated to sell only genuine and original products on its platform, and that it would bring any item that violates the rules down from the website. "In case of repeated offenders we do not hesitate to take strict action and may even go to the extent of delisting them from our marketplace," its spokesperson added. 
 
In its petition, Shree Meena said selling replicas of its products violates copyright laws. Its lawyer doesn't accept the argument that the e-commerce sites aren't responsible for any mis-selling.

Are you sure your branded products online are actually original and not fake?

Flipkart, India's largest online retailer founded by two former Amazon executives, just raised $1 billion in its latest round of funding, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/indias-flipkart-raises-1-billion-in-fresh-funding-1406641579?mod=LS1">according to The Wall Street Journal.</a>
Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC joined existing investors including Tiger Global Management LLC, Accel Partners, and Morgan Stanley Investment Management for today's round of funding. 
Flipkart is an online marketplace that was founded in 2007. It's where third-party vendors sell products, ranging from books and clothing to electronics. Much like Amazon Marketplace and China's Alibaba, Flipkart makes money off the transaction fee on products sold on its website.
More than 22 million registered users and 3,000 merchants currently use the Flipkart marketplace, according to The Wall Street Journal. More than $1 billion worth of products have been sold on the site over the last 12 months, it said.
Today's funding is the largest in Indian online commerce history and the second-largest single-round of funding globally, after the $1.2 billion raised by Uber last month, <a href="http://qz.com/241779/with-a-1-billion-funding-round-wrapped-up-what-next-for-flipkart/">according to Quartz.</a> It said the company was valued at around $5 billion.
The company said it will spend most of today's funding <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/29/indias-e-commerce-giant-flipkart-just-raised-1b-to-go-mobile/">to boost its mobile offerings,</a> which includes, much like Amazon, its own line of smartphones. 
"We believe that India can produce a $100 billion Internet company in the next five years and we want to be that company," Flipkart's cofounder and CEO Sachin Bansal told The Wall Street Journal.
The Indian online retail sector has been growing at a rapid pace recently. It is estimated to be over $3 billion this year, but is projected to reach a value of $50 billion by 2020, according to a <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/year-one-counting-amazon-aims-strike-big-india/">report by Wharton Digital Press.</a> Local e-commerce stores like Flipkart and Snapdeal are in direct competition with newcomers Amazon and eBay for a bigger marketshare.
Amazon launched its online marketplace in India last year. According to Wharton, Amazon currently has 5,000 merchants selling over 15 million products, grossing over $200 million in sales.
Prior to today's round, Flipkart had raised $760 million in total, including a $210 million funding from earlier this year. Although an IPO seems like the natural next step for Flipkart, Bansal, the company's CEO, told the WSJ that they're not planning to go public for at least the next 5 to 10 years.Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

Two Former Amazon Executives Raise $1 Billion To Kill Amazon In India

<ul><li>Flipkart's Kunal Dubey and Lucky Saini to lead Dentsu India's Slingshot. </li><li>Dentsu's new division will provide specialised marketing and digital solutions in the areas of digital strategy, brand playbook and media playbook.</li><li>Kunal and Lucky will be based in Bengaluru and will report into Dentsu India CEO, Simi Sabhaney. </li></ul> Dentsu India, from the house of <keyword id="6368370" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="dentsu-aegis-network">Dentsu Aegis Network</keyword>, has announced the launch of Dentsu India Slingshot. To be led by Kunal Dubey and Lucky Saini as country heads, this latest outfit from brand Dentsu India will provide specialised marketing and digital solutions in the areas of digital strategy, brand play book and media play book. It will also design and develop communications roadmap and advertising campaigns for clients across platforms. Dubey and Saini will be based out of Bengaluru and will report into Dentsu India CEO, Simi Sabhaney. In a career spanning over a decade each, Dubey and Saini bring extensive experience in brand strategy, media planning, digital media and marketing. Prior to launching Dentsu India Slingshot, both Kunal and Lucky were with Flipkart for over four years. Simi Sabahaney, CEO, Dentsu India said, “Yes, it was apparent that we at Dentsu India needed to go beyond our current expertise. We needed to enhance our offering to our clients by providing them with solutions that were geared for new-age platforms. When I met Lucky and Kunal, I could sniff their ambition, hunger, passion, knowledge and above all the two different skill sets they could bring to the table. The duo was too potent to be ignored! And thus, began the journey of Dentsu India Slingshot.” Kunal and Lucky have held various roles in the marketing team at Flipkart and have managed all its marketing efforts - from leading marketing campaigns for Flipkart’s Big Billion Days to managing the e-commerce giant’s large-scale brand campaigns. In fact, multiple campaigns that the duo worked on at Flipkart went on to win several awards nationally and internationally, including Cannes and Spikes Asia. In their last role, Kunal was Director – Marketing and Head of Media at Flipkart while Lucky was Associate Director, Brand Marketing. Lucky Saini, VP Digital &amp; Marketing Solutions, Dentsu India Slingshot, said, “This new venture represents the changing face of agency model in India. Brand building in today’s era needs a ‘solutions’ mindset. The need of the hour is to provide holistic thinking and capabilities across media, research, technology and advertising. I am very excited to play a role in shaping the future of the advertising industry in India.” Kunal Dubey, VP and Head of Business, Dentsu India Slingshot, said, “We aim to be a specialist that identifies opportunities that fundamentally change the way consumers interact with brands and feel about them; and in the process, lead to higher efficiency and impact in brand building efforts and spends. Our team will comprise experts from various disciplines like design, creative storytelling, media planning, digital marketing, martech and brand management.” Dubey and Saini come with a keen understanding of how brands are built on both digital and non-digital channels and together, they have played an important role in building brands such as Flipkart, Ebay, McDonalds, Reliance, Ogilvy and Manipal Education.

Flipkart's Kunal Dubey and Lucky Saini to lead Dentsu India's Slingshot – a specialised marketing and digital agency

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate" data-type="tilCustomLink">Snapdeal’s</a> three major investors- <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=softbank&amp;sortorder=effectivedate" data-type="tilCustomLink">SoftBank</a>, Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital- have already agreed for e-commerce’s sale out to<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate" data-type="tilCustomLink"> Flipkart</a>. But, apart from these, a nod from <keyword id="6419840" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Azim-Premji">Azim Premji</keyword> and <keyword id="6360722" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ratan-tata">Ratan Tata</keyword> is also required as they too have stakes in <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-16/flipkart-pact-for-snapdeal-said-to-need-premji-tata-approvals">Bloomberg</a> reported, as per the contract, Snapdeal needs backing from the two of India's most powerful businessmen. Nod from Premji, Tata and other several important investors is still awaited. “If due diligence goes smoothly, a term sheet specifying cash and stock for each shareholder will follow and a final agreement could be signed by mid- to late June,” Bloomberg quoted sources as saying. When the sale happens, Snapdeal's Kunal Bahl and <keyword id="396598" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rohit-Bansal">Rohit Bansal</keyword> will together receive about $30 million with a similar sum to be set aside for Snapdeal's nearly 2,000 employees. <keyword id="1397792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword>, one of the two early investors in the startup, is to get $30 million, while Nexus will receive twice that amount for its larger stake, they said. Kalaari's managing director <keyword id="1397790" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vani-Kola">Vani Kola</keyword>, an early investor in Snapdeal, told Bloomberg that she has resigned from the startup's board. "I was done with what I needed to do,” Kola said, adding that she saw no conflict of interest. Meanwhile, this merger will give a boost to <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>’s battle against <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>, which is pumping in money in its Indian arm to grab a significant share in the market. Flipkart raised $1.4 billion from Tencent Holdings Ltd., Microsoft Corp. and EBay Inc, taking its valuation at $11.6 billion. "This is a landmark deal for Flipkart and for India,” the company's co-founders <keyword id="225032" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sachin-Bansal">Sachin Bansal</keyword> and <keyword id="6364080" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Binny-Bansal">Binny Bansal</keyword> said in a statement. "This deal reaffirms our resolve to hasten the transformation of commerce in India through technology.

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Life After Flipkart-Myntra Deal: Will These 3 Trends Rule E-commerce In India?

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