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Online marketplace <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword>, which recently joined the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/ShopClues-raises-Series-E-at-a-valuation-of-1-1-Billion/articleshow/50547081.cms">billion-dollar</a> valuation club, has acquired Bengaluru-based startup <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Shopclues-eyeing-Momoe-for-acquisition/articleshow/51391246.cms">Momoe </a>in a bid to build a payments business. This deal will mark ShopClues’s entry in Bengaluru, the start-up capital of the country. 
 All five <keyword id="2683896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Momoe">Momoe</keyword> founders are also joining the senior management team of ShopClues, in several functions like design, corporate development and technology. 
 
As per ET reports, the deal is valued at $10-12 million, to be paid in both cash and stock; however, the deal size was not confirmed by Sanjay Sethi, ShopClues CEO. 
 
Momoe, which was founded by Utkarsh Biradar, Karthik Vaidyanathan, Ganesh Balakrishnan, Neelesh Bam, and Aiman Ashraf, has been in business for two years now. 
 
Biradar will be joining <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Shopclues-goes-local/articleshow/51681993.cms">ShopClues </a>as VP, heading design and product on the merchant side; Balakrishnan will lead platform monetisation and services; Bam will head merchant acquisition helping ShopClues expand base in South India; Ashraf will head technology for payment and Vaidyanathan will work on strategic initiatives along with ShopClues cofounder <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-glorious-rise-of-Radhika-Aggarwal-Indias-only-Woman-Startup-founder-in-the-Unicorn-Club/articleshow/51309145.cms">Radhika Aggarwal</a>. 
 
"Momoe comes with a working merchant base, PCI compliance which would have taken us 8-12 months to obtain and banking relationships. Building a payments business requires a different DNA," said Sethi. 
 
Using Momoe's technology, ShopClues will be able to build payments solutions for its merchant base, for them to use it for not only online transactions but also for offline payments. 
 
<a href="http://blog.iimjobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mr.-Sanjay-Sethi-Co-Founder-CEO-ShopClues.com_.jpg">Image source</a>

ShopClues acquires mobile payment start-up Momoe to expand business

Small businesses have been bearing the brunt of <keyword id="6362150" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="demonetization">demonetization</keyword> the most, by losing out on customers who do not have cash to pay for their daily needs. 
 
To help offline merchants opt for<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-BigBaskets-co-founder-talks-about-hyperlocal-businesses-and-profitability/articleshow/55752379.cms"> cashless transactions</a>, <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShopClues">Shopclues</keyword> announced the launch of 'Reach' under its Business Edge initiative today. 
 'Reach' helps brick and mortar stores in the country to process hassle-free <keyword id="6445679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="cashless-transactions">cashless transactions</keyword> for customers. 
 
The best part is that neither the customer or the seller needs the mobile application to make the payment and the price; Shopclues will only charge INR 99 per month from the merchants, as of now. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-IKEA-APAC-Head-talks-about-what-to-expect-from-the-upcoming-IKEA-store-in-Hyderabad/articleshow/55812739.cms">ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: IKEA APAC Head talks about what to expect from the upcoming IKEA store in Hyderabad</a> 
 
The SMS based three-step payment mechanism also eliminates the intermediary digital wallet by directly transferring the payment to the beneficiary's bank account at an introductory rate of 0% TDR on transactions. 
 
This facility can be subscribed to by Shopclues-affiliated merchants as well as offline merchants who are not associated with the company. 
 
'Reach' by Shopclues also assists the retailer in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Bollywood-actor-Kunal-Kapoor-talks-about-Ketto-his-crowdfunding-startup-which-has-raised-Rs-40-Cr-for-social-causes/articleshow/55753955.cms">order management, inventory management, e-Billing, centralized inventory status for multiple stores and merchant store promotion.</a>

Shopclues launches 'Reach' to digitize offline merchants payments

<keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ShopClues">Shopclues</keyword>, which recently entered the coveted <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/ShopClues-raises-Series-E-at-a-valuation-of-1-1-Billion/articleshow/50547081.cms">billion-dollar valuation club</a>, is busy talking to the payments start-up <keyword id="2683896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Momoe">Momoe</keyword> for in order to achieve its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Shopclues-wants-to-achieve-its-billion-dollar-dream-eyes-raising-Rs-1320-crore-through-funding-IPO/articleshow/49813967.cms">growth plans</a> via acquisitions. The development was shared with ET by three people aware of the matter. 
 
If Shopclues acquires Momoe, its payments backend for its fast-growing merchant base would be strengthened. Because a major part of Shopclues’ merchant base is based in India's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/ThisIndian-E-Commerce-Website-Is-Targeting-Smaller-Towns-And-Cities/articleshow/32838032.cms">small cities and towns</a>, this payment backend would help people who don’t have strong internet connection. 
 
However, Momoe has multiple term-sheets and is in talks with other potential suitors too. When contacted, Momoe CEO Utkarsh Biradar disclosed that the companies have not yet reached an agreement. 
 
Bengaluru-based Momoe was founded in April 2014 by Biradar along with Karthik Vaidyanathan, Ganesh Balakrishnan, Neelesh Bam and Aiman Ashraf. Customers can use the mobile app to make payments while dining out, shopping or commuting at more than 3,000 brick-and-mortar merchants in Bengaluru and Pune. 
 Momoe is different than other payment apps like <keyword id="6357120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="PayTM">Paytm</keyword> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/One-wallet-to-pay-for-them-all-MobiKwik-ties-up-with-Zomato-OYORooms/articleshow/49324049.cms">Mobikwik</a>, which facilitate cashless payments with a virtual wallet that stores a fixed amount of money, since it works by linking credit and debit cards and net banking. 
 
<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/thumb/msid-51084696,width-600,resizemode-4/shopclues-eyes-companies-in-the-ad-tech-payments-and-analytics-space.jpghttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/thumb/msid-51084696,width-600,resizemode-4/shopclues-eyes-companies-in-the-ad-tech-payments-and-analytics-space.jpg">Image source</a>

Shopclues wants to ease digital payments for merchants by acquiring payment start-up Momoe

ShopClues is a dark horse in the e-commerce sector which announced their focus on building Fashion as a fast-growing category. The Unicorn has targeted the online fashion business in a distinct segment with a differentiated approach. The focus for the company is on value &amp; mid-price segments which today comprise 75% of the online fashion market. 

 <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="59141983" title="Here’s how this Mumbai restaurant is redefining sushi for Indians" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Jun 14, 2017, 7:30 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div> <keyword id="1976141" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Radhika-Aggarwal">Radhika Aggarwal</keyword>, Co-Founder &amp; Chief Business Officer, ShopClues.com told Business Insider, “Currently, India's <keyword id="6362766" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Apparel">apparel</keyword> and lifestyle market is a $92 bn industry. However, according to recent reports, only 2% of that is currently online. This is the fastest growing category and reaches 24% of online consumers in India. Today’s fashion consumer is seeking a variety that helps them be trendy every day, and ShopClues offers precisely that at pocket-friendly prices. We have exponentially scaled up our offerings in this category including clothing, jewelry, fashion accessories and footwear.” <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="59163688" title="Here’s how you can achieve profitability according to Knowlarity&amp;#39;s founder" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Jun 15, 2017, 7:25 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div>


Presently, the Lifestyle category contributes to 50% of ShopClues’ total orders - between men’s clothing, women’s clothing, footwear and accessories. The fashion GMV has doubled in FY 2016-17 over FY 2015-16. According to the company, growth has been attained, even while improving the bottom-line, in an industry where the common practice is to erode profitability to drive GMV growth. 

 <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="59123070" title="This Indian startup is now launching in the US. Here&amp;#39;s why" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Jun 13, 2017, 12:58 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div>


With various services offered to merchants ranging from digitization to advertising and brand building, ShopClues works with over 2 lakh merchants in the Fashion Category alone &amp; has an assortment of about 4 million products including craft-based products, regional products as well as branded products. 80% of the merchants are SMEs &amp; the remaining 20% are regional brands, mid-tier &amp; national brands.

Exclusive: Radhika Aggarwal, Co-founder, ShopClues says the Focus is now on Fashion

<keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword> is looking to garner sales worth around USD 2 billion on its platform in 2017 and plans to file for public share listing at <keyword id="6357328" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="NASDAQ">Nasdaq</keyword> by September next year. 
 "With last investment round in January, ShopClues is valued at around Rs 7,100 crore. We were earlier expecting gross merchandise volume of USD 2.3-2.5 billion in 2017 but due to <keyword id="3315394" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="demonetisation">demonetisation</keyword>, we expect our topline to be around USD 2 billion," ShopClues CEO and co-founder <keyword id="118292" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Sethi">Sanjay Sethi</keyword> told reporters. 
 On plans to go for public listing, Sethi said, "We expect to file our documents with Nasdaq for listing by September 2017 but the <keyword id="6354763" type="EVENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="IPO">IPO</keyword> will depend on market condition." 
 
He further said the customer traffic on its platform has fallen 30 per cent after the scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes by the government on November 8. 
 
"We were expecting the demonetisation impact to have gone by now. Business traffic is almost back to normal. There is still 5 per cent depression in traffic compared to one we see during this period," Sethi added. 
 
The company launched a SMS-based payment service 'Reach' for merchants after the demonetisation drive to help facilitate cashless transactions at a monthly subscription fee of Rs 99. 
 
"If merchants are on ShopClues platform, this means they are already on e-platform. We can help people in organised business to grow but can't help those who are in undocumented economy. 'Reach' will help merchants who are looking for growth by enabling them go for hassle-free cashless transaction in three steps," Sethi said. 
 
Using this platform, merchants will feed the transaction amount and mobile number of the customer. After this, the customer will receive an SMS with a link of payment where he can pay using net banking or mobile wallet. 
 
ShopClues has over 5 lakh sellers on its platform and ships products in over 30,000 pin codes across India.

ShopClues plans Nasdaq listing next year, eyes $2 billion in sales due to demonetisation

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Radhika+Aggarwal">Radhika Aggarwal</a> is India's most successful <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=internet+entrepreneur">internet entrepreneur</a> and the first and only woman in the Unicorn Club. She's the co-founder and CBO at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues">ShopClues</a>.

	Business Insider sat down with Radhika to chat about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=entrepreneurship">entrepreneurship</a>, life and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues">ShopClues</a> for women.<o:p></o:p>

	Do people still stereotype the woman entrepreneur?<o:p></o:p>

	Its not as much about stereotyping. The challenges are the same in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=entrepreneurship">entrepreneurship</a>, man or woman.<o:p></o:p>

	The only challenge is that because there are so few of us, people end up asking questions like, "how do you ensure work-life balance?" You need a support system at home and work as your responsibilities grow.<o:p></o:p>

	Do <keyword id="6359051" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="investors">investors</keyword> ask woman-specific questions?<o:p></o:p>

	Many of my colleagues say they get these questions. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Investors">Investors</a> have been very supportive in my case. One way you can mitigate these questions is by having a strong team.<o:p></o:p>

	How can we increase woman representation in tech?<o:p></o:p>

	In the US there is a lot of emphasis on coding. In India we need more emphasis on maths and science at a mid-school level. There should be a lot of incentives for young girls to take up Science. <o:p></o:p>

	Are you scared of the valuation bubble burst?<o:p></o:p>

	Not at all. Till now, the focus for companies has been on raise and burn. You raise enough money, and burn it to raise GMV. <o:p></o:p>

	We've never run the company like that. The shift in investor sentiment is hugely in our favor. Now they're appreciating even more the cost-effective model we've built.<o:p></o:p>

	What's your GMV to net revenue ratio?<o:p></o:p>

	We're current at $700-800 million GMV, and 10-12% net revenue. We plan to operationally break even by the first quarter of 2017.<o:p></o:p>

	What percentage of <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword> consumers are women?<o:p></o:p>

	Around 23-25% are woman. Interestingly, around 25% merchants are women as well. That means around 80,000 of our total 3,50,000 merchants are woman.<o:p></o:p>

	Why is India's e-commerce consumer base primarily male driven?<o:p></o:p>

	That's a reflection of our society. Most woman in the tier II and tier III cities use their husband's smartphone. Interesting, around 18-20 months ago, a mere 7-8% of our consumers women. The recent sharp hike is primarily due to widespread <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=smartphone+adoption">smartphone adoption</a> and access to the internet.<o:p></o:p>

	Unique woman shopping behavior.<o:p></o:p>

	Women representation is very strong in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Home+and+Kitchen">Home and Kitchen</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Apparel">Apparel</a> segment. The Children Education sector is also taking off. Women have stronger loyalty and more individual purchases over the year.<o:p></o:p>

	Advice to young Woman entrepreneurs.<o:p></o:p>

	Participate with your whole heart. Don't be risk averse. More often we imagine risks, and play safe. Be courageous. 
	<o:p></o:p>

The glorious rise of Radhika Aggarwal, India’s only Woman-Startup founder in the Unicorn Club

The online commerce platform has exploded. Funny TV commercials from Flipkart and good marketing by <keyword id="161767" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="eBay-India">Ebay India</keyword> have made people aware of this new way to shop. <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword>.com is a <keyword id="2173025" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="recent-E-com-player">recent E-com player</keyword> who is trying to bring the same experience of shopping to smaller towns and cities in India. We had a chat with Sanjay Sethi, CEO &amp; Co-founder, ShopClues.com and this is what he had to say about his business. 
 
Tell us something about ShopClues. How does the website work? Are you stocking goods on your own and selling or are you partnering with distributors/retailers for the selling part? 
ShopClues is a ‘managed marketplace’ that simply provides a platform for connecting buyers and sellers, but we don’t hold an inventory. We started with the basic premise that online commerce should always be a reflection of offline retail. India has traditionally been a country of bazaars, strip malls, local (sell-it-all) kirana stores and the haats – basically a country of marketplaces. Similarly, ShopClues is a marketplace for the masses, with over 35,000 big and small merchants selling on our platform to millions of value-seeking buyers. 
 
As an online marketplace, we only facilitate buyer-seller transactions and our job is to bring in customer traffic, provide infrastructure and develop trust between people who come to transact in this space. Another important aspect is to create and enforce policies and practices that enable merchants to do good business while customers have a great shopping experience. 
 
How is your business different from other Indian e-commerce sites? 
ShopClues has demonstrated that hyper-growth and profitability are not mutually exclusive in an e-commerce business. Growing at 600% year on year, the company rests on strong business fundamentals and follows a vision that is crystal clear. We’re an agile enterprise, with a passion for innovation, because we believe that leaders innovate and followers pivot. 
 
As a ‘marketplace for the masses,’ we focus on the real middle-class in India, which is amply reflected in our product selection, pricing, as well as our merchant &amp; customer profiles. Here are our key differentiators: 
 
<ul>
	<li>
		ShopClues’ major customer base lies in non-metros and tier 2 and tier 3 cities that don’t have access to organised retail.</li>
	<li>
		Our merchant community is largely made up of small and medium businesses. Around 60% of our merchants have less than 5 employees and 59% have an annual turnover of about Rs 10 lakh. Also, for nearly 26% of these merchants, more than 50% of the business comes from online channels.</li>
	<li>
		We have a large catalogue in unstructured categories like apparel, home &amp; garden, etc.</li>
	<li>
		Unbranded products or local/regional brands are very popular on our site.</li>
</ul>
 
Can you state 4 things that make you more tech-advanced than other e-com players? 
ShopClues is a technology company that happens to be in the business of retail and our obsession with technology helps us innovate. We are more tech-advanced due to these key factors: 
<ul>
	<li>
		Service-based approach to all our technology architecture, which helps us scale up with ease and innovate across our offerings.</li>
	<li>
		Extreme rigour in data analysis using latest technology innovations available in the market (for example, Hadoop). This data capture and processing capability powers all our functions including search, merchandising, marketing, etc.</li>
	<li> Strong focus on mobility – a three-pronged approach where mobility enables 1) operational efficiency (mobile app for pick-up boys), 2) merchant empowerment (merchant pocket store) and 3) customer delight (<keyword id="6355645" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="android">Android</keyword> app for buyers).</li>
	<li>
		Cost of technology is low because of our technology architecture that can scale horizontally and integrate vertically.</li>
</ul>
 
Where are you headed now? What will be your next steps to expand your business? 
India is the last largest untapped e-commerce market in the world and ShopClues is well-positioned to seize the opportunity that this mass market offers. In fact, the e-commerce opportunity in our target segment, the tier 2 and tier 3 cities, is growing even faster than the rest of the market. ShopClues can very well ride this wave by maintaining a laser focus on execution and by building on our differentiation. 
 
What are your tips for new and budding start-ups? 
Inefficiencies of today’s market become opportunities for tomorrow’s start-ups. So the possibilities are endless. Starting a business seems risky, but the fact is that enterprises might fail but entrepreneurs don’t. So prepare well and take the plunge.

This
Indian E-Commerce Website Is Targeting Smaller Towns And Cities

Ecommerce is indeed an aggregator of trade and a great leveler. Using the power of an online marketplace, any seller from anywhere, big or small, can sell things to anyone anywhere in India. In spite of its $600 billion size, India is a disorganised and highly fragmented <keyword id="488671" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail-market">retail market</keyword>. The “mall culture” brought some semblance of organisation, but it did not impact the country’s mass-market as it did in the Western paradigm. Or maybe ecommerce came in too soon here. 
 According to a statement by <keyword id="2582820" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="eCommerce-Association-of-India">eCommerce Association of India</keyword>: “One of the most important aspects being missed by almost everyone today is that eCommerce is possibly the best way to organize the unorganized sectors in India.” 
 
 
By nature, ecommerce is all-pervasive and inhibited only by Internet penetration. It has the power to take in its wave every one of the millions of traders, manufacturers, craftsmen in India. For instance, ShopClues.com brings together over 1 lakh sellers from every state and UT in the country. This is the largest community of SMBs on a common platform that gives them a level playing field to compete with larger, organised players in the market. ShopClues also has the NRH initiative (National Retail Heritage) which offers local specialties from iconic Indian markets like Jaipur jewelry, Agra footwear, Tirupur garments, Lucknow’s Chikankari, etc. 
 Let us briefly take a look at the Indian retail industry. With the largest population of youth in the world, coupled with increasing disposable incomes of the rising middle class, India is the 5th largest and among the fastest growing retail markets in the world. Currently worth $570 billion, retail is responsible for 14-15% of the country’s <keyword id="35050" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="gdp">GDP</keyword>, and is therefore, a significant contributor to the economy. 
 However, the industry, which is largely un-organised and fragmented, is dominated by local stores and neighbourhood bazaars. The share of country’s organised retail stand at 8%, which is drastically low compared to even other developing countries. Meanwhile, <keyword id="35621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> is creating a blitz in India owing to the considerable shift in consumer buying behaviour. Pretty much everything is bought and sold on the Internet now. The e-commerce and m-commerce disruptions are here to change the face of retail in the country. 
 
Organising the retail market 
· Giving Scale to Retail: The most interesting aspect of e-commerce is that it offers tremendous scalability and convenience for any business. By riding the Internet highway, even a neighbourhood craftsman or a local artisan can gain pan-India reach and sell to customers anywhere in the country. 
· Merchant is King: Every online seller can be as potent as a big brand with wide distribution network and heavy-duty marketing machinery. 
· Wide Window: Since an online marketplace has unlimited virtual shelf space, any number of products can be showcased. So even lesser-known crafts, artefacts, personalized products, limited-edition items, can find a way to catch the shopper’s attention. 
· Data Warehouse: Since all online activity can be tracked, monitored and analysed, the possibilities of putting this data to use are endless. Therefore, e-commerce is among the foremost beneficiaries of big data analytics. 
 
 
A product and merchant agnostic marketplace like ShopClues allows anyone to sell on its platform, be it a brand, dealer, entrepreneur or manufacturer. The website has several innovative retail formats like National Retail Heritage, WholeSale marketplace, Factory Outlet, Official Brand Stores, etc. Each of these formats has its unique value proposition, format-specific merchandise a loyal customer base and dedicated marketing effort by the team. 
 
The platform helps merchants in identifying a suitable customer base, propose customised offers and implement sales and marketing decisions quickly. Small retailers can go online without spending on extensive technical skills or marketing investments. For customers, this means more choices to pick from, better services, faster delivery and customized or personalized offers. Consumers today want to buy products and services at their terms, at their convenience and in a way that suits them the most. 
 
The online marketplace is the immense power it places in the hands of even the smallest merchant hailing from the most remote corners of the country. A marketplace is truly successful when it enables even a small merchant to create a ‘brand’, just like his bigger corporate counterparts with heavy distribution machinery and marketing muscle. Marketplaces provides the perfect platform for them to set up shop with minimal investment and risk, while managing all supporting functions like marketing, logistics and customer support. In an unorganised retail market like India, where much of the trade happens in small towns and cities, the marketplace serves as a great leveller for merchants to reach out to customers everywhere in the country. 
 
(About the author: This article has been contributed by Sanjay Sethi, CEO and Co-founder, ShopClues.)

Method to the Madness: E-commerce marketplaces are organising the otherwise unorganized market

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart">Flipkart</a> is mulling to start seller-support facilities in 20 more cities by the end of this year. The service is presently in 10 cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Surat and Jaipur. 
 
The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce">company</a> said that the facilities, which be called '<keyword id="3012142" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart-One-Stop">Flipkart One Stop</keyword>', will help sellers with various services like registration, training, cataloguing and packaging. 
 <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> has roped in agencies like Browntape, Sellerworx, 99yrs.com, BluBox and Chikiweb to onboard sellers in various cities. 
 
Ankit Nagori, chief business officer at Flipkart, said the initiative will help them streamline and simplify the processes to get their businesses up and running online within a short span of time. 
 
“We plan to get 50-60 such agencies onboard by the end of this year,” added Nagori. 
 
While Flipkart is working to add one-lakh sellers by the year end, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal">Snapdeal</a> has said that it wants to get to 10-lakh <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=merchants">merchants</a> in three years from 1.5-lakh sellers currently and Shopclues wants to increase its merchant base from 1.25 lakh to 5 lakh by the end of 2015.

Flipkart’s new move will make it the dream destination for all sellers

After some teething problems like the not-so-exciting deals in the first year and the site crashing for a day in 2013, the Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF) finally had a great time sailing this year. To mark the beginning of GOSF this year, <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> and its partners started pre-party celebrations (from Dec 9) and launched contests, games and surprise gifts. This, obviously, was Google’s well-thought and well-timed strategy to build ample anticipation around India’s biggest shopping gala. With a patronage of more than 450 partners, <keyword id="2622320" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="GOSF-2014">GOSF 2014</keyword> had set the stage for a never-seen-before shopping frenzy. However, all was not rosy during these ‘72 hours of crazy’ shopping. Like all things colossal, this extravaganza, too, was marred with some snags. 
 
Mehul Jobanputra, CEO and co-founder of DesiDime.com, India’s largest online shopping community, shares a few hits and misses of GOSF 2014. 
 
HIT: No Speed-breakers Ahead 
Of all Internet errors, the ‘500 internal server error’ is the most annoying and most common. But, despite experiencing more than twice their usual traffic, most GOSF partner websites successfully run during the sale without going offline even for a minute. This year, both Google and the merchant sites were well-prepared to stand steady under the sheer weight of massive numbers, thus giving shoppers a bump-free ride. 
 
HIT: The Rs 299 Corner 
 
This unassuming offer won the highest number of fans for GOSF 2014. Be it fashion apparels, shoes, watches, soft toys, sunglasses, cookware, home décor items, kitchen appliances, almost everything was up for grabs at this small sum. However, the modesty of price did not translate to humble goods. The products on offer in this section were vast in quality, quantity as well as range. Coming from known brands and trustworthy merchants, goods from this corner were seized in big numbers, far and wide. 
 
HIT: The Great Social Media Buzz 
Google made optimal use of the micro-blogging site Twitter during the run-up to GOSF 2014 as well as during the main event. It encouraged word-of-mouth publicity with various Twitter contests, which eventually led to shoppers sharing their experiences and discussing deals of GOSF 2014. #72HoursOfCrazy and #GOSFWithSnapdeal were the most trending GOSF related hashtags on day 1, while the former had become the 5th most trending topic worldwide on day 3. 
 
HIT: Small Merchants, Big Show 
The rule of the jungle did not apply here. Relatively smaller and lesser known merchants put up an equally strong show against the much familiar giants. Paytm, Limeroad, Zovi, Yepme, Justeat, Foodpanda and Trendin were some of the underlings who turned out to be the dark horses in this Derby of discounts. While Paytm won the day with its fat cashback offers, Limeroad took the cake away with its Buy One Get One offer across all categories. In short, customers got a wider variety to choose from this GOSF. 
 
HIT: Online Real Estate Arrives 
Who would have thought that the erstwhile apprehensive Indian buyer, who found it hard to trust the virtual space even with its most trivial shopping requirements, could be lured in to investing in real estate online? According to reports, Tata Housing received around 10,000 bookings and a Bangalore-based real estate developer, Purvankara booked 125 homes on the first day itself. The numbers were beyond the wildest dreams of both GOSF as well as of the realty partners. GOSF 2014 certainly succeeded in asserting the online presence of the Indian real estate category. 
 
MISS: No Flipkart 
 
India’s big shopping festival felt so incomplete without Flipkart. The latter’s loyalists would have surely missed its absence sorely, thereby dampening their enthusiasm for GOSF 2014. True that Flipkart launched its own Big App Shopping Days for them, but it did miss out on the greater bulk of customers, who still prefer making online purchases on desktops and laptops. This one was a miss for GOSF, Flipkart and the consumers, alike. 
 
MISS: Mobile phone deals, less than wow 
Although statistics indicate that mobile phones and tablets were the most popular products in GOSF 2014, the discounts on these were less exciting than expected. The ones that were truly mind-blowing lasted for about a few hours, and in some cases, only a few minutes. Some of the craziest deals on mobile phones were: iPhone 6 at Rs 26,750 on Shopclues, Micromax Canvas A1 at Rs 5,999 on Amazon India and some lesser-known mobile phones at Rs 299 on Shopclues. 
 
MISS: Weekend Shoppers 
Like every year, GOSF arrived on a Wednesday this year, too. Although it lasted for a good three days, it was over before the weekend began. While this is obviously because the online shopping arena witnesses a surge in traffic during weekdays, Google misses out on the weekend shoppers every year. 
 
(About the author: The article has been submitted by desidime.com) 
 
(Image courtesy:www.<a href="http://offoindia.com/">offoindia.com)</a>

Hits & Misses of Of GOSF 2014

Companies and startups are ready to raid engineering and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=B-school+">B-school</a> campuses across India this placement season, adding to the fierce war for talent already raging between large e-Commerce companies and established old-world recruiters. 
 
The startups which are looking for fresh talents include ShopClues, LocalOye, Urban-Clap, PropTiger, Indus Insights, MyRefers, CodeNation, Embibe, Jombay, Lybrate and ShadowFax. 
 
Moreover, a survey of 11 startups suggests they will step up overall <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=campus+hiring+">campus hiring</a> to 770 students from the Class of 2016 compared with only 250 that they hired from the last batch. 
 
Bulk of this hiring will be across top engineering colleges and B-schools, including Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management. 
 
Don’t be disappointed if you are not studying in the above mentioned institutes as a handful will also recruit at leading undergraduate colleges including Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Shri Ram College and St Stephen's, and design schools such as National Institute of Design and National Institute of Fashion Technology. 
 
Now comes the most interesting part- salary! Average salaries offered by these startups range between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 18 lakh at engineering colleges and B-schools, say campus sources. Prop-Tiger, for instance, is paying upwards of Rs 15 lakh plus benefits at tech schools; CodeNation will pay around Rs 24 lakh. 
 
At least three of these startups — Lybrate, LocalOye and ShadowFax — are first-timers on campus while others, at the very least, are doubling last year's numbers. In some cases, hiring targets are going up five-fold or even 16-fold compared with last year. 
 
The strategies behind the hiring are discussed below: 
1. Depending on the kind of institutes, students are being hired for a variety of roles: from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=software+development+engineers">software development engineers</a>; core management &amp; data scientists; product, operations and marketing; merchant acquisition and servicing, to human resource management, product and graphic designers and even entrepreneurs in residence. Sanjay Mehta, a Mumbai-based angel investor who participated in and led 11 angel deals in 2015, says the reason why startups are so gung-ho about <keyword id="511161" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="campus-hiring">campus hiring</keyword> is because they want to put this talent to work on cutting-edge technology and new delivery models. Not surprisingly, several institutes where placements have started, including Birla Institute of Technology &amp; Science-Pilani and <keyword id="75110" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="NITs">NITs</keyword>, are seeing these startups go head-to-head with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=traditional+recruiters+">traditional recruiters</a> to hire talent. At other B-schools and <keyword id="49737" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="IITs">IITs</keyword> where pre-placement offers (PPOs) have started flowing in, it is again the startups that are leading the pack. 
 
2. Much high in numbers: The numbers speak for themselves. If ShopClues is revising its hiring intake from around 100 last year to 180-250 this time, realty portal PropTiger is doubling its target to 50. Even five-month-old B2B (business-to-business) hyperlocal delivery startup ShadowFax, which raised $300,000 from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal">Snapdeal</a>'s founders and others in August followed by a $8.5-million Series A round by Fidelity's proprietary investment arm Eight Roads Ventures barely a month later, is looking to hire from IITs, <keyword id="46923" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="IIMs">IIMs</keyword> and other leading management institutes for its technology, data science and operations teams. 
 
3. Tapping more institutes: In the process, these companies are reaching out to many more institutes this year. "If there is a campus that attracts bright minds of the country, we want to be there. This includes other engineering colleges as well as top colleges in economics and commerce," says Saurabh Sharma, founder &amp; chief executive officer of Indus Insights. The Big Data firm made 40 offers last year, mostly at the top IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Madras). This year, it plans to make 100-plus, including at NITs (Trichy, Warangal, etc), SRCC, LSR, Christ College and Indian School of Business. 
 Similarly, Delhi-based mobile services marketplace UrbanClap, which hired 30 business development and operations specialists from <keyword id="6360099" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Delhi-University">Delhi University</keyword> last year, is extending its reach to several new institutes, including <keyword id="6431668" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="IIT-Delhi">IIT-Delhi</keyword> and IIM-Ahmedabad as it gears up to take on 80-100 this year. 
 
Salaries apart, the other drawing factors include the opportunity to work on challenging problems. "We don't have any glass ceilings. Freshers could be running entire teams within six months of joining," says Aditi Avasthi, founder and CEO, Embibe. "Students are opting for startups aggressively as some of the roles offered by them are quite challenging and inclined with their aspirations," sums up Rahul Katyal, placement manager at IIT-Bombay. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

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