<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/53487921.cms" /> 
 Gurgaon-based Fashion e-tailer <keyword id="1153436" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Yepme">YepMe</keyword> has planned to open 400 stores by the end of this financial year, as a part of the omnichannel strategy that most e-tailers are following in order to boost sales. 
 As of now, YepMe has four stores in Gurgaon, and for its expansion plans, has identified cities including Noida, Meerut, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ludhiana and Latur, where it would expand through franchise, CEO <keyword id="2430540" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vivek-Gaur">Vivek Gaur</keyword> told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/yepme-to-open-400-stores-by-the-end-of-this-financial-year/articleshow/53482739.cms">ET</a>. While metro cities would have company-owned stores, tier II towns will have franchisee-owned stores. 
 
A new initiative of the company, as a part of its offer of a seamless shopping experience, would be to run similar schemes and offers and allow "anywhere returns" of products, which means that products bought by customers anywhere across different cities could be returned to any store they like. 
 
Founded in 2011, YepMe raised $75 million in September 2015 from investors led by Malaysian state fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and existing investor Helion Advisors. 
 
<a href="http://images.newsinshorts.com.edgesuite.net/app_assets/images/2016/1jan/17/36434223-0013-0001-6870-000012345678-1453036434431.jpg?resize=1024px:*&amp;">Image source</a>

YepMe aims to open 400 stores by March 2017

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/52105226.cms" /> 
 
India’s leading digital payments platform <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Exclusive-FreeCharge-Co-founder-Kunal-Shah-on-the-Biggest-Takeover-in-Indian-e-Commerce-History/articleshow/50901391.cms">FreeCharge</a> has entered into partnerships with two of India’s leading fashion and lifestyle portals, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Exclusive-Yepme-to-soon-launch-a-Zara-like-brand-in-India/articleshow/49374059.cms">YepMe </a>and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Fitting-it-just-right-Indias-online-lingerie-market-inside-out/articleshow/49167076.cms">Zivame</a>. This partnership will enable consumers to use <keyword id="6377963" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Freecharge">Freecharge</keyword>’s fast and secure payment service to pay for shopping on these portals and that too within less than 10 seconds. 
 
FreeCharge, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Its-FreeCharge-Vs-Paytm-in-e-payments-space-now/articleshow/50120653.cms">fastest growing wallet in the country</a>, has over millions of users and a rapidly growing offline and online merchant base. After entering into various sectors like food and beverage, technology, entertainment and travel, these new partnerships will also mark its entry into the fashion and lifestyle space. 
 
On the other hand, users of all three portals will benefit from a seamless payments experience. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Freecharge-partners-with-NGO-to-enable-digital-payment-for-E-rickshaw-drivers/articleshow/51701608.cms">FreeCharge’s growing wallet </a>user base will also enable <keyword id="1153436" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Yepme">YepMe</keyword> and <keyword id="972687" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Zivame">Zivame</keyword> to expand their user base so that they can tap customers who enjoy the convenience and ease of the FreeCharge wallet. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Fareed-Jawad-Freecharge/articleshow/52011228.cms">Fareed Jawad is the new VP for Payments &amp; Principal Product Architect at Freecharge</a> 
 
Speaking on the partnership, Mr. Govind Rajan, Chief Operating Officer, FreeCharge said, “Rapid digital payments growth is changing the way consumer’s shop. At FreeCharge, it is our continuous endeavour to build a digital ecosystem in the country, and move consumers away from the hassle of cash. Partnering with popular youth brands like Yepme and Zivame is a massive opportunity to build the habit of digital payments in the country. Today’s consumers demand convenience and FreeCharge makes that possible by enabling them to shop for popular fashion and lifestyle products in the swiftest and safest way.” 
 
Shaleen Sinha, Chief Operating Officer, Zivame.com said, “At Zivame, we strive to make the entire shopping experience extremely convenient for our customers. With a large number of customers increasingly opting for mobile wallets, we want to ensure that we offer them their preferred payment option on our website and app. This partnership will enable millions of Freecharge users to use their favourite mobile wallet to make payments on Zivame.” 
 
On sidelines of the partnership, Sandeep Sharma - Founder, COO &amp; CTO, Yepme said, “With fast pace online shopping trend, we are glad to have FreeCharge on board as a payment partner which will only enhance the experience for customers.”

Zivame and YepMe buyers can pay via Freecharge in less than 10 seconds

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/57687618.cms" /><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startups&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Startups</a> are going through a tough time. They are in news for all the wrong reasons, especially because they have been on a firing spree since the year 2017 has begun. 
 
As investors are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=funding&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">tightening their purse strings </a>and startups are now focussing on revamping operations and making profits, startups are targeting employees and cutting the workforce. 
 
In 2017, many small businesses such as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=yepme&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">YepMe</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=craftsvilla&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Craftsvilla</a>, etc have been giving their employees nightmares, who are worrying over pink slips. 
 
The scenario at India’s third online marketplace <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal</a> is also not good as it has fired over 600 employees so far. 
 
The companies are looking to trim costs and employees are staring at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=lay-offs&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">job cuts</a>. 
 
Here are 5 companies that have massively laid-off employees

5
companies that fired employees in 2017

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/53941958.cms" /> 
 Some <keyword id="1705292" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-e-commerce">Indian e-commerce</keyword> firms, like Urban Ladder, <keyword id="972687" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Zivame">Zivame</keyword>, FabAlley and <keyword id="1153436" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Yepme">Yepme</keyword>, are considering turning into <keyword id="1167067" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="single-brand-retailers">single-brand retailers</keyword> so that consumers can buy from their stores without foregoing their foreign investments. 
 
It was in November last year that the government had amended its single-brand retail policy to allow foreign-funded retailers to sell products through both brick-and-mortar and online stores. 
 "Now that full clarity has emerged in single-brand policy, we will certainly look at it," Yepme CEO <keyword id="2430540" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vivek-Gaur">Vivek Gaur</keyword> told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/ecommerce-firms-like-urban-ladder-yepme-and-others-plan-to-turn-into-single-brand-retailers/articleshow/53936960.cms">ET</a>. "We don't need to do everything from ecommerce to brick-and-mortar stores ourselves but it gives flexibility to pick whatever we want to do," he added. 
 
As per the policy, India allows 100% FDI in e-commerce marketplaces, however, such marketplaces can’t stock or sell on their own. They can only lend their platforms for retailers to sell products. 
 
When these online retailers re-model their businesses into single-brand operation, they would be able to hold and sell their own inventory online, without breaking any of the FDI regulations. 
 
"Currently, we are funded by Indian angel investors. As and when we get foreign money, we will definitely apply for single-brand licence," said Shivani Poddar, cofounder of the Bengaluru-based fashion start-up FabAlley. 
 
As per industry experts, companies are right in leveraging on their brand equity by going mono brands. 
 
"It creates a differentiator, and, second, there are not large brands, so it is a fantastic opportunity for companies like Zivame to capture that space," said Nitin Chhabra, CEO at e-commerce consultancy firm Ace Turtle. 
 
However, not all online players are in for this option. Limeroad and Voonik, for example, said that they want to maintain their marketplace models, thus allowing other retailers to sell their products using these platforms. 
 
<a href="http://www.thehansindia.com/assets/3748_aa2bdfc3-23b1-4431-b822-9674c9ca3c70.jpg">Image source</a>

Indian e-commerce firms could turn into single-brand retailers

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/49376326.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" />While <keyword id="150626" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="HM">H&amp;M</keyword> may be excited to dive into the Indian market and a number of marquee fashion brands may want to follow suit to cater to the fast growing brand conscious consumer market that's craving for more options, Indian online fashion retailer <keyword id="1143511" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Yepme-com">Yepme.com</keyword> is busy trying to build a Zara-like brand of its own so that the new fashion hungry frats in India don't have to look up to the US and European companies for being in tune with the latest fashion trends. 
 
Four years into the business, work is on silently in almost every arena at Yepme - on introducing new range in clothing to foraying into new segment, and raising and pushing big money into brand building (the most crucial bit)! There's special focus on the brand side because that's what it is aiming for - "to become the best fashion brand in India in the next three years" - as Vivek Gaur, the co-founder and CEO of Yepme, tells us. 
 Precisely, why Yepme has not only extended contract with their superstar face <keyword id="6357753" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="shahrukh-khan">Shahrukh Khan</keyword>, but it has also roped in south Indian heart-throb <keyword id="6370559" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tamanna">Tamanna</keyword>, who became well known in the north recently after she set the box office on fire with Bahubali. The duo will be seen vouching for Yepme's brand new ethnic line in a short film that will flash on your screens from November 1. The timing of launch of ethnic collection has been kept just when the festive season would kick in. 
 
"Apart from the ethnic collection, we are getting into three more distinct areas- premium party wear, active wear and inner wear. The plan is to bring party wear by end of this year (around December when the party spirits are high) and inner wear by Sept-Oct next year which is an altogether new segment for us," said Vivek, adding that the company is eyeing vertical growth and wants to go beyond just offering western casual wear to customers. 
 At the moment, Yepme is deriving 15-20 per cent benefits in the ongoing Big Billion Days and festive season sale on <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> as a result of being positioned among famous brands like Benetton on the featured banners of e-commerce websites. It, however, aims to cash in more from its presence on these portals once its brand becomes salient. 
 
By virtue of being an online fashion retailer and not an e-commerce website per say, Yepme is not competing with the likes of Snapdeal. "Unlike them, we don't spend money on discounting and schemes. We want customers to come to us not for cheap pricing or discounts but for the brand," says Vivek. 
 
He explains:"On every product that I ship, I make 20-25 per cent margin. That pays for my fixed cost apart from covering the delivery and product cost. So all these costs are covered by way of selling. And all the money that I raise goes into advertising and building the brand. That's how I have a Shahrukh in my TV ads." 
 
With so much investment in building the brand, Vivek aspires to make Yepme global by shaping it as a million dollar brand by 2020. 
 
But there’s no hurry. The prime agenda is to first make India a profitable market for Yepme’s line of products. And that’s not a difficult task for an Indian company at this time. Rivals such as the likes of H&amp;M have to manufacture in India and Bangladesh and ship products back to their country. But for an in house newbie like Yepme wanting to become a fashion brand in the country, the game is sort of easy, or so it seems for now. 
 
With a huge textile base, large garment manufacturing base, technology as good as in the US, excellent resource from fashion institutes to create designs and IITians to analyse fashion trends and behavior- everything is under the same roof. 
 
"We are tapping it. Once your home becomes a big market, there is an aspiration value for your product across countries," says Vivek. 
 
In light of the above facts, why can't the next H&amp;M or Zara be from India!

Exclusive: Yepme to soon launch a Zara-like brand in India!

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47957542.cms" /> Now buying your favorite designs online is going to be easier than ever. With the <keyword id="2936403" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Computer-Vision-feature">Computer Vision feature</keyword>, you’ll get more apt search results while shopping online. As per a report appeared in The Economic Times, India’s growing ecommerce sites <keyword id="635221" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Craftsvilla">Craftsvilla</keyword> and <keyword id="2253218" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Voonik">Voonik</keyword> are looking forward to a feature in which image search would be used instead of textual inputs provided by the user. 
 Craftsvilla co-founder and CEO <keyword id="172932" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Manoj-Gupta">Manoj Gupta</keyword> said, "If the customer likes a color or pattern, they'd want to be shown a similar kind of product and this feature is incredibly useful." 
 India’s leading ecommerce sites including <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="1153436" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yepme">YepMe</keyword> had already been using the feature. While Flipkart introduced this last week to its consumers, YepMe had launched it even earlier. 
 Computer vision, the newest technology in the <keyword id="2936404" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-eCommerce-space">Indian eCommerce space</keyword>, is a growing discipline of computer science where computers are enabled with massive computing power to recognise images. Tech giants <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword>, <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword> and <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> have invested heavily in this technology. 
 
Sujayath Ali, co-founder and CEO of a Chennai-based fashion retailer Voonik, says, "That might work for other categories like electronics or books. But for fashion, visual search provides a clear advantage." 
 The firm offers image search to many of its users. "We decided not to look at aggregate data and decided to get more personal with the user right from the first," said Ali, a former <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> executive. 
 
While Voonik gets close to 2 million unique visitors per month, Craftsvilla gets close to six lakh visits a month through its website and mobile application, using the image recognition technology supplied by Chennai-based computer vision startup Mad Stree Den.

Retail therapy to soon become visually appealing

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/57405871.cms" />India’s online market place <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal </a>laid-off 600 employees recently and warned the co-founders employees for more tough decisions. Well, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> is not along in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=layoffs&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">firing its employees</a> as more<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startups&amp;sortorder=effectivedate"> Indian startups </a>are handing out pink slips to hundreds. 
 
The fear of being fired is looming large on employees as many startups have begun giving notices to workers to trim costs, save money and make profits. 
 Apart from Snapdeal, other <keyword id="982553" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-startups">Indian startups</keyword> such as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=craftsvilla&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Craftsvilla</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=yepme&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">YepMe</a>, Tolexo, etc have laid-off employees recently. 
 "(<keyword id="635221" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Craftsvilla">Craftsvilla</keyword>) has laid off more than 100 staffers in recent weeks, including its entire product and technology teams and most of its operations and marketing teams,” a former senior executive of the company told ET. 
 
In fact, some senior employees aware of the coming troubles had put in their papers a couple of months ago, sources told ET. 
 
Industry experts say the lay-offs could be due to slowing funding, rash decisions by founders, etc. 
 "More (<keyword id="6357067" type="EVENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="layoffs">layoffs</keyword>) will happen throughout 2017. The cleanup has started and most consumer internet companies will go through this,” Harminder Sahni, managing director at consultancy Wazir Advisors, told ET. 
 "While we were preparing for the worst, we still had a little hope. But when it was clear the company was shutting, the main priority was to relocate the employees,” Ipe Walliaveetil, who was senior manager for operations at <keyword id="1112419" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Stayzilla">Stayzilla</keyword>, told ET. 
 
Fashion retailer YepMe recently laid off an unspecified number of people from its warehousing and quality control teams. 
 
"We were planning to break-even in January. But demonetisation hit, (the option for cash payments on delivery) disappeared and sales were down. We decided to move our focus outside of India,” Vivek Gaur, founder of YepMe, which recently began operations in the United Kingdom, told ET.

Working for a startup? Your job is in danger

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/57751483.cms" /> <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">Startups</keyword> such as <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/snapdeal-has-started-down-sizing-600-employees-have-already-been-fired/articleshow/57343065.cms">Snapdeal</a>, YepMe and Craftsvilla, have been on a firing spree and employees are sinking into depression, holding themselves responsible for the layoffs. 
 
However, these employees need to keep in mind the fact that the layoffs happened more because of business conditions and not specifically because of their poor performances. 
 <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="investments">Investments</keyword> in startups dropped to $1.4 billion in 2016 as compared to $2 billion in 2015, which led companies in banking, infrastructure and information technology to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/working-for-a-startup-your-job-is-in-danger/articleshow/57405822.cms">tighten their hands</a>. 
 
"It's unfortunate, but layoffs are simply a way of corporate life now. So, maintain a positive outlook and think about what you want to do," Rohit Sandal, HR director at Lenovo, told ET. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/forget-appraisal-cognizant-might-fire-more-than-6000-employees-this-year/articleshow/57729436.cms">Forget appraisal! Cognizant might fire more than 6,000 employees this year</a> 
 
While some employees who were laid off decided to immediately look for another job, some decided to take a break and volunteer for a cause, giving them a different perspective in life and also giving them a chance to stand out in the eyes of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-someone-who-is-ready-to-employ-laid-off-employees-ofsnapdeal-and-stayzilla/articleshow/57343884.cms">future employers</a>. 
 
Mental health can get adversely impacted if one keeps thinking about the negative things in life, which is why one needs to opt for de-stressing exercises, yoga and meditation. 
 
One can also make good use of this free time to learn something new and enhance their skills, which would have been difficult to manage with the job. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/layoffs-jeopardize-job-security-resumes-flooding-hiring-platforms/articleshow/57554146.cms">Layoffs jeopardize job security; resumes flooding hiring platforms</a> 
 
At the end, what matters is that laid off employees remain positive and take it as a chance to reinvent themselves, knowing that it was not their fault that they were let go. 
 
(Image source: Benzinga)

Losing that job was not your fault! Don’t let yourself sink into depression

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/54230121.cms" style="height: 600px; width: 800px;" /><keyword id="6368309" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Urban-Ladder">Urban Ladder</keyword> wants to sell directly to its customers and the online furniture marketplace has filed an application to convert into a single brand retailer in this regard. 
 
Urban Ladder has filed an application with the government to stock products and while retaining its foreign investments. 
 
The government changed its policies under which foreign-funded single brand companies can directly through online portals, only if they also have brick-and-mortar stores. 
 In its renewed FDI policy, single brand foreign-funded companies that sell offline as well as online can set up own inventory-led <keyword id="436047" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ecommerce">ecommerce</keyword> business in India. 
 
Earlier, even though 100% overseas capital was allowed in single brand retailing but they were restricted to sell only through physical outlets and not through online portals. 
 
Meanwhile, Urban Ladder Home Decor Solutions Pvt Ltd has written to Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). 
 
Presently, Urban Ladder offers a technological platform for retailers to sell their products and does not sell its own products. 
 
If Urban Ladder becomes a single-brand retail entity, it will be able to buy goods, have warehouses, and also sell them to consumers. 
 
Prior to Urban Ladder, several online companies such as Zivame, FabAlley and Yepme have mulled over turning into single-brand retailers. 
Zivame and FabAlley already run brick-and-mortar stores.

Soon, you may spot an Urban Ladder store near you

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47453127.cms" />If you have leadership qualities and talent to create wealth, you fit the bill. E-Commerce companies like Flipkart, Amazon, Ola, Uber, Jabong, etc are hiring and offering huge salaries. If estimates of headhunting firms are to be believed, they could roll out 500 jobs with salaries of more than Rs 1 crore each this year. 
 
As per the five search firms including RGF Executive Search and Longhouse Consulting, Snapdeal, Quikr, CommonFloor, Yepme, OLX, Junglee, FashionAndYou, Hungama, BookMyShow, Cleartrip and Lenskart are among companies offering jobs with one-crore-plus salaries. 
 
Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal account for a huge chunk of these offers. 
 
Siddharth Raisurana, Director at ABC Consultants told Economic Times the company conducted more than 100 senior-level searches for e-Commerce companies in the past six months. 
 
The executive search division of CareerNet, Longhouse Consulting, is looking at a dozen plus mandates a month. 
 
"We have 70-80% of our business coming from e-Commerce and expect to handle 180-200 mandates this year, up from 75-85 last year," Anshuman Das, managing partner, Longhouse Consulting, told ET. 
 
"We are filling in at least one position a day at the leadership level," GC Jayaprakash, executive director at RGF Executive Search, told the financial daily. 
He added that the companies were willing to pay a premium to attract top talent that would lead to wealth creation and high valuation if they go ahead with an IPO. 
 
Meanwhile, human resource heads of e-Commerce companies also agreed on the estimates. 
 "Investors are bringing hundreds of millions of dollars. We can spend it either on infrastructure or people. And that's what they are doing - investing in people," the <keyword id="231518" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Human-Resource-Head">human resource head</keyword> of one of the leading online retailers, on conditions of anonymity, told ET. 
 
The financial daily also reported that the HR head of another online retailer was currently scouting for such senior level talent for several of its revenue generating core functions. 
 "This year also we are looking at 30-40% increase in hiring across the board and a corresponding increase in leadership levels," said Raj Raghavan, head-HR, <keyword id="6354743" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon-India">Amazon India</keyword>. He declined to comment on salaries. 
 
Even Snapdeal is looking to beef up leadership hiring. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

How about a Rs 1 cr salary package! Know how to get one

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/48142707.cms" /> 
Hindustan Unilever’s (HUL) senior employees are one of the best paid in the industry. HUL has 169 executives who drew eight-digit salaries last year, six times more than its closest rival ITC's 23 crorepati employees, and half of them are less than 40 years of age, according to the Economic Times. The HUL number is also 50% higher than IT major Infosys' 123 eight-digit salary earners and more than double of Wipro's 70. 
 
The firm’s annual report states, 169 managers, representing just 1% of HUL's total workforce, drew home a combined salary of Rs 310 crore. 
This is more than the total employee spends of mid-sized rivals such as Marico, Godrej Consumer and Procter &amp; Gamble Health and Hygiene. "For the kind of talent HUL looks for, the company has to pay top dollars as supply is limited and they have to retain them," Aditya Narayan Mishra, chief executive at CEIL HR Services told the ET adding that HUL has the highest number of crorepati employees in India. 
 
"Since they also create strong leadership within their organisation, retaining them becomes crucial," he said. HUL is often referred to as a 'CEO Factory', having contributed over 400 CEOs within the corporate world. 
 
Despite ecommerce edging out FMCG as the hottest career destination for B-school students, HUL still remains the most preferred company overall in the list for the graduating batch of 2015, fourth year in a row and as a dream company across sectors for the sixth year running, as per Nielsen Campus Track Business School 2015 survey. 
 
"At HUL, the ability to identify, hire, groom and retain the best talent has been honed and developed over several decades and remains one of the most important agenda of my leadership team," Sanjiv Mehta, CEO and MD at Hindustan Unilever, had told the financial daily in March this year. Salaries at HUL are partly linked to the company's performance in sales and profitability, say analysts. 
 
During 2014-15, HUL posted 9% sales growth compared to 7% in the overall FMCG growth with 90% of its portfolio gaining market share. Nitin Mathur, consumer goods analyst at Societe Generale, said: "HUL is unarguably the leader when it comes to understanding the Indian consumption patterns, across economic strata. 
 
Any competitor, either incumbents or startups, would like to leverage on this experience by hiring their executives." 
 
ET in May had reported that ecommerce companies could roll out 500 jobs with salaries of more than Rs 1 crore each this year, according to estimates by five search firms, including RGF Executive Search and Longhouse Consulting. 
 
Also offering jobs with one-crore-plus salaries are Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Ola, Uber, Quikr, CommonFloor, Yepme, OLX, Junglee, FashionAndYou, Hungama, BookMyShow, Jabong, Cleartrip and Lenskart. 
 
(Image: Think Stock)

169 employees of HUL, earn 8-digit salaries a year!

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47428998.cms" />Ready to take full advantage of the current market situation, both eCommerce companies and brick-and-mortar retailers want to make maximum profit and debating over who can be tagged as a marketplace. Both share different views over Foreign Direct Investment (<keyword id="44528" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="FDI">FDI</keyword>) in online stores. 
 eCommerce companies such as Amazon, Flipkart and <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> operate as marketplaces in India thus allowing any retailer or trader to sell goods on their platform. But companies such as <keyword id="64373" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Shoppers-Stop">Shoppers Stop</keyword>, <keyword id="6398216" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tesco">Tesco</keyword>, <keyword id="6357823" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Big-Bazaar">Big Bazaar</keyword>, <keyword id="58448" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Reliance-Retail">Reliance Retail</keyword> and others work only with their chosen vendors, which makes them closed marketplaces. 
 
The two models of retail - online and offline - have different business models and cannot be looked upon with the same lens, said Aamir Jariwala, secretary, E-commerce Coalition of India, which represents firms such as YepMe, Ferns n Petals and IndiaMart, told the Economic Times. 
 Among all eCommerce companies, only <keyword id="6354743" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon-India">Amazon India</keyword> supports opening up online retail to FDI. 
 <keyword id="113282" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Retailers-Association-of-India">Retailers Association of India</keyword> (RAI), a lobby organisation for companies such as Reliance Retail and <keyword id="44949" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Future-group">Future Group</keyword>, has demanded a clarification from the government about what constitutes a marketplace and sought status equivalent to their online rivals, as several large offline retailers, too, explore opening online fronts. 
 
Many of these online stores that could make use of foreign capital are demanding opening up India's ecommerce sector to 100% FDI. But the move is being opposed by larger online marketplaces such as Flipkart and Snapdeal. The government is hearing various retail industry representatives before framing its policy. 
 
While, traditional retailers such as Shoppers Stop and BigBazaar are putting up a united front with RAI. "A lot of our members are either already running or want to open online channels and get access to foreign capital. This ambiguity on 'retail marketplaces' creates a sense of risk," said Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive at the lobby group. 
 
Offline retailers are also demanding that the government not differentiate within the retail sector by sales channel for drafting FDI regulations. "Creation of a policy on FDI just for online or offline retail is very myopic. It will create an imbalance in the sector," Rajagopalan said. 
 
Ecommerce firms argue that they will lose a good share of the market due to such policies. 
 
Nasir Jamal, secretary general at ECAI, said financial and strategic investors would flock to offline retail if the government equates online and offline retailers with respect to FDI. "Inventory-led ecommerce companies are facing a capital crunch, and are on the lookout for funds and they also need support," he said. 
 "Offline and online retail is converging and the government should precipitate this by having similar policies," said Nitin Gupta, CEO of <keyword id="1493567" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="PayU-India">PayU India</keyword>, owned by South Africa's <keyword id="1634215" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Naspers-Group">Naspers Group</keyword>. 
 
India's ecommerce trade accounts for 2% of the overall retail sector, which grosses over 31.7 lakh crore ($500 billion) annually. The country's online retail sector grew to $12 billion last year. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Fearing competition, Flipkart, Snapdeal oppose 100% FDI in India’s eCommerce sector

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/45522085.cms" /> 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

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/33735196.cms" />BANGALORE: Flipkart could be weeks away from concluding a deal to buy rival Myntra as the two sides engage in last-minute haggling over valuation before concluding what will be the biggest transaction in India’s online retail industry. People with knowledge of the talks said fashion portal Myntra is aiming for a valuation of $400 million (Rs 2,400 crore). 
 
The company, based in Bangalore, is founded by Mukesh Bansal, 38, an IIT-Kanpur graduate. But Flipkart, also based in Bangalore and cofounded by 32-yearold IIT-Delhi alumnus Sachin Bansal (the two Bansals are not related), may not be willing to concede that much. 
 
Negotiators are considering a "target valuation" of $350 million, and may push the offer to $370 million, but there is "no possibility" of valuing Myntra at $400 million, according to a source with direct knowledge of talks. Representatives of Flipkart and Myntra declined to comment. The deal is being stitched during a period of frenetic activity in the ecommerce space. 
 
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Holding co to own shares in cos 
 
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, is steadily building out its India operation -- it will start selling fashion items in the next few weeks -- while the country adds hundreds of thousands of new online shoppers every month. 
 
The timing of the transaction also takes into account an initial public offering of Flipkart’s shares next year, most probably on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the United States, sources said. Flipkart, which raised $360 million in two rounds in 2013, was valued at around $1.6 billion in July last year. 
 
The valuation is "significantly more" now, the sources said without disclosing how much. India's largest online retailer hit the billion-dollar milestone in annual gross merchandise value last month. 
 
The sources who briefed ET about the contours of the deal that is taking shape said that Mukesh Bansal will most likely be given independent responsibility for all fashion retail at the combined business, including Myntra as well as Flipkart’s fashion unit. This is the model that Amazon followed when it acquired shoe and clothing retailer Zappos in 2009, which even now runs as an independent company. A holding company will own shares in Flipkart and Myntra. 
 
A Flipkart-Myntra combine is aimed at shoring up the former's leadership in India's booming online retail industry, projected to reach $8.5 billion (over Rs 51,000 crore) in size in 2016. Moreover, Amazon is making its presence felt just eight months after entering India -- it has introduced about 20 categories of products and more are on the way. 
 
Myntra's Mukesh Bansal has said the company needs about $100-150 million (Rs 600 crore to Rs 900 crore) in the next three years to reach its goal of becoming a Rs 20,000-crore fashion company in 2020. Flipkart has made a commitment to pump in over $100 million (Rs 600 crore) into the company, said a consultant. 
 
"This will help (the country’s biggest fashion portal) Myntra take on competition like Jabong and other fashion sites. And by joining hands, both will be able to take on Amazon, which is the major driving force in these talks," said the consultant who has worked with Flipkart and Myntra. 
 
Ashish Jhalani, head of advisory firm eTailing India, said the potential merger indicates how Amazon has changed the game in a short time. "It is imperative that the merger goes through and a very formidable domestic player emerges that can compete with Amazon and eBay," said Jhalani. 
 
Common investors such as earlystage investor Accel Partners and investment fund Tiger Global are expected to remain invested in Myntra, as also recent investor Premji Invest, which participated in the Rs 300-crore funding round in the fashion portal in February. 
 
The two companies now have three common investors — Accel, Tiger and Belgium-based family office Sofina. Myntra’s other investors are IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital. 
 
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"If a deal happens, it will get done by end of the month," a source said, adding that the transaction will have elements of cash and stock without providing details. 
 
Fashion, which delivers over 35% in operating margin, is among the most contested categories in ecommerce and has seen the emergence of players like Jabong, Fashionara and Limeroad and even web-only brands like Yepme and Zovi. 
 
"The Flipkart and Myntra merger will create the first Indian e-tailing powerhouse, and provide a big fillip to India's still nascent but very promising e-commerce industry," said Arvind Singhal, chairman of retail advisory services firm Technopak. 
 
Flipkart, which introduced fashion in 2012, has a focus on providing a large selection, while Myntra is seen as a curated fashion destination with focus on quality of selection.

Flipkart And Myntra Enter Final Lap In Negotiation

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/26583455.cms" /> Tired of the pesky calls and promotional SMS you seem to be getting all day long? Compelled to view display ads on your smartphone whether you like it or not? In a digital era which is rapidly going mobile, you can’t escape them altogether. But here is one <keyword id="940588" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="mobile-ad-network">mobile ad network</keyword> that lets you decide what you see and pays you for it. 
 Meet <keyword id="1956517" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Paisa-Swipe">Paisa Swipe</keyword>, a seven-month-old <keyword id="6404679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="start-up">start-up</keyword> that has recently come up with an innovative <keyword id="956764" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Android-app">Android app</keyword> for connecting <keyword id="31174" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="brands">brands</keyword>, <keyword id="45859" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="content">content</keyword> and <keyword id="60468" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Consumers">consumers</keyword>. That may not seem too great a concept as too many companies are already around. But unlike others, Paisa Swipe has some unique selling points that make it attractive. For one, it features <keyword id="1956525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Lock-screen-ads">lock screen ads</keyword> and each time a user swipes an ad, a certain amount of money gets deposited into his/her <keyword id="1956526" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Paisa-Swipe-account">Paisa Swipe account</keyword>. You can earn even more if you get your friends to sign up. As the app description says, “It is the easiest money you will ever make.” 
 But there’s more to it. Instead of <keyword id="1956530" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Random-ads">random ads</keyword>, here you get to see curated content in which you are actually interested. And finally, you have full <keyword id="1956532" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Control-over-ad-viewing">control over ad viewing</keyword> and can easily move away without opening any of them. 
 The app is presently limited to <keyword id="6355645" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="android">Android</keyword> phones (users can download it from <keyword id="963171" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google-Play">Google Play</keyword>) but the start-up plans to release <keyword id="75489" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="IOS">iOS</keyword> and <keyword id="6354717" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Windows">Windows</keyword> versions at the earliest. Paisa Swipe says that a similar app in South Korea called Cash Slide has been extremely successful. Like its Korean counterpart, it is only available domestically, but the company is looking to expand to other countries in the near future. Here is a snapshot that captures Paisa Swipe’s vision and viability. 
 
Who runs Paisa Swipe: A global team of three with expertise in mobile business. <keyword id="1956515" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jian-Tam">Jian Tam</keyword> is the CEO and has some good experience in digital marketing. Prior to Paisa Swipe, he had played a key role in setting up two other companies. Director <keyword id="1956516" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chris-Marshall">Chris Marshall</keyword> studied in London School of Economics and works in the wireless space. Earlier, he had led three companies and one of them (AePONA) was sold to Intel. <keyword id="1956519" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Revanth-Mittapalli">Revanth Mittapalli</keyword> is the <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> head with focus on digital marketing and four years of industry experience. The start-up has headquarters in <keyword id="6354552" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="hyderabad">Hyderabad</keyword> and <keyword id="6355838" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="New-York">New York</keyword>. 
 
What inspired the venture: The three co-founders came up with the concept to help mobile-first Internet users discover interesting and relevant content. “While talking to our partners in India for another project, we suddenly realised how an entire generation of people across the world, hundreds of millions of them, are accessing the Internet via mobile devices and many of them are doing it for the first time,” recalls Revanth. The trio felt that a mobile-ready way to connect content, brands and consumers would be the key requirement of every business. That’s how Paisa Swipe was born – it is the <keyword id="1956538" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mobile-content-discovery-network">mobile content discovery network</keyword> for the mobile-first generation. The company was set up in May 2013 and its Android app became functional on October 15. 
 
What’s the pitch: India’s No.1 mobile lock screen ad/content discovery network. It’s time to ditch that boring old lock screen for a smarter one. One that pays you! Paisa Swipe connects brands and <keyword id="63341" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Advertisers">advertisers</keyword> directly to consumers across the world. The start-up enables consumers to find products, applications and daily deals they are interested in – controlled totally by them. 
 
How it works: For upfront users, it is quite simple. Once the app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paisaswipe.android) is installed on your mobile device (it has to be a <keyword id="1956545" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Touchscreen-android-device">touchscreen android device</keyword>, with V 2.1 or higher), you need to log in and customise your profile by providing more information regarding your interest areas. Paisa Swipe then takes over the lock screen and every time you wake up your phone, you will see a customised and curated piece of ad content. The topic will vary depending on your interests – it can be a Bollywood/Hollywood trailer, news updates, fashion trends, entertainment bytes, real-time local deals and more. 
 
If you like the content, simply ‘swipe’ to learn more and Paisa Swipe advertisers will reward you. As of now, each member gets up to 60 paise per day per ad display, and the upper limit for monthly earning is Rs 300. When you reach the ‘encashment’ point, you can use the amount to cash out at Freecharge.in, which offers recharge services for mobile, DTH and data cards. If you refer your friends to download the app, you may also win referral prizes. Moreover, you can get free prizes, buy products and get cashback on those, and give donation to charity with the money you earn from Paisa Swipe. 
 
Claim to fame: The app is just a month old and the traction had been slow at first. But it seems to be picking up now. Last we checked, total <keyword id="6795187" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="downloads">downloads</keyword> at <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> Play stood at 11,000 and the rating was 4.3 out of 5. But according to Revanth, the app is currently seeing 1,000 downloads a day, has crossed 4 million ad impressions and is witnessing at least 100,000 ad impressions per day. The other ‘plus’ is users get <keyword id="1956527" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Curated-ad-content">curated ad content</keyword>, depending on their interests. The ‘relevance’, the ‘control’ (one can choose not to ‘swipe’ the ads) and the ‘reward’ parts are the unique triggers that will further drive mobile marketing, says Revanth. 
 
Show me the money: The start-up is currently bootstrapped and its monetisation happens through <keyword id="1049940" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ad-revenues">ad revenues</keyword>. Paisa Swipe has already signed deals with a few companies such as Yepme.com, Snapdeal.com, YellowFashion.in and Mydala.com. “We are now working hard to get more <keyword id="1956550" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Local-advertisers">local advertisers</keyword> and <keyword id="1956552" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Big-Indian-brands">big Indian brands</keyword> on board,” says Revanth. “Once that is done and we gain significant traction in terms of downloads, we will approach investors. But that will take at least a year or so,” he adds. Growth will be faster when the app is available on other platforms (iOS and Windows), according to the co-founders. The company will also expand to five more countries in the next quarter in order to grow its user base. 
 
Biggest challenge: Finding the right kind of <keyword id="1956555" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Consumer-engagement">consumer engagement</keyword> to keep them viewing the advertisements. <keyword id="564900" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mobile-advertising">Mobile advertising</keyword> is growing at fabulous pace – so keeping things interesting and relevant for a fast-growing user base is the biggest challenge for all mobile ad networks.

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