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<ul><li>What goes around comes around, especially when it comes to fashion and clothing.</li><li>According to PwC and Assocham, landfills are brimming with so much urban waste that by 2050, India is reportedly going to need a landfill that's the size of its capital New Delhi.</li><li>Before World Environment Day, we talk to Myntra about its new e-store, <keyword id="11376339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="myntra-for-earth">Myntra for Earth</keyword>, that is targeting environment-conscious shoppers and aiming to focus more on sustainability as it moves forward.</li><li>Ayyappan Rajagopal, Chief Business Officer, Myntra tells us about the kind of response Myntra for Earth has seen so far, what kind of sustainable choices do consumers have, changing fashion trends in the future and Myntra for Earth’s goals for this quarter.</li></ul>The future of fashion is upcycling, recycling and sustainable clothing. Brands in India have already started taking baby steps towards converting fashion into a sustainable choice for consumers. More and more consumers are becoming aware of their fashion choices and realising that a worn-out piece of cloth they decide to throw, even as simple as a plain t-shirt, never really goes ‘away.’ It all ends up in a landfill. According to an Assocham and PwC report, landfills are brimming with so much urban waste that by 2050, India is reportedly going to need a landfill that's the size of its capital, New Delhi. At the same time, fast fashion is becoming a trend, which offers consumers the opportunity to buy more clothes at a lower price and that has taken a toll on the environment. It offers consumers an option to swiftly discard their clothes and buy new ‘trendy’ dresses. Consumers and brands aren’t ignoring these horrifying numbers anymore. This World Environment Day, many fashion brands have sworn to make a difference and be cognizant of the harmful effects their products can have on the environment. E-commerce giant Myntra has also stepped up. It has officially launched a sustainable e-store called ‘Myntra for Earth’ that only features eco-friendly fashion choices for all genders and age groups. It has already onboarded 70 leading fashion and lifestyle brands over the last 6 months to offer over 5500 styles to customers on its sustainable store. The store includes handloom and handcrafted, organic, natural-dyed, recyclable and eco-friendly, vegan, and cruelty-free options. The products ordered through this store are delivered in packets made from 100% recycled paper. It is now working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment. We caught up with Ayyappan Rajagopal, Chief Business Officer, Myntra to discuss the challenges of launching a new e-store during a global pandemic, its sustainability roadmap, a few trends that we can expect to see in sustainable fashion and platform’s goals to grow the store this quarter. Excerpts: Q. Tell us more about the 'Myntra for Earth’ store. When was it launched? What kind of response have you seen from the consumers? Launched in October 2020, "Myntra for Earth" is Myntra's sustainable store showcasing a more conscious choice to fashion and lifestyle shoppers. About 70 leading fashion and lifestyle brands have partnered with Myntra over the last 6 months to offer over 5500 styles to customers on its sustainable store. The store offers an immersive and engaging shopping experience for truly ‘sustainability-inclined’ conscious shoppers. As of now, we have seen increased growth in store visits and an uptick in revenue since its launch. The specially-curated store recognises the fashion industry’s sustainability efforts and also aims at augmenting the income opportunities of artisans and NGOs involved. Since its launch, Myntra For Earth store has received a phenomenal response. We are working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment. Q. How are you planning to market this store? Is there a larger campaign-in-the-making to raise awareness? Currently, we are focussing on having the right assortment of brands and products for the consumers in the store as the topmost priority. We have already received phenomenal response from consumers for the products of the store. Nearly 62% of the visitors to the ‘Myntra For Earth’ store are women, with metro cities contributing about 40% of the overall visits to the store. People of all age groups are seemingly conscious about their fashion choices and their impact on the environment in varying degrees. However, those in the age group of 21 to 35 are contributing the highest to the growth of the ‘Myntra For Earth’ store. Q. You have 70 brand partners on Myntra For Earth already. Can you mention a few names? Which are the most loved brands so far? Key names among many include H&amp;M, Mango, Unnati Silks, Bharatsthali, Pothys, Metro Kids Company, Kama Ayurveda, Forest Essentials and Fab India among others. <keyword id="2712840" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Myntra-Fashion">Myntra Fashion</keyword> Brands featured on the platform for their conscious collection include Taavi, Roadster and Ether. Q. So far, we have only seen a few start-ups that are completely sustainable. Are Indian legacy brands following suit? The MFE store has a combination of both home-grown brands like Taavi, Taniera and global brands like Levi, Mango &amp; H&amp;M that give importance to sustainability. Most of the legacy brands have a dedicated charter of well-defined goals on sustainability to educate consumers on organic fashion. Q. Is the packaging for Myntra Earth products different from others? Considering it aims to have a minimal effect on the environment? The majority of the orders are delivered using paper packaging at Myntra. We are gradually moving towards a complete eco-friendly paper for delivery purposes.

Myntra for Earth is working towards scaling the number of brands in the store to ~2X by the upcoming quarter while adding another 4000 styles to the existing assortment: Ayyappan Rajagopal of Myntra

<ul><li>Ahead of its big fashion festival sale, Myntra scales up its collection for teenagers to cover 30,000 styles.</li><li>The teens segment on Myntra has been growing at a CAGR of nearly 150% in the last two years.</li></ul>With the big fashion festival sale around the corner, Myntra is expanding its product portfolio for climate-conscious and fashionable teenagers. It has added Wrogn and <keyword id="14923169" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="dressberry-teens" source="Orion">Dressberry teens</keyword> to its portfolio and will display more than 30,000 styles for teens. To appeal to this target audience, the collection will focus on self-expression, individuality and conscious choices, Myntra said. The teens category has registered a compounded annual growth rate of almost 150% in the last two years on Myntra. Teens Store on Myntra houses a one-of-a-kind, dedicated shopping alley for teenagers, aimed towards filling gaps and addressing specific needs of the shoppers in this segment, the press release said. “With today’s young consumers being conscious of the role that fashion plays in their life and reflective of who they stand for, the Wrogn and Dressberry teens line will further enable our fashion-forward teen cohort to have access to the trendy and conscious selection,” Jubi Samuel, senior director - category management at Myntra, told Business Insider India. Dressberry Teens will offer over 190 trend-first options for teenage girls, with 50% of the range being sustainable and environmentally friendly. <keyword id="14923170" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="wrogn-teens" source="Orion">Wrogn Teens</keyword>, on the other hand, caters to 7 to 14-year-old teenage boys on the platform. Its selection will be ramped up to over 300 styles in the t-shirts, shirts and jeans category, ahead of the festive season. Flipkart’s Myntra leads the fashion industry According to a recent Bernstein report, ecommerce platforms Flipkart and Myntra are estimated to be the dominant players in fashion with around 60% share. Close second comes Ajio, which is a part of Reliance Retail and is growing strongly with around 15% market share. The report by the wealth management firm expects the overall e-commerce market in India to grow at an annual rate of 30% to reach $130 billion by 2025. Within e-commerce, fashion saw the strongest growth in 2021, occupying 29% of the overall market. “Growth is expected to be led by new online shoppers - primarily from tier 2 and tier 3 cities - and continued online migration of key categories including fashion and grocery,” the report said.

Myntra expands offerings for climate-conscious teenagers with Wrogn and Dressberry Teens

<ul><li>British cosmetics brand The <keyword id="13496722" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="body-shop" source="Orion">Body Shop</keyword> has had a presence in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> for over 16 years now and it looks at India as a critical market.</li><li>We talk to <keyword id="812268" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="vishal-chaturvedi" source="Orion">Vishal Chaturvedi</keyword>, Vice President, The <keyword id="6362988" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="body" source="Orion">Body</keyword> Shop India who walks us through the brand's journey in India so far, its strategies that have helped it grow here and its plans for the future.</li></ul> Over the last few years, and especially in the last 2 years of the pandemic, there has been a change in the beauty industry. Despite the setback due to the pandemic, the beauty industry is going back towards normalcy. Attractive social media marketing, beauty influencers and e-commerce platforms have brought brands closer to consumers. While 2 years back, most of us would not be comfortable buying cosmetics online, the pandemic changed that, and it will help the larger market in the long-run. Another change the pandemic brought about in the minds of consumers is a move towards using brands that use more natural ingredients in their products. Consumers are also choosing to opt for brands that have a larger brand purpose. British-born, ethical cosmetics company The Body Shop has been in India for the past 16 years. It was one of the early brands that attracted consumers due to its range of naturally-inspired cosmetics and toiletry products. For years, the brand has been pioneering the philosophy that business can be a force for good, and has been launching new standards of ethics in business. In the past few years, the brand has seen healthy growth in India. While its presence on ecommerce platforms like Nykaa and now on Myntra and Amazon helped it take its products closer to its consumers, it also adopted strategies like 60 minute door-to-door delivery and WhatsApp shopping to cater to mass customers. To understand the brand’s journey in India more closely, we spoke to Vishal Chaturvedi, Vice President, The Body Shop India. He told us how the brand has fared in India in the last 16 years, its strategies that have helped it grow here and its plans for the future. Excepts: Q) Walk us through The Body Shop's journey in India. It's been 16 years since the brand entered the Indian market. How have things been? Over the years, the beauty industry has changed a lot, especially in last two years. Beauty is now breaking standard norms and redefining it as an approach to self-expression. encouraging more about ‘How you feel’ in your skin and hence breaking standard beauty norms. There is a rapid rise of beauty technology, product innovations &amp; modes of selling. It’s also noteworthy that the millennials &amp; Gen-Z are driving the change. Digital transformation and emergence of technology has driven reach and penetration. Physical retail stores continue to be the heart of consumer experience, sensorial experience, education and trust operated by human connection. Our omni-channel strategy has helped address the new emerging scenarios to address customer queries and reach them at their convenient channel. Further, consumers are actively seeking product knowledge, source of ingredients, packaging details and identifying with the brand’s core purpose. Issues related to sustainability, inclusivity, adaptability, empathy and relevance are evaluated while making purchase decisions. At the Body Shop, we have targeted focus with a robust omni-channel strategy including an overall digital and offline presence. Bringing touch-and-feel of products to digital portals and experiential stores with technology will be the beacons for the future. Further, it’s our quest to advocate for Profit with Principles while being accessible and affordable. In these times of great social and environmental inequity, we believe that our purpose has ability to bring change. Q) What has The Body Shop's marketing strategy in India been? The beauty segment has become very cluttered in the last few years. How has the brand made a place for itself in the clutter? The Body Shop is a disruptive beauty brand with an edge in the Indian market. We have constantly researched &amp; provided for the changing market trends while keeping the customer at the forefront and helping the planet. Community Programs: Our commitment to be a purpose-driven business has kept grounded to our activist roots. There is credible work done around plastics, tackling waste, packaging &amp; sustainability. World’s first community fair trade program is the core of our DNA for over 40 years. Similarly, we have worked on social activism raising the voice of less privileged communities and dealt with environmental impacts of plastic waste effectively. Communication Channels: In current times, the lines are blurring between digital &amp; physical. Beauty shopping is not restricted to one and in fact, the integration of two is a must to cater audience needs. We have focused our energies on servicing our consumers swiftly as well as digitally enabling our site to deliver an experience at par to that of our stores. Other steps include free samples of consumers’ choice on every order; Live Chats with personal skincare experts and AI driven product recommendations. Collaborations: Evidently, influencer collaborations enhance the content engagement. It also gives a window to reach audiences in varied demographics&amp; geographies. Our Chief Brand Advocate, Sanya Malhotra is self-made, independent, outspoken personality with very strong cinematic choices truly inspiring the young women of the country. She also leads The Body Shop’s SWAD (Squad with a difference) with faces from different backgrounds who come together and fuel our fight for fairer, beautiful world. Third Party Channels: Our collaboration with Nykaa for the past 8 years has proved to work wonders. And now with Amazon and Myntra we’ve made our way to even the remotest corners of the country. After the pandemic, to cater to mass customers, we started door-to-door delivery in 60 minutes and launched WhatsApp shopping. All these initiatives are working in our favor to place ourselves in the cluttered market. Q) The pandemic has thrown a lot of challenges to retail brands across the globe. How did you navigate these challenging times? The pandemic has been a period of learning for the brand. It gave us the time and chance to carefully evaluate consumer behaviour and outlook in order to plan strategically for the future. We were able to understand our customer’s needs better. We have learned to be agile and nimble. Despite the economic magnitude of the lockdown, the beauty industry may have proven to be reasonably resilient with the new emerging normal. In the past two years of the new-normal, the consumers adapted to new channels and wellness routines. Personal hygiene and beauty trends had an uptick because people spent more time on themselves. The increased awareness around beauty and self-care presented the brand with a great niche and campaigns like 'Self Care Sunday' or 'Spa at Home' were very well received by the audience. We also revamped our digital presence by building a consumer-friendly digital store that is complete with cutting-edge technology and a user-first interface. In an attempt to reach customers, we expanded our social media presence with tools to assist hands-on product experience. Digital and social channels have been at the forefront of consumer engagement Anytime, Anywhere shopping service for customers, via Social commerce, WhatsApp Shopping, Assisted Sales, Home delivery, going beyond Express Delivery to 2 hours’ delivery, Expert Chats, Live video consultations and so on. Technology played a vital role in navigating through these times by helping our customers make the right decision in absence of product touch &amp; feel experience. As a result, we are now catering an addition of 5000+ pin codes, we’re now serving over 30,000 pin codes across the country. Q) How are you expanding your retail presence? What are your plans for this year? Post pandemic the dynamics have changed. Large parts of our customers have moved towards online shopping but retail stores are the heart and soul of our brand. With things now opening up again, we are geared up to provide an even better shopping experience to our customers. The need for human connection is now stronger than before and the consumers will look for sensorial experience, physical interaction, engagement, touch &amp; feel of the products and seek personalized consultation at the stores. With this vision, we are moving ahead to open 25 new stores in 2022 in various locations. Our future plans include bringing the activism in the very heart of the brand, that is retail stores. We are excited to launch the new Activist Workshop stores where customers c<a name="_GoBack"></a>an explore and discover how they ‘can fight for a fairer and more beautiful world’. On the product front, we aim to turn completely Vegan by 2023. Additionally, we are constantly focused on making our product packaging 100% recyclable thus reducing our environmental impact. Q) How are you going deeper into the country? What kind of sales are you witnessing from smaller cities? Are you also focusing more on increasing your offline presence in Tier II and Tier III cities? Rising awareness amongst consumers, increased incomes coupled with explosion in the presence of digital platforms the demand from Tier II &amp; III cities has increased manifolds. Customers believe in buying less but buying quality. The appetite to spend in these smaller cities is increasing and customers are becoming more conscious about what to use for their skin and body. Additionally, post pandemic, a great chunk of people have shifted back to their hometowns from metro areas. However, they are still looking for their favourites for personal use. Keeping up with the need of our customers we have a robust plan of opening 25 new stores in FY 2022. 70% of these stores will be opened in other Tier II cities like Indore, Bhopal, Patna and Shimla. Q)Over the past few years, there has been a movement towards cruelty-free products. How has this helped you build your brand narrative? Since its inception in 1976, The Body Shop is a cruelty free brand. We believe and fought the cause that animals should not be used for cosmetic testing. Therefore, all the ingredients are ethically sourced and have never been tested on any animal. The Body Shop passionately believes that no animal should be harmed in the name of cosmetics and that animal testing on products and ingredients is outdated, cruel and unnecessary. This is why The Body Shop and Cruelty Free International partnered to deliver the largest and most ambitious campaign ever to seek a global ban on the use of animals to test cosmetic products and ingredients. In June 2017, The Body shop India launched itsForever Against Animal Testingcampaign with Cruelty Free International and became the first international beauty brand to campaign against animal testing in cosmetics globally. Additionally, all our products are 100% Vegetarian and over 60% of our products are 100% Vegan. This includes best-selling ranges such as the Tea Tree skincare range, Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask, Body Yogurts and now the iconic Body Butters launched in November 2021. All our new launches are 100% Vegan. Our new haircare range is certified by The VEGAN society and packaged with fully recycled plastics The Vegan Society takes an extremely thorough approach to certification and contact is made with every supplier and manufacturer of raw materials within the product catalogue. For The Body Shop, that’s over 3,700 raw materials. Once each raw material has been meticulously investigated, each product is reviewed in totality to make sure it is fully compliant. Only then does a product receive Vegan Trademark certification. We are working toward 100% of all Products becoming Vegan by 2023 keeping in line with our commitment to reduce impact on planet. The Body Shop is one the first cosmetics brands to prohibit testing on animals, and also the first company to introduce Fair Trade to the beauty industry. Our customers appreciate the environmental friendliness &amp; social stand of the company and identify with The Body Shop in consequence. Q) What gives you an edge over other brands in the segment? We are not just a brand but a legacy. Years before The Body Shop opened its 1st store in India, The Body Shop International has had a long commitment to India and its communities. <keyword id="2755263" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="anita-roddick" source="Orion">Anita Roddick</keyword> had a connection to and faith in India. We were way ahead of many of our competitors today, to enter and make a mark in the market. With our constant efforts, we are able to sustain that relationship with our customers. We believe in assisting them in the best possible ways by understanding their needs and providing them with products that are economical and can be used guilt-free. Q) You say the brand remains staunchly feminist, one that advocates for the right of women and girls everywhere. Can you give me a few examples of the things you have done in this regard in India? In sync with the vision of our founder, The Body Shop champions equality and serves as a voice for young girls and women across the globe. We’re committed to advocate for equal rights, self-love and body acceptance as few of many social causes we fight for. Through our activism, we campaign to make the world a fair and safe place for women and girls. ●In March 2021, we started a mission to end period shame in collaboration with CRY. #DropthePword aimed at raising awareness about Periods, Period Shame, and the impact of Period Shame on India's girls &amp; women. Through this partnership, we aimed to normalize the conversation around periods and raise funds towards menstrual health and education efforts for communicating deeply affected by the pandemic. We aimed to provide menstrual health awareness, education, and free menstrual products to 10,000+ people across 4500 households. ●In October 2020, The Body Shop India partnered with Plastics for Change (PFC) India Foundation to launch project N.A.R.I (Nutrition, Ability, Retraining, Inclusion).The objective of this project was to support female empowerment and sustainability with our focus on female waste pickers, who were the invisible frontline Covid19 warriors. We have raised funds to support these women by voluntary customer donations and an equal amount was donated by us. ●With Stop Sex Trafficking of Women and Young Children, we engaged with our customers, friends, and family across the globe, we have raised awareness and funds. We were elated when India ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime including Prevention and Punishment of Trafficking, particularly Women and Children. Q) Going ahead, what will your areas of focus be to capture a bigger market share in India? How important is the Indian market for the brand in the global scheme of things? India is a country of diverse people and that is its biggest strength. We have a great diversity of faces, skin tones, beauty regimes, rituals, preferences, and regional beauty traditions, which is a unique opportunity for us. They are also well aware about the ingredients, heavily relying on digital and social media platforms and growing consumption of do-it-yourself (DIY) content. Affordability is key for the customers while demanding high levels of product innovations. As a result, we are investing in video content and reinforce it with a good-quality website. Also, we plan to leverage technology to mimic offline experiences. We use more plant-based and recycled plastic which encourages people to reuse, recycle and repurpose. Our long-term goal is to create a circular packaging strategy, which involves recycling or repurposing all of our product packaging. The customers are being transparently educated about ingredients, packaging and sustainability efforts via Omni channel strategy. Our competitive pricing strategy for India is part of an ambitious plan to expand its reach to more people and smaller cities in quick time. This makes us more affordable and more accessible amongst the millennials across the Tier II and III cities.

Here’s how The Body Shop navigated the pandemic and is growing its business in India

What <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> does today, the rest must follow, it seems. Or at least <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>.com, the poster boy of <keyword id="1705292" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-e-commerce">Indian e-commerce</keyword>, thinks so. Only a week ago, Amazon.in launched its guaranteed <keyword id="1972238" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="One-day-delivery-service-in-India">one-day delivery service in India</keyword> for an additional charge of Rs 99 per order. But currently, the new service is available only in select cities. The <keyword id="801442" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-commerce-giant">e-commerce giant</keyword> also offers an assured <keyword id="1972249" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Two-day-delivery">two-day delivery</keyword> for Rs 79 per order but for a limited period, this option is available at Rs 49 per order. 
 Keeping the holiday season in mind (and therefore, the need for <keyword id="1972252" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Express-delivery">express delivery</keyword> as most people buy late and want it delivered fast), that’s definitely a huge initiative to enhance <keyword id="1766716" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="customer-engagement">customer engagement</keyword>. So it was not surprising when Flipkart came up with the same kind of offering a couple of days ago, which it calls <keyword id="1972262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="In-a-day-Guarantee">In-a-day Guarantee</keyword>. But will that kick off a huge <keyword id="1972233" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Logistics-war">logistics war</keyword> in the long run? Before we get into that part, let us have a look at what Flipkart is offering. 
 
Things look quite simple when you are shopping at Flipkart and want to avail the guaranteed delivery service. Just place your order by 6 pm and pay Rs 90 more per order to get an assured next-day delivery. As of now, the service is available in 7 cities – Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. 
 However, Flipkart’s In-a-day Guarantee is only available for products sold by <keyword id="1556044" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="WS-retail">WS Retail</keyword>. If a product is not delivered within the stipulated time, the amount charged for shipping is refunded to the buyer’s <keyword id="1972269" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart-Wallet">Flipkart Wallet</keyword>. One can see the expected <keyword id="1716610" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="delivery-date">delivery date</keyword> at the time of placing the order. 
 For a delayed cash-on-delivery (COD) order, the <keyword id="1972293" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Delivery-charge">delivery charge</keyword> will be collected as part of the order, but will be automatically refunded to one’s Wallet within 24 hours. 
 “Our <keyword id="1972286" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Money-back-guarantee">money-back guarantee</keyword> has got you covered in case our <keyword id="1972288" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Courier-partner">courier partner</keyword> is unable to initiate the In-a-day Guarantee delivery within the promised date. We will refund your delivery charge within 24 hours. We will also remit twice that amount to your Wallet for future purchases on Flipkart. This amount is non-refundable,” the website says. 
 In a release, Flipkart’s senior vice-president (marketing) <keyword id="843670" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ravi-Vora">Ravi Vora</keyword> said that the company already has a lot of customers requesting urgent deliveries. “But given the large volumes that we handle, it wasn’t feasible to address them on a case-to-case basis. We have now built the capability into our supply chain and can now offer it as a guaranteed feature.” 
 
What it means in the long run: More <keyword id="1550883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="cash-burn">cash burn</keyword>? For one, it means tougher competition for all <keyword id="1153782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-commerce-businesses">e-commerce businesses</keyword> in terms of delivery and customer engagement – a veritable <keyword id="108235" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="logistics">logistics</keyword> war. And that poses an extremely crucial question – will e-commerce firms across India find it necessary to build <keyword id="1972294" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="In-house-logistics">in-house logistics</keyword> or pan-India supply chains, and burn a lot more cash in the process? Or will they tie up with last-mile delivery-warehousing solutions providers like Delhivery.com (or big logistics firms) in a bid to contain costs? Both options will play a crucial role in an e-com venture’s lifecycle. 
 Building a large and efficient logistics infrastructure equal to Amazon will certainly result into a lot of cash-burning – an option most of the firms would want to avoid, at least till the time they break even and have a sustainable business model in place. Things are different for Flipkart, though, as it is the most heavily funded e-commerce business in India and has raised around $360 million in the recently concluded fifth round – the single largest amount to be raised by any Indian internet firm. The last round took the total <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> to over $540 million for the company and its valuation reportedly stands at $1.6 billion, post money. But even then, the company has not been able to come up with any clear-cut USP that makes it stand apart from close competitors like <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword>, <keyword id="6388367" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jabong">Jabong</keyword> or <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>. 
 On the other hand, Myntra, arguably <keyword id="1972321" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indias-largest-standalone-fashion-e-tailer">India’s largest standalone fashion e-tailer</keyword>, could be quietly building up a <keyword id="730831" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="cash-pile">cash pile</keyword> as Tech czar <keyword id="6419840" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Azim-Premji">Azim Premji</keyword>’s family office, PremjiInvest, is reportedly in talks to lead a $50 million round. Premji’s entry clearly marks the growing interest of <keyword id="1972322" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bulge-bracket-Indian-investors">bulge bracket Indian investors</keyword> into the <keyword id="1972323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Domestic-e-commerce">domestic e-commerce</keyword> market and the subsequent competition in terms of <keyword id="1972335" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Customer-acquisition">customer acquisition</keyword> and engagement. 
 Interestingly, Jabong holds a double edge in this field. Its global promoter, Germany-based <keyword id="1965711" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rocket-Internet-GmbH">Rocket Internet GmbH</keyword> (run by the Samwer brothers), is deep-pocketed and burning cash has not been an issue till date. But more importantly, it has been providing third-party logistics services for some time now and already knows about the secret sauce. 
 Snapdeal is not lagging behind either. It has already launched value-added tools such as <keyword id="1972338" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="SafeShip">SafeShip</keyword> and <keyword id="1972339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="TrustPay">TrustPay</keyword> to ensure rapid order fulfilment and <keyword id="1972257" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Speedy-delivery">speedy delivery</keyword>. So we won’t be surprised if it turns out to be the next company to jump onto the ‘<keyword id="1969736" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="one-day-delivery">one-day delivery</keyword>’ bandwagon. Just like Flipkart, funding should not be a problem here as the Japanese Internet major <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword>, eBay and a clutch of <keyword id="34499" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="private-equity">private equity</keyword> investors are looking to pump in $150-200 million of fresh funds into the domestic online marketplace, according to a Times of India report. 
 “Burning cash for scaling up is essential for e-commerce firms to survive and Indian companies are only on the threshold,” said <keyword id="1981" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rahul-Khanna">Rahul Khanna</keyword>, managing director of <keyword id="218907" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Canaan-Partners-India">Canaan Partners India</keyword> in an earlier interaction. “But thankfully, most companies have realised by now that it’s a cash-intensive business and are doing what is required,” he observed. Going by that, e-com firms will require the kind of money they are raising now – to remain operational and profitable. 
 
Will logistics tie-ups work out? Most e-commerce companies in India heavily depend on <keyword id="1972254" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Logistics-partners">logistics partners</keyword> and outsource the <keyword id="1972327" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Delivery-operations">delivery operations</keyword> instead of investing in a huge supply chain spread over the country. According to industry experts, it is difficult for <keyword id="1073727" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-tailers">e-tailers</keyword> to handle logistics as an add-on since it requires a certain kind of bandwidth. That’s why even big e-tailers like Myntra or Snapdeal are not focusing on in-house logistics infrastructure right now. 
 Consequently, <keyword id="1474532" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="logistics-companies">logistics companies</keyword> have got a huge fillip. Although the new e-tailing segment had very little contribution to their top lines two years ago, it accounts for a huge chunk of money flowing in. As a result, key players like <keyword id="138522" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gati">Gati</keyword>, <keyword id="6359949" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Blue-Dart">Blue Dart</keyword> Express and <keyword id="3966267" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="DTDC">DTDC</keyword> are now going deeper into the country, focusing on tier II and tier III cities and the rural landscape. 
 “One of the weakest links in the e-tailing industry is the last mile of <keyword id="1972328" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Delivery-chain">delivery chain</keyword>. So <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> by the <keyword id="628157" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="logistics-industry">logistics industry</keyword> are expected to grow 3-4 times in the next five years,” Ashvin Vellody, partner at <keyword id="50041" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="KPMG">KPMG</keyword> told The Economic Times. 
 The <keyword id="1972331" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Organised-logistics-sector">organised logistics sector</keyword> is likely to <keyword id="47916" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="invest">invest</keyword> at least Rs 500 crore in the next five years and revenues for logistics companies from e-tailing alone are estimated to grow 70 times to $2.6 billion by 2020, according to KPMG. 
 
That is, indeed, a win-win situation for both the segments and especially benefits the e-commerce firms yet to enter the big league. However, the majority of the e-com businesses in India will have to look sharp and find their niche in the coming months if they want to take on the local and the global behemoths in real earnest. 
 
Image: Times of India

Flipkart
Does An Amazon, Offers One-day Delivery; Will It Trigger A Logistics War?

A glimpse at your smartphone today will tell you just how many subscription-based services have pervaded our lives. Be it booking a cab, shopping, ordering food or <keyword id="15646244" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="booking-a-table" source="Orion">booking a table</keyword> at a restaurant, there’s always an app for that. But at some point subscription fatigue has to become a real phenomenon right? This is where <keyword id="7391793" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="times-prime" source="Orion">Times Prime</keyword>, the super App from Times Internet, comes into play. Rapidly rising as one of the most preferred <keyword id="15482" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lifestyle" source="Orion">lifestyle</keyword> super-apps, Times Prime, offers an extensive range of benefits on a single platform, from shopping to entertainment and lifestyle, brands like Starbucks, Myntra, Uber, Disney+ Hotstar, SonyLIV, Google One, and many more. The idea is simple — instead of paying for different subscription services, pay for one -- and you can access all of these at once. Celebrating Times Prime’s success In line with digital transaction industry trends, about 70% of the Times Prime app's MAUs are male users, while the rest are female. <div type="image" title="The Gourmet Table Mumbai" msid="95846724" hostid="261" sizebytes="1711755"></div>Times Prime members can access multiple apps and services with just one subscription thus delivering great ROI for members, without compromising on their experiences – precisely the reason why Times Prime has witnessed an exponential growth of 300% over the last 3 years.. According to Harshita Singh, Business Head, Times Prime, over 20,000 brand benefits are unlocked on the app daily with weekends seeing further spikes. The member base spans 18 Indian cities, with UPI (48%) being the primary mode of payment followed by credit cards (21%) and then wallets. “To sustain this growth momentum, we will continue to launch exciting benefits and experiences that are valued by the transacting digital natives in the country. We also want to continually upgrade the app experience to better showcase the new categories and to enable discovery of the range of benefits” Singh told Business Insider India in an interview. She added that while Times Prime’s users come primarily from metro cities in India, the app has been seeing increasing demand from all regions. Over-the-top (OTT) and news content are consumed often, along with services like booking cabs, restaurants, grooming and events. “When we were initially trying to get brands to buy into this concept it was hard! But there is a flywheel that exists in bundles- good brands attract more good brands. We also deliver immense value to our partners - scale, user quality, transactions, and that's why they choose to be a part of Times Prime year on year,” she said. New categories, special benefits The company is also planning to introduce new categories and add special benefits for subscribers, including top restaurants in India. A number of other OTT brands are also expected to be added, along with kids' brands, fashion, lifestyle, travel and other services. Singh said that the app was originally created with digital natives in mind, but has since progressed to high frequency use cases, even if they aren’t digital. “Currently we have a strong presence in the Online-To-Offline (OTO) space as some of Times Prime benefits and experience can only be enjoyed offline. One good example can be our Grooming &amp; Wellbeing benefits. Similar to this, our members book curated Times Prime experiences &amp; events like Purple Carpet, The Gourmet Table, History &amp; Food Walks, Photography walks, offers on tea &amp; coffee and mixology sessions on the platform to enjoy them at some of the top venues with other members. We are seeing a strong demand for this category and have a number of exclusive properties in the pipeline,” she added. The subscription business isn’t the company’s only revenue model either. “The beauty of a subscription offering is that people pay you for their own loyalty. As a platform that gives us a lot of leverage to be a launchpad for new subscriptions, D2C offerings, ticketed events, thus resulting in monetisation opportunities beyond the subscription paywall,” said Singh. Further, Singh noted that with performance marketing getting more expensive to scale now, brands can take advantage of platforms like Times Prime. Super apps like these can deliver access to a larger audience at the same time, increasing short term returns on investment and widen the reach. Disclaimer: Times Prime is part of Times Internet Limited and Business Insider is a part of Times Bridge, a company of Times Internet Limited.

Times Prime: A new gamut of elevating lifestyle for India’s youth

<ul><li>As the Big Boys of online commerce allocate more real estate to beauty and personal care on their platforms, Nykaa is set to face the heat of competition. </li><li>A new HDFC Securities report says that Nykaa is not a platform at all, as its non-linear sources of income remain limited. </li><li>Fashion business continues to be a drag for the hybrid retailer with Q2 being a complete washout despite festive cheer. </li></ul>The public listing of Nykaa, the popular online beauty and personal care retailer, may have made its founder Falguni Nayar the poster girl of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/nykaas-falguni-nayar-takes-over-kiran-mazumdar-shaw-as-the-richest-self-made-indian-woman/articleshow/93158649.cms">several billionaire lists</a>, but less than a year after its listing, investors are raising red flags on its model. Several new-age tech-driven businesses tapped public markets last year with very fancy valuations, as platform businesses have nonlinear growth paths and are, therefore, disruptive. The market is now questioning the very platform status of Nykaa. HDFC Securities has termed Nykaa as an efficient online pipeline rather than a platform. Nykaa was among the first to retail beauty products online in India, where physical distribution is a huge challenge. A platform business tends to solve such bottlenecks and they also have the ability to layer on multiple revenue streams at very little incremental cost. Analysts now are of the view that the hybrid retailer will not only face competitive intensity but also have to fight for nonlinear income sources like advertising with bigger giants like AJIO, Tata Cliq Palette and Myntra. Nykaa will have to take on the Big Boys with deep pockets if it wants to remain relevant to its core customer cohort. Not surprising then that in the last one year, shares of FSN E-commerce Ventures (Nykaa’s parent) are down 50.1% from listing day, making the company announce 5:1 bonus shares. Despite the lure of more shares, market experts have warned investors not to rush to buy the stock ahead of the record date for the bonus issue. Q2 earnings did little to allay fears The company’s financials for the quarter ended September have done little to allay these concerns, with a mere 3.6% growth in net profit sequent<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/nykaa-stock-climbs-over-5-after-it-reports-5-2-crore-profit-in-q2/articleshow/95229929.cms">ially as its expenses rose.</a> The strongest critique post its Q2 performance came from HDFC Securities, which claims that the company cannot be termed a ‘platform’ due to its pipeline-like business model. While Nykaa continues to be strong in its key vertical – beauty and personal care (BPC) – it is struggling to gain market share in the fashion vertical. A bigger risk is the emerging competition that Nykaa is expected to face from competitors with much deeper pockets. Amazon and Myntra are allocating more real estate to BPC on their platforms and in marketing communications, says JM Financial. Analysts are hoping that there will be a reversal in the profitability of Nykaa fashion vertical. What has also come to haunt Nykaa is the meltdown globally in the valuations of tech businesses. HDFC Securities’ report titled ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, is Nykaa a platform at all’ is the most damning one so far against the beauty and fashion retailer. “Nykaa clocked 50% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over FY19-22; its EBITDAM (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margins) expanded around 250 basis points and it has a linear asset turn profile —all akin to an online pipeline. Unlike platforms, pipelines typically lack the ability to build nonlinear cash flow-accretive revenue streams (except perhaps ad income generated from brands if it’s an online pipe),” said the HDFC report. While platforms have multiple income sources, a pipeline business is an old-style business where inventory is piled at one end and sold at the other. Platforms, the best example of which is YouTube, have multiple monetary sources from both sellers and buyers. “Nykaa has the potential to be a hybrid, but as of now (85% of net sales value or NSV - inventory-led), it shares more characteristics with a busy, efficient, linear online pipeline than a platform,” the HDFC report said. Source: BSE Where are the margins? Nykaa’s growth, its margin expansion and asset profile show signs of a pipeline – and not a platform that can turn extremely powerful at scale once it attains critical mass – and does not warrant ‘platform valuations’. Pipelines in general are a low-margin inventory business and while Nykaa does have advertising income where sellers advertise on it – this income is closely tied to its unit economics. “The BPC (beauty and personal care) segment – Nykaa’s cash cow– while a go-to destination for shopping, is (as of today) heavily reliant on ad/shipping income for its profitability/return ratios” the HDFC report said. “Product EBITDAM is estimated to be just about profitable now (FY22). Of course, this might change as Nykaa scales its own brand portfolio and order density. However, any dip in the ad income could be a negative counter-balancing factor (not factored in),” the report added. Moreover, the unique proposition that Nykaa had in the market is fast vanishing with moneyed competitors entering the market. “We decrease our target multiple to factor the recent corrections in new-age internet companies in backdrop of increasing risk premium. The risks of increased competition from some of the large well-capitalised players (Reliance, ABFRL, Tata etc) is key,” said Dolat Capital. Apart from losing business, the ad revenue of brands might also get distributed between the many emerging players in the business — a key factor affecting Nykaa’s profitability – possibly affecting its journey towards becoming a full-fledged platform. However, HSBC differs in its opinion on Nykaa’s business model. It believes that it’s a rare combination of profitability and sustainable exponential growth and expects its revenue to double every 2-3 years in the coming decade. “Augmenting the core e-commerce operation with a growing pan-India store network,raising structural barriers for others and edging up its game in the consumer experience; building a portfolio of its own skin and beauty brands, and extending its overall proposition for other retailer through eB2B SuperStore by Nykaa. This should make Nykaa’s long-term evolution as not just a platform owner but also a formidable brand owner,” said HSBC. Fashion forward? Nykaa’s venture into the fashion business too has met with many sceptics in the analyst community – also in the light of intense competition. For the second quarter of the year, the gross merchandise value increased for this business by 43% y-o-y, albeit on a low base, while sequentially it was up a marginal 3%, as per the HSBC report. Even as its own brands made their way to 39 multi-brand outlets and 503 general trade outlets, Nykaa also has three of its own stores dedicated to this business. “Management mentioned that they are not pursuing GMV growth for the fashion business, rather they aim to strike a balance between growth and profitability. We adjust our FY23-FY25e estimates post the 2Q FY23 results. We lowered our revenue estimates primarily for the fashion business. We raise our margin assumptions as we expect that the company will be able to control costs given higher efficiencies and operating leverage,” said a report by HSBC. However, its entry into this business can offer it something that BPC lacks – a strong advertising market. The fashion vertical is gaining a significant share of brands’ digital advertising, said a report by JM Financial. “While Nykaa generates 6%+ of GMV in BPC ads income, the same number for fashion is lower than 4% currently, though fashion brands allocate a higher percentage to advertising expenses. If Nykaa does become the go-to platform for online fashion purchases in India, we see significant upside from ads income,” said the JM Financial report. In its journey to become a fashion forward business, Nykaa is hitting the same wall as its BPC segment – intense competition and moreso it also lacks the first-mover advantage that most other established brands already have. Nykaa’s nascent presence in the market also means that it’s yet to bring in the ability to make multi-stream revenue from the fashion business. “In BPC, NSV to revenue from operations is higher due to advertising revenue. In fashion, the difference between NSV to revenue is due to the inventory model where only commission revenue is accounted,” said Dolat Capital. The long-term value accretion of Nykaa depends on its ability to drive value through its own brands, multi-stream revenue and also from the fashion business — that’s currently haemorrhaging money and a difficult and overcrowded market to crack.

Nykaa’s fashion foray and pipeline-style biz model worries analysts

<ul><li>The pandemic and lockdown period has brought many new learnings for all businesses, and e-commerce has undoubtedly been one of the sectors with the biggest takeaways.</li><li>As we enter a new year, we reached out to e-commerce platforms to understand what role it would play in 2022.</li></ul>The e-commerce segment has been witnessing a good growth over the last few years and has been showing no signs of slowing down in India. And why would it? Hasn’t shopping become so much easier now? We can buy anything, from groceries and perfumes to expensive jewellery, from the comfort of our homes. The pandemic further brought fundamental and long-term changes in the way people shop and make their purchase decisions. It has accelerated the industry’s growth in the country as historically offline shoppers also downloaded ecommerce apps onto their phones to shop from within the safety of their four walls. The past year and a half has brought millions of new e-commerce users, including from smaller cities and towns who now are comfortable with buying online. The industry has witnessed an uptick of 77% between 2020 and 2021 and Tier II, III cities are transacting more than ever, said a recent report by Bobble AI. This trend has pushed e-commerce platforms to embrace a wide range of regional brands and local sellers, which offer a compelling value proposition to consumers. With increasing internet penetration, e-commerce players are expecting new growth from Tier II, III and beyond, which will cumulatively contribute to $150 billion of e-commerce as per RedSeer Consulting’s report. The Indian market is expected to surpass the US to become the second-largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034, revealed another <a href="https://www.ibef.org/industry/ecommerce-presentation">report</a>. It is poised to reach US$99 billion by 2024 from US$30 billion in 2019, expanding at a 27% CAGR, with grocery and fashion becoming the key drivers of this incremental growth. As we enter a new year and e-commerce further expands its presence deeper into the country, we speak to a few e-commerce platforms to discuss what lies ahead, where would the second phase of growth come from and trends that would dominate the industry. Here’s what they had to say: <keyword id="1922572" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="manish-taneja" source="Orion">Manish Taneja</keyword>, Founder and CEO <keyword id="1688931" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="purplle-com" source="Orion">Purplle.com</keyword>: The year has witnessed major growth in the beauty ecommerce industry, ushering in the next year with great potential. In 2022, the emergence of virtual reality tools will fuel the industry. Offering virtual beauty experiences that seamlessly merge with an omni-channel approach will be the norm. Over the next year, we at Purplle will invest heavily in technology and data science advancements to further personalize customer experience. Natural, transparent beauty products, effortless shopping with shorter delivery times, data-based product development, and value-driven experiences, are some of the other trends that will emerge in 2022. Bharati Balakrishnan- Country Head and Director, Shopify India: The Indian ecommerce market will continue to evolve in 2022, with D2C brands taking centrestage, driven by growing consumer demand and local brands increasingly making ecommerce a priority. On the one hand, the new shopping habits formed over the past 18 months will become an important factor: consumers have embraced online shopping and are actively choosing small, independent brands. This means that D2C brands are here to stay, and we anticipate the emergence of a new generation of proudly Indian brands across food, fashion and lifestyle. Simultaneously, traditional brands and retailers who dominate offline are evolving to meet the demands of the new consumer - they are building to provide a consistent experience to their consumers across online and offline, and would like to use their own online stores to truly extend their brand promise to existing and new customers. It’s an exciting time to be a consumer brand in India Amit, CEO, <keyword id="9798181" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="olx-autos-india" source="Orion">OLX Autos India</keyword>: Rise of the prosumer: The many faces of personalisation With the majority of buyers now clearly preferring online shopping over the traditional format of in-store purchasing, the new trend is inclined towards the forward-thinking, influential and proactive prosumer. Personalisation of the products according to customers preference will be key in 2022. E-commerce marketers will need to integrate personalizing products through advanced technologies in order to provide tailor made and seamless customer experiences. In a cookie-less world, contextual marketing has reared its head in a big way. Targeting consumers has come of age - from category, to keyword, to semantic contextual targeting, now. Many more trends like crypto payments, and dynamic pricing will grow for pure-play retailers. But it is personalization for the prosumer that will chart the way forward. <keyword id="2227756" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prabhkiran-singh" source="Orion">Prabhkiran Singh</keyword>, Founder CEO, Bewakoof: Live video commerce, Virtual trial rooms (or AR/VR driven fit assists), customized lifestyle products and 3D animated UX interactions are the key trends we expect to disrupt shopping experience in the coming year. Video or content commerce would be largely driven by influencer or user generated content. To drive scalability, there will be multiple SAAS companies launching solutions to simplify handshakes between brands and influencers in content acquisition, ingestion and performance driven payments space. Early movers in the space are Myntra Studio, <keyword id="8861782" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trell" source="Orion">Trell</keyword> and Bewakoof Bshots. With large VC investments going into the Web 3.0 and metaverse space, a lot of the product cataloging problems around accurate sizing or fit assessment would become more trivial. We will see brands launching virtual trial rooms, 3D product shoots and fit assistants to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping experience. 3 out of 10 customers who shop on our platform would like to customize their product design and sizing. We see this as a growing trend that multiple brands will adhere to in the coming year. 3D and animated content will become a UX trend in the consumer internet industry. Animations used to be a hindrance to many designers and developers as they may slow the loading speed of websites or apps and it is data consuming. With 5G scaling up and 4G becoming a norm across the country, designers will chose to use more animations. Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, <keyword id="864887" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pepperfry" source="Orion">Pepperfry</keyword>: ‘MarTech’, which essentially means amalgamation of marketing with technology, is the future of commerce where brands will run marketing in a digital and connected ecosystem to offer an immersive experience to their customers. With the advancement of technology in marketing, consumers are constantly looking for an enhanced buying experience. Thereby meaning, from 2022 onwards we will witness more technology integrated experiences like development of offline Virtual Reality shopping rooms for consumers. Since VR offers an immersive 360-degree perspective, products in virtual design, especially big-ticket items like furniture can be easily a luscious offering for customers who want an interactive experience with the product before making the decision, therefore, simplifying the buyer’s journey. Going forward, I believe, Martech will play a dominant role in the strategic priorities and investments of brands, pushing marketers to embrace digital operations and integrated customer experience. <keyword id="12792513" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shubh-darpan" source="Orion">Shubh Darpan</keyword>, VP- BI &amp; Analytics, Cashify: From the trends we have seen over the past couple of years, we at Cashify believe that the demand for refurbished mobiles is here to stay. It started with the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns when having a mobile became a necessity. Refurbished devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc. were seen to be preferred by the Indian consumer. Mainly because of the economic aspect of it, the refurbished market has seen an upward motion in India. Moreover, with the shortage of chipsets, there have been fewer smartphone launches in recent times. This too has been a factor in pushing consumers towards refurbished mobiles. Refurbished smartphones offer an optimal and sustainable solution to today's tech-dependent world and we can see it going a long way. Gitanjali Saxena, Business Head - Global Luxury, Tata CLiQ Luxury <div type="image" title="Gitanjali Saxena, Business Head - Global Luxury, Tata CLiQ Luxury" msid="88446509" hostid="261"></div> Inherently, shopping is a social experience. As people continue to spend an increasing amount of time online and on social media, online shopping, which witnessed a huge boost because of the pandemic, is now also becoming social. Social shopping, which is already booming in countries like China, has been gaining momentum in India and will be a leading trend in the coming year. Engaging and immersive formats of selling, such as live commerce, will be at the forefront. In addition, AR and VR will play a crucial role in enhancing the online shopping experience, enabling more personalization, and targeting niche customers. Some of the biggest brands in the luxury fashion and beauty industries are working closely with social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat to leverage their capabilities of live streaming, in-app shopping, and augmented reality to offer an experience that every luxury customer desires. Snapchat has harnessed the power of technology and introduced an augmented reality lens that allows for a virtual try-on of products. Convenience, personalization, and a sense of community are some of the drivers fuelling the growth of social shopping. The advancement of technology is unlocking a slew of exciting opportunities in social shopping, including user-generated content, virtual product try-ons, direct interaction with brands and peers, and instant gratification. E-commerce platforms will reimagine their strategy to integrate social shopping elements by introducing innovative and engaging formats to bolster their reach and engagement with customers. With social shopping, e-commerce platforms can revolutionize the way people shop on their platforms by presenting a new way of shopping.

Ecommerce: The trends to watch out for in 2022

Indian <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a> has been a playground of contradictions, with a bundle of contrasting market data and a dash of controversial media reports. Each company has fuelled the confusion with data on traffic, number of users and GMV. 
 
Business Insider lists the 5 things that went wrong with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a>: 
 
Gross Market Value (GMV) and Discounting Deep discounts have been the biggest attraction of Indian e-retailers over the last few years, with the focus solely being on growth. Every online retailer has spent heavily to fund discounts to win customers. In the year that ended March 2015, the cumulative loss of <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> and Amazon India stood at Rs. 5,000 crores with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a> posting a loss of Rs. 2000 crores and Snapdeal reporting a loss of Rs 1,328 crores. 
 
“It was pure greed. Everybody wanted a bigger piece of the market share. The idea was that the winner will take it all”, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Sanjay+Sethi&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Sanjay Sethi</a>, co-founder, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ShopClues</a> says. 
 
This cash burn also held up GMV figures, which was considered the single most important metric for growth. Take that away, the valuation falls, and ‘growth’ suddenly seems stagnant. However, when you have deep pockets and big stakes, you’d want to be a whale. Problem is, when do you stop? 
 
“It’s not the company’s choice. If somebody else walks in, and you take it (the discount) off, you lose market share”, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Vijay+Shekhar+Sharma&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Vijay Shekhar Sharma</a>, founder-CEO, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Paytm&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Paytm</a> says. 
 In April this year, the government allowed 100% <keyword id="44528" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="FDI">FDI</keyword> in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a>. However, the most disturbing feature in the policy was the bar on discounting. This has forced every player to re-consider their business models. 
 
As a senior <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a> official requesting anonymity puts it, “Binny’s (Bansal) going deep into the commerce side, looking at every category and asking the right questions. You can be profitable at a gross level, but certain categories might still lose money. He’s focusing on how to sell better on Flipkart.” 
 
High Cost Machine 
While the initial race to shoot up GMV and touch a billion dollar valuation has receded, every player is left with a high-cost machinery, with soaring operational costs. 
 
Earlier this week, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a> co-founder and Executive Chairman <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Sachin+Bansal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Sachin Bansal</a> hinted at a tough financial climate. He maintained almost every Internet company around the world goes through it, and they’ll try and raise as much capital possible, but on their own terms. 
 
However, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ShopClues</a> co-founder <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Sanjay+Sethi&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Sanjay Sethi</a> thinks the slack performance of the segment-leaders is a factor to their current woes. “Investors are rethinking about businesses that haven’t shown a clear path to profitability. There’s clearly a slowdown, but it’s not a long term thing”, Sethi says. 
 While there have been reports of the Snapdeal-Flipkart duo struggling to raise money at their current valuation since June 2015, the <keyword id="6357120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="PayTM">Paytm</keyword> founder thinks most companies can live with their current cash burn rates. 
 
“I don’t know a company that cannot sustain for the next two years. Also, specific companies may have their own concerns and issues, but people are putting in money”, he says. 
 
Losing Focus 
In a market as fragmented as India’s, no one brand has dominated categories like apparel and grooming. Too much inventory stocked for too long eats away profit margins. Some say the country's FDI policy forced these companies to potray themselves as marketplaces, while they were handline everything from warehousing to logistics. 
 
Retailing in itself has never made money, even for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Walmart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Walmart</a> at this scale. It’s always a 4-5% margin. That way, the marketplace model is profitable even in Amazon’s balance sheets. The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ShopClues</a> founder thinks when you’re on a hybrid model; you compete against your sellers, and that hampers growth. 
 
“If you decide to take fashion as a marketplace model because there are too many sellers, and a certain brand is making more money, there’s the greed to have an inventory in the interest of better margins. That way you build distrust among sellers”, Sethi says. 
 
Combine huge stockpiles in warehouses, heavy discounting and 4-5% gross margins in some categories, and you have a business that makes zero sense at unit commerce level. You can either sell too many brands on a pure marketplace model, or select brands on an inventory model. Fire and water don't mix. 
 
The Paytm founder agrees. “It’s better to leave merchandising and fashion trends to retailers. When I see these companies building private labels, it makes me uncomfortable personally.” 
 
Some steps proved costly 
The idea of going app-only proved to be a big distraction for Flipkart and Myntra. Flipkart’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Big+Billion+Day+sale&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Big Billion Day sale</a> went app only last October, and reversed its decision for its Republic Day sale this January. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Peeyush+Ranjan&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Peeyush Ranjan</a>, head of engineering at Flipkart agrees not many people install the app. "Websites push users to install the app. But only 4% of the people actually install the app", he says. 
 
While the company’s brave attempt to try something new must be lauded, it made little business sense. “Companies are fighting over 2-3% market share. It made no sense to leave 10% of your users and go app-only. That’s somebody not using the retail mindset”, Sethi says. 
 
Flipkart still maintains it was always mobile-first, and never app-only for them, and it all got misconstrued. Amar Nagaram, VP, Mobile Engineering, Flipkart says, “We never quite stopped our efforts for mobile web. We actually pushed browser companies to offer a better experience.” 
 
In a country with low credit card penetration, both Snapdeal and Flipkart ventured into mobile payments a bit too late. Flipkart now has its WSR Wallet and Snapdeal made way for the FreeCharge Wallet, but Paytm's Wallet services were way ahead. The Softbank-led company now allows its users to book Uber rides globally, and will soon let them shop on investor Alibaba's B2C portal. 
 
Lure of the Market Everybody agrees the fundamentals of <keyword id="35621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> in India are very strong. Every other report brings on huge growth and market size figures. True, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a> currently only accounts for 2% of the total market, and there is enough room for growth. 
 
The recent report by CIII and Deloitte India peg India’s business to consumer (B2C) segment will grow more than seven times to $101.9 billion and the number of online shoppers will grow over 10 times to 220 million in 2020. 
 
However, most data thrown around by e-commerce companies has been one big hogwash. App installs don’t count for traffic, number of active users doesn’t count for real transactions, and high GMV doesn’t count for profits. That’s why Flipkart’s 50 million app installs must be taken with a pinch of salt. 
 
“If only Snapdeal and Flipkart tone down their expectations, they could build fabulous businesses”, Retail Consultancy firm Technopak MD Arvind Singhal says. 
 
P.S: Snapdeal refused to comment, despite several requests.

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