<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51682031.cms" /> In a bid to save the cost of logistics and ensure faster deliveries, the Gurgaon-based online marketplace <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword> has decided to make different regions in the country. It is also looking forward to expanding its seller base and make intra-zonal shipments. 
 
"We are moving towards dividing the country into different cities as opposed to regions for our shipments," said Radhika Aggarwal, chief business officer at ShopClues. "The idea of shipping from within the zone of a customer works perfectly for structured categories. The unstructured category might or might not benefit from this," she added. 
 
The Silicon Valley-founded company will work with local courier partners for its zonal deliveries, which would save up to 25% costs, thereby yielding better margins for the marketplace and prices for the customers. 
 
The same policy is being adopted by Alibaba-backed marketplace Paytm, which has been expanding its online-to-offline shipments across regions so that delivery time can be lessened. 
 
"We are currently at 4 lakh sellers on our platform and plan to increase it to 12 lakh sellers by the end of 2016. This will also improve our 
regional selections and price range of products, mainly from the tier-2 and 3 markets," said Aggarwal. 
 
Shopclues was valued at $1.1 billion in its last round of funding, and is targeting profitability by mid next year.

Shopclues goes local, segregates regions for faster deliveries and reduced costs

<ul><li><keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shopclues">Shopclues</keyword> has finally been sold to Singapore-based <keyword id="8279466" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Qoo10">Qoo10</keyword> in an all stock deal. </li><li>The <keyword id="7321558" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="unicorn-startup">unicorn startup</keyword> was sold at a valuation ranging between just $70-100 million. </li><li>This year, Shopclues had been at the centre of multiple failed attempts at mergers as it tried to survive.</li></ul>Indian unicorn e-commerce startup Shopclues has finally <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/shopclues-acquired-by-singapore-based-qoo10/71839928">found</a> a buyer in Singapore-based e-commerce platform Qoo10. Shopclues which was once valued at $1.1 billion-- is sold in an all stock deal for a reported valuation ranging between $70-$100 million. Here’s a look at how it all went down for the e-commerce startup. 2011 Shopclues was founded in July 2011 by Sanjay Sethi, Sandeep Aggarwal and Radhika Aggarwal. This was two years before Amazon came to India. It raised an angel round of funding. 2012 The startup raised its series A round of funding of $4 million. During this time, Shopclues had 2500 transactions a day and according to <a href="https://www.techcircle.in/2012/09/04/excl-shopclues-raises-4m-in-series-a-round-looking-to-gross-rs-100cr-sales-by-dec-2012">reports</a>, was hoping to turn profitable by 2013. 2013 Gaining momentum, Shopclues closes its series B round for $10 million from investors Nexus Venture Partners and Helion Venture Partners. 2014 Shopclues raised $15 million as a part of its series C round of funding from its existing investors. 2015 In 2015, the startup scooped up its Series D funding for $100 million, also welcoming Tiger Global to its board of investors. “Shopclues has emerged as the leading marketplace of choice for the millions of small and local businesses seeking to reach mass consumers in India’s tier 2 and tier 3 cities,” the then Tiger Global private equity business head Lee Fixel <a href="https://www.vccircle.com/e-com-marketplace-shopclues-raises-100m-series-c-funding-led-tiger-global/">had said.</a> It also registered a GMV of $400 million. 2016 Between late 2015 and early 2016, Shopclues closed its series E round of funding to join the prestigious unicorn club. It also brought back its dreams for profitability while also reportedly hoping for an IPO. 2017 Shopclues was caught in the middle of a very public spat between its founders – husband and wife duo Sandeep Aggarwal and Radhika. Aggarwal put out a post on Facebook accusing his wife of “an illicit affair” as well as ousting him from the company. It was also the year when the company’s <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/money/shopclues-fy-17-revenue-up-5-losses-decline-by-13/articleshow/61539773.cms">revenue began slowing dow</a>n. In FY17, the company’s revenue grew by 5% instead of the usual 50% jump it had been seeing. Its losses stood at ₹332 crores. 2018 It managed to come back in the game with a 46% revenue jump and cutting down its losses to ₹208 crore in FY18. But at this time, Shopclues also <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/shopclues-revenue-up-46-to-rs-273-crore/articleshow/66409043.cms">cut down</a> on operational costs, advertising spends and employee benefits. However, it was facing immense competition from Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm etc who were growing at breakneck speed. Meanwhile, Shopclues was focussing on its wholesale marketplace model. Once again, its plans to go in for an IPO in 2018, failed to see the light of the day. Multiple senior management <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/top-level-exits-at-shopcluescom/article23263804.ece">exits</a> too began in the company. It also fired 50 employees across verticals. It also lost a legal fight with L’oreal, which had <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/loral-india-wins-judgement-on-counterfeits-against-shopclues/articleshow/66652453.cms">accused</a> Shopclues of selling counterfeit products on its platform. 2019 Having survived on bridge rounds of investments, troubles started mounting for the company as its struggle to survive became public. The rumours of its probable sell began taking solid turns. Snapdeal (who was itself making a comeback from massive losses) was reported to be in talks with Shopclues for a possible merger, but the talks didn’t go through in the end. There were also rumours about ebay.in looking to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/ebay-in-talks-with-etailers-including-shopclues-for-a-fresh-bid-in-india/articleshow/65157378.cms">acquire</a> Shopclues. Shopclues also laid off about 200 employees to cut costs. Then came the news of its final sale to Singapore-based Qoo10 in an all stock deal, but with a massive fall in valuation. “This partnership presents new strategic opportunities for both companies, as it opens up cross-border opportunities for consumers and sellers across Asia,” the company said in a statement.

Once valued at $1.1 billion Shopclues finally gets sold for less than $100 million valuation

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/49814054.cms" />In a bid to beat its competitors or at least be equal to them, online marketplace <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=shopclues">Shopclues</a> is reportedly looking to raise $150-200 million (Rs 990-1,320 crore) at a valuation of $650-700 million. 
 <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShopClues">Shopclues</keyword>, which is behind <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart">Flipkart</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal">Snapdeal</a> and Paytm, is also mulling to foray into IPO. 
 
In January this year, Shopclues had raised $100 million from New York-based hedge fund Tiger Global Management that valued it at $350 million. 
 
As per reports, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Tiger+Global+Management">Tiger Global Management</a> is expected to re-invest in Shopclues. 
 
The four-year-old company, Shopclues, may have little difficulty in raising expected <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=fundraising">funds</a> as in the current scenario, the investors have become more focussed on business models. 
 
Chief Business Officer at Shopclues, Radhika Aggarwal, said what differentiates Shopclues from others is margins, sellers and unstructured categories. 
 
According to Aggarwal, Shopclues aims to end fiscal 2015-16 with $1.2 billion in annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). 
 "We ship almost one-third the orders of Flipkart and half the orders of <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> and our entire employee strength is about 850. 
GMV/revenue/number of orders created per employee is significantly higher than the competition,” she told ET. 
 
On IPO dreams, director on the board of Shopclues, Sanjeev Aggarwal, said, “We feel we could be the first ecommerce company to go public.” 
However, the company has not submitted documents for an IPO with the SEBI. 
 Shopclues was founded in <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword> in 2011 and started India operations after seven months from Gurgaon. 
 
(Image: Thinkstock)

Shopclues wants to achieve its billion dollar dream, eyes raising Rs 1320 crore through funding, IPO

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/52934973.cms" /> 
Gone are the days when bigger necessarily meant better for startups across the country. While a billion dollar valuation meant the world to upcoming entrepreneurs as early as a year back, with the global financial tides turning, the focus has shifted from big GMV figures to driving efficiency in business models. 
 
This comes at a time when well-funded hyper-local startups like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=PepperTap&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">PepperTap</a> have shut down and larger ones like Grofers and Zomato have been forced to scale down operations. The so called ‘unicorns’ are struggling to raise funds, and recklessness with investors' money is punished with tighter purse-strings. 
 
Meet <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Sandeep+Aggarwal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Sandeep Aggarwal</a>, co-founder of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ShopClues</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Droom&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Droom</a>. He was a wall-street analyst who bootstrapped his venture with his own funds and angel money that he raised from his friends and family till he first received institutional funding to the tune of $4 million in January 2012. 
 
Interestingly, Aggarwal’s latest startup <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Droom&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Droom</a> has a mere three employees in customer support. The company’s GMV to human resource ratio stands at $1 million annualized GMV per person. Aggarwal claims it’s the highest amongst startups in the country. His company is currently doing close to $170 million in annualized GMV. 
 
Business Insider sat down with Aggarwal to understand where machines can replace man, and where they can’t. 
 
Journey to automating <keyword id="2947589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Droom">Droom</keyword> 
While I’m proud of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ShopClues</a>, we still had to hire hundreds in customer support, and I didn’t want to repeat that mistake. 
 
It took me over a month to conceptualize Droom as a wireframe. I still remember, there were 127 slides. I thought through the workflow cycle, where one may need to call customer support, and what can and can’t be automated. 
 
Today we have only one supervisor and three employees in customer support. 
 
Potential of <keyword id="294572" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="80" keywordseo="machine-learning">machine learning</keyword> 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Machine+learning&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Machine learning</a> will allow us to have similar, if not better results in customers support. I think we can touch Rs. 250 crores in GMV per customer support employee. We can improve on that with keywords-based FAQs. One can also use IVR. 
 
 ‘Labor is cheaper than tech’ 
That’s the kind of thinking that has limited us to the services industry. It’s time we create quality product and platform companies. Human resource is cheap because it accounts for limited financial exposure, human errors and lack of reporting. 
 
Technology replacing employment 
Technology may deem some redundant. It’s their job to adapt and re-train themselves. That’s called survival for the fittest. That way people would actually end up earning more than they are currently. 
 If we wouldn’t have had built <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword>’ returns platform, over 500 people would have been doing returns alone. While from a socialist perspective you could say that employs 500 people, it drives severe inefficiencies in the supply chain. 
 
Is it a sector-specific problem? 
It’s all about the founder’s vision and mindset. There are three types of founders – the marketing guy, the ops guy and the product guy. You can throw money at a problem, and get it solved. Automation for the first time may have its own set of problems than deploying manual labor. 
 Consider this, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> is only 20-30% bigger than ShopClues in terms of GMV, but has a 7-8x bigger workforce. 
 
Challenges in automation in hyper-growth markets 
There is a price for everything. 
 
For hyper-growth sectors, you have to train yourself to ignore certain things. However, you shouldn’t be left trying to dig the well after the fire. 
 
The eternal debate that a machine doesn’t know right from wrong 
The best brain on earth is the human mind. There’s no substitute to that. 
 
However, in an assembly line scenario, there’s always the option to have a separate bin that can come under human inspection. Everything doesn’t boil down to a yes/no. Our technologies can also capture the scenario where there is no option but manual labor to step in. 
 
To scale quick, you have to automate certain processes. Repetitive things can actually burn human resources. Artificial Intelligence can anticipate how much information is worthy enough to process a decision. 
 
<a href="http://img.etimg.com/photo/51271877/image-4.jpg">Image Source</a>

Droom, a lesson in efficiency for startups

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/52122908.cms" /> 
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.

5 things that went wrong with Flipkart and Snapdeal

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51309309.cms" /> 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Radhika+Aggarwal">Radhika Aggarwal</a> is India's most successful <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=internet+entrepreneur">internet entrepreneur</a> and the first and only woman in the Unicorn Club. She's the co-founder and CBO at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues">ShopClues</a>.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/58044441.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" /> 
 When we talk about big e-commerce companies, we think of the usual <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>, in India. While these companies were the ones that introduced the concept to urban Indians, little did they realize that next generation of online customers would need an e-commerce portal which could cater to their specific needs. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/i-stayed-at-tajs-first-property-in-amritsar-and-heres-what-i-experienced/articleshow/58028999.cms">ALSO READ: I Stayed at Taj's First Property in Amritsar and Here’s What I Experienced</a> 
 Shopclues is one e-tailer targeting Indians living in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, but <keyword id="2253218" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Voonik">Voonik</keyword> is trying to be the fashion destination for non-brand conscious Indians who prefer value for money. 
 
With a ‘lean’ marketplace business model operating without inventory and fulfillment centers, Voonik.com has entered the big picture delivering goods to consumers in over 28,000 pin codes all over the country. They have been a profitable forum for unbranded labels to compete with the big names in the online business and the start-up is also dynamically growing the networks in Handloom and Rural penetration. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/these-pc-games-earned-twice-as-much-as-console-games-according-to-appannie/articleshow/58030613.cms">ALSO READ: These PC games earned twice as much as console games according to AppAnnie</a> 
 Sujayath <keyword id="6400562" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ali">Ali</keyword> is the Co-Founder and CEO of Voonik, the leader in the unbranded fashion category with an annual GMV rate of over 120 Million USD. 
 
Rebranding the Unbranded 
 It has over 20 Million registered users, with 18 Million app downloads and Mr. Ali talked to <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> to give an insight about e-commerce that is not glitzy but practical,”We are very focused on the kind of people we want to attract. For an average Indian, fashion is practical and while they want to wear traditional garb, the definitely don’t want garbage. We have over 15 Lakh products from more than 25,000 sellers, from all parts of India. Our sellers are the masters of their craft; whether it is leather footwear from <keyword id="6356295" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Agra">Agra</keyword> or <keyword id="48523" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Silk">Silk</keyword> sarees from Chennai, we put retailers online.” 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/now-you-can-own-a-versace-watch-at-inr-10000/articleshow/58029878.cms">ALSO READ: Now, You can Own a Versace Watch at INR 10,000</a> 
 
Voonik has built deep technology to enable personalization that made it the most engaging eCommerce app in India with you finding a lot of options in the same app. 
​ 
Ali sees the retail sector as a part of online commerce and that’s why Voonik is all-encompassing Indians at its core.

Exclusive: Voonik is Redefining Fashion E-commerce for Indian Masses

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/55480379.cms" /> 
 <keyword id="806712" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kavin">Kavin</keyword> Bharti Mittal, CEO &amp; Founder of Hike Messenger launched new features on the app like Stories, Live filters, and Camera integration to take on Snapchat and other social media platforms. 
 
‘There’s a lot of deep thought behind this idea. Hike is the place where a user can be themselves; We have seen a rise in hidden chats because of that. We hope these features make the product more engaging for our 100 million monthly users.’ Kavin accepts that they have not seen a rise in the 100 million monthly user base and by launching these features coupled with the rise of 4G, he hopes to get more people on Hike. 
Mittal believes that messaging will the change the way you interact with products and services especially in a mobile- first market like India. 
 Speaking to <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword>, he says that the app model is broken,’We want to add videos to our platform and add more localized filters. Our users are on the app for 20 minutes on an average in a day, we want them to be engaged.’ 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Flipkart-Snapdeal-and-Shopclues-agree-Demonetization-has-been-a-boon-in-disguise/articleshow/55477332.cms">ALSO READ: Flipkart, </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Flipkart-Snapdeal-and-Shopclues-agree-Demonetization-has-been-a-boon-in-disguise/articleshow/55477332.cms">Snapdeal</a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Flipkart-Snapdeal-and-Shopclues-agree-Demonetization-has-been-a-boon-in-disguise/articleshow/55477332.cms">, and Shopclues agree: Demonetization has been a boon in disguise</a> 
 
He didn’t rule out <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-Olas-COO-talks-about-all-the-aces-to-take-on-competition-from-Uber-in-2017/articleshow/55477059.cms">commerce transactions happening </a>on hike, in the coming future.’Social has changed and we are always expectations. Eventually, it will come, we have had this idea for the past five years. We will hopefully get to that end of 2017, right now we want to focus on the social side of things’. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-pros-and-cons-of-e-wallets-like-Paytm-Freecharge-and-Mobikwik/articleshow/55437683.cms">He says that consumer tech always happens top-down. </a>He also laments that the data customers are stuck at 180-190 million customers, and that’s one of the reasons why they have been consistent with the number of people on the platform. 
 
‘This is the kind of stuff that brings people online. But most importantly the infrastructure has to get better, even in 4G networks, we don’t see the speed we should be seeing. The promises of 20 Mb/sec become 1 Mb/sec, which is not good for any of us. Our focus is to build a great app for 4G, around 20% of our users are already using 4G.’

EXCLUSIVE:
Kavin Mittal says that Hike likely to have transactions on its platform by the end
of 2017

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/49241662.cms" />Companies and startups are ready to raid engineering and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=B-school+">B-school</a> campuses across India this placement season, adding to the fierce war for talent already raging between large e-Commerce companies and established old-world recruiters. 
 
The startups which are looking for fresh talents include ShopClues, LocalOye, Urban-Clap, PropTiger, Indus Insights, MyRefers, CodeNation, Embibe, Jombay, Lybrate and ShadowFax. 
 
Moreover, a survey of 11 startups suggests they will step up overall <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=campus+hiring+">campus hiring</a> to 770 students from the Class of 2016 compared with only 250 that they hired from the last batch. 
 
Bulk of this hiring will be across top engineering colleges and B-schools, including Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management. 
 
Don’t be disappointed if you are not studying in the above mentioned institutes as a handful will also recruit at leading undergraduate colleges including Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Shri Ram College and St Stephen's, and design schools such as National Institute of Design and National Institute of Fashion Technology. 
 
Now comes the most interesting part- salary! Average salaries offered by these startups range between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 18 lakh at engineering colleges and B-schools, say campus sources. Prop-Tiger, for instance, is paying upwards of Rs 15 lakh plus benefits at tech schools; CodeNation will pay around Rs 24 lakh. 
 
At least three of these startups — Lybrate, LocalOye and ShadowFax — are first-timers on campus while others, at the very least, are doubling last year's numbers. In some cases, hiring targets are going up five-fold or even 16-fold compared with last year. 
 
The strategies behind the hiring are discussed below: 
1. Depending on the kind of institutes, students are being hired for a variety of roles: from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=software+development+engineers">software development engineers</a>; core management &amp; data scientists; product, operations and marketing; merchant acquisition and servicing, to human resource management, product and graphic designers and even entrepreneurs in residence. Sanjay Mehta, a Mumbai-based angel investor who participated in and led 11 angel deals in 2015, says the reason why startups are so gung-ho about <keyword id="511161" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="campus-hiring">campus hiring</keyword> is because they want to put this talent to work on cutting-edge technology and new delivery models. Not surprisingly, several institutes where placements have started, including Birla Institute of Technology &amp; Science-Pilani and <keyword id="75110" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="NITs">NITs</keyword>, are seeing these startups go head-to-head with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=traditional+recruiters+">traditional recruiters</a> to hire talent. At other B-schools and <keyword id="49737" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="IITs">IITs</keyword> where pre-placement offers (PPOs) have started flowing in, it is again the startups that are leading the pack. 
 
2. Much high in numbers: The numbers speak for themselves. If ShopClues is revising its hiring intake from around 100 last year to 180-250 this time, realty portal PropTiger is doubling its target to 50. Even five-month-old B2B (business-to-business) hyperlocal delivery startup ShadowFax, which raised $300,000 from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal">Snapdeal</a>'s founders and others in August followed by a $8.5-million Series A round by Fidelity's proprietary investment arm Eight Roads Ventures barely a month later, is looking to hire from IITs, <keyword id="46923" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="IIMs">IIMs</keyword> and other leading management institutes for its technology, data science and operations teams. 
 
3. Tapping more institutes: In the process, these companies are reaching out to many more institutes this year. "If there is a campus that attracts bright minds of the country, we want to be there. This includes other engineering colleges as well as top colleges in economics and commerce," says Saurabh Sharma, founder &amp; chief executive officer of Indus Insights. The Big Data firm made 40 offers last year, mostly at the top IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Madras). This year, it plans to make 100-plus, including at NITs (Trichy, Warangal, etc), SRCC, LSR, Christ College and Indian School of Business. 
 Similarly, Delhi-based mobile services marketplace UrbanClap, which hired 30 business development and operations specialists from <keyword id="6360099" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Delhi-University">Delhi University</keyword> last year, is extending its reach to several new institutes, including <keyword id="6431668" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="IIT-Delhi">IIT-Delhi</keyword> and IIM-Ahmedabad as it gears up to take on 80-100 this year. 
 
Salaries apart, the other drawing factors include the opportunity to work on challenging problems. "We don't have any glass ceilings. Freshers could be running entire teams within six months of joining," says Aditi Avasthi, founder and CEO, Embibe. "Students are opting for startups aggressively as some of the roles offered by them are quite challenging and inclined with their aspirations," sums up Rahul Katyal, placement manager at IIT-Bombay. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Gear up to face interviews! Engineering and business schools to witness over three-fold jump in recruitments in India

<keyword id="2947589" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="droom" source="Orion">Droom</keyword>, <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>'s leading automobile e-commerce platform, which provides the largest selection of automobiles with over 1.4mn+ vehicles listed, has released its annual 'India Automobile Ecommerce Report' reports for Calendar Year (CY) 2022. As per the report, the SUV segment topped the chart in 4-wheelers and Hyundai Creta continued to be the most preferred choice followed by Kia Seltos which made its way up the list quickly becoming the new favourite among buyers. They were followed by Maruti <keyword id="5894046" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="suzuki-vitara-brezza" source="Orion">Suzuki Vitara Brezza</keyword>, Toyota <keyword id="3231108" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="innova-crysta" source="Orion">Innova Crysta</keyword> and Toyota Fortuner. Bajaj Pulsar emerged as the top preference in 2-wheelers followed by Hero Splendor Plus, Bajaj Pulsar NS, TVS Apache RTR, and Honda CB Shine. In the luxury vehicle segment, the Mercedes Benz E-Class became the most preferred luxury car followed by Jeep Compass, Mercedes Benz C Class and BMW5 Series whereas, in the 2-wheeler segment, Royal Enfield Interceptor came up in ranks and became a hot favourite followed by Harley Davidson Street 750 and <keyword id="480564" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="kawasaki-ninja" source="Orion">Kawasaki Ninja</keyword> ZX-10R. The share of an automatic transmission is on a steady rise from CY 2015 when it was 23 per cent to 33 per cent in CY 2022, up from 30 per cent in CY 2021 because of convenience and higher fuel efficiency and EV penetration continues to remain stagnant at 1 per cent of total vehicle sales across categories in India. The share of diesel vehicles fell from 60 per cent in CY21 to 53 per cent in CY22 due to the vehicle scrappage policy barring diesel vehicles older than 10 years from plying on the streets Premiumization is a trend in India heightened by Droom's pure-play e-commerce model, resulting in the average selling price for cars standing at 11.98 lakh and bikes being 55 thousand. This is primarily because physically branded dealers tend to focus only on mass-market whereas Droom caters to mass, mid, premium and luxury segment. Commenting on Droom's annual automobile trend report CY 2022, Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Droom said, "The automobile trend report of 2022 shows steady growth in the overall automobile market. The report indicates an increasing acceptance towards online automobile buying and this will only grow in the coming years. There is also a gradual but steady adoption of electric vehicles which will expand in the coming future." He further added, "Droom has been disrupting and redefining the age-old traditional automobile retailing through its innovative and asset-light ecommerce model. Our technology-driven integrated ecosystem of services has made selling and buying of automobile quick and easy. Droom is one of the largest transactional platforms that compiles data and findings and presents insightful and interesting analysis reports." With a pure-play e-commerce, asset-light, and technology-oriented business model, Droom has a presence in 1174 cities. The platform has seen significant growth in online buying with Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, and Hyderabad emerging as the largest markets for online transaction in CY2022. While online automobile selling and buying is prevalent in metro cities, the trend is also catching onto other cities like Bhiwani, Sangli, Ajmer, Sirsa, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Surat and Ghaziabad. The love for white color cars among customers is evident since it is the preferred choice since 2015. Droom offers a 21st-century E-Commerce experience for automobiles. Droom offers India's largest selection of automobiles with over 1.4 million vehicles listed online in 1,174 cities -- both used &amp; new, cars &amp; 2-wheelers, and other vehicles too. For buyers, Droom offers India's finest automobile buying experience online with trust, selection, low price, and convenience second to none. Droom is the market leader in the automobile e-commerce segment and since its inception, Droom has sold over 566K vehicles and served over 2.5 million happy customers with its products and services. Droom is among the most trusted consumer internet brands in India often recognized for its innovative approach and technology and is backed by marquee global investors including Lightbox, Digital Garage, Toyota Group, Recruit, Beenext, Beenos, 57 Stars and many multibillion-dollar family offices in SE Asia and Hong Kong. Droom was founded by Sandeep Aggarwal, the only tech entrepreneur in India who has funded two Unicorns back-to-back (ShopClues and Droom) and is a Singapore Holding Company with its subsidiaries in India and the United States. The company is headquartered in Gurugram, India. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/vr-app-allows-users-to-revisit-memories-previously-recorded-on-their-smartphones/articleshow/98275527.cms">This app is straight out of Black Mirror — it lets you capture and revisit memories in virtual reality</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/google-pixel-7-long-term-review-a-premium-camera-centric-device-with-some-caveats/articleshow/98274785.cms">Google Pixel 7 long term review – a premium camera centric device with some caveats</a>

Hyundai Creta, Bajaj Pulsar emerge as the most popular car and bike: Droom report

<ul><li><keyword id="4567868" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Miniso">Miniso</keyword>, which entered India in 2017, offers value products for low prices.</li><li>In an interview with Business Insider, Tyrone Li, <keyword id="8042323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="miniso-india">Miniso India</keyword> head, said that the company will move its cosmetics and textile purchasing and manufacturing to India. </li><li>Miniso currently has 110 stores in India across Tier 1 and 2 cities.</li></ul>There’s a reason why Japanese value retailer brand Miniso attained instant popularity after its launch in 2017. It offered good quality products at affordable prices. Two years since, Miniso has bigger plans in the India market, and wants to increase local sourcing. “By this year end, we will hit $3 million purchase from India and by the next year, we hope to purchase goods worth $25 million from here. We want to buy and manufacture products in India, followed by a design finish in Europe and Japan and then export to different countries,” Tyrone Li, Miniso India head told Business Insider. Miniso currently purchases products from 40 countries but has also been witnessing supply chain pressures. It now wants to shift purchase orders to India for cosmetics and textiles. “In the past few years, Made in India has taken off India and now it is the second biggest purchase country for Miniso sales arms, the first being China,” said Li. Products made in India are already exported to Indonesia, Malaysia and China. Retail expansion Miniso currently has 110 stores in India in Tier 1 and 2 cities. By next year, it hopes to have over 160 stores. But it has also tried a different model – the online space. The Japanese retailer has already partnered with Shopclues, Paytm and Snapdeal to offer its products online. Though 99% of its sales come from its stores, Li wants to explore and learn from the Indian online market. “If we aren’t touching the online space, we are not touching the whole market. We try to understand why people opt for online and are learning from the Indian ecosystem,” said Li. Miniso wants to slow down, before growing fast In spite of its success, Miniso is far from touching its initial objective of opening 800 stores by 2020. Li explains that while their first year in India was aggressive, they have now slowed down to prepare for the next wave of fast growth. That’s also because they have to customize for the Indian market. “Something as simple as nailpolish. In different countries, they want easy to remove nail paints but here it’s not like that. Then when it comes to cosmetics, India has so many different skin colours and are products need to serve all of them, so we moved to a local manufacturer,” said Li. With over 3,000 products on offer, Miniso is not worried about competition either. It has been partnering with different brands – it recently launched the official Marvel collection in India – and also aims to push its IP products. Currently, India contributes to 3-4% of their global sales, but Li says their aim is for it to be at least 9%.

Miniso will spend $25 million on Indian sourcing, as it heads to an aggressive 2020

New Delhi, Apr 19 () The government's U-turn on home delivery of non-essential items will leave consumers disappointed, the world's largest online retailer Amazon said, but the decision was welcomed by local kirana store body CAIT that called it the "most pragmatic". Four days after allowing e-commerce firms to also deliver non-essential items such as electronic goods and readymade garments, the government on Sunday said non-essential items will continue to be prohibited during the lockdown period. Commenting on the decision, Amazon India said the new guidelines will disappoint consumers whose list of essentials has expanded to 'work from home' and 'study from home' products, as well as small businesses, sellers and manufacturers. The company said it will continue to follow the guidelines and deliver essential products and work with authorities for expedited processes to make safe deliveries of priority products possible. "The new guideline will disappoint not only the consumers whose list of essentials had expanded to work from home and study from home products but also the thousands of small businesses, sellers and manufacturers across the country, who had geared up in the last 48 hours to provide millions of people with safe access to products," Amazon India spokesperson said. Amazon India further said the company hopes that "this situation is rectified soon so that the urgent need of consumers is met and that there is revival of economic activity". The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which had been campaigning hard against allowing e-commerce firms to also commence non-essential deliveries during the lockdown period, "lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for the most pragmatic decision" of "valuing the sentiments of Indian traders and protecting their business interests". Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on his part said the move will "help in creating a level-playing field for small retailers". Separately, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) said the government's home delivery permissions need to be broad based and all types of retailers, including neighbourhood stores, should be allowed to operate. The retailers' body said allowing neighbourhood stores and large essential products' chain retailers to do home delivery will help fulfil consumer needs in these trying times and play a part in enhancing social distancing. Soon after the government had on April 16 announced graded plan to lift the lockdown by allowing all e-commerce deliveries and movement of trucks, some states such as Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan issued notifications allowing non-essential deliveries alongside essential ones. CAIT had resented the move and said that the state governments were against Indian traders and "prefer to destroy the businesses of Indian traders at the hands of foreign e-commerce players". "Multinational e-commerce players have been trying to disrupt the businesses of small Indian traders by adopting unfair business practices such as deep discounting and predatory pricing by controlling inventory. Even in the lockdown period, they would have adopted their vitiated business model and promote all kinds of malpractices to damage the foundation of Indian retail," CAIT said in a statement on Sunday. The home ministry on Sunday issued an order saying the following clause -- "E-commerce companies. Vehicles used by e-commerce operators will be allowed to ply with necessary permissions" -- is excluded from the guidelines issues. Players like Paytm Mall have urged the government to expand the ambit of essential goods to include products like laptops and mobile phones to facilitate people working from home. "Safety of fellow Indians is of utmost importance to us and, therefore, we support the government's decision in spirit to limiting e-commerce operations to essentials. However, we believe that the ambit of essential goods should be increased," Paytm Mall Senior Vice-President Srinivas Mothey said. He added that people in the country are mostly working from home at the moment but many are finding it difficult as they are running low on certain items necessary to effectively operate under lockdown. "Laptops, mobile phones, and accessories, computer hardware, webcams, all these things should be allowed to be part of essential goods. If the lockdown continues, lack of proper technical support would hinder the efficiency of employees which in turn would affect a company's operations," he said. Sanjay Sethi, CEO and co-founder of ShopClues, echoed similar sentiments. "It is imperative to expand the definition of 'essential goods'. In fact, not doing so could be counterproductive at this time," he said. He added that while the entire nation is forced indoors and working from home for extended period, it is important that besides products like food, groceries and medicine, one also ensures supply of other critical items like small kitchen appliances, personal hygiene items, work from home essentials like phones, laptops and accessories. Under the first phase of the nationwide lockdown between March 24-April 14, the government had only allowed delivery of essential goods through e-commerce platforms. On April 16, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued fresh guidelines for the current lockdown allowing e-commerce companies to sell non-essential items as well. A Snapdeal spokesperson said the company will continue to operate in complete compliance with the guidelines issued by the government in this regard. Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh tweeted that the decision could have been "better thought through". "This could have been better thought through... a lot of the eCommerce cos have invested in planning for the 20th. And most don't have deep pockets to handle these kinds of reversal in decisions. The focus, I feel, should have been on ensuring adequate safety protocols," she said. SR MBI RR RKL ANZ HRS

Govt U-turn on home delivery of non-essential items leaves Amazon miffed, retailer body overjoyed

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/57127788.cms" /> <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> is now looking forward to consolidating business of its in-house supply chain arm, <keyword id="2675352" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ekart-Logistics">Ekart Logistics</keyword>. The e-commerce company has already suspended the customer-to-customer courier service within months of its launch and has also pulled the plug on hyperlocal delivery services being piloted across Bengaluru since March last year. 
 "Beginning February 5, <keyword id="2057197" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="eKart">Ekart</keyword> no longer operates its customer-to-customer courier service started in May 2016, that gave people the option of having documents and parcels packed by Ekart's delivery boys and shipped to end-addresses. The move is aimed at consolidating the service offerings of Ekart, to sharpen its focus on its core business model," the company told ET. 
 
Nearly 30,000-40,000 orders a day are processed by Ekart for third-party businesses excluding the volumes generated by Flipkart and Flipkart-owned fashion portal Myntra. 
 
It will continue its core ecommerce offerings, including third-party logistics services to ecommerce players such as Paytm and ShopClues. It will also continue to provide warehousing and fulfilment facilities to larger retail clients such as Madura Garments.

Flipkart plans to consolidate Ekart, suspends month-old services

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/49224411.cms" /> 
The festival season is almost here and guess who’s ready for the biggest catch in the ecommerce segment? It’s not the online retailers but the last-mile delivery companies. 
 
So how are the etailers making a difference? To make things move fast, they are shipping directly from the merchant if the buyer is in the same city or region - instead of routing through company fulfilment centres - as well as short-term tie-ups with regional and intra-city logistics players. This also means a rise in short-term job openings in the logistics segment. 
 
Companies such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Paytm and ShopClues are working on both models, while Amazon recently announced a flex programme with a direct merchant-to-customer shipping option. 
 
"We have tied up with around 12 regional logistics partners who are delivering products across categories including fashion, electronics, appliances, furniture and other home categories. Some of these partners are hyperlocal-specific partners, fulfilling the orders directly from seller to the user," Ashish Chitravanshi, VP - operations, Snapdeal told The Economic Times. 
 
 
Hyperlocal fulfillment and last-mile delivery, including partnerships with national logistics players, are making the festive season busy for small, regional players. 
 
"Ahead of the Big Billion day sale at Flipkart, we are working on a contractual agreement to fulfill last-mile delivery of appliances from the fulfillment centre in the city," said Srinivas Madhavam, founder and CEO of VDeliver, a two-year-old logistics player with operations in Hyderabad and Chennai. 
 
Amazon’s service-partner programme for last-mile delivery, among other resources, uses local distribution networks to reach remote villages. Direct delivery, though, forms only a small part of the business for ecommerce firms. 
 
"Close to 4% of our orders are fulfilled directly by merchants to customers. This is especially relevant in case of products which require installation services, such as appliances," said Radhika Aggarwal, chief marketing officer at ShopClues. 
 
The model is expected to grow, though currently the players are focused on getting the logistics right for this festive season. In order to meincreased demand for delivery personnel, regional players have been building capacity through part-time and temporary staffing.

It’s the last-mile delivery firms that will actually have the lion’s share of the festive season!

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/56198907.cms" />For startups to grow they must garner funds from investors; and to gather funds, startups need to have a robust product-market fit along with a promising team and a solid business plan with the potential to scale. Then comes the role of angel investors and <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="venture-capital">Venture Capital</keyword> (VC) <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> that usually surfaces when larger amounts are required to grow a business. 
 Lately, major <keyword id="982553" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-startups">Indian startups</keyword> have seen a tremendous boost from venture capitalists. To start with, we saw how Tiger Global Management, Softbank Corp., Morgan Stanley, Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, IDG Ventures India and SAIF Partners managed to support promising Indian startups like that of Flipkart, Snapdeal, Ola, Zomato, ShopClues, Urban Ladder and many others. Moreover, it is not only the bigger firms who are eyeing VC funds, relatively younger and smaller firms like OYO Rooms, Swiggy and Grofers have also joined the race. 
 Apart from ruling the e-commerce and fashion industry, <keyword id="153868" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="VC-funding">VC funding</keyword> is now gradually moving into other sectors too, such as agriculture, healthcare and education. As per the data from the upcoming Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF), which is all set to launch the Wharton India Startup Competition (WISC) with over 500 entries, though majority of applicants (around 25%) belong to the e-commerce industry, the healthcare segment is not far away with around 22% applicants. Moreover, most of the participating startups already have pre-seeded and seeded funding arrangements and around 31% of them have listed themselves as social enterprises. 
 
The ecosystem for VC funding for Indian startups would be discussed at length at the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF). WIEF is a two-day event starting from January 6, 2017, which will bring together the best entrepreneurs, investors, distinguished Wharton faculty, students and inspirational speakers. Attendees will not only have numerous opportunities for interaction and networking across the board but will also witness in-depth discussions in terms of understanding the evolving business landscape in India and the need for business model innovation from the government, various industry leaders, and distinguished Wharton faculty. 
 
The relevance of this summit doesn’t end there. It is also known for hosting the Wharton India Startup Competition (WISC) which is giving Indian startups the opportunity to present themselves in front of an esteemed panel of judges and also win cash prizes of over $25,000 and unparalleled mentorship of up to 4 months from some of the most renowned names in the industry on strategy and funding. The jury for WISC comprises top-notch personalities with the likes of Bharati Jacob (Co-founder of Seedfund), Nipun Mehra (Investor at Sequoia Capital India), Rehan Yar Khan (Managing Partner of Orios Venture Partners), Tarun Davda (Managing Director of Matrix Partners), Aditya Nair (Investor at Nyca Partners), Ajay Hattangdi (CEO India &amp; Group COO of InnoVen Capital Group), Ankit Shah (Vice President at Unilazer Ventures), Sameer Verma (Director &amp; Junior Partner of Nexus Venture Partners), Saurabh Joshi (Strategy Manager at PayPal) and Shantanu Gangal (Head – Analytics at Fundbox). Also, past finalists of this prestigious event includes names such as Ketto, Haptik, Zoomcar, Zostel, Targeting Mantra, Qlicket, Samaan and Ambitioni. 
 
Needless to say, such competitions and summits go a long way in not only promoting upcoming startups but also in educating the audience and the participants regarding the funding scenario. Not many seem to be aware about the types and rounds of funding, the know-how of VC funding and even the right way to go about securing such funds, hence this is surely going to be one the most-sought after events at the start of the next year. 
 
(Image Credits: Thinkstock) 
 
(About the Author: This article has been authored by Aman Jain, Chairperson WIEF 2017)

How VC Funding Fuels the Indian Startup Ecosystem

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/55478000.cms" /> 
 "What do you mean '<keyword id="168301" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="convergence">convergence</keyword>'? Many believe we're in the 'Era of Individuality'!" This was my thought at first when I dived into the future of technology and came across this concept, and for good reason. In today's digital age, all you need is an internet connection and an idea to take on the largest, most established company out there; in any field of business. The only challenge? It needs to be a radical, path-breaking idea. 
 However, the challenge faced by any radical idea tends to be the same: acceptability – or in other words – achieving a critical mass of users. This is especially true of <keyword id="2461546" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="FinTech">Fintech</keyword> - which deals with money; when it comes to their hard-earned money, people are always apprehensive. They prefer the more trusted alternative over the more innovative or convenient one. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/In-a-first-Ola-launches-credit-for-ride-share/articleshow/55461416.cms">FinTech is an amalgamation of the two polar opposites of industry specialists – Finance and Technology. </a>It's rare to find a single person with the right mix of knowledge involving coding, <keyword id="25455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="finance">finance</keyword>, law, and marketing to pull off a FinTech start-up on their own. Even larger companies venturing into this space face difficulties. Banks which are trying to take on mobile wallet companies by launching their own wallets are having difficulty in adopting technology to create a product intuitive enough for their consumers. 
It's rare to ﬁnd a single person with the right mix of knowledge involving coding, ﬁnance, law and marketing to pull oﬀ a FinTech start-up on their own. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Flipkart-Snapdeal-and-Shopclues-agree-Demonetization-has-been-a-boon-in-disguise/articleshow/55477332.cms">ALSO READ: Flipkart,</a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Flipkart-Snapdeal-and-Shopclues-agree-Demonetization-has-been-a-boon-in-disguise/articleshow/55477332.cms">Snapdeal</a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Flipkart-Snapdeal-and-Shopclues-agree-Demonetization-has-been-a-boon-in-disguise/articleshow/55477332.cms">, and Shopclues agree: Demonetization has been a boon in disguise</a> 
 The answer to this predicament is – convergence. Entities, both individuals, and organizations, from different industries, are coming together to re-define FinTech. Where banks failed, network carriers succeeded. <keyword id="15492" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vodafone">Vodafone</keyword> collaborated with Safaricom to launch a product called M-Pesa in <keyword id="6360004" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kenya">Kenya</keyword> and <keyword id="89578" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tanzania">Tanzania</keyword>. These countries had massive sections of their population which were unbanked. M-Pesa brought branch-less banking by allowing transfer and payments through pin-verified SMS systems. Now Kenya has more than 15m subscribers who transact as much as 60% of the country’s GDP over the mobile platform. 
 
India also has large sections of the unbanked population. Half a decade ago, precisely, only 35% of the Indian populace, had bank accounts. One of the key moves by the Indian government to change this was to tie in LPG subsidy with bank accounts. By mandating that every individual had to create a bank account to avail this subsidy, the Government effectively boosted the banking population in a matter of 6 months. Today the bankable population in India stands at over 53% - and has a tremendous scope of betterment. 
Half a decade ago, precisely, only 35% of the Indian populace, had bank accounts. 
 
Financial inclusion does not end at opening bank accounts, it's just the starting point of a multi-layered process. The process of financial inclusion encompasses the technology, tools, products and the understanding to use them. When these come together to create value for an individual to navigate the complexities of life, we can celebrate the success of our efforts. How do we achieve that success? 
 At <keyword id="1461157" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="MetLife-Foundation">MetLife Foundation</keyword>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-Olas-COO-talks-about-all-the-aces-to-take-on-competition-from-Uber-in-2017/articleshow/55477059.cms">we've invested time, resources and efforts to create a platform to aggressively drive </a>financial Inclusion worldwide. We call this Inclusion Plus. We're inviting your solutions, and business models to come re-shape the world and help unleash the potential of India as a financially inclusive nation. This is our platform to give you the convergence needed to achieve this goal. 
We've set out to change and empower a nation and we know this is no mean feat. We also know it's impossible to go at it ourselves. 
 
 
This article was originally authored by <keyword id="3857253" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="krishna-thacker">Krishna Thacker</keyword>, Director, MetLife Foundation

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