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

YepMe aims to open 400 stores by March 2017

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

Soon, you may spot an Urban Ladder store near you

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

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YepMe aims to open 400 stores by March 2017

BI India Bureau

Soon, you may spot an Urban Ladder store near you

BI India Bureau

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

BI India Bureau