eCommerce News- May 2022
Indian Teens Go Digital: Here’s What They are Spending On
- Teenagers are now shopping online, eCommerce on the rise and advancements in digital payments, Ed-fintech startup Akudo, conducted a research among 1 lakh teenagers aged 11-19 years. Which stated that Amazon and Swiggy were the preferred apps used, followed by Myntra that contributed to their whopping 150 percent increase in sales.
- They further mentioned that 51% of the transactions took place digitally.
Amazon Doubles Exports Target to $20 Bn from India by 2025
- Under Amazon’s global selling program, the eCommerce giant’s exports are expected to rise by $20 Bn by 2025 as per Amit Agarwal VP of India and emerging markets, Amazon.
- Incidentally, at the start of the year 2020, the eCommerce marketplace set a target of around $10 Bn to be achieved by 2025.
- However, the results have been better than expected. The program took almost 3 years of dedicated effort to succeed.
Udaan, JioMart may disrupt $100 billion B2B eCommerce Market in a decade: Jefferies
- Business-to-Business (B2B) eCommerce is predicted to reach around $100 billion in size by the next decade. In this revolution, the key players expected to disrupt this space are JioMart, and Udaan, as per reports from top investment bank- Jefferies.
- The penetration rate of these platforms is at 5% despite the growth.
- These two players are the top competitors to Amazon, Flipkart, and Tata that are tapping the B2B sector.
How Quick Commerce can become a Game-Changer in the Indian eCommerce Business
- Quick-Commerce or Q-Commerce has taken the eCommerce industry by storm by reaching its customers in a matter of 10-15 minutes. Popularised by Blinkit, many naysayers doubted its success.
- Convenience and busy lifestyles have provided impetus to this type of model. The speedy fulfillment process, reduces costs for sellers.
- Swiggy, Blinkit, Bigbasket, Flipkart, and more are the main players in this sector.
Delhivery IPO to Open for Subscription on May 11
- Delhivery, the logistics startup will open for Initial Public Offerings (IPO) subscriptions from 11th May to 13th May, 2022.
- The company further stated that they are likely to cut down on the issue size from Rs 7,460 crore to Rs 5, 300 crores.
- Current investors include: SoftBank, Carlyle, Tiger Global, and others.
Flipkart Unveils Lab to Tab Web3 Metaverse for eCommerce Innovations
- Flipkart announced that they are starting a program to create technology-based solutions for improving shopping experience. This fraction of the business would be termed Flipkart Labs.
- Labs will enable Flipkart to test and experiment with their new Web3 and Metaverse use cases with real-world applications like NFT, earn to play, and more.
Flipkart, RIL, Amazon May Join India’s ONDC
- Major eCommerce players like Flipkart, Amazon, and Reliance Retail have shown interest and are in talks to join the country’s project of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
- The pilot plan of ONDC to onboard small and medium businesses is still underway in some major cities including Bengaluru.
- Incidentally ONDC is being pitched as a solution to negate the stronghold that a few eCommerce marketplaces have on the Indian market.
Etsy Signs MoU to Support Artisan from North East to Sell Online
- Global marketplace Etsy has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India’s North Eastern Handicrafts and Handloom Development Corporation (NEHHDC).
- This initiative is to promote the work of North Eastern artisanal work and generate income for craftsmen. Further, this will expose them to larger markets and help increase their demand.
- Etsy is an American eCommerce marketplace that focuses on handmade and vintage items. It has a significant presence in Canada, UK, USA, Germany, and India as well.
Flipkart to Shut Down Smart Fulfilment in 4 Months
- eCommerce giant Flipkart has planned to shut down one of fulfillment models, namely, “Smart Fulfilment” by the 1st of August 2022.
- As most ecommerce sellers would be aware, in the Smart Fulfilment model, sellers were required to set aside a fixed quantity of products for Flipkart, within their warehouse. It also gave sellers access to the “F-Assured” tag.
- The model has been into existence from December 2019.
Nykaa-Backed Kay Beauty to Expland Offline Presence
- Kay Beauty which is backed by Nykaa and Indian Actress Katrina Kaif is stepping up its availability in general trade stores apart from their modern trade outlets.
- Kay Beauty has been founded in 2019 and the brand has been rolled out in over 100 stores. Its product range includes makeup items such as lipsticks, LipCryons, eyeliners, eyeshadows, primers, nail paint, and more.
DHL Supply Chain Expands India Fulfilment Network
- DHL Supply Chain has announced the expansion of its India Fulfilment Network (IFN).
- The first location for the same is Bengaluru. The expansion would also be other metropolitan cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Delhi. This is to cater to the growth of eCommerce in India.
- DHL Supply Chain, is a contract logistics company.
Amazon Launches “Smart Commerce” In India
- eCommerce giant Amazon has launched “Smart Commerce” which is an initiative in India to increase its footprint in the Indian retail industry. They aim to convert local stores to “Local dukaans”.
- In the third edition of Amazon Smbhav, they plan to digitize 1 Cr small businesses by the year 2025.
eCommerce Giants that are Helping Indian MSMEs Up Their Export Game
- India’s exports rose to 37 percent on an annual basis, in the month of December 2021. The total figure was $37.29 billion, the highest recorded in a month.
- While the government has taken several initiatives to boost Indian MSME exports, eCommerce players had a significant role to play in boosting the same.
Reliance to Build Separate Online Marketplaces for Third-Party Sellers
- Reliance is aiming to build an alternative marketplace for third party sellers.
- As a precursor to this, the company has began onboarding independent sellers onto their eCommerce Platform JioMart. With the plan in mind, where they will eventually the home to all third-party sellers.
- This seems to be the company’s plan to prepare itself for the proposed eCommerce policy by the government; that would prohibit marketplaces operators from having the related parties on their platform.
- The proposed platform’s name is yet to be disclosed. But is expected to have “Jio” in its name.
DMart’s eCommerce Business Live in 12 Cities
- Avenue Supermarts Ltd, which owns and operates D-Mart stores has now rolled out its eCommerce stores in 12 Indian cities. Some of these include Bhopal, Indore, Kolhapur and Surat.
- They had added seven in the last financial year, as per the company’s Q4 financial reports.
- D-Mart is a national supermarket chain that offers FMCG, general merchandise and apparel.
FISME Rolls out Recommendations to Digitise MSMEs; Urges Support for Women Entrepreneurs
- In an attempt to be inclusive of micro, small,and medium enterprises (MSMEs) via digitisation, the Federation of Indian Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) had set policy recommendations in line with the government programs.
- FISME currently represents around 740 MSME associations and will further outreach over two million MSMEs.
- The main aim is to provide greater support to women entrepreneurs and on-board micro-merchants onto formal eCommerce platforms.
Jack Ma Exits Paytm Mall, Sells Entire Stake
- Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, has sold his entire stake in Paytm Mall. The holdings were owned in the name of Alibaba and Ant Financials. This is after 5 years of backing the platform.
- Alibaba owned 28.34% and its subsidiary Ant Financial had a 14.98% percent share. This amounts to offloading 43.32%.
- Paytm eCommerce, the parent company of Paytm Mall, bought back the shares for Rs. 42 Crores.
Myntra Launches 48-hours Delivery With M-Express
- Popular fashion and beauty eCommerce company Myntra has announced that they have launched express delivery feature in the app that is called M-Express.
- With this feature the orders would be delivered within 24-48 hours similar to Amazon’s Prime and Flipkart’s Plus Feature.
- As of now the feature would be available to select orders and categories. And eventually be expanded to various other categories.
Browntaper in Focus: D2C Jewellery Brand Melorra raises $16 Million in Funding
- Melorra, a D2C jewellery brand has raised around $16 million from Axis Growth Avenues, SRF Family Offices, N+1 and other existing investors.
- The funding includes around $14 Million in equity and $2 Million in debt.
- Previously funded by 9Unicorns, Symphony International Holdings Ltd, Value Quest, Venture Catalysts and Param Capital.
Credit Card Users Spent 76% More on eCommerce Than Offline Stores: RBI
- Credit cards have a low penetration rate in India among other transactional mediums including UPIs, debit cards, internet banking and others. The penetration rate is at 5.55% in India.
- Despite this, as per the data from the RBI, credit cards display a strong growth on the eCommerce front.
- Further the RBI stated that there are 7.36 Cr credit cards issued in the country. With users spending of around INR 68327.73 Cr on eCommerce platforms.
- As for offline swipes of INR 38773.42 Cr were recorded which is a 76% difference among offline and online.
Google Takes Another Run at eCommerce and Amazon
- Google’s executive Prabhakar Raghavan, is visioning a seamless full shopping cycle to be brought by google. The 61-year old is determined to crack the eCommerce sector soon.
- The search engine is emulating itself as an anti-Amazon platform, by striving to create a free platform for merchants and people not already on Amazon. Therefore giving consumers a comfortable shopping experience from Google itself.
- There were several instances in the past, that Alphabet Inc has tried to crack the eCommerce sector but were unsuccessful.
Improve the Aesthetics of your Online Product Catalogue with Spyne
- Gurugram-based Spyne helps user upgrade and even create high quality product/ catalogue images with the help of AI.
- The startup was founded in 2018 and till date has around 80+ enterprise customers in more then 15 countries. It has onboarded 23+ marketplaces.
Zepto May Enter Online Pharmacy Business
- 10 minute delivery service, Zepto may foray into the e-pharmacy space, which would make them compettors to Tata’s 1mg, Reliance’s Netmeds and Pharmeasy.
- This news comes along with the news that they are trying to expand the pilot “cafe” business which would be serving tea and coffee along with snacks.
- The pharmacy side would be a medium to long term plan.
