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Category: e-commerce

  • Abhishek Roy takes charge as Just Dial PR head

    Abhishek Roy takes charge as Just Dial PR head

    Mumbai: Hyperlocal e-commerce platform Just Dial on Tuesday appointed Abhishek Roy as head of PR.

    In this role, Roy will lead the PR function offering communications counsel to the executive team, business units, and the functional areas.

    A seasoned communicator with 16 years of experience, Roy has worked across multiple sectors in corporate communications. Prior to joining Just Dial, Roy was the senior communications manager with Magicbricks. In the past he has also worked with the corporate communications functions in Aircel and Star TV. Prior to that, he has spent almost a decade as a sports journalist with IANS and The Telegraph.

    Talking about his new role, Roy said, “Being India’s largest hyperlocal ecommerce platform, Just Dial is ingrained in our daily lives. I am looking forward for this opportunity to strategically position the communications function to help the brand reach its business objectives.

  • Tata Digital acquires majority stake in Bigbasket

    Tata Digital acquires majority stake in Bigbasket

    New Delhi: Tata Digital Ltd announced on Friday that it has acquired a majority stake in the online grocery platform Bigbasket.

    Tata Digital is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons. With this deal, one of India’s largest conglomerates has entered into direct competition with Flipkart, Amazon, and Reliance Industries which have continued to bolster their presence in the country’s fast-growing e-commerce space.

    “Grocery is one of the largest components of an individual’s consumption basket in India, and Bigbasket as India’s largest e-grocery player fits in perfectly with our vision of creating a large consumer digital ecosystem. We are delighted to welcome Bigbasket as a part of Tata Digital,” said Tata Digital CEO Pratik Pal in a statement on Friday.

    Exact details about the deal were not disclosed. But according to some media reports, the deal is worth about Rs 9,500 crore.

    E-grocery has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in the consumer e-commerce space. Its growth has been further propelled by the country’s rising consumption and digital penetration, especially in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic which led consumers to increasingly opt for safer deliveries of groceries at home.

    “We are extremely excited about our future as a part of Tata Group. As a part of the Tata ecosystem we would be able to build stronger consumer connect and accelerate our journey,” said Bigbasket CEO Hari Menon. Founded in 2011, the Bangalore-based company has now expanded its presence to over 25 cities.

    Meanwhile, the Tata Group is now building a digital consumer ecosystem addressing consumer needs across categories in a unified manner. Online food and grocery is an important part of this ecosystem. The acquisition presents an attractive opportunity for the group in its overall vision of creating a digital ecosystem, it said in a statement on Friday.

  • Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to step down on 5 July

    Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to step down on 5 July

    KOLKATA: The announcement had been made in February this year: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would vacate his post, handing over the reins to the company’s top cloud executive Andy Jassy. Bezos would transition to chairman of Amazon’s executive board. No date was revealed at that time. Now we know when he will follow through on that announcement. Speaking at the company shareholders’ annual general  meeting (AGM),  Bezos revealed that 5 July will be his last official working day as CEO, and Bassy’s first day as head honcho of Amazon.  

    Under Bezos leadership has transformed from being a bookseller to ecommerce pioneer to cloud computing pioneer to entertainment trail blazer.

    “I’m very excited to move into the [executive] chair role, where I’ll focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives,” Bezos stated at the AGM. “We chose that date because it’s sentimental for me, the day Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago,” he added further.

    Jassy is currently heading Amazon Web Services, who will be replaced by Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky after he takes over his new position. Considerably, the cloud segment is now the company’s most profitable segment.

    Bezos shared his confidence in Jassy saying: “He has the highest of high standards and I guarantee that Andy will never let the universe make us typical. He has the energy needed to keep alive in us what has made us special.”

    While Bezos will still be involved in major corporate decisions, he will focus more on other ventures like Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin and The Washington Post.

  • Trell eyes the next 100 mn online shoppers in Tier II and Tier III cities

    Trell eyes the next 100 mn online shoppers in Tier II and Tier III cities

    KOLKATA: Social commerce, one of the biggest drivers of e-commerce today has witnessed exponential growth in recent years. This holds particularly true since the onset of the pandemic that saw a surge in online shopping. 

    Besides social commerce, online video content has also experienced skyrocketing demand as people spend an increasing amount of time browsing for engaging, and relatable content.

    Having chartered a remarkable growth trajectory, Trell is now offering products from distinguished beauty and personal care brands including Lakmé, Tresemme, and Ponds, amongst 50 labels including MyGlamm, Bombay Shaving Company, Mirabelle, Ustraa, Biotique, Plum, Mamaearth, Lotus, Khadi Essentials and OGX to name a few, with attractive discounts on its recently launched ‘Shop’ section.

    While Trell takes pride in catering to the wellness needs of its users and providing a seamless shopping experience, it also benefits the content creators on the platform. The front running platform empowers these micro-entrepreneurs by enabling them to monetize their tried and tested recommendations in their videos. On the Trell Shop website, while buying products, customers can now make informed purchases by viewing videos by expert creators just before adding the product to their cart.

    Speaking on how the platform caters to a myriad of lifestyle categories, Trell co-founder Pulkit Agrawal said, “The idea of launching Trell’s Shop section came after extensive research and study on consumer behaviour and preferences. Today, users creating and consuming content on Trell can also purchase desired products from eminent brands at their convenience. As Trell continues to evolve and grow, we will be expanding our product offerings to achieve our goal of becoming a global leader in the space.”

    Offering content in seven regional languages including Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi apart from English, the content creators on Trell hail from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Trell has also noted that over 70 per cent of purchases on the Trell Shop are from these cities.

  • Amazon to pull the plug on Prime Now globally

    Amazon to pull the plug on Prime Now globally

    New Delhi: E-commerce giant Amazon has decided to pull the plug on its standalone Prime Now delivery app globally. The platform was launched in 2014. Its two-hour delivery options will now be integrated on its main app and website.

    It is important to note that Amazon has already moved the Prime Now experience to Amazon in India, Japan and Singapore and retired the Prime Now app and website. It is now suspending the operations in all other countries as well. “To make this experience even more seamless for customers, we are moving the experience from a separate Prime Now app onto the Amazon app and website so customers can shop all Amazon has to offer from one convenient location,” it said in a blog post.

    Now, there will be one convenient app for shopping, tracking orders and contacting customer service.   

    “In the US, we began making two-hour delivery from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market available on Amazon in 2019. Globally, we’ll move our third-party partners and local stores to the Amazon shopping experience before the Prime Now app and website are retired later this year,” said Amazon vice-president of grocery, Stephanie Landry, adding that the platform will be completely shut down by the end of 2021.

    The company said that the feedback from customers who have shopped for two-hour delivery on Amazon has been overwhelmingly positive and it’s a natural next step to simplify the ultrafast delivery experience globally. In the US, customers can now easily add items from their Alexa shopping list to their Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market shopping cart.

  • Covid care: Zomato launches new feature for emergency food delivery

    Covid care: Zomato launches new feature for emergency food delivery

    NEW DELHI: Restaurant aggregator and food delivery company Zomato has rolled out a priority delivery feature that will let customers receive food orders during Covid emergencies. 

    Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal confirmed this news on his Twitter account, which was later shared on the app’s official Twitter handle. Zomato users can now mark the emergency delivery feature while checking out their orders. 

    Under this new feature, the order placed by the customer will be fast-tracked in the queue, and the company will ensure quicker rider assignment and dedicated customer support for that order. 

    Zomato has also urged people not to misuse this feature, as it can be only used during emergency Covid situations. Moreover, these emergency deliveries will be completely contactless to ensure the safety of all the parties involved. 

    “Thousands of restaurants have pledged to prioritise these orders in their kitchen above all others. All deliveries to such customers will be contactless by default to ensure the safety of our riders, and subsequent customers. Needless to say, all customers should opt-in for contactless deliveries right now,” wrote Deepinder Goel in his tweet. 

     

     

    The new initiative from Zomato is now receiving positive responses from all corners. People are lauding the platform for doing its part for thousands of desperate Covid2019 patients. 

  • BookMyShow restructures senior leadership to bolster India operations

    BookMyShow restructures senior leadership to bolster India operations

    KOLKATA: Ticketing platform BookMyShow has rejigged its senior leadership, as the company strengthens its India management team across key business verticals.

    As part of the new structure, Anil Makhija will be in charge of scaling live entertainment operations as COO – live entertainment & venues, taking over from Albert Almeida who will head brand partnerships to nurture strategic and like-minded partnerships for BookMyShow in the journey ahead.

    The restructuring will help drive the next phase of growth and expansion for the company, further streamlining the core areas of the business, as BookMyShow doubles down on building a holistic platform for its customers, going forward, the company stated in a press statement.

    A veteran in the industry, Makhija joined BookMyShow in 2013 to lead ground operations and service delivery, while also overseeing deployment of new technologies across all physical events. Heading BookMyShow’s award-winning customer experience force along with ground operations at the firm, Makhija and his team have successfully enabled the use of technology to enhance the entire user experience until the last mile, on-ground. In a natural progression of his role here on, he will lead the operational strategy and execution of all live entertainment experiences across music, comedy, theatre, sports, live performances and more, bringing the complete range of touch points including experience fulfilment, production, venues and service delivery all under one roof.

    Almeida joined BookMyShow in 2018 to set the stage for the firm’s live entertainment business and shape its growth. In his new role, Almeida along with his team will focus on building strategic brand partnerships by unlocking the strength of BookMyShow’s critical assets – its premium IPs, vast community and the power of the platform.

    Further, BookMyShow’s foray into the streaming business with the transactional-video-on-demand model BookMyShow Stream will be helmed by Ashish Saksena, COO – Cinemas bringing all things movies, under one umbrella. Saksena has been leading the company’s cinemas business with continuous screen additions across the length and breadth of the country, expansion of BookMyShow’s POS business at cinemas in towns beyond metros, overseeing the growth of F&B as an able contributor to the vertical along with newer revenue enhancement measures within the movies business for the company, through long-term, marquee partnerships with production houses across the world and India.

    After playing an instrumental role in creating and building BookMyShow’s brand value over the last eight years, as also spearheading the effective utilization of the firm’s analytical capabilities to cement the firm’s leadership position in the entertainment ecosystem, Marzdi Kalianiwala will take on the role of senior vice president – Product & Design. He will drive the brand’s product strategy and innovation roadmap in line with consumer needs.

    Additionally, Mahesh Vandi Chalil has been made senior vice president – technology, wherein he will scale the firm’s technological prowess and strategic approach to development and delivery.

    BookMyShow founder & CEO Ashish Hemrajani said, “In its 21 year long journey, BookMyShow has been through its share of black swan events that have significantly changed not only the way we run business, but also the underlying consumer experience. However, with every such unpredictability, BookMyShow has only bounced back stronger and more ready to face the next big challenge. Without a shred of doubt, our tenacity is driven by the unwavering loyalty of millions of consumers who have stayed with us through the ups and downs of these past years and equally so, by a visionary leadership team that has always been one to think ahead of time and prepare for it today. This latest structural shift in BookMyShow’s leadership is an example of this foresight and one that will be our bedrock as we continue to future proof ourselves while moving forward swiftly, in a constantly evolving world of entertainment.”

  • Dating app Bumble takes a ‘Stand for Safety’

    Dating app Bumble takes a ‘Stand for Safety’

    KOLKATA: Women-first dating app Bumble has launched a new initiative, Stand for Safety, as part of its mission to create a safer, kinder and more respectful internet.

    In partnership with Red Dot Foundation's flagship public safety platform Safecity, Bumble is releasing a safety guide to empower women in India to identify, prevent and combat rising digital abuse; a furtherance of its commitment to a zero-tolerance policy for hate, aggression or bullying of any kind.

    “Through Bumble’s Stands for Safety initiative, we hope to equip and empower women in India with crucial information to understand and recognise, prevent and fight digital abuse. We are happy to collaborate with Safecity who has been doing incredible work on creating safer spaces for women worldwide. We will continue to demonstrate our commitment to creating safer, healthy relationships on our platform and in our communities,” Bumble VP global strategy & operations VP Priti Joshi.

     A recent nationwide survey by Bumble found 83 per cent of women surveyed in India experience online harassment of some kind, and one in three women experience it weekly. A further 70 per cent of women believe that cyberbullying increased since lockdown was announced in 2020. Over half (59 per cent) of women surveyed said they feel unsafe and just under half (48 per cent) feel angry.

    Red Dot Foundation founder ElsaMarie D’Silva commented, “Many women are silenced and intimidated in online spaces due to harassment and bullying directed towards them. Today's environment requires everyone to be comfortable and knowledgeable when accessing and utilising digital spaces for various aspects of life. We hope our safety guide will help them navigate these spaces safely and confidently.”

    The Bumble community in India can access the safety guide within the app under its recently launched Safety + wellbeing centre, a resource hub built to help our global community to provide them with a safe and healthy dating experience.

    Bumble is committed to fostering a safe and inclusive space for its community to connect for healthy and equitable relationships. As a geographic-specific feature for Bumble community in India, a woman can choose to use only the first initial of her name to create her Bumble Date profile and can share her full name with connections when she feels ready and comfortable. Bumble has a robust block and report feature within the app, and has made it easy for its community to block and report anyone who makes them uncomfortable on our app, or anyone who's behaviour goes against the community guidelines.

    The social networking app also has a photo verification feature to help prevent catfishing within the app. Another Bumble feature that leverages AI, Private Detector is able to capture, blur and alert users that they've been sent an unsolicited nude image making it the user’s choice to either delete, view or report the image. Bumble recently updated its terms and conditions to explicitly ban any unsolicited and derogatory comments made about someone’s appearance, body shape, size or health, and became one of the first social networking apps to ban body shaming.

    The app uses automated safeguards to detect comments and images that go against its guidelines and terms and conditions, which can then be escalated to a human moderator to review.

  • UpGrad for Business to impact 1mn plus professionals in the workforce

    UpGrad for Business to impact 1mn plus professionals in the workforce

    KOLKATA: Edtech platform UpGrad is all set to add yet another milestone to its credit by impacting additional one million plus professionals in the workforce through its b2b offering, UpGrad for Business. 

    Realising the importance of reskilling and the pace of digital transformation accelerated by Covid2019, companies across various sectors such as PSUs (Power Grid Corporation of India), ITeS (Hewlett Packard Enterprise), manufacturing (Welspun Group), consulting (PwC), analytics (Fractal Analytics), BFSI (HDFC Life Insurance), media (Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd) and PR (Adfactors PR) among others have chosen upGrad for Business as one of their most trusted learning and development (L&D) partner.

    With industries racing towards being data-driven, organisations seek to have the twin power of data and technology to add to their competitive advantage. Data skills have turned into the single largest skill gap in organisations followed by digital technologies. In order to address these skill gaps, UpGrad for Business has aligned its programs across the critical pillars of data, technology, management and behavioural skills.

    According to a report titled, The Human Impact of Data Literacy by Accenture and Qlik, despite nearly all employees (83 per cent) recognising data as an asset, few are using it for informed decision-making. While 53 per cent of employees trust their decisions more when they are based on data, four in five (80 per cent) still frequently defer to a “gut feeling” rather than data-driven insights when making decisions.

    UpGrad for Business president (head) Minaxi Indra commented, "The UpGrad for Business team is customer-obsessed and takes pride in ‘hyper-contextualising’ learning for our customers. We build industry-relevant case studies based on the customer's industry and their business needs. Our focus on creating a specialist-level workforce makes us a pioneer in the online b2b learning space. We ensure our customer's workforce contributes to their organisational business outcomes by learning from our world-class university partners. UpGrad for Business enables leadership competency building and a future-forward business across entry-level and middle management employees."

    PwC US Advisory director Deepesh Hiran further added, "UpGrad has a very strong brand name from an analytics perspective in the market and a very strong client portfolio. We realised that the maturity of understanding the analytics business and the maturity of the analytics content was reflecting while we were evaluating upGrad as a partner."

    UpGrad for Business aims to build a lifelong learning partnership with firms and organisations to deliver expected and exceptional outcomes. Today, as companies are continuously transforming, the L&D culture is evolving too. Organisations need to adapt their corporate training strategies to keep abreast with the changing business needs. Keeping the speed and scale of digital transformation in mind, UpGrad for Business is focused on delivering measurable business efficiencies for organisations across employee productivity, business profitability and growth.

  • Amazon tweaks new app logo after comparison with Hitler’s moustache

    Amazon tweaks new app logo after comparison with Hitler’s moustache

    MUMBAI: If you have ever ordered a package from Amazon, you would be familiar with their product packaging- an ubiquitous brown cardboard box with a black adhesive tape running along its sides. Taking this imagery even further, the e-commerce giant had unveiled its new app icon in January featuring a brown box with a jagged piece of blue tape, right above its trademark smile-shaped arrow — overall, giving the icon the appearance of a smiling face. But unfortunately for the online retailer, it evoked anything but smiles from certain sections of social media.

    The logo came under fire from some netizens globally, who felt that the blue tape, positioned above the smiling arrow logo, had an uncanny resemblance to the infamous toothbrush moustache sported by German dictator, Adolf Hitler. Some went so far as to claim that the new app icon reminded them of a smirking Hitler. The comparison blew up social media until Amazon decided to come up with a new logo to quell the outrage.

    The e-tailer, which had updated its new logo across most regional app stores, quietly rolled out a minor update to its icon. The new logo now has the blue tape, minus the jagged edge and folded at the corner to remove any iota of resemblance to the ‘provocative’ moustache.

    https://twitter.com/alexhern/status/1366396140116131842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1366396140116131842%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-3643645932941219977.ampproject.net%2F2102200206005%2Fframe.html

    “Amazon is always exploring new ways to delight our customers. We designed the new icon to spark anticipation, excitement, and joy when customers start their shopping journey on their phone, just as they do when they see our boxes on their doorstep,” said the company’s spokesperson of the original change from the age-old shopping-cart icon.

    It was unclear if criticism of the new logo prompted the second redesign this year for the company which advertises itself as “delivering smiles to customers’ doorsteps”.

    Coming on the heels of another logo change by yet another e-commerce player — Myntra after indignation from an Indian citizen — it is evident that corporations are treading on eggshells when it comes to their branding. The Indian fashion e-tailer headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka had to alter its app icon after an NGO charged the M-shaped logo was offensive and derogatory towards women. Myntra changed the logo soon after a complaint was lodged with the cyber cell in Mumbai by Avesta Foundation's Naaz Patel, noting that the brand’s signage resembled a naked woman with splayed legs, and was hence "obscene".

    The logo, with some minor tweaks to the original, was changed across Myntra's website, app and packaging material. The matter, however, drew a mixed response from netizens. While some welcomed the company's decision to change the logo, many said such demands for logo changes seemed whimsical. 

    Ironically, a few also said the complaint exaggerated and brought to notice the supposed structure of the logo, which many would not have cared to notice otherwise; going on to add that they "cannot unsee it now".

    So then the question arises, in an era of social media outrage and trolling where do brands draw the line? The ability of social media to highlight trends or criticisms cannot be discounted, more so for an e-commerce platform. With the online space becoming more expansive and diverse, consumer expectations for companies to be sensitive to the experiences of different groups has only grown. However, opinion remains divided on whether brands should bend over backward to consider all the possible ways people could misuse or misinterpret their logos.