Category: e-commerce

CarTrade secures Rs 950 crore funding for expansion in online auto industry

MUMBAI: Indian online auto classifieds platform CarTrade has raised Rs 950 crore led by Temasek, an investment company based in Singapore, and March Capital, a global venture investment firm.

Existing investor Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm focused on growth investing, also participated in the process. This injection of capital will be utilised to diversify and strengthen CarTrade’s offerings for consumers and dealers.

Following its recent combination with Carwale, CarTrade has also strengthen its presence in the market. “It has over 32 million visits per month and work with approximately 10,000 new and used car dealer partners. The platforms list more than 225,000 used cars for sale and auctions over 250,000 vehicles to the wholesale market every year. CarTrade and CarWale jointly contribute to a majority of all online sales for car dealers and car manufacturers,” the company said in a statement.

“We are extremely happy to have Temasek and March Capital on board as partners together with existing investor, Warburg Pincus. This investment is a validation of CarTrade’s business model and growth plans in the Indian online auto space. The funds raised shall be used to further expand our services organically and through acquisitions. We will continue to focus on products, services and strengthening our world class technology capabilities and platforms, to deliver a seamless online experience for auto enthusiasts across the country,” said CarTrade founder and chief executive officer Vinay Sanghi.

CarWale CEO Mohit Dubey added, “These are exciting times for us as the e-commerce sector is at a broad confluence of multiple macro trends. We are very excited about the opportunities presented by sector in India and are well positioned to leverage these opportunities. At this stage of growth we welcome Temasek and March Capital and this new financing will provide CarTrade with a strong foundation for future growth.”

March Capital managing director Sumant Mandal said, “At March Capital we believe that the greatest companies oftomorrow are being built now. CarTrade has developed a unique and a world class platform for transacting in new and used vehicles. A leader in its segment, it has steadily expanded its offerings across India and today has an extremely strong network dealer partners with a rapidly growing user base. We continue to be impressed by the team’s dynamism, passion, energy and vision and look forward to working closely with the team to support the company in achieving its growth ambitions.”

Existing investors of CarTrade, which was founded by Vinay Sanghi in 2009, include Warburg Pincus, JP Morgan and Epiphany Ventures.

January 13, 2016
Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer pumps Rs 7 crore in MeraDoctor

MUMBAI: MeraDoctor, a platform for virtual consultations between doctors and patients, has closed a Rs 7-crore Pre-Series A financing round led by Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures.

MeraDoctor, which was launched earlier this year, has so far helped over 300,000 people connect with carefully screened doctors across India through a simple chat interface. Most health platforms create a big bazaar experience in which neither patients nor doctors are comfortable. Instead, as a doctor-led company, MeraDoctor builds trust and loyalty by smoothly connecting patients with reputable physicians only, and ensures that both sides have a high-quality experience.

MeraDoctor CEO & co-founder Dr. Ajay Nair says, “We’re honoured to have partnered with Ronnie Screwvala and some of the country’s best entrepreneurs and investors to take MeraDoctor to the next stage. Within the country’s rapidly evolving healthcare industry, our focus is clear – we make it easy for everyone in India to have high quality health conversations on their phone. In just a few months after launching our app for live messaging with doctors, we’ve helped over 300,000 people connect with quality care.”

The new investment will help MeraDoctor extend its technology platform, scale up its doctor base, add to its technology and management teams.

Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investor early-stage fund IndiaQuotient. Previous investors in the company include Aaavishkaar and Accion Venture Lab.

“MeraDoctor’s leadership team is unique in combining a deep understanding of healthcare with a fine-tuned sense of customer needs and a relentless drive to build a large, enduring business. Mobile adoption is disrupting the way healthcare is being delivered. The very large untapped market and the team’s deep healthcare experience is a winning combination. I’m delighted to support their vision and contribute as best I can, as Ajay and Gautam tackle one of the biggest opportunities in India today,” adds Screwvala.

December 16, 2015
Zomato ex-CMO Alok Jain’s foodtech Yumist raises USD 2 million

MUMBAI: India-based food delivery start up Yumist has raised $2 million in its pre-Series A round funding, with the Ronnie Screwvala owned venture capitalist Unilazer Venture as its leading investor. Existing Orios VP and Silicon Valley based investor Steven Lurie also participated in the investment round.

The foodtech start up launched by former Zomato CMO Alok Jain and Zing restaurant founder Abhimanyu Maheshwari in 2014 currently serves home-style meals prepared in their own kitchens at price points of Rs 65 onwards. Meals can be ordered through the Yumist app or website. The order is delivered in under 30 minutes, the service claims.

“The focus is on building a great customer experience and healthy unit economics, which has resulted in rapid organic growth for us. We’ll continue with this approach going forward,” Yumist co-founder and CEO Alok Jain informed a broadsheet on the new fundraiser.

With an aim to reduce its delivery cost from Rs 35 to Rs 20, the start-up plans to use the money raised to scale up in existing cities — Gurgaon, Delhi and Bengaluru till March, after which Yumist plans to expand to Mumbai and Pune.

“After this round, we will still keep our heads down until March in our current three cities, and show that we can be gross margin profitable at a company level,” said Jain revealed.

December 9, 2015
Myntra launches V2.0 of app; announces ‘House of brands’ campaign

BENGALURU: Myntra unveiled version 2.0 of its shopping app yesterday in Bengaluru on the side lines of its 4^thAnnual Brand Summit. The new version of the app is meant to transform the way customers shop for fashion online, by making it more personalized and social. Myntra says that it is meant to connect fashion lovers with their favourite brands, celebrities and people of similar taste and engage them with the latest in fashion content, new trends and collections.

The company announced a new campaign that includes three TVCs’ to promote itself as a House of brands with the tagline ‘The Best of Fashion for the Best of You’. The campaign created by Bengaluru based Happy Creative Services will run for an entire year said Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan. The three TVCs’ have been directed by Razneesh Ghai and produced by Asylum Films. For now, the three TVC’s will be aired across digital platforms including television, multiplexes for a month. Media buying for the ‘House of brands’ campaign is through Group M. Narayanan also revealed that a campaign to promote the version 2.0 of the Myntra app was in the offing.

According to Myntra, it’s 4th Annual Brand Summit saw 450 leading Indian fashion and lifestyle brands come together to witness Myntra unveil its vision for fashion commerce in India. Myntra held the Brand Summit at Bangalore on the theme of ‘Leveraging Technology to Build the Future Platform for Fashion’. Brand partners and suppliers came together under one roof for a day to discuss innovation, trends and brand building in fashion and the role of technology in driving the same.

Unveiling the Myntra V2 platform, Myntra CTO Shamik Sharma said, “We are setting out on a path to the future – where people’s online and offline experience fuse together seamlessly. People want to be able to shop and hang out together, be inspired by others, and get their opinion. We want to enable this to happen online. The new app brings together the best of offline and online experiences on the mobile by allowing our customers to engage with others and with influencers. It is a personalized social shopping experience; a one of its kind in the industry.”

The Myntra App Version 2.0 is currently available on the Android platform and will launch some of these features on the iOS platform shortly.

According to Sharma, Myntra V2.0 has several innovative new features – ‘The Style Forum’ brings shoppers closer to the real world experience of asking for the opinion of their friends or help from style experts. ‘The Fashion Feed’ on the landing page provides users fresh content every time they open the app and also allows them to follow conversations of particular interests or follow friends for regular updates. Profiles allow brands and fashion influencers to create their own presence and showcase new trends and collections. The new brand ‘Partner Portal’ allows brands to understand consumer preferences and communicate with their fans.

Of special significance for brands is that the new Myntra app offers partner brands a new way to reach out to over 76 lakh active customers by sharing with them, engaging content ranging from new launches to trend stories. The new app will help brands acquire new followers, run specific campaigns and promote new product collections. Brand ambassadors get a better connect with their fans by becoming a part of the customers’ shopping experience.

Another significant step by Myntra is the Partner Portal that will help its partner brands publish various kinds of content – videos, inspiring articles etc., and target a specific user segment. The new portal will enable brands to plan their campaigns on the basis of customer demographic insights and deeper understanding of their purchase patterns.

December 8, 2015
Ronnie Screwvala’s UpGrad platform attracts entries from over 20 countries

MUMBAI: The online education platform UpGrad founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Ravijot Chugh and Prabhav Phalgun went live with its first course on entreneurship on 25 November. The 15 week program, in its first outing, has received entries from 100 cities over 20 countries. Close to 2000 participants applied for course.

The program features five distinguished faculty members from academia, 30+ entrepreneurs like Ola Cabs co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, MakeMyTrip.com founder Deep Kalra, Zomato co-founder Pankaj Chaddah and over 10 industry stalwarts from various fields to provide deep insights and first-hand experiences to the student base.

The courses will vary from a duration of six weeks to nine months and will have multiple start dates through the year. Going forward, UpGrad will also be available on the mobile platform through an android app.

Speaking on the response, UpGrad CEO & co-founder Mayank Kumar said, “The fact that we received close to 2000 applications across various demographic sections during the first leg of the launch, stands testament to the need for quality online education in India. We aim to bridge this need gap through UpGrad.”

“With UpGrad, we aim to revolutionise the online education industry by bringing credibility and scale. The response to our first course is a strong validation that we are on our way of achieving our vision. Our strong academics & media production team providing quality content, and our technology team building the most innovative learning platform enable us to provide a unique and first of its kind education experience to create industry ready professionals. Our programs will also offer a strong support services to ensure students have a seamless learning experience,” signed off UpGrad founder Ronnie Screwvala.

December 7, 2015
Hatchbacks most favoured by customers; Maruti & Hyundai lead auto category: CarDekho

MUMBAI: The Indian consumer is now more discerning than ever before. Even when bombarded with options galore, consumers today know exactly what they want. And this can well be seen in the findings of a recent report released by Indian online automobile marketplace CarDekho.

The report on online search patterns of the Indian consumers compared to actual in-market sales of cars during the festive season showed that when it comes to cars, hatchbacks were the most preferred customer choice, figuring in consideration sets for nearly 47 per cent consumer with their actual demand clocking in 48 per cent of the overall figure. The sedan category also saw consideration (26 per cent) and demand (25 per cent) nearly at par with one another.

On the other hand, Maruti and Hyundai occupied the top slots in the hatchback as well as the sedan segment, with Honda also marking prominent presence in the latter category.

The report, which is based on CarDekho’s platform traffic as well as Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, focused on various car categories such as hatchback, MUV, Sedan, SUV and Compact SUV/MUV to present a comprehensive statistical picture of the user consideration versus actual demand.

Compact SUV/MUV section saw a high consideration per centage (17 per cent) due to the buzz effect surrounding the new category launch. However, the actual demand for the segment was only 10 per cent, which could be attributed to the relative unfamiliarity of the Indian public with the category. MUVs, on the other hand, resulted in a much higher actual demand (12 per cent) than consideration, which stood at a mere two per cent.

GirnarSoft CMO LK Gupta said, “The October-November festive season is a time when Indian consumers wield their financial clout to buy things that they have shortlisted over the year. As such, this report provides a valuable insight into the shopping trends during this busy period. These insights will help car manufacturers to better understand the dynamics of consideration sets that buyers go into the market with, and how they change through the purchase process. The report also helps us as an auto portal to improve upon our existing services and shape our product offerings to be more in sync with the consumer preferences.”

CarDekho’s report also highlighted the importance of price and value-for-money proposition for the Indian consumers. Amongst hatchbacks, Hyundai’s Elite i20 saw nearly 17 per cent user consideration; however, the actual conversion stood only at nine per cent. In comparison, its Grand i10 model, priced nearly Rs 2 lakh lower, managed to record 11 per cent demand despite a measly four per cent consideration. The Alto also recorded 18 per cent actual demand as compared to eight per cent consideration owing to its lower price and Maruti’s brand value. Similarly for the Sedan category, Dzire’s actual demand (37 per cent) far eclipsed its consideration (16 per cent), while the case was reversed for Honda City, which saw 20 per cent consideration, but only 11 per cent actual demand.

However, while price was an important factor that drove transactions, performance and features were also given due consideration. In the Compact SUV/MUV category, both the consideration (14 per cent) and actual conversion (12 per cent) for Maruti’s S-Cross was much lower comparatively to Hyundai’s Creta (32 per cent consideration and 28 per cent actual) despite a lower price. This was attributed to more attractive features offered by Creta as compared to S-Cross.

December 2, 2015
Amazon orders three original kids series

MUMBAI: Amazon has ordered three new original kids series namely Dino Dana, The Kicks and Lost in Oz. Additionally, the company has also ordered half-hour special Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas to debut on Prime Video.

The new series come from creative talent including Aardman Animations, Bureau of Magic’s Mark Warshaw, Abram Makowka, Darin Mark and Jared Mark, novelist James Frey and J.J. Johnson.

All three series will be available for Prime members in the US, UK, Germany and Austria and will debut next year. Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas will make its world debut for Prime members in the US on 13 November.

“We’re excited to offer our Prime members a beautifully reimagined world in our first original kids 6-to-11 animated series and bring to the screen Alex Morgan’s successful book series with an inspirational role model at the core. Aardman and Sinking Ship are award-winning producers and we’re excited to debut Dino Dana and Shaun the Sheep on Prime Video,” said Amazon Studios head of kids programming Tara Sorensen.

A follow up to the 2015 Emmy award-winning series Dino Dan, Dino Dana is a preschool program that takes viewers on a whole new level of dinosaur encounters. The series will feature 16 new prehistoric creatures, an adopted baby dino and, for the first time, two sisters. Created and directed by J.J. Johnson, the series will be executive produced by Sinking Ship partners Johnson, Blair Powers and Matt Bishop, co-executive produced by Christin Simms and written by Johnson and Simms.

In The Kicks, a live-action series for children ages six to 11, Devin Burke (played by newcomer Sixx Orange) was the star player on her soccer team back home until her family moved to California midway through the school year. Now, Devin has to rise to the challenge after discovering that her new school team has been on a losing streak over the last few months and is badly in need of a leader to rally the team together. Based on a book series by US Olympic Gold Medalist and current US Women’s National Team soccer player Alex Morgan, the project is executive produced by Full Fathom Five’s novelist James Frey and Todd Cohen, as well as Andrew Orenstein. The series also stars E’myri Crutchfield as Zoe Hanson, Gabe Eggerling as Bailey Burke, Sophia Mitri Schloss as Emma Gelbaum, Monica Lacy as Sharon Burke, and Tim Martin Gleason as Tom Burke.

Lost in Oz is an animated, action-adventure comedy for children ages 6 to 11 set in a modern, metropolitan Emerald City. Stranded in this spectacular world, 12-year-old Dorothy Gale befriends West, a young, street-smart witch grappling with dark temptations, and Ojo, a giant munchkin. With Dorothy’s dog Toto, this unlikely crew embarks on an epic journey, seeking out the magic Dorothy needs to get back to Kansas. The challenge for Dorothy, and everyone else in this world, is that Oz is facing the greatest magic crisis in eons. Developed and produced by Bureau of Magic’s Mark Warshaw, Darin Mark, Jared Mark, and Abram Makowka, this contemporary re-imagining of L. Frank Baum’s extraordinary universe is designed by Flaunt Productions, music by Adam Berry with theme music by Mark Mothersbaugh.

In Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas, the Farmer and Bitzer go to a Country Fair and Shaun accompanies them intent on causing mischief. The Aardman Animations special is written by Lee Pressman, Richard Starzak and Nick Vincent Murphy, directed by Jay Grace and produced by Paul Kewley & John Woolley.

November 10, 2015
Amazon beats others in mega pre-festive online sales: Ugam

MUMBAI: In an earlier feature done by Indiantelevision.com, we saw creative and ad gurus giving their opinion on the fiercely competitive campaigns that e-commerce brands launched, with Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal leading the pack.

Be it their display ad wars, or their strategically placed jacket advertisements on newspapers, their digs at each other not only grabbed the consumers’ eyeballs, but have also created a stir within the ecosystem.

The season was ushered in by two of the top e-commerce players conducting three mega sales in two weeks. Flipkart kick-started the celebrations with its second edition of the Big Billion Days sale, followed by Amazon’s Great Indian Festive sale, and most recently Amazon’s Great Indian Diwali Sale from 26 to 28 October.

Now that we have Diwali is knocking at our doorsteps, an analysis by global analytics manager Ugam has put a perspective on the entire scenario.

Ugam recorded Amazon’s pricing and assortment for likely bestsellers in three key product categories – Laptops, Home Appliances and Books – and compared it to Flipkart and Snapdeal to learn which retailer actually had the best offers for the likely best sellers.

As per their survey, Amazon.in led the sale period, by offering lowers prices in two out of the three categories, namely home appliances and books.

While that puts Amazon in the lead, it failed to spoil its consumers for choices. The e-commerce brand didn’t have a larger assortment of products when it came to home appliances and books, though it still led the books inventory.

Snapdeal dominated the laptop category with 2026 Stock Keeping Units (SKU), and missed the top position in the home appliances category by a small margin, putting Flipkart on the top with 5319 SKUs in their inventory.

Amazon made up for its lack of variety, by staying better stocked throughout the sale.

If one were to go by prices, Amazon had a better score as per the data shared by Ugam. While Flipkart had lower prices for their Big Billion Day sales for likely best sellers in the laptop category, Amazon kept their prices low for home appliances and books sections.

While the survey is inconclusive in revealing the revenue each player made throughout the sale, by tallying the pricing behaviour of the ecommerce players with consumer behaviour one can form an idea on who scored the most in the season of sales.

November 5, 2015
ScholarKart.com is now Fastudent.com

MUMBAI: ScholarKart.com – a one stop shop for all the academic needs of students – has announced to change its name to Fastudent. Fastudent is a part of EduVision Retail Pvt. Ltd., a first of its kind e-commerce technology enabler. The change in name, accentuates the transition this e-commerce technology platform, which services student communities all the way from Play Group to Post Graduation (PG to PG), has undergone. This announcement highlights the company’s desire to bring bigger and better value to every student in India, ranging from local to global education products.

Speaking on the development Gaurav Barman, CEO, EduVision Retail Pvt. Ltd. said, “Fastudent is one its kind e-commerce portal that is intended to service the education fraternity like never before. We are the first ever to include one of the widest product ranges in this segment, from Books, Stationery, Branded Merchandise, Digital Learning, Uniforms , Musical Instruments ,Sports Goods, Art & Craft and Electronics. The change in name marks a change in our approach.”

Adding to this, Ms. Geetanjali Khanna, COO, EduVision Retail Pvt. Ltd. said, “The role of the youth is the most important in today’s time. With Fastudent we intend to facilitate access to international education products to make available more learning avenues to the youth of India. ”

Fastudent, taking from the legacy of scholarkart.com, will continue to focus on offering comprehensive educational services to schools, universities and retail segments across India. With clearly defined operational arena and objectives, Fastudent is entering a phase of diversified growth in the education industry, across India, with the potential for widespread growth in the near term

October 29, 2015
eBay rolls out digital ad to educate consumers on refurbished products

NEW DELHI: eBay India, which had launched its ‘ebay Choices’ campaign in August to bring refurbished supply on its platform www.ebay.in; today launched a digital advertisement to educate consumers on the ‘refurbished’ category.

Link to the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHP2_eeHs5Q&feature=emupload_owner

Since launch of eBay Choices, ebay.in has witnessed tremendous response and demand for refurbished products. The category itself has grown from 6000 listings to over 25000 listings and has grown by 200 per cent over the last two months. The demand for refurbished products has been unparalleled especially from Tier II and III cities of India.

Looking at the growing consumer interest and basis consumer feedback, there was a need to communicate of what really is ‘refurbished.’ The new digital film showcases the offerings in the refurbished segment through a story of a regular Indian family.

Consumers can view the ad film across eBay India’s digital platforms on YouTube and social media channels.

eBay India marketing director Shivani Suri said, “We are extremely excited as our refurbished ad film goes live today on all digital platforms. Through this film, we aim to strike a chord with Indian consumers and further educate them about our diverse offerings in the refurbished space. This segment has seen a huge surge in consumer demand among Indian audiences and owing to the recent festive fever the demand of refurbished goods has reached an all-time high.”

eBay India has tied-up with over 15 organised partners such as GreenDust, ValueCart, Budli, My Return Solutions amongst others to bring in consistent supply of refurbished products on ebay.in.

October 21, 2015