ITV

Category: iWorld

  • Tata Group to be the ‘Alibaba’ of India?

    Tata Group to be the ‘Alibaba’ of India?

    MUMBAI: The multiple investments made by its chairman emeritus Ratan Tata in e-tail and the steep rise in the e-commerce industry seems to have inspired the Tata Group too, which is now reportedly planning a big entry into the e-commerce space with a marketplace-based model.

     

    The Economic Times reported that the site will be headed by its subsidiary Tata industries and that Tata is modeling its business on Tmall.com, which is the marketplace in the Alibaba Group.

     

    The new marketplace business, modelling on Alibaba’s Tmall.com, would allow third-party sellers on the platform. It would help generate revenues by charging a fee or commission from merchants, who will use the platform.

     

    The yet-to-be-named venture is likely to be rolled out in 2015, and will initially showcase Tata’s existing retail chain brands such as Westside, Croma and Star Bazaar. Tata is also planning to tie up with its partner Zara, which only sells online through its own sites.

     

    It will also allow other merchants to sell alongside Tata’s various units. The group has already reportedly begun enrolling vendors and hiring people, the report added.

     

    Tata already has a substantial presence in real-world retail, including joint ventures with Britain’s Tesco, Spain’s Zara and coffee chain Starbucks. Last month Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, bought a stake in Snapdeal and online jewellery retailer Bluestone.

     

    India’s e-commerce market has been booming in recent years with market leader Flipkart clocking a valuation of $7 billion in a July funding round when it raised $1 billion from a clutch of existing investors and a day later, Amazon announced plans to invest $2 billion in India.

     

    Also, India’s online retail business is expected to surge to between $19 billion and 38 billion, from about $2.3 billion in annual sales now. Enticed by the potential, other business houses like Reliance Industries and Aditya Birla Group have reportedly been hinting at forays into the e-commerce space but have not revealed any concrete plans so far.

  • Junglee.com 2.0: From a comparison site to a marketplace

    Junglee.com 2.0: From a comparison site to a marketplace

    MUMBAI: Growing at 30 per cent since FY09 and aiming at becoming an $18 billion industry by FY15, the e-commerce players have been making non-stop headlines for quite some time now.

     

    With the steep rise in online usage, Amazon is now focusing more on its first entry into India, Junglee.com. Launched in 2012 by the global e-commerce giant, Junglee.com provided price comparisons for consumers. However, things have changed now.

     

    The site has now turned into a marketplace offering services like ‘Buy on Junglee’ and ‘Sell on Junglee’. The site has also launched an app to provide easier access to customers.

     

    Explaining the origin of the site, Amazon India VP and country manager Amit Agarwal says, “In the fast growing online shopping market, the profusion of options led to a need for a shopping guide that can help online shoppers navigate through the maze of options. To bridge this gap, we launched Junglee.com in 2012.”

     

    “Junglee enables customers to find and discover products from online and offline retailers in India. Junglee organises massive selection and multiple buying options from hundreds of sellers, and leverages Amazon’s proven technologies and millions of customer reviews to help customers make smart purchase decisions,” he adds.

     

    The portal offers customers access to more than three crore products with over six crore customer reviews and thousands of seller reviews. It has more than 2,300 online shopping sites and 1 lakh offline stores listed.

     

    Talking about the new features, Junglee.com GM Mahendra Nerurkar says, “With ‘Buy on Junglee’, we are helping sellers and customers improve their engagement with each other further and help convert leads at the time of intent.”

     

    He also added that Junglee had rebranded its Product Ads service to ‘Sell on Junglee’, earlier this year. It was particularly targeted at smaller retailers, who would get a chance to list their products on the site.

     

    Agarwal reckons, “Statistics say that 25 per cent of all online shoppers first visit comparison sites. 45 per cent tend to buy from offline stores after comparing online. This is what has driven offline stores to aspire to be on Junglee.com.”

     

    Besides, the site also allows consumers to sell their old and used products through its tie-up with Quikr.com.

     

    “Through our tie-up with Quikr.com, we also introduced product listings from offline store as well as across pre-owned products,” Nerurkar reckoned.

     

    Currently even though listing products on Junglee is free, they charge a fee per transaction for products that are bought using ‘Buy on Junglee’ facility. It is estimated that Junglee will be charging a flat rate of 5 per cent as part of a promotional offer that lasts till 31 May 2015. Rates will vary from five to 15 per cent after that.

     

    These features make Junglee a marketplace, along with a comparison site, and it is this strategy that will help Amazon India have an edge over its rivals. However, players such as Flipkart and Snapdeal have not yet listed themselves on Junglee.

     

    In addition, they also recently announced the launch of Junglee mobile app for android smartphones. This launch makes it convenient for customers to check prices of over 3.1 crore products anywhere through the easy to use app. 

     

    “The app enables shoppers to search across online and local sellers together as well as compare prices across new and used products, all in one place. It also includes an auto-suggest feature, filters to help refine results by brand, price, item condition, discount, average customer review and more attributes,” says Agarwal.

     

    Adding to that Nerurkar reveals, “The app has started trending on Google Play among apps from all categories. Within a month of launch, the app has been downloaded by over two lakh customers. We will continue to add new features to the app and help more customers check prices from anywhere using the app.”

     

    On an average, the site witnesses about 15 million sessions per month.

     

    Talking about future plans,  Agarwal comments, “Our vision for Junglee is to enable customers to determine where to buy anything, anywhere (online or offline, within or outside India). It’s a neutral and unbiased platform. At one place, customers can find the best offers on leading online e-commerce web sites such as Amazon.in, Jabong, HomeShop18, Indiatimes Shopping, Infibeam and hundreds of others.”

     

    Junglee.com has emerged as the number one search and comparison shopping site in India as per comScore and has occupied the top position on comScore charts for eight quarters in a row starting September 2012.

  • IMImobile to power BBC’s mobile and social audience engagement

    IMImobile to power BBC’s mobile and social audience engagement

    MUMBAI: IMImobile, a global technology company providing software and services which help businesses capitalise on the growth in mobile communications, today announced that they have been awarded the contract under the BBC’s framework agreement for the provisioning of Mobile and Social Messaging services to help the BBC streamline the audience engagement process across mobile and social channels. The partnership commenced in July 2014, after an official supplier selection process. 

     

    The BBC will be using IMImobile’s DaVinci Social platform across radio, TV and live events, enabling production teams to seamlessly manage inbound and outbound audience interactions across SMS, MMS, email, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. DaVinci Social is a single tool specifically developed to enable broadcasters to manage and respond to audience interaction across multiple channels, monitor citizen journalism and integrate contextual audience feedback into live programming. In addition, the platform will be used to manage interactive services such as social and mobile voting.

     

    IMImobile chief executive Jay Patel commented: “We are delighted to be selected by the BBC to deploy our DaVinci Social platform across the organisation. IMImobile has a deep heritage of delivering highly scalable solutions and services into the broadcasting sector. DaVinci Social fulfils the BBC’s requirements for being a universal tool for the monitoring and management of audience interaction across multiple channels”.

     

    The growth in mobile and social communication has changed the way audiences want to consume and participate in the broadcasting experience. To help broadcasters manage the complexity of mobile and social engagement, IMImobile developed DaVinci Social, an enterprise grade, highly scalable platform that can be deployed across hundreds of production teams to centralise the management of audience engagement across multiple digital and mobile channels.

     

    BBC head of Interactive Technical Advice & Contracts Unit Claire McLaughlin said: “Throughout the bid, IMImobile was able to successfully demonstrate that the DaVinci Social platform meets our high demands and criteria for centralising all audience interactions across our radio, TV and live event programming. The platform enables the BBC to respond to the change in audience behaviour and integrate mobile and social audience interactions into the broadcasting experience.”

  • Empowering women with internet can change India’s future, believes Google

    Empowering women with internet can change India’s future, believes Google

    MUMBAI: Google India today announced the launch of a new social campaign called #ReachForTheSky, in association with Farhan Akhtar’s MARD initiative to increase internet literacy among women in India.

     

    The joint campaign will also look to build support from existing Internet users and encourage more women to learn and use the internet to excel in their lives.

     

    Speaking about the campaign and the importance of getting women online, Google India VP and managing director Rajan Anandan said, “There are 616 million women in India and close to half are below the age of 25. Empowering the young women population with information and internet could transform India’s future.”

     

    In November 2013, Google India had launched its first digital literacy initiative campaign in India called ‘Helping Women Get Online’ (HWGO) in collaboration with Intel, HUL and Axis Bank.

     

    Along with boosting the overall internet adoption, the initiative aims to bridge the huge gender disparity prevalent India. “The first phase has been very successful. For the first time last year, the number of women using the internet has grown 35 per cent as against 31 per cent by men,” Anandan added.

     

    Anandan also revealed that this initiative is not a part of the company’s CSR and said, “Google’s mission is to get more people online and as the number of women using Internet increases, it would be a good thing for the country as well as the company.”

     

    Talking about the association and the launch of the campaign, Farhan Akhtar, said, “MARD is a progressive movement for a more gender equal world. There is lack of encouragement for women to use internet or technology and we need to come together to address this issue. Technology is not just the domain of men. I am excited to join this initiative, to gather support and encourage men to support and help young girls and women to learn and use the internet to improve lives.”

     

    Sharing more details about the campaign, Google India marketing head Sandeep Menon said, “Our mission is to help bring 50 million women online in India. In the last nine months we have undertaken a number of initiatives reaching over one million women across five states in India, covering 30 cities and 55 small towns.”

     

    The company has also been working closely with educational institutions for the campaign to reach the remotest parts of the country by imparting basic internet and computer training to students and teachers. The company has also have introduced HWGO Internet Cart, a mobile way of reaching out to women in villages to give them the internet experience and are planning to roll it across more states of the country.

     

    Talking about association with Akhtar, Menon reckoned, “Since the launch of HWGO, we have worked with a number of partners, HUL, Samsung, Aircel. One of the partners was MARD, and we soon realised our aims were very well aligned. It was a natural fit.”

     

    Menon also added that they would also launch two media campaigns. “Farhan will help us enroll multiple stars. There will be a number of familiar faces joining the cause as that is a powerful medium. Also, for people looking for facts and statistics, we will have a campaign that will provide statistical data to shake up people and inspire them to join the campaign.”

     

    To rope in more existing internet users to join the campaign to help get more women online, the company will be only opting for digital marketing.

     

    “We will be taking the digital route completely for this, not going to take the campaign on mainline media at this point of time. We will be propagating the campaign on different mediums and sites including Youtube, economictimes.com. The campaign will be launched across social media,” revealed Menon.

     

    MARD also plans for global outreach and will continue to address gender equality issues across the world and in India, MARD Canvas Talent CEO and Artist Innovations & Repertoire director Anurag Rao said, “MARD will work with content makers around the world in a pledge to engage hearts and minds through art and music, for a more gender equal world #ReachForTheSky is just the start.”

     

    The campaign was also launched with a musical work ‘Chulein Aasmaan’, composed by Salim-Sulaiman and performed by Akhtar and Shraddha Pandit. Written by the two of them, the song, that was released on Youtube today, highlights the importance of equal opportunity, possibilities and the impact it can have on women.

  • Zomato acquires Gastronauci.pl

    Zomato acquires Gastronauci.pl

    Zomato has acquired Poland’s restaurant search service, Gastronauci.

     

    Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said, “Ola and the Gastronauci team have built an excellent product that has a significant mind share in Poland. We are very happy to welcome Gastronauci into the Zomato family. Both Zomato and Gastronauci are committed towards building the best platform possible to connect users and the restaurant industry. We are excited to work on building an integrated product combining our technology with Gastronauci’s exhaustive reach in Poland.”

     

    The team at Gastronauci will be working closely with the Zomato team following the acquisition.

     

    “We have had great success in building a strong and engaging user base for Gastronauci in Poland since 2007. This is an exciting new chapter for us and we look forward to working with Zomato and use their technology and product expertise to bring a new enhanced experience for both consumers and merchants,” said Gastronauci founder and CEO Ola Lazar.

     

    Zomato international operations director Pramod Rao added, “We are planning to expand into multiple geographies in the immediate future and expansion in Europe is one of our key focus areas. We are delighted to have Gastronauci on board and look forward to strengthening our presence further in Central and Eastern Europe.”

     

    Zomato has been aggressively expanding its global presence over the past two quarters, while also strengthening its presence in existing 16 markets. In August 2014, Zomato acquired Lunchtime.cz and Obedovat.sk, the Czech Republic’s and Slovakia’s most popular restaurant guides respectively, for a combined amount of $3.25 million. Shortly before that, in July 2014, Zomato acquired MenuMania, the leading restaurant discovery service in New Zealand. The three acquisitions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland are strategic moves to establish Zomato’s presence as a leader in the restaurant discovery space in central and eastern Europe.

  • Nazara Technologies launches ‘Bang Bang’ mobile game

    Nazara Technologies launches ‘Bang Bang’ mobile game

    MUMBAI: Nazara Technologies, one of the leading mobile game developer and publisher, has launched a game based on the much anticipated action romance of the year ‘Bang Bang’ releasing on 2 October. The game was officially launched by actor Hrithik Roshan in the presence of Nazara Technologies CEO Nitish Mittersain.

     

    The third-person action adventure game features both the lead actors and follows the storyline of the film, where the protagonists Rajveer (Hrithik Roshan) and Harleen (Katrina Kaif) fight the enemy to retain the Kohinoor, the world’s most expensive diamond, stolen by Rajveer. The game is available to download for free on the Google Play store and soon it will be available on all other major stores too.

     

    Mittersain said, “India has witnessed an unprecedented surge in subscribers using internet on mobiles with the number crossing 100 million last year. This clearly makes it one of the largest and most effective medium for brands to reach out to consumers, or fans in the case of movies.” He further added, “Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif are undoubtedly among the top actors in the country today, in fact they have gone beyond being just actors and are brands in themselves. This initiative will allow fans to step into Hrithik and Katrina’s shoes, giving them an opportunity to get closer to their favourite stars.”

     

    Fox Star Studios chief marketing officer Shikha Kapur added, “Bang Bang is an action entertainer like no other. It’s replete with thrilling chases and audacious stunts that will be a first for Indian audiences. It gives us great pleasure to translate some of this action of the film to the mobile screen in the form of the Bang Bang mobile game. This is our endeavour to give users a taste of the thrill and adventure of the film through engaging gameplay and vibrant graphics. As a studio, we have always believed in the expansion of platforms so that our content reaches out to maximum users in varied ways, and bringing the Bang Bang game to the mobile screen, fits right into our strategy.”

     

    The mobile gaming industry is at an inflection point and according to a report by KPMG and FICCI, it is expected to touch Rs 19.6 billion by 2018 largely due to the growing smartphone market in India and the improved connectivity offered by telecom operators. The Indian film industry too has been growing at a phenomenal pace with multiple films breaking the Rs 100 crore barrier over the last couple of years. Given these two factors, movie-based mobile gaming should be an exciting space to watch out for.

     

  • Reliance Jio and Indus Towers Ink Infrastructure Sharing Deal

    Reliance Jio and Indus Towers Ink Infrastructure Sharing Deal

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio lnfocomm Limited (Reliance Jio), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the only pan India operator with BWA spectrum preparing to launch 4G services and Indus Towers, the world’s largestand India’s leading provider of telecom tower infrastructure, today announced the signing of a Master Services Agreement (MSA) for tower infrastructure sharing. Under the agreement, Reliance Jio would utilize the telecom tower infrastructure services being provided by Indus Towers to launch its services across the country. As per the agreement,the pricing would be based on prevailing market rates.

     

    The agreement will help in avoiding duplication of infrastructure and preserving the environment. It will also ensure seamless services to Reliance Jio customers through Indus’ world class tower infrastructure.

     

    Sanjay Mashruwala, Managing Director, Reliance Jio said, “We are continuing our effort to create a new age network which will provide innovative.and empowering digital solutions to every Indian through our high speed 4G services. We are building our network through a combination of infra.structure network that we are creating on our own and those that we are renting from quality partners. We already have such tower sharing agreements with all the major players in India, and this relationship with Indus Towers will further accelerate the rollout of our services.”

     

    Mr BS Shantharaju, CEO, Indus Towers said, “We are delighted to partner Reliance Jio in their endeavor to roll-out next generation wireless broadband services. Our footprint in 15 Circles in India coupled with high network uptime levels, cost effective solutions, faster access to market and  lower  operational  costs  will  provide  Reliance  Jio  a  robust  and  seamless  telecom infrastructure; Additionally, our agreement with Reliance Jio will also bring benefits to our existing customers in the form of lower rentals and energy costs. At the same time, the infrastructure sharing will help in avoiding duplication of towers and benefit the environment through lower power and fuel consumption. On this new partnership, we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Reliance Jio.”

     

    Indus Towers has a well-defined  infrastructure sharing strategy to support and to enhance infrastructure sharing in India,thereby allowing for expansion of wireless networks into rural areas and promoting better environmental utilization of resources in metro areas. Currently Indus Towers services 11 operators namely Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, Uninor, Reliance Communications,Videocon, MTNL, BSNL & MTS.

  • Video-conferencing shows modest growth in second quarter of current year: Infonetics

    Video-conferencing shows modest growth in second quarter of current year: Infonetics

    NEW DELHI: The video conferencing and telepresence market rose two per cent to $752 million in the second quarter of this year.

     

    According to an Infonetics Research report, endpoint shipments increased 66 per cent to 4.4 million due to growth in software sales.

     

    Video-conferencing marketing is shifting to software and services and so the revenue is slowing down even though the shipments keep growing.

     

    Though the dedicated systemsegment struggled due to pricing pressures and shift to lower-cost endpoints, the report said the rate of decline is stabilising.

     

     PBX-based video conferencing increased 29 per cent.

     

     EMEA and Asia are the top-performing regions for videoconferencing equipment.

     

    The worldwide enterprise telepresence and video conferencing market will grow to $3.3 billion by 2018, according to the report.

  • New ‘gourmet category’ coming soon on Snapdeal

    New ‘gourmet category’ coming soon on Snapdeal

    MUMBAI: Continuing its category expansion spree, Delhi-based e-retailer Snapdeal.com has become the first online major to enter into non perishable food category. In a deal with the veteran chef Sanjeev Kapoor, the e-commerce company will soon offer a gourmet section to its customers.

     

    The industry pioneer, also known to author various cookbooks will be working closely with the website to launch the category.

     

    Talking about his latest venture with Snapdeal.com, Kapoor said, “This collaboration will bring good quality products to India at par with the rest of the world. People here find it difficult to find good gourmet products, through this tie-up, we will be able to provide excellent products to the customers.

     

    “All my endeavors are in line with the aim to glorify the richness of our food culture and to keep alive the traditions of the Indian kitchen. This new association with Snapdeal.com will now enable people across the country to order products like snacks, confectionery, international groceries, exotic dry fruits and nuts at their doorstep just with a simple click of a button,” he added

     

    The gourmet category will launched with chef’s brand WonderChef which already sells some of its products on the site.

     

    The section will include assortment of food products and beverages including ready to cook items, spreads and jams, wide range of Indian and international groceries, confectionery, chocolates and desserts.

     

    Snapdeal VP fashion Amit Maheshwari said, “This launch will further strengthen Snapdeal’s leadership as a marketplace and a destination of choice for all kind of products across categories which fulfill customers’ both home and business requirements.”

     

    The chef added, “We have been dealing with Snapdeal at a strategic level with our brand WonderChef which has seen huge success on the portal. So when they approached us this new deal and we jumped on board.”

     

    Even though the chef did not comment on how much the deal is worth, he added that if someone as credible as Ratan Tata is trusts the site, it’s not tough to take that extra leap of faith.

     

    Recently Snapdeal also tied up with Tata homes to sell houses online and also entered into a partnership with Croma to sell its electronics products online. Ratan Tata, the former chairman of salt-to-steel Tata conglomerate also bought a stake in the online retailer.