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Tag: Amazon India

  • Reliance Jio’s mid-segment LYF Water 5 smartphone launches on Amazon

    Reliance Jio’s mid-segment LYF Water 5 smartphone launches on Amazon

    MUMBAI:  Reliance Jio’s mid-segment LYF Water 5 phone from Reliance Digital has been launched. Water 5, unlike its predecessors Water 1, Water 2, and Water 7 that are available in various brick and mortar showrooms, is only available online, exclusively on Amazon India.  The smartphone is priced at Rs 11,699/-.

    Online platforms are fast becoming an attractive option for vendors because of the wide outreach it allows them as well as an increasingly web-savvy young generation that is taking to online shopping as a means of quick, hassle-free, and largely secure mode of shopping.

    A few days ago, Reliance Jio opened its 4G mobile internet and phone call service for the general public on a ‘trail’ basis with a couple of conditions. One can buy the Jio sim-card after getting an invite from employees of Reliance Industries group firms and must buy an LYF handset. The invitee needs to pay Rs 200 to activate the services. This will also grant user free unlimited access to Jio’s 4G mobile applications like Jio Play, Jio On-demand, JioMag, JioBeats, Jio Drive etc., for 90 days. Reliance’s LYF range of mobile devices cost between Rs 5,599 and Rs 19,499 each.

     

  • Fareed Jawad is VP and principal product architect at Freecharge

    Fareed Jawad is VP and principal product architect at Freecharge

    New Delhi: Fareed Jawad has been appointed the principal product architect and vice president (VP) payments at digital payments platform Freecharge. In his new role, Fareed’s mandate will be to build payments technologies at Freecharge. Additionally, he will lead the efforts on building technologies for solving the unique payments problems in India.

    Freecharge is on a mission to build the world-class payments ecosystem for merchants and customers. The company seeks to work collaboratively with various innovators and emerging FinTech players to implement the most reliable and frictionless payment method and Fareed will be instrumental in driving this with the senior leadership team at Freecharge.

    Prior to his appointment at Freecharge, Fareed most recently served as principal product architect at Amazon India, where he was responsible for building the core payment processing infrastructure for the organization. Before joining Amazon, Fareed was with Flipkart as director for Product Management and was part of the core team that launched PayZippy.

    “Fareed’s appointment reaffirms Freecharge’s commitment to hiring the industry’s best talent. We are on a cusp of a revolution to accelerate the FinTech capabilities in India.  We look forward to Fareed’s contribution in strengthening our technical expertise and payments capabilities with his in-depth understanding of payments sector. Fareed will be responsible for developing products for customers and merchants both online and offline, in line with our vision to be the digital OS for the payments business in India.” said Freecharge COO Govind Rajan.

    Fareed has been in the payments industry right from the earliest payment gateways with VeriFone in the US. He has also been part of large payment processors like Moneris Solutions in Canada and eFunds/FIS where he helped enhance the acceptance and issuance platforms for Chip Card processing.

    Jawad said “Freecharge is one of the most exciting brands in the digital payments sector today and I am happy to be part of this growth journey. I look forward to creating core payment assets that will help our customers experience a frictionless payments ecosystem in the country and establish FreeCharge as the leader in the Payments space.”

    Fareed has a bachelors degree in Computer Science Engineering from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bengaluru.

  • Fareed Jawad is VP and principal product architect at Freecharge

    Fareed Jawad is VP and principal product architect at Freecharge

    New Delhi: Fareed Jawad has been appointed the principal product architect and vice president (VP) payments at digital payments platform Freecharge. In his new role, Fareed’s mandate will be to build payments technologies at Freecharge. Additionally, he will lead the efforts on building technologies for solving the unique payments problems in India.

    Freecharge is on a mission to build the world-class payments ecosystem for merchants and customers. The company seeks to work collaboratively with various innovators and emerging FinTech players to implement the most reliable and frictionless payment method and Fareed will be instrumental in driving this with the senior leadership team at Freecharge.

    Prior to his appointment at Freecharge, Fareed most recently served as principal product architect at Amazon India, where he was responsible for building the core payment processing infrastructure for the organization. Before joining Amazon, Fareed was with Flipkart as director for Product Management and was part of the core team that launched PayZippy.

    “Fareed’s appointment reaffirms Freecharge’s commitment to hiring the industry’s best talent. We are on a cusp of a revolution to accelerate the FinTech capabilities in India.  We look forward to Fareed’s contribution in strengthening our technical expertise and payments capabilities with his in-depth understanding of payments sector. Fareed will be responsible for developing products for customers and merchants both online and offline, in line with our vision to be the digital OS for the payments business in India.” said Freecharge COO Govind Rajan.

    Fareed has been in the payments industry right from the earliest payment gateways with VeriFone in the US. He has also been part of large payment processors like Moneris Solutions in Canada and eFunds/FIS where he helped enhance the acceptance and issuance platforms for Chip Card processing.

    Jawad said “Freecharge is one of the most exciting brands in the digital payments sector today and I am happy to be part of this growth journey. I look forward to creating core payment assets that will help our customers experience a frictionless payments ecosystem in the country and establish FreeCharge as the leader in the Payments space.”

    Fareed has a bachelors degree in Computer Science Engineering from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bengaluru.

  • Godrej Nature’s Basket partners with Amazon India

    Godrej Nature’s Basket partners with Amazon India

     

    MUMBAI: Godrej Nature’s Basket, a retail destination for food from across the world, has tied up with Amazon.in. With this, the Indian and international gourmet range from Nature’s Basket has extended its reach to over 19,000 pin codes across India.

     

    Godrej Nature’s Basket MD Mohit Khattar said, “The partnership with Amazon.in is a step forward for us in exponentially increasing our brand’s connect with discerning customers across the country and making available our choicest products for their consumption. We continue to aim to make food shopping a bigger, better and brighter experience for customers by making it easier for them to source the finest from around the world.”

     

    Godrej Nature’s Basket has listed a wide range of products on the online marketplace www.amazon.in, in the first phase and the range will increase exponentially in the coming months. The brand will also introduce its gifting options range on the platform. Godrej Nature’s Basket gift hampers, catering to discerning and quality conscious customers, will make its debut soon.

     

    Amazon India director seller services Amit Deshpande added, “We are excited to have Godrej Nature’s Basket as a seller on the platform. They have regularly set benchmarks for the retail industry and we do believe this partnership will help them redefine gourmet retail. Together we will provide our customers across the country a convenient and easy access to a wide and unique selection of Gourmet products.”

  • Future group inks pact with Amazon India

    Future group inks pact with Amazon India

    MUMBAI: Future Group has entered into a strategic partnership with the online retail giant Amazon India under which the e-tailer will sell the retail group’s products online.

     

    The deal will leverage the product knowledge, brand portfolio and sourcing base of the Future Group, and the e-commerce platform, customer base and reach of Amazon.in.  The deal comes soon after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos visit to India during which he met Future Group group CEO Kishore Biyani.

    Talking about the collaboration Biyani comments, “The bottom line in each of our retail success stories is ‘know your customer’. Insights into the soul of Indian consumers – how they operate, think, dream and live – helps us innovate and create functionally differentiating products and experiences. Partnership with Amazon, which obsesses to be earth’s most customer centric company, will enable us to leverage their strengths, investments and innovations in technology to reach out to wider set of consumers across India.”

    According to the joint statement issued by the companies, the partnership will initially focus on the Future’s Group fashion brands and will subsequently cover all other categories. The company’s current portfolio has over 40 brands and around 10,000 unique styles that will be exclusively retailed online through Amazon.in platform. Once operational, customers on Amazon.in platform can buy Future Group’s fashion brands Lee Cooper, Converse, Indigo Nation, Scullers or Jealous21, among others.

    Moreover, Amazon India will also assist Future Group in accelerating new product development in categories that are currently not served by traditional retailers.  

    Commenting on the latest alliance in the e-commerce space, Trust Research Advisory (TRA) CEO N Chandramouli reckons, “Today the e-commerce space is no longer limited by geographic boundaries in a sense as fixed as it used to be a few years ago. With its current offering Amazon already caters to a massive Indian.

    “Future group which has been a leading retailer in the country understands the soul of Indian consumers. As one of India’s retail pioneers with multiple retail formats, they connect a diverse and passionate community of Indian buyers, sellers and businesses. The collective impact on business is staggering: Around 300 million customers walk into Future group stores each year and choose products and services supplied by over 30,000 small, medium and large entrepreneurs and manufacturers from across India, so with the Amazon tie up, this number is set to grow and venture into the on line spectrum,” he adds.

    Partnership between the two organisations will bring together the best of consumer insight from the online and offline world and create the omni channel approach to serving customers, according to the company statement.

    According to Team Pumpkin co-founder Swati Nathani, “The partnership is definitely a win win situation for both the companies. Amazon will get the support of millions of Indian consumers who have already trusted Future Group brands and Future Group will foray into e-commerce space again, but this time with the support of global leaders in this category. This partnership will not only lead to more people to purchase their favourite brands online, but will also get another door for Future Group to generate  .”

    “This definitely calls for more competition and harder marketing techniques. Future Group has been at the forefront of offline retail in India and its presence on amazon.in shall definitely be a cause of worry to some other leading e-commerce players,” she adds.

    Amazon.in will also collaborate with Future Group brands in promoting the existing and new brands in markets, explore co-branding opportunities and accelerate new product development in categories which are currently not served by retailers. The companies will also explore synergies in areas such as distribution network, customer acquisition and cross promotions, the statement added.

    Commenting on the new partnership, Amazon India vice president and country manager Amit Agarwal said, “We are excited to collaborate, leverage each other’s unique strengths and serve customers across India. The product portfolio of Future Group, their innate understanding of the Indian consumer mind set and our ability to serve and deliver a convenient, easy, trusted and reliable delivery experience to a nationwide set of customers is a win win for all.”

    Amazon.in started its Diwali sale on 10 Oct, but did not go with the kind of heavy discounts that Flipkart and Snapdeal did last week.

    “This is the coming together of two trusted brands, Amazon and Future. Even more, they are in complementary spaces of businesses which is bound to create a strength much larger than the sum of the individuals. Not only will Amazon get leadership due to the extremely well oiled supply chain, but Future will get a business outlet, that may be larger than many of its retail stores together. I am sure the competition is beating themselves as to why they didn’t think of this one,” Chandramouli comments.

    “The partnership must not be seen as an attempt at ‘indianisation’ of Amazon. It is much more than that – this partnership stands on extremely strong business logic,” he adds.

    Future Retail is the flagship company of Future Group and owns the Big Bazaar chain of retail stores. Future Lifestyle Fashions has a portfolio of over two dozen fashion and lifestyle brands.

    Biyani recently criticised Flipkart and other e-commerce retailers in India for the deep discounts they offered during a promotional sale for the festival of Diwali, saying it would hurt other retail channels.

    “Kishore Biyani reportedly lashed out against Flipkart.com, due to selling of goods below cost price, which according to him was unfair. He doesn’t seem to be against the e-commerce concept per se. Future Group already had its own portal www.futurebazaar.com, which was one of the first online e-commerce portals in India, “Nathani opines.

    The Future Group’s electronics store, Ezone, already has an online presence and adopts a hybrid approach to sales involving both online as well as traditional brick and mortar stores. The group has also been speaking about ramping up its presence online.

    In September, Tata Group Company Infiniti Retail, which operates consumer durables and information technology (IT) retail chain Croma, and Snapdeal.com also announced a similar strategic partnership through which goods available at Croma stores were made available for purchase through Snapdeal.com.

    Amazon chief Bezos, during his visit to India, spoke about the potential he saw for the fashion industry in the online space and the deal with Future Group could help boost its battle against Indian competitors like Flipkart that acquired online fashion retailer Myntra. Amazon is also reportedly in talks to acquire online fashion retailer Jabong.

     

  • Celebrate ‘Mission to Mars’ with Amazon.in

    Celebrate ‘Mission to Mars’ with Amazon.in

    MUMBAI: In celebration of India’s successful Magalyaan mission, Amazon.in, has announced the launch of ‘Mission to Mars’ weekend for customers in India from 4th-6th October 2014. The Mission to Mars weekend will see out-of-the-world deals and great saving for customers in addition to the everyday great deals & savings that are ongoing as part of the Online Shopping Dhamaka on www.amazon.in this festive month.

     

    “We are very proud on the successful completion of India’s Mars mission. It is a great achievement for India and we are celebrating this success by hosting a ‘Mission to Mars’ weekend between October 4th -6th for our customers,” says Amit Agarwal, Country Manager & VP, Amazon India.

     

    The ‘Mission to Mars’ weekend will begin on 4 October offering customers a weekend full of out-of-the-world deals that will add immense excitement to their festive shopping.

     

    “We have witnessed a fabulous response in the first week of our Online Shopping Dhamaka. We wish to make Week 2 much more exciting by offering customers great deals and savings every day during the festival shopping peak. There has been a 250%  increase  in the number of customers who have taken advantage of the deals on the Amazon.in in the last one week.

     

    The Top 5 categories of last week were Customer Electronics (including PC), Books, Home & Kitchen, Health and Personal Care and Baby. The Micromax Canvas A1 was one of the top selling products last week. Amazon.in is on track to selling 100K units of the device in less than two weeks of its launch and is by far the best selling phone on Amazon.in. Amazon.in also sold more than 75 thousand cans of Coke Zero in less than a week of its launch; iPhone sales witnessed a 5x jump in sales while customers bought twice the number of books during the 1st week of the Online Shopping Dhamaka.

     

    As the Online Shopping Dhamaka enters its 2nd week, customers can save big everyday and get great deals on thousands of top-selling products. Customers can enjoy –

     

    •             Flat 40% off on branded watches

    •             Flat 50% off on movie titles

    •             Flat 50% or more off on Shoes

    •             Flat 30% off on Pet Supplies

    •             Flat 30% off on Diapers

     

    Customers will get to enjoy exclusive access to new brands and products that are set to launch on Amazon.in this week. In addition, customers can benefit from several cash back offers.

     

    Customers can find more deals on http://www.amazon.in/Gifts-Store which has huge savings across a variety of Amazon.in categories – i.e home décor, electronics, kitchen appliances, video games, apparels, jewellery and more.

     

    Customers on www.amazon.in and Amazon’s mobile shopping application can shop anywhere with ease and confidence from over 18 million products across a broad range of departments including Books; eBooks & Tablets; Movies & TV shows; Kindle Devices, Computers & Accessories; Mobiles & Accessories; Consumer Electronics; Toys & Games; Baby Products; Health and Personal Care products; Watches; Fashion Jewelry; Home & Kitchen products; Beauty Products; Video Games; Music; Luggage & Bags; Handbags & Clutches; Sports, Fitness & Outdoor equipment; Shoes; Men’s, Women’s & Kid’s wear; Pet Supplies; Gift Cards. Customers across several cities in India are increasingly enjoying Amazon’s guaranteed next-day delivery on more than 325,000 products fulfilled by Amazon.

     

    All customers on www.amazon.in benefit from a safe and secure ordering experience, convenient electronic payments, Cash on Delivery, no-risk hassle-free returns policy, Amazon’s 24×7 customer service support, and a globally recognized and comprehensive 100% purchase protection provided by Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee.

  • We obsess about customer, not competition, says Jeff Bezos

    We obsess about customer, not competition, says Jeff Bezos

    MUMBAI: With the battle brewing in the e-commerce segment, the sector is making headlines every day; the latest being of Amazom chairman Jeff Bezos’s four-day visit to India.

     

    To make his business intentions in India clear, Bezos, who is on his second visit to India, carried out a road show on a supply truck at the premises of a shopping mall in Bangalore on 28 August handing a $2 billion cheque to Amazon India VP and country manager Amit Agarwal. This is by far the biggest expansion money from overseas that has come from a multi-national.

     

    According to the media reports, while handing the cheque, he said, “Amazon has unveiled a $2 billion investment in the country … we’ll work to better what Indians love most in shopping — vast selection, competitive pricing and fast delivery.”

     

    Amazon had announced a $2billion investment in India barely a day after homegrown Flipkart raised $1 bn from private investors.

    As per the reports, Bezos added that the cash pile will be spent on building performance centers, upgrading logistics services, developing the mobile platform and new tools and techniques to help the small and medium businesses.

     

    Amazon’s interest in the small and medium enterprises has been echoed by several homegrown e-tailers. While Snapdeal recently announced that it was inching close to the 100,000-seller mark, Flipkart has been tying up with industry bodies like FISME and NCDPD to penetrate the SME clusters.

     

    In an initiative called Amazon OneonOne, Bezos also had luncheon with about 100 customers on 28 September in order to find their views and opinions about the site and if there were any recommendations.

     

    According to various media reports, Bezos also indicated that policy hurdles in India is not impacting the company’s investment plans for the country. India is yet to allow FDI in online retail. Another issue is lack of clarity in tax laws that are impacting the company’s functioning in various states.

     

    Amazon’s main rivals in India are Bangalore-based Flipkart and Snapdeal, the Delhi-based company that counts eBay, Azim Premji and Ratan Tata as investors. Together, they have sold goods worth more than $4 billion, with Flipkart alone estimated to have crossed $2 billion. Alibaba, too, is keen on India, and the Chinese company has the money, experience and ambition to succeed here.

     

    Talking about the competition, Bezos also reportedly said, “We have a long history of obsessing over customers rather than competition.”

     

    With revenue of nearly $75 billion in 2013 the giant online retail site has a market value of $150 billion. It also runs a fast growing cloud computing business called Amazon Web Services and makes Kindle tablets and Fire smartphones. Bezos, in his personal capacity, bought The Washington Post newspaper last year. In India, Amazon started its technology operation first and employs a total of about 12,000 staff at offices in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi.

     

  • 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.

  • Aligned with 2020 vision, Coca Cola launches Zero

    Aligned with 2020 vision, Coca Cola launches Zero

    MUMBAI: Continuing the expansion of the its product portfolio, the beverage giant Coca Cola India unveiled yet another strategic bet in its journey to achieve its 2020 vision, by launching Coca Cola Zero.

     

    With its launch in the national capital, the Coca Cola Zero brand is now available in all the top six markets of the Coca-Cola Company, the others being USA, Mexico, China, Brazil and Japan.

     

    The sugar free soft drink was launched by Farhan Akhtar, Olympian luger Shiva Keshavan, fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee and fashion photographer Atul Kasbekar.

     

    In another first for the Company, the entire launch event was broadcast live on www.coca-colaindia.com and fans of Coca Cola Zero joined the launch conversation on twitter and facebook with the #cokezero.

     

    Speaking at the launch Coca Cola India and south west Asia president Venkatesh Kini said, “As we move towards the halfway mark of the decade, it is important we add offerings to our portfolio even as we nurture the existing brands.” After October 5, Coca Cola Zero will be available across the top 100 towns in India in 180,000 outlets.

     

    “Coca-Cola Zero comes at a time when Coca Cola classic has established itself and the new product therefore, complements the company’s sparkling portfolio,” he added.

     

    Coca Cola India marketing VP Debabrata Mukherjee said, “To ensure that consumers get their first taste of Coca Cola Zero, we will be sampling more than 1.5 million packs of the product in the next four months. We also have a strong communication plan which includes digital media, television and print campaigns.”

     

    The company sells a variety of both carbonated and non-carbonated drinks in India, including Coca Cola, Thums Up, Sprite, Maaza and Minute Maid.

     

    The Coca Cola system is innovating with new channels to build preference and anticipation for the beverage prior to the national, on ground, roll out. Initially, the new product will be available on the growing online portal Amazon India as well as modern retail outlets, starting with the Reliance Retail chain. Besides, it would also be first made available to various partners like low cost carrier IndiGo, quick service restaurant chain Subway and INOX Leisure. Coca Cola’s own portal www.Coke2Home.com will also be listing Coca Cola Zero after 15 days of launch at Amazon.

     

    Talking about Coca Cola’s latest innovation, INOX Leisure CEO Alok Tandon said,” The entire movie experience in multiplexes like INOX seems to have graduated to another level. The choice of snacks, beverage options, pre-screening and post screening experience has seen a sea change over the years.”

     

    “I guess the one thing that has remained constant though, is Coca Cola as a part of the movie going experience. We are happy to know that consumers can now choose the zero sugar option also along with the regular Coca Cola,” he added.

     

    Coca-Cola Zero is one of the $17 billion brands of The Coca Cola Company in revenue terms and is one of the fastest to this milestone. It was first launched in 2005 and is now available in 149 countries including India.

     

    Elaborating on the product attributes, Mukherjee reckoned, “Coca Cola Zero is a part of our global Red-Silver-Black model on Coca Cola Trademark. It has done well in matured as well as emerging markets, across the globe. We expect that Coca Cola Zero will hit all the right notes with consumers in India.”

     

    In 2012, Coca Cola, along with its partners, had announced to more than double investments in India to US $5 billion (about Rs 28,000 crore) by 2020.

     

    Talking about their 2020 vision Kini said, “Atlanta-based beverages giant remained committed towards the US $5 billion investment in the country till 2020 and was happy to say that they were on track for the investment.”

     

    Coca Cola Zero will be available in 300 ml slim cans, 400 ml PET bottles and 600 ml PET at the same price points as regular Coca Cola. For instance in Delhi, the MRP of a 300 ml can will be Rs 30 while that of a  600 ml PET will be Rs 35.

  • Alibaba in talks with Snapdeal to enter India

    Alibaba in talks with Snapdeal to enter India

    MUMBAI: As it is ready to embark upon a new journey by launching what may be the biggest IPO ever, Chinese e-retailer Alibaba may also be making a move to tap into the growing Indian retail market through an investment in local e-retailer Snapdeal.

     

    According to an Economic Times report, Alibaba, is in talks with online retailer Snapdeal to enter India. The e-commerce giant is in discussion for a possible investment in the Indian company, but no decision has been taken yet.

     

    The report also quoted a source saying that the deal will be announced in a month.

     

    The Chinese company is expected to be valued at over $165 billion at the conclusion of its initial public offer. So far, Alibaba has only been linking Indian merchants with overseas buyers and sellers.

     

    With its entry in the Indian online retail space by aligning with Snapdeal, the Chinese e-tailer will be competing directly against market leaders like Flipkart and Amazon. Even though the Chinese company would be a late entrant, it has the advantage of size — as per sales Alibaba is bigger than Amazon and eBay combined.

     

    While on the other hand, the Delhi-based company has already raised a total of $233 million in two rounds of investments this year. The last round in May valued the firm at $1 billion. It is expected to be worth Rs 50,000 crore by 2016, according to a market rating agency Crisil.

     

    The company, in which Ratan Tata holds a stake, is also attracting attention from Japan’s largest e-commerce company Rakuten Inc and telecommunications firm SoftBank Corp, the report added.

     

    On contacting Snapdeal, the spokesperson said, “As a policy, we do not comment on such speculations.”

     

    Alibaba’s shares are set to debut on the US market on 19 September, in what could be the world’s largest ever initial public offering. It increased the price range on its offering from $66 to $68 on 15 September, reflecting strong demand from investors for the year’s most anticipated debut.