ITV

Tag: E-commerce

  • CARS24 expands operations to UAE and Australia

    New Delhi: E-commerce platform for pre-owned vehicles, CARS24 is set to disrupt the used automobile ecosystem around the globe. The company has launched its business in Australia and UAE and is gearing up to launch business in Southeast Asian and Middle East countries this year.

    As part of its expansion strategy, CARS24 will use its India playbook to expand globally and continue to invest in technology to transform the consumer experience in buying-selling cars, it said on Thursday. “In the last six years, we have worked very hard to revolutionise the way our consumers buy or sell their cars in India. Interestingly, the pain points of used car consumers across the globe remain pervasive. We are sure with our expertise and experience of operating in a diverse market like India, we will be able to cater to the needs of our new customers as well,” said CARS24’s co-founder and CEO Vikram Chopra.

    Elaborating on the company’s international expansion plans, Chopra said, CARS24’s launch in markets of UAE, Australia and Southeast Asia marks a milestone moment in its growth story. “CARS24 is well-poised for explosive growth internationally and we will continue to offer our burgeoning roster of offerings to newer markets that have been at the forefront of embracing new technology and innovation,” he added.

    CARS24 has earmarked an investment of over $100Million for international markets in 2021. These investments will be used to build the brand in these new territories coupled with a strong supply of cars for the platform, and a state-of-the-art workshop to recondition cars to ensure top quality, the company said in a statement.

    Currently, CARS24 is shipping cars to customers across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and to Brisbane in Australia, shortly followed by Sydney and Melbourne as well. “We are delighted to be spearheading the global expansion of CARS24 in the Australian market. Australia is a car-loving nation of consumers who have had no alternative to the traditional used car buying model – until now. Australians are truly ready to embrace 100% online car buying; and with the support of our founders, we have incredibly high expectations for our growth in this market.”, said CARS24 Australia, GM Australia, Olga Rudenko.

    Founded in 2015, CARS24 has grown rapidly over the years, using product, tech and data science, to fuel the growth in the Indian used cars sector and enabling a quality experience for sellers and buyers, completely online & from the comfort of their homes.  

  • May’21 ad volume 64% higher than last year : BARC

    Mumbai: Television continues to stay strong and resilient as a medium of advertising amid the second wave of the pandemic. Despite a marginal dip in April 2021, ad volumes in May 2021 have witnessed a 64 per cent growth as compared to May 2020, said Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) in its latest THINK report for May, 2021. The growth numbers remained at par with 2018 and 2019.

    In a piece of good news for the broadcasters, out of the total of 2142 advertisers in May 2021, as many as 1,347 (63 per cent) were new advertisers. The FMCG category continued to dominate ad volumes with 72 per cent share, followed by ecommerce, with 10 per cent share in May.

    “2021 began on a high note for television Ad Volumes. Moreover, it attracted over 60 per cent of the total advertisers in May this year, indicating that advertisers continue to bank on the medium. With lockdown easing up and upcoming big events, we expect TV Advertising to remain strong this year,” said BARC India Head – client partnership and revenue function Aaditya Pathak.

    Regional genres bounce back

    Advertising on GEC and movies genre continued to grow and both the genres outperformed the same period for the previous three years. While GECs witnessed a growth of 74 per cent, over last year, movies genres saw a growth of 76 per cent compared to May 2020.

    Owing to the increasing consumption of regional content, advertising on South language GECs registered a staggering growth of 103 per cent while the rest of the Regional GECs witnessed 53 per cent growth in May 2021 vs May 2020. South Movies and Regional Movies channels witnessed 85 per cent and 129 per cent growth for the same period.

    Steady growth of Top 10 advertisers

    While over 70 per cent of advertising was dominated by the Top 50 Advertisers in May, the Top 10 advertisers had the highest share of 54 per cent since 2018. Advertising by the Top 10 advertisers continues to see steady growth.

    Growth observed in ad volumes in the first quarter of 2021 has evidently seeped into the ongoing second quarter of the year, despite state-wide partial lockdowns being implemented in various parts of the country. Moreover, the growth witnessed in May 2021 reinforces the strength and robustness of television as a medium.

  • Netflix launches online store to offer products curated from popular shows

    KOLKATA: Streaming giant Netflix has taken its retail ambition a step ahead with the launch of an online store. Netflix.Shop that will offer curated products based on its content.

    It will drop limited editions of carefully selected high-quality apparel and lifestyle products tied to its shows and brand on a regular basis. Among the items debuting this month are streetwear and action figures based on anime series Yasuke and Eden; as well as limited-edition apparel and decorative items inspired by Lupin in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre. 

    For the launch on Thursday, Netflix.shop has introduced a collection of anime-inspired collectibles from a remarkable group of up-and-coming designers: Nathalie Nguyen, Kristopher Kites, and Jordan Bentley.

    Additionally, it has hinted to unveil exclusive products from beloved titles like The Witcher and Stranger Things, as well as new Netflix logo-wear from Japanese fashion house BEAMS soon. The Netflix.shop will first be available in the US before expanding into other countries around the world in the coming months.

    Like many major studios, it is a rational move for the streaming giant to add another revenue stream through merchandise sales. It becomes more important at a time when the streaming market is becoming increasingly competitive, and its domestic growth is slowing down.

    “We’re thrilled to give fans a new way to connect with their favorite stories, and to introduce them to the next wave of artists and designers who embrace the power of storytelling in all its forms,” Netflix VP consumer products Josh Simon said in a blog post.

  • Major websites crash after global internet outage

    KOLKATA: A global internet outage hit social media, government, and news websites on Tuesday morning. Many renowned news outlets including the Financial Times, the New York Times, CNN and Bloomberg News were down.

    According to some media reports, a technical glitch in a private CDN (Content Delivery Network) caused the outage. “Error 503 Service Unavailable” message flashed across affected websites. Amazon.com Inc’s retail website also suffered due to the outage, even as Twitch experienced issues. Several Reddit users also reported issues with the platform. Ireland, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore were the countries mainly impacted by the outage.

    Some reports have traced the problem to Fastly, a cloud computing services provider that runs an “edge cloud”, which is designed to speed up loading times for websites, protect them from denial-of-service attacks, and help them deal with sudden bursts in traffic. “We’re currently investigating potential impact to performance with our CDN services,” Fastly said in an error message. Later, it announced on its status page that the issue was identified and a fix has been implemented.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • E-comms ramp up vaccination drive for frontline staff

    E-comms ramp up vaccination drive for frontline staff

    Mumbai:  E-commerce companies have launched a rampant vaccination drive for their frontline staffers and delivery partners who interface with consumers who worry about possible transmission of the newer and more virulent strains of Covid-19.

    This comes in the wake of most e-tailer and logistics firms reporting infections among their frontline staffers who are on daily delivery missions of food and essential products such as medicines, healthcare packages and much more.

    While these customer interfacing personnel busily operated for the better part of the last 14 months, even in the wake of the pandemic, newer and more virulent strains currently in vogue for their high transmitting potential are a constant source of discouragement for customers who got used to remotely ordering the doorstep delivery of their various needs as they stayed locked down

    While the clear and present danger and high risk of infections of these frontline workers got exposed, as they shuttled door-to-door between eateries/ grocery stores/pharmacies and the customers to deliver packages e-tailer and logistics firms have gone into an accelerated mode of ensuring mass jabs for their frontline fleet.

    Online food delivery platform Swiggy started inoculations of its delivery agents and frontline staff in Bengaluru since Thursday. Apart from the delivery staff at the grocery delivery service Instamart, even the company’s cloud kitchens executives have been prioritized for getting the jabs.

    A few thousand delivery partners across varied age groups already received their first dose of the vaccination; Swiggy has announced and added in a public advisory that with drives planned across all major cities, all delivery partners and frontline staff will be covered over the next few weeks.

     

     

    Amid reports that Covid-19’s second wave was adversely impacting online shopping volumes over the past several weeks due to infection fears among consumers, many e-tailer companies are pushing ahead with vaccination drives on scale.   

    Last week, rival Zomato said it has begun vaccination of its delivery partners in the NCR. Founder Deepinder Goyal took to twitter last Friday and stated, “We are facilitating a free and safe vaccination drive for more than 150,000 of our frontline staff and employees. Thousands of our delivery partners are already vaccinated”:

     

     

    He added, “Vaccinations in Mumbai and Bangalore start tomorrow and multiple other cities (will be covered by) next week. The safety of our customers is the #1 priority for us as well as (the health of) our delivery partners who have selflessly and safely delivered hundreds of millions of orders during the pandemic.” He also thanked hospital chain Max Healthcare for facilitating the vaccination drive. 

    Many e-commerce firms have tied up with hospitals and government authorities while some are even procuring vaccines directly from manufacturers. This will, however, be subject to the continued availability of vaccines, as manufacturers prioritise supply obligations to states before meeting demand from private companies.

    Flipkart has also kicked off vaccination camps for frontline employees and so has Myntra for its units in Bengaluru. The effects of the current wave have especially hit consumer demand for non-essential segments, both in urban and rural markets, with Fashion bearing the brunt of diminishing orders due to infection fears.

    Ecommerce giant Amazon announced earlier this week that it is working to administer vaccines to its frontline teams. Over the coming weeks, it will be hosting on-site vaccination events run by licensed healthcare providers.

    Online marketplace for home services, Urban Company Cofounder & COO Abhiraj Singh Bhal also tweeted, “At @urbancompany_UC , our vaccination efforts continue in full swing. We have vaccinated thousands of service partners in the last one week, and are now close to 25% of our fleet having received at least one jab.”

     

     

    As demand slumped for online home delivery service providers amid customer fears of contracting the virus, brands like Urbancompany have begun public announcements declaring the vaccination status of their staff on their online platform.

    Other online delivery services like Swiggy and Zomato also plan to introduce Vaccine transparency on their apps, to notify users that the agent of delivery of goods is not a potential carrier of the infectious disease as well by emphasising the individual’s vaccination status.

  • Big Bazaar’s ‘Asli Dukaan’ locks horns with Amazon’s ‘Apni Dukaan’

    Big Bazaar’s ‘Asli Dukaan’ locks horns with Amazon’s ‘Apni Dukaan’

    MUMBAI: Big Bazaar has crossed swords with Amazon India by taking a dig at the e-commerce giant’s flagship campaign India ki Apni Dukaan (India’s own shop). The Future Group-owned chain of hypermarkets on Thursday released full front page ads in major newspapers across cities calling itself India’s Asli Dukaan (real/ original store). The ad promises to make deliveries of grocery to customers’ doorsteps in under two hours.

    Apart from the Asli Dukaan moniker, it has played on the word ‘Amazing’ by using terms such as “amazing” service, deals, and products at “amazing” prices. The harping on the word “amazing” is hard to miss! The south India editions of leading print publications had a largely English tagline with only Asli in Hindi, and dukaan changed to ‘store’.

    Amazon has been running an advertising campaign since 2016 with the tagline ‘India ki Apni Dukaan’(India’s own shop), and it is no coincidence that the superstore chain led by Kishore Biyani is now marketing itself as ‘India ki Asli Dukaan’.

    The brick-and-mortar superstore chain Big Bazaar has been entangled in a fierce legal battle with Jeff Bezos’ Amazon for its deal with Reliance Retail. RIL had announced in August last year that it was buying out the retail and wholesale business of Future Group, but Amazon — with a minority stake in an unlisted Future Group company — subsequently dragged the Mumbai-headquartered retailer to court, alleging that the proposed deal violated contractual agreements. The case is currently sub-judice.

    Meanwhile, the debt-laden Future Group is looking at ways to put its assets to better use. Big Bazaar has launched a marketing blitzkrieg taking a dig at the US e-tailer and is ramping up its two-hour home delivery across India to get more customer orders amid the pandemic that has largely confined people to their homes restricting outdoor movement. The company has tied up with hyperlocal delivery companies with employees at their stores doubling up as delivery executives, to drive its Store2Door program and double its online business in the span of a month.