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Tag: eBay

  • Want to be an e-retailer? Then, click here

    Want to be an e-retailer? Then, click here

    MUMBAI: The world is moving online; today with a click of a button people can shop, pay bills and get entertained.

     

    Every business model today is or plans to ride the digital wave, but not many have been able to crack the code. There are many who have spent lakhs to set up the online business but haven’t been able to generate the right buzz amongst its target audience or generate enough revenue to sustain the competitive market.

     

    According to Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the e-commerce market saw a jump of 33 per cent to Rs 62,967 crore in 2013 as compared to previous year’s Rs 47,349 crore. Also, currently, there are over 2.5 crore online buyers in the country and still counting.

     

    To cater to this need, new online portals are launched every now and then, thus making the sector highly competitive. And like how everyone once in a while needs a godmother, Rage Communications with the launch of Ystore has just done that.

     

    The new offering is a comprehensive e-commerce platform to enable retailers to go online with significant ease.

     

    “The success of large e-commerce sites such as Flipkart, eBay and Amazon in India is driving interest in various categories. Retailers from almost all consumer product industries have shown keen interest. In particular, clothing, jewelry, home accessories and lifestyle product retailers are most excited and several online stores have already been launched,” says Rage Communications director JRK Rao who adds that these are also the categories that are most suited for online commerce.

     

    It works on two business models. First, it builds a store either using the YStore platform, or any other commercially available e-commerce platform. Typically, there is a one-time fee for the design, development, and deployment of the store, followed by a nominal quarterly management fee to cover routine store maintenance functions.

     

    The second one works on a very reasonable monthly license fee basis. A single monthly charge covers all initial set-up costs, and all future software upgrades as they are made available. This makes it relatively easy for small retailers to enter the online commerce space at minimal cost.

     

    The 200 professionals in technology, design, user experience and business analysis provide a range of services to its clients.

     

    It includes store-front design using pre-designed templates, or fully customised layouts, implementation of all commerce features, from the basic to the most advanced features that are offered by high-end commerce sites, creation of the initial catalog of products for sale, managing taxes, shipping charges, payment gateway for credit card and bank transactions, order tracking, gift registry, inventory, merchandising, integration with external marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, affiliate marketing sites, and more.

     

    Apart from that, it will also help clients to optimise performance across devices – laptops, tablets and smartphones, search engine optimisation, ongoing search marketing, database marketing, email marketing, leads management, online customer service, detailed analytics covering site traffic, user experience and sale conversions, server optimisation for efficient site performance and ongoing content and catalog management (if required by e-tailer).

     

    The company which has offices in Chennai, Mumbai, Singapore and Sydney already has over a dozen e-commerce sites on board – using both YStore and other commerce platforms.  A few among those are: soakandsleep.com –a premium bed and bath products; parisera.com – handcrafted products for women; strandofsilk.com – contemporary Indian designer wear and thejus.com – gold and multi plated gift articles among others.

     

    As per online space watchers, there are many factors driving the e-commerce industry worldwide. Penetration of smartphones and internet amongst tier II and III cities is slated to be the main cause behind it. Ready availability of inventory at a central warehousing location and for retailers the ability to reach customers anywhere and at any time are just a few others pointed out by them.

     

    Having said that, they also believe that apart from YStore there are many platforms, like Shopify and Browntape that help retailers sell online. “So, what’s important is how you’re able to be different from each other and how you’ve been able to master your particular niche. This is already a crowded sector, and any new entrant will need to significantly differentiate itself from the dozens of other companies who have been here successfully for years,” points out Seedfund managing partner Mahesh Murthy.

     

    Nonetheless, researchers and analysts agree that e-commerce will continue to grow in a practically limitless manner, for a wide range of product categories. In the years to come no retailer can survive without harnessing the reach and power of the internet.

  • Joy Das joins FCBUlka Interactive as Media Director

    Joy Das joins FCBUlka Interactive as Media Director

    MUMBAI: FCBUlka Interactive recently appointed Joy Das as Media Director – Digital. With the rapid growth that the FCBUlka Interactive arm has been clocking, it was only imperative to make a hire at this level to handle some of its key accounts.

     

    Joy has tremendous experience in the digital space with over 10 years of focused digital media specialization. Being a well-entrenched digital expert, Joy boasts of an enviable twitter following of over 17,000 tweeters and a unique and inspiring blogger network. He also brings with him deep knowledge of Digital Media Mix Modelling Tools which ensure high efficiency and measurable response.

     

    Prior to his stint at FCBUlka Interactive, Joy has worked on a gamut of brands like eBay, ITC, Tata Docomo, MTV,among many others.

     

    FCBUlka Interactive has a long and impressive client list and works with Amul, TCS, Tata Chemicals, Abbott Healthcare, Wipro, ITC, Bausch & Lomb, Nerolac, ICICI Bank, World Vision, FabIndia,  Tata Housing to name a few. Joy will provide leadership to the digital media duties of several of these accounts and will lead a team of over 10 digital media planning and buying professionals.

     

    Joy, commenting on his appointment said “FCBUlka Interactive has some great accounts and has been doing robust work. In fact, a lot of their campaigns have been awarded at the Indian Digital Media Awards, DMAi 2013 etc. I am delighted to join the digital arm of one of the most respected advertising agency groups in the country. I look forward to contributing to this spree of account and award wins.”

     

    Last year, FCBUlka Interactive had made a senior level hire with the recruitment of SudarshanSudevan aka Sudi as Creative Head -Digital. Sudi had an interesting career start as a cartoonist before venturing into the digital space and going on to become a digital specialist.

     

    Commenting on Joy Das’ appointment,Satish Ramachandran, Senior Vice President, FCBUlka Interactive, said, “We are growing at a scorching pace and digital is well poised to become a key medium for many of our Group’s clients. Our Interactive team’s strength is now over 50 members. We have been consistently investing in talent and technology to ensure we are ahead of the curve. Joy’s experience will be of immense value for us to maintain our growth rate”

  • ShipRocket offers high-speed dispatch and shipping service for e-retailers

    ShipRocket offers high-speed dispatch and shipping service for e-retailers

    MUMBAI: KartRocket, an e-commerce platform for SMEs and retailers, has launched a new powerful order-processing and shipping service for its e-retail clients, ShipRocket.

    The one-click service, based on the SAAS (Software as a Service) model, allows e-commerce ventures to enjoy the benefits of the highly efficient delivery management service. ShipRocket enables its clients to dispatch a shipment, pick a courier company, assign an airway bill number and print a shipping label amongst other facilities.

    The service prints all packing slips in batches providing easy access to all customers and order information in one place. Order statuses change automatically from ‘dispatch’ to ‘shipped’ and from ‘shipped’ to ‘delivered’, facilitating the tracking of order history for a particular order.  The final consumer is notified via auto-emails and SMSes when the order moves through dispatch and delivery. ShipRocket manages remittance from various companies and is fully integrated with Amazon and eBay.

    Kartrocket.com CEO and co-founder Saahil Goel commented on the new service saying, “ShipRocket is a phenomenal new technology that we have introduced to smoothen the work of those who want to sell their products online. The service has extended coverage with shipping enablement to over 12,000 pin codes including 6,000 COD pin codes. We follow the policy of a uniform contractual agreement for all clients, enabling multi-vendor management with vendor panels for all our clients. We truly hope to revolutionize the e-commerce space with this excellent introduction.”

    Keeping true to its promise of providing unmatched coverage and reach to its clients, the company is looking at adding more shipping service providers in local regions in the quarters to come.

  • Silicon Valley Tech Entrepreneur Karl Mehta Launches: Code For India

    Silicon Valley Tech Entrepreneur Karl Mehta Launches: Code For India

    MUMBAI: Karl Mehta, the Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist, today announced Code For India (CFI), a global community of software engineers from around the world to build technology for public service to solve developing world problems. With India as the test-bed, CFI proposes to build tools that will help solve problems on the ground, and empower citizens to actively participate in partnership with local government to give communities the power to help themselves.

    “As a firm believer in the power of crowd sourced and open sourced technology, we have created Code For India to provide tools to fight day-to-day public service issues,” said Mehta.
    “Code For India’s use of technology will promote transparency, participation and efficiency in the way local people can voice their concern and find solutions. The transformative power of technology will aid India — and other developing countries facing similar problems.”

    Code For India has support from Indian-origin tech professionals around the world. Software engineers from Microsoft, Google, eBay, VISA and Facebook have volunteered in developing social awareness apps in the first phase of Code For India. Potentially adding thousands of volunteers, the organizations TiE Silicon Valley, TiE Mumbai, TiE New Delhi and The Morpheus Fund have partnered with Code For India to encourage their large network of tech community members to get involved. In addition, Professor Vijay Pande of Stanford University, Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education and Vish Mishra, Venture Director at Clearstone and mentor to The Hive and The Fabric have joined the Advisory Board.

    “Code for India is a unique and commendable initiative whereby the sharpest of computing minds can apply themselves to altruistic causes. TiE Delhi NCR are proud to be associated with the program,” said Deep Kalra, President of TiE-New Delhi.

    “TiE is volunteerism at its best as demonstrated since its inception. We are thrilled to partner with Code For India in leveraging Silicon Valley technology and entrepreneurial talent to solve pressing needs of the Indian society,” said Venkatesh Shukla, President of TiE-Silicon Valley.

  • Facebook hires its first CMO ever

    Facebook hires its first CMO ever

    MUMBAI: Facebook has hired Gary Briggs as its first chief marketing officer; most recently Briggs was an adviser to the head of Google (Motorola Mobility) division.

    Facebook VP and CMO Gary Briggs

     

    Briggs is officially replacing VP-product marketing Eric Antonow who used to handle company’s marketing efforts since last two years and now he will work with Facebook head of consumer marketing Rebecca Van Dyck.

     

    Briggs will be responsible for product marketing, platform marketing and events, communication design, brand marketing and content strategy for Facebook.

     

    In his earlier stints, Briggs was a CEO of Plastic Jungle (a gift company); he has also worked for EBay, PayPal and PepsiCo.

     

    In a statement given to adage, Briggs said “Facebook isn’t just a company. For more than a billion people, it’s their connection to the friends and things they care about most. Telling the story of such an important and still very young brand is an incredible opportunity, and I cannot wait to get started.”

  • eBay India announces Latif Nathani as managing director

    eBay India announces Latif Nathani as managing director

    MUMBAI: eBay India today announced a shift in leadership. Latif Nathani, a senior executive in the technology space in both India and the US will join eBay India as managing director.

    Nathani is taking over from Muralikrishnan B, who will be completing his responsibilities by the end of the quarter and then will be looking at exploring entrepreneurial opportunities.

    Nathani said, "I am excited about leading the thriving eBay India business, a market leader in India, that has helped thousands of entrepreneurs make a livelihood as well as provide vast selection and great deals to millions of consumers. The marketplaces business model fascinates me and I look forward to steering the talented India team to even greater heights."

    Nathani has 22 years of experience including a 15 year career at Microsoft and Symantec and most recently served as CEO of product strategy consulting firm. He has extensive expertise in building and leading high performance global business, engineering and marketing teams. He also led a consumer incubator for Microsoft India (including equity investments in mobile payments), headed global product marketing for Symantec‘s Norton business and was cofounder of eMemories.com.
     
    Muralikrishan said, "It has been my proud privilege to lead the India team and business through two of the most exciting years the industry has seen. We have set new benchmarks improving the customer experience along with building a stronger brand and reputation among government, industry, entrepreneurs and consumers."

  • eBay encourages cricket fans to shop through IPL campaign

    MUMBAI: E-commerce marketplace eBay India has unveiled its latest integrated campaign crafted specially for the Indian Premier League (IPL) targeted at T20 cricket enthusiasts. The new campaign is designed to encourage shopping on eBay India before a match through a series of four humorous TVCs created by Law & Kenneth.

    eBay India‘s new campaign is targeted at cricket enthusiasts in the age bracket of 18 – 40 years who are hooked to T20. The TVCs are based on quarrels between a husband & wife over viewing cricket matches and how husbands please their spouse by shopping online before the match.

    eBay India country manager Muralikrishnan B. said, “Our new campaign has been created specifically for cricket fans to provoke shopping during the tournament, before, during or after a match. The intent is to get consumers to shop through their tablets, smartphones & laptops to highlight the convenience factor of shopping on eBay India allowing the sporting fan to enjoy his match in peace while keeping their spouse happy.”

    The campaign rolled out nationally, with a combination of TV, digital and social mediums to drive awareness and encourage Indians to look for fantastic deals with unmatched variety on eBay India while enjoying the T20.

    The campaign also aims to reinforce eBay India‘s positioning as a destination for the range of brand new every-day use products, with the best deals across product categories such as apparel, accessories, fashion, personal care, gadgets, technology products, fitness, health-care among many others.

    Law and Kenneth national creative director Charles Victor said, “Rather than just work with the insight that women hate having men glued to the television during cricket season, we included the fact that men really do not know what works with women. So while it seems like nothing‘s changed, in the end men realised it worked. That was the part we had to get right.”

    Simultaneously, throughout the T20 season there will be a sale on eBay India from 1 pm – 4 pm offering ‘Match Se Pehle‘ deals on popular products. The sale will feature six products.

  • eBay appoints Alok Agarwal as director marketing

    MUMBAI: Ecommerce marketplace ebay.com has got on board Alok Agarwal as director – marketing.

    Agarwal moves to ebay from Mahindra Two Wheelers where he was designated as the category head motorcycles.

    On his appointment eBay India country manager Muralikrishnan B said, “We welcome Alok to the eBay India family. eBay and eCommerce in India are at an inflection point and Alok‘s expertise in building Brands and marketing thought leadership would help for further enhance our growth trajectory in India and strengthen our position.”

    Agarwal said, “Distribution in India is complex, and with more than a decade of healthy growth, demand and supply are even more widely dispersed. The conventional multi-tier distribution model will be hard-pressed to make demand and supply meet. With my new role at eBay India, I look forward to playing match-maker between brands, entrepreneurs and consumers”

    Prior to joining Mahindra, Agarwal had worked with Sara Lee for six years, handling different roles at the organisation. He had also worked in Unilver, Cadbury India and Philips Consumer Electronics.

  • Google remains India’s most trusted internet brand for 3rd time

    Google remains India’s most trusted internet brand for 3rd time

    MUMBAI: Google remains India‘s Most Trusted for the third year in a row but the gap with the second ranked Facebook is a miniscule 3 per cent, according to brand trust research agency Trust Research Advisory (TRA).

    An analysis of the All India Most Trusted ranks shows that Google (All India rank 44) fell 13 ranks and Facebook (All India rank 48) gained 17 ranks to bridge the gap, says TRA.

    Yahoo still stood as the third Most Trusted Internet brand despite its 62 rank fall in All India Brand Trust rank.

    Google‘s Orkut, steadied at 4th rank despite a significant fall in daily visitors from India. Ebay follows as India‘s fifth Most Trusted Internet brand with a very small difference in BTI from the previous. The top six of last year are repeated in the same order this year as well.

    TRA noted that the number of brands represented in the Internet category this year has gone up from just 14 in 2012 to 25 this year showing a direct increase in the trust internet based exchanges have begun to garner.

    The Brand Trust Report, India Study – 2013, is the third in its series researched and published by TRA. This year‘s research was conducted in 16 cities generating 19000 unique brands across 211 categories. Trust Research Advisory is a part of the Comniscient Group, a group of India‘s largest non-advertising based communication businesses.

    TRA CEO N. Chandramouli said, “Two reasons online brands rely significantly on trust more than any other. Firstly, the exchanges are without any physical interface, and secondly, the online world is cluttered with choices that make loyalty ephemeral. With most of the new brands entering the Most Trusted list this year being from Online Shopping or Internet Services, there will be no stopping this sub-category from seeing accelerated growth over the next 12 months.”

    The leaders in the various sub-categories are Naukri leading in Internet Services, Youtube in Online Sharing, Ebay in Online Shopping, Google in Internet Tools and Facebook in Social Networking.

    A study of the number of brands in each sub-categories shows that Internet Tools is represented by nine brands, Online Shopping by eight brands, Social Networking by four brands and Online sharing and Online Services by two brands each.

  • eBay launches high voltage ‘Want it. Get it’ brand campaign in India

    MUMBAI: eBay India, a leading eCommerce marketplace, has unveiled its latest integrated marketing campaign under the theme ‘Want it. Get it’.

    The new campaign reinforces the Smart Shopper positioning adopted by brand eBay by portraying conversions of traditional offline shoppers into savvy online shoppers.

    eBay India’s new campaign is targeted at value-driven consumers in the age bracket of 18 – 40 years and emphasises online shopping as a smarter way to shop, backed by the fundamental promise of 100 per cent satisfaction through eBay Guarantee.

    The campaign is designed to encourage consumers to check deals on eBay India before they shop elsewhere.

    The new February campaign highlights eBay India as the destination for the widest range of brand new every-day use products, with the best deals across product categories such as apparel, accessories, fashion, personal care, gadgets, technology products, fitness, health-care among many others.

    Conceptualised in an everyday conversational format, the TVC is designed to appeal to audiences with its tongue-in-cheek style. The campaign highlights casual situations between young couples in which the protagonists evangelise advantages of online shopping to their partner by showcasing best deals on eBay India backed by eBay Guarantee.

    The TVC is being created in six languages – English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada to cater to multiple regional demographics while having a national appeal.

    eBay India Country Manager Muralikrishnan B says, “Online shopping in India is a mainstream phenomenon with savvy online shoppers logging online for convenience, variety & deals. Our new campaign is in conjunction with our theme ‘Want it. Get it’ which plays to eBay’s core strength of unmatched deals & wide variety across categories, giving consumers a completely secure & satisfaction-guaranteed experience.”

    Scheduled for a high-voltage, nationwide launch, the campaign has been developed by Law & Kenneth. The campaign will roll out nationally, with a combination of TV, Radio, digital & social mediums to drive awareness and encourage Indians to look for fantastic deals with unmatched variety while shopping on eBay India.

    Law & Kenneth West & South Chief Creative Officer Rahul Nangia said, “These are simple stories about people & their shopping behavior, told using couples & the different dynamics between them.”