Page 2 - E-commerce Firms

E-commerce firms witness huge jump in festive sales from towns, cities

Flipkart recorded 330 mn user visits during Early Access and Day 1 combined, during The Big Billion Days (TBBD) 2024 sale event. Another e-commerce firm Meesho said it achieved 100 per cent increase

Can kirana stores survive the exponential rise of quick commerce in India?

Some savvy kiranas are already evolving - becoming specialist gourmet shops, mini-supermarkets, or setting up their own efficient delivery systems

Meesho's annual festival sale from Sep 27, sees 42% rise in seller base

Softbank-backed e-commerce firm Meesho will start its annual festival sale, Meesho Mega Blockbuster Sale, from September 27 onwards with the highest number of sellers onboard among its competitors, the company said on Tuesday. The company has recorded about 42 per cent surge in sellers on a year-on-year basis to 20 lakh for the upcoming festival season. "Meesho's Annual 'Meesho Mega Blockbuster Sale' Starts on 27th September. With over 20 lakh sellers and 12 crore product listings across 30 categories, Meesho aims to make festive shopping more accessible, affordable, and convenient for shoppers across the country," the company said in a statement. Meesho claimed to have 14 lakh sellers onboard for Meesho Mega Blockbuster 2023. Amazon India has seen a 14 per cent growth in seller base but remains lower than that of Meesho for their upcoming annual festival sale "The Great Indian Festival". "Our current seller base exceeds 16 lakh sellers from all across the country," Amazon India,

Meesho hires 850k staff before festivals, mostly from tier-3, tier 4 cities

E-commerce platform Meesho on Thursday said it has hired 8.5 lakh seasonal staff within its seller and logistics network ahead of the festival season, mostly from tier-3 and tier-4 regions. This marks a 70 per cent increase from its seasonal hiring last year, according to a company statement. "This festive season, we are particularly thrilled to have enabled 8.5 lakh seasonal jobs, especially in tier-3 and beyond cities. Empowering SMBs, local manufacturers and logistics providers to scale their business is resulting in meaningful economic opportunities that is driving financial inclusion in these regions," said Sourabh Pandey, CXO, Fulfilment and Experience, Meesho. Meesho's sellers have hired 5 lakh seasonal workers as part of their requirements for the festive season, the statement said. Additionally, Meesho has hired about 3.5 lakh gig workers through its third-party logistics providers including Delhivery, Ecom Express, Shadowfax, and Xpressbees, along with its own logistic ..

Govt-backed ONDC receives award for 'application of emerging tech'

The government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) on Tuesday received the gold award for application of emerging technologies. ONDC is an initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). It aims to promote an open platform for all aspects of e-commerce retail and help small retailers expand their business through e-commerce medium and reduce dominance of giants in the sector. The network is now enabling more than 12 million orders per month, spread across categories ranging from fashion to electronics in products, and ride-hailing to metro ticketing in services. Over 6 lakh sellers across India have been on-boarded so far. The gold award, under the category 'Application of Emerging Technologies for Providing Citizen-Centric Services' in the National Awards for e-Governance (NAeG), was received by Sanjiv, Joint Secretary in the DPIIT and other officials from the department in Mumbai. The national awards for e-governance by the Departm

'Smells of predatory pricing': Piyush Goyal red-flags e-commerce boom

Questions Amazon's India investment strategy, says it is to make up for losses

Temu owner's billionaire founder Colin Huang becomes China's richest person

Huang has mainly stayed out of the limelight after he stepped down as PDD's chief executive in 2020

Flipkart's 10-min quick commerce service 'Minutes' goes live in Bengaluru

The service has been launched across areas such as HSR Layout, Gunjur, Bellandur, and Kadubeesanahalli

Cheap Chinese exports prompt 'protectionist' response from Southeast Asia

Economic discontent towards China has intensified in Southeast Asia as Chinese companies with surplus inventory are selling goods at give-away prices

Top line can grow to Rs 2.5 trn in 5-10 yrs if executed well: Zepto CEO

Quick commerce unicorn Zepto revenue can grow multifold to Rs 2.5 lakh crore in 5-10 years if the company is able to execute the business well, a top company official said on Saturday. Speaking at 7th JIIF Foundation day, Zepto Co-Founder and CEO Aadit Palicha said grocery and household essentials are the mother of all categories that are sold on leading e-commerce platforms Flipkart and Amazon in India. He said the grocery and household essentials market was around USD 650 billion in India in FY23 and is growing at 9 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) and is expected to get to about USD 850 billion by FY29. "If we execute well, we can realistically take this business from Rs 10,000-plus crores in top line today to potentially to... Rs 2.5 lakh crore of top line over the next 10 years or next five years," Palicha said. "Your grocery is bigger than all the other categories that Amazon and Flipkart serve combined. If you look at electronics, apparel, furniture, you combine .

After deal with Tokopedia, ByteDance confirms its layoff plan in Indonesia

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, did not say how many employees would be affected. Bloomberg had earlier reported there would be 450 jobs cut.

Kalyan Jewellers to invest Rs 42 crore to complete Candere buyout

Kalyan Jewellers said on Monday it will acquire the remaining 15 per cent stake in its e-commerce subsidiary Enovate Lifestyles, which operates under the brand Candere, for Rs 42 crore. The deal, to be completed in three tranches, will make Candere a wholly owned unit as Kalyan Jewellers shifts focus from pure e-commerce to an omnichannel strategy, the company said in a regulatory filing. Kalyan Jewellers first acquired a majority stake in Candere in 2017 to enter the online jewellery market. The latest transaction involves buying 57,320 equity shares from existing shareholder Rupesh Jain. "We're excited to explore an emerging market segment within the jewellery industry, focusing on lightweight, fashion-forward designs," Managing Director T S Kalyanaraman said. Candere, which reported an annual revenue of Rs 130.3 crore in the 2023-24 fiscal, launched 11 physical showrooms last year and plans to quadruple its offline presence this fiscal.

Google to acquire minority stake in Flipkart in fresh funding round

Internet major Google has proposed an investment in e-commerce major Flipkart to buy a minority stake during the company's fresh funding round, the Walmart group firm said on Friday. "As part of the latest funding round led by Walmart, Flipkart today announced that it will be adding Google as a minority investor, subject to receipt of regulatory and other customary approvals by both parties," Flipkart said in a statement. The e-commerce firm, however, neither disclosed the amount proposed to be invested by Google nor the details of the fund being raised by the firm. "Google's proposed investment and its cloud collaboration will help Flipkart expand its business and advance the modernization of its digital infrastructure to serve customers across the country," Flipkart said.

Amazon's accelerator aims to launch 50 Indian startups in global markets

The applications for the programme open today, will close on June 14, 2024. It will culminate in a demo day where participants will get chance to pitch their business propositions to leading VC firms

Govt plans to make anti-fake review rules mandatory for e-commerce firms

The government is considering to make it mandatory for e-commerce companies to comply with quality norms for consumer reviews after a voluntary push failed to effectively curb fake reviews, a top official said on Monday. The government issued the new quality norms for e-tailers a year ago, prohibiting them from publishing paid reviews and demanding disclosure of such promotional content. But fake reviews of products and services on e-commerce platforms are still slipping through, said Nidhi Khare, Secretary at the Consumer Affairs Ministry. "It's been more than one year that the voluntary standard on 'online reviews' was notified. Some entities claim that they are complying with it. However, fake reviews are still getting published," Khare told PTI. "To safeguard the consumer interest, now we want to make these standards mandatory," she said, adding that the ministry has scheduled a meeting with e-commerce firms and consumer organisations on May 15 to discuss the proposed move. Th

Amazon's new fees on sellers likened to 'kick in the gut': Report

In the first four months of the year, American consumers have increasingly opted for the least expensive products in nearly all categories, according to a report released Thursday by Adobe Inc

Amazon unveils first electric seaport trucks amid push to slash emissions

The e-commerce giant said it already has eight of those semi trucks in use at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, where every so-called drayage truck must be zero-emissions by 2035

Amazon India's eighth edition of 'Prime Day' event coming up in July

The e-commerce firm stated Prime Day 2023 was the biggest ever Prime Day in India as 14 per cent more Prime members shopped hundreds of thousands of deals compared to Prime Day 2022

Amazon to push cashierless shopping tech into more third-party stores

The company refuted a report by tech site The Information this month that the technology relies on human reviewers in India to watch customers as they shop

Complaint against Flipkart, BigBasket for making employee work on polls day

A complaint has been filed against e-commerce major Flipkart and Tata Group firm BigBasket for allegedly making delivery boys work on the day of voting on April 19 in the state. In the complaint filed before Tamil Nadu state election commissioner B Kothi Nirmalasamy on Wednesday, Chennai High Court lawyer K Narasimhan has stated that despite the state government declaring leave of April 19 for the election day, Flipkart and BigBasket are promising guaranteed delivery of orders even on the day of voting. Narasimhan said that as per government order April 19 has been officially declared a public holiday under section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 to facilitate the electoral process. He said that the Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department of Tamil Nadu has mandated a paid holiday for all employees working in shops, commercial establishments, industrial establishments and IT companies on April 19 to ensure their participation in the democratic process. "Despite the