Godrej Appliances ties up with Indiatimes Shopping

In the first year of our association with Indiatimes, we are expecting Rs 15 crore sales from the online store: Godrej

Consumer durables major Godrej today joined hands with e-commerce site Indiatimes Shopping to launch online store, targeting Rs 100 crore per year from the venture in the next five years.

"Although online trading contributes very little in overall revenue of the consumer durables industry, it is growing day by day. To tap the potential and to have the first mover's advantage, we have tied up with Indiatimes," Godrej Appliances Executive Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Kamal Nandi told reporters here.

Powered by Indiatimes Shopping, Godrej rolled out its online store for delivering products across the country.

"We are targeting Rs 100 crore revenue from online sales. In the first year of our association with Indiatimes, we are expecting Rs 15 crore sales from the online store," he said.

Godrej Appliances is expecting Rs 8-10 crore sales from online trading during 2012-13 through 4-5 e-commerce portals like HomeShope18.Com, he added.

At present, only Rs 60-65 crore of sales take place in the entire consumer durables industry, which is pegged at Rs 40,000 crore, through online purchases, Nandi said.

"With expansion of e-commerce, the online sales is likely to contribute around Rs 400-450 crore to the consumer durables industry in the next five years," he added.

As per the understanding with Indiatimes Shopping, logistics and shipping will be handled by Godrej Appliances through its 31 depots across the country.

Talking about the association, Indiatimes Shopping Chief Operating Officer Subhanker Sarker said: "This is a strategic alliance for us. This is our second exclusive tie up with an offline company. Earlier we had tied up with Nokia."

Currently, about 80 per cent of the e-commerce market is dominated by travel related transactions and other segments are gradually picking up, he added.

"We have recently acquired a minority stake in a last mile service company 'Delhivery' to improve the logistics part," Sarker said.

He, however, did not share other details such as the size of investment and how much stake it acquired.

When asked about any future association with other firms, Sarker said: "We are at the final level of talks with a big jewellery brand. In the next 12 months, many tie-ups will happen with us."

Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co has two plants for home appliances at Mohali in Punjab and Shirwal near Pune in Maharashtra. These plants have a total production capacity of 24 lakh units annually and roll out goods like washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners and microwaves.

The company had invested Rs 100 crore to expand the capacity to 24 lakh units from the earlier 18 lakh units.