The Bengaluru-based Yessar Group on Wednesday launched an online barter bank, Top Barter Card, which allows entrepreneurs to exchange products and services without having to pay in cash.
An entrepreneur registered with Top Barter Card will be able to exchange his products and services within the community of registered vendors, converting excess inventory and spare capacity into sales.
"Top Barter Card has created a flexible, secure and fully accountable way for businesses to barter products and services online," said Shane Chopra, director, sales and marketing, Yessar Group. "The barter bank provides an innovative way of combining modern technology to help increase sales and conserve cash through a community of like-minded businesses," he added.
The Yessar Group started operations in 2012 as an online travel portal, smarttickettrade.com, and later set up an e-commerce website, TopTrade.in. The e-commerce portal offers apparel, electronics, home appliances, and sports and fitness goods. It has close to 200 sellers, who will perhaps be the first users of the barter bank. The company aims to bring at least 100,000 sellers to the barter bank over the next year.
The barter bank is an attempt by the Yessar Group to find its feet in the crowded e-commerce space. While vendors selling across e-commerce portals would be able to use the barter bank, Chopra said, he was hopeful the offering would encourage them to sell through his portal, enabling it to offer competitive prices. "The discount categories will conquer the largest e-commerce players of the country," he said.
While most large e-commerce players are now moving away from deep discounting and have started to increase their focus on better service and improved consumer experience, online consumers still remain price-sensitive. This reflects in the response online discount sales have generated recently.
