Page 3 - E-commerce Industry

Market, consumers best teachers for biz growth: Mamaearth co-founder

Market and consumer insights are the best teachers to learn from to grow business, a philosophy which has guided Mamaearth's decisions, contributing significantly to its growth, its co-founder Varun Alagh said on Thursday. Alagh, co-founder and CEO of beauty and personal care brand Mamaearth, speaking at the 119th Annual Session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) here, stressed the significance of consumer feedback in shaping business strategies. "I think the market and the consumer are the best teachers. As long as you're listening, they keep telling and teaching you. There is no better teacher than them. And we have treated the market and consumer like that, which has been very helpful because they have guided a lot of our decisions and got us to where we are today," he said. Alagh further highlighted the transformative impact of e-commerce and digital marketing in India, noting that these platforms are crucial for expanding access to products across diverse inco

Predatory pricing, deep discounting by Q-Commerce to impact brands: AICPDF

Deep discounting by quick commerce firms impact brand value, AICPDF told the FMCG industry, suggesting that they closely monitor and evaluate effects of these hyper delivery platforms, their distribution and retail networks. In an open letter, All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF) asked FMCG companies to "ensure fair practices that do not alienate or undermine" their existing distributor and retail base. "Over the past few months, we have observed an alarming trend of predatory pricing and deep discounting practices by quick commerce platforms," the association, which claims to be representing about eight lakh FMCG distributors, said. These practices "not only undermine the integrity of the established distribution network but also erode brand value" by creating unrealistic consumer expectations around pricing, it said. Moreover, "distributors and retailers are facing the brunt of these unfair pricing models" AICPDF said, asking FMCG companies to "intervene t

DPIIT refers complaint against quick e-commerce players to CCI: Report

DPIIT, which comes under the commerce and industry ministry, has referred a complaint of alleged unfair business practices against quick commerce players to the Competition Commission, according to sources. The complaint was submitted by the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF) to the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry. Quick commerce platforms are those that typically deliver goods within 10 to 30 minutes. The Competition Commission of India (CCI), which works to ensure fair business practices across sectors in the marketplace, is already looking into alleged anti-competitive ways of e-commerce companies. The sources in the know on Friday said the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has referred a complaint made against quick commerce players to CCI. There was no immediate comment from CCI on the issue. When contacted for comments on the complaint, AICPDF President Darshil Patil said he has come to know that the letter writte

Trade groups call for Amazon, Flipkart suspension over antitrust breaches

Indian antitrust investigation reports have found Amazon and Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preference to select sellers and priority to certain listings, hurting competition

Payment aggregators to create 'negative' database to tackle digital fraud

The proposed database, to be made accessible to all licensed payment aggregators, will work as an early warning system to help prevent fraud and reducing risks to merchant and consumers

E-commerce industry fuels state's packaging, export capability: Adityanath

E-commerce platforms added momentum to Uttar Pradesh government's efforts towards enhancing packaging and export capabilities and promoting Centre's One District One Product (ODOP) scheme, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday. The chief minister said the state is focused on enhancing packaging and export capabilities by leveraging design, technology, and market access and also called upon companies to take advantage of the state's warehousing policy, according to an official statement. "We focused on enhancing packaging and export capabilities by leveraging design, technology, and market access. However, the work of giving it more momentum happened when Flipkart Group joined us," Adityanath said at an event at Lok Bhavan, where he virtually inaugurated Flipkart's two new warehouses in Unnao and Varanasi. He also emphasised how these platforms are fostering healthy competition and empowering every citizen, whether in urban or rural areas, to reach global markets. He said th

Amazon India head Manish Tiwary resigns, plans to join another company

Tiwary will continue with Amazon until October to help ensure a smooth transition

Swiggy Instamart appoints Sairam Krishnamurthy as chief operating officer

Krishnamurthy's appointment follows a series of senior hires at the quick commerce platform

Meesho onboards Hari Bhartia, three others as independent directors

Softbank-backed e-commerce firm Meesho on Friday said it has appointed Jubilant Bhartia Group founder Hari S Bhartia along with three other seasoned business leaders as independent directors. Along with Bhartia, Meesho has onboarded former JP Morgan Chairman Kalpana Morparia for South and South East Asia, PhonePe non-executive Chairman of the board Rohit Bhagat, and San Francisco-based AI company Ema's CEO Surojit Chatterjee. "As we embark on the next phase of growth, I am thrilled to announce the appointment of Surojit Chatterjee, Kalpana Morparia, Rohit Bhagat, and Hari S. Bhartia as independent directors to Meesho's board," Meesho, Founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey said in a statement. Bhartia is the Founder and Co-Chairman of Jubilant Bhartia Group. The Jubilant Bhartia Group has four flagship companies listed on Indian stock exchanges, with a combined market capitalisation of approximately USD 7.65 billion, it added. Bhartia is also the Co-Chairman and Managing Director of Jubilan

Expecting 30-40 mn monthly transactions by March 2025: ONDC CEO Koshy

The government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is expecting 30 to 40 million monthly transactions through the platform by March 2025, its CEO T Koshy said on Wednesday. The open network witnessed 10 million transactions in June, up from over 7 million in March. "In March (2024) it was 7 million plus transactions. Now in June we had 10 million transactions and I think by the end of the fiscal year it should be 30 to 40 million (monthly) transactions," Koshy said at a CII event here. He further said the ONDC platform has 5-6 lakh merchants onboard with the number expected to rise significantly in the coming months. He was addressing MSME Growth Summit organised by the industry body. ONDC was set up with an aim to democratise the country's e-commerce ecosystem. Addressing the summit, Sameer Gupta, Chairman of CII National MSME Council, emphasized the transformative impact of the industry body's initiatives like Digital Saksham. He highlighted the pivotal role of MSM

Govt steps help boost toy making, exports; more work needed: DPIIT secy

Government measures such as mandatory quality control orders and increasing customs duty have helped boost exports of toys from India, but there is a need to do much more for the sector, a top official said on Wednesday. Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Rajesh Kumar Singh also indicated that they are diligently pursuing the proposal of extending fiscal incentives under the production-linked incentive scheme for the sector. He said that the industry is wondering about one proposed major policy intervention and "let me assure you that we are still pursuing that". In the interim Budget in February, the Commerce and Industry Ministry has recommended an outlay of Rs 3,489 crore for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for toys to boost domestic manufacturing of the sector. As the scheme is yet to be cleared by the Union Cabinet, the interim Budget has made a token provision of Rs 1 lakh towards the scheme for 2024-25. The scheme a

E-commerce demand surges amid heatwave, manpower needs increase

In the past month alone, daily deliveries by e-commerce entities have escalated to over two million, compared to 1.2-1.5 million deliveries recorded a year earlier

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

Flipkart Ventures to invest up to $500,000 in GenAI-based startups

As part of the Flipkart Leap Ahead (FLA) programme, selected startups will receive equity investments between $200,000 and $500,000, according to a statement

Average salary hike in India likely to be 8-11% this year: Randstad India

The junior professionals are likely to outshine senior professionals in terms of salary hike percentage

Alibaba approves additional $25 bn share buyback as revenue disappoints

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding on Wednesday approved an additional USD 25 billion authorisation to its share buyback programme, after reporting lower-than-expected sales revenue for the last quarter of 2023. The company's Hong Kong-traded shares plunged 6.8 per cent on Thursday. Alibaba's New York-listed stock price sank 5.9 per cent on Wednesday and has fallen nearly 26 per cent over the past year. Alibaba posted a 5 per cent increase in sales to 260.3 billion yuan (USD 36.67 billion) in the quarter that ended in December, slightly missing analysts' estimates. Net income sank to 14.4 billion yuan (USD 2 billion), down 77 per cent compared to a year earlier. The Hangzhou, China-based firm attributed the drastic decrease to declining values of its equity investments and falling revenues. Alibaba has struggled to sustain its growth and faces increasing competition in the e-commerce sector from rivals such as Pinduoduo and ByteDance, which operates TikTok and Douyin. On

R-Day sale 2024: Smartphones, PCs, and electronics fly off e-com shelves

Beginning January 13, e-commerce majors Amazon and Flipkart rolled out their Republic Day sale events in India, with various bank offers and discounts on gadgets and electronic items

Quick commerce app Zepto elevates Nikhil Mittal to chief technology officer

In his new role, Mittal will be handling all verticals of engineering - customer facing, platforms and supply chain - at the company

Temple fever grips Indians, lifts travel demand and hotel bookings

Spiritual merchandise sales on e-commerce platforms surge ahead of Ram Mandir inauguration

Meesho posts 1st profitable quarter in FY24; loss dips to Rs 141 cr in H1

Softbank-backed Meesho on Friday said it became the first e-commerce unicorn to post consolidated profit after tax in the second quarter ended September 2023. The company did not disclose the amount of profit it earned in the July-September period. During the first-half period of the current financial year, the company reported narrowing of losses to Rs 141 crore and an increase in revenue by 37 per cent on a year-over-year basis to Rs 3,521 crore. "Meesho recorded its first-ever full quarter profitability in the second quarter of financial year 2024 and continues to remain so. The positive momentum in the business continued post this period's end and into the festive season as well where we witnessed continued growth across categories. This is an impressive feat as Meesho became the first horizontal e-commerce company to turn profitable in India," a Meesho spokesperson said. The company said it had posted its first-ever profit in July. "Consolidated revenue from operations were Rs