Indian government national e-commerce policy that was due to be released by the end of this year is set to miss its deadline again. The policy, which is supposed to clear regulatory concerns, related to the video stream, ride-hailing and e-commerce services, is still stuck at discussion level and needs clearance from multiple ministries before finally being released. It looks like the e-commerce policy might come out only next year, said a Business Standard report quoting govt sources privy to the development. Only after discussions with multiple ministries, the final document will be out, it added.

Publication : Entrackr

Date : October 03, 2019

In the ongoing festive sales, e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart have achieved over $1.8 billion (Rs 11,500 crore) of gross merchandise value (GMV) in the first three days of the festive sale period, according to a report by consulting firm RedSeer. The sales, which began on September 29, will end on October 4. The Redseer report also said mobiles have once again turned out to be the category leader with more than 55% of GMV coming from mobiles. Other categories such as electronics, fashion and furniture has also witnessed growth in sales.

Publication : The Economic Times 

Date : October 03, 2019

E-commerce retailer Snapdeal said it has witnessed a surge in sales of digital gift cards during this year’s festive season sale. When compared with last year, there has been a 300% jump in sales of these gift cards. The cards are more popular in the big cities, with 3 of 4 cards sold being purchased by people in metros. To make the most of ongoing sales, Snapdeal has an 8% discount card offer for Urban Ladder, which can be used both online and in the physical stores. Homecentre and Lifestyle offer a flat 6% discount.

Publication : Mint

Date : October 02, 2019

Furniture and home products marketplace, Pepperfry has launched its first ever built-to-suit home and furniture warehouse in Bangalore, the company said on Monday. This highly automated and tech-led warehouse, located in Hoskote area, is spread across 3,60,000 sq. ft. – making it the largest built-to-suit facility in the segment, in India, the company said. The launch is in line with Pepperfry’s aim to build the largest big-box logistics network in India and particularly strengthen its services in South India, which contributes to 40% of the marketplace’s overall business.

Publication : ET Brand Equity 

Date : September 30, 2019

In recent years, a lot has been made about whether or not the standard marketing funnel has changed for e-commerce retailers. Traditionally, shoppers went through the following three stages: Awareness: “I have a problem.”,  Consideration: “What are my options for solving this problem?”, Acquisition: “I’m ready to buy a product to solve this problem.” The truth is that these three stages are still relevant to e-commerce retailers. To make the most of each stage, online retail marketers should consider taking advantage of the following three channels. For years, Pinterest was a hit with users but wasn’t a go-to channel for pay-per-click (PPC) marketers.

Publication: Forbes

Date : October 1, 2019

Capital flow to startups continued at an increased pace in the latest quarter as global investors continue to sign big cheques for entrepreneurs building out next big companies from financial technology to software services bucking the slow growth in the economy. But the rush of capital, which has led to the valuation of some startups to multiply overnight without any significant change in business metrics ,  is also causing concerns among investors of a ‘bubble’ even as the global sentiment turns against highly values private technology companies with the failure of WeWork’s public offering in the US.

Publication : The Times of India

Date : October 03, 2019

India on Thursday said foreign firms in the e-commerce sector should not use the platform for indulging in predatory pricing and getting into deep discounting to force small retailers out of business. Speaking at the India Economic Forum here, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the e-commerce platform “is not expected to become a platform either for predatory pricing or to use muscle power of large capital at low volumes available which allows companies to source cheap, get economies of scale in sourcing and maybe offer discounts which in some sense throw out small retail out of business. We are very clear about it”.

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : October 04, 2019