Sagar Malviya, The Economic Times Mumbai, 5 March 2015 Reliance Industries (RIL) has sought shareholders' approval to make major forays into the online retail space to cash in on the boom in the country's e-commerce market that is expected to grow four-fold to almost $70 billion by 2019. The Mukesh Ambani-run firm included a clause of "operating, establishing, providing and managing e-commerce and m-commerce websites, direct-to-home and mail order services for all categories of products and services, and dealing in all kinds of goods, materials and items in India or in any other part of the world" in a recent…
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Varun Jain, The Economic Times New Delhi, 2 March 2015 Want to cook an exotic dish just the way Sanjeev Kapoor does it? Gurgaon-based online grocer Meragrocer.com, which launched operations recently and is endorsed by the celebrity chef, will soon start offering a solution: you can order chef special recipe packs that contain all the ingredients in the same quantity that Kapoor uses, along with detailed cooking instructions. Online grocers such as Meragrocer.com, BigBasket.com and LocalBanya.com are showcasing food recipes and blogs on their websites and selling all-in-one, do-it-yourself kits to engage the customer. They help the consumer pick the…
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Sayantani Kar, Business Standard Mumbai, 16 February 2015 When the million-square-foot mall broke into the concrete jungle in 2007-08, onlookers worried the local markets would find it difficult to sustain. But the Indian consumer proved to be less brand conscious than expected. The neighbourhood markets dodged the doomsday predictions, and continue to coexist. But the destination malls took a toll on their smaller brethren, especially in heavily-contested catchment areas. In the last two years, it has been reported that no less than 30-40 malls have downed shutters. But, even though thrice that number of malls have come up, retail analysts…
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Varun Jain, The Economic Times New Delhi, 18 February 2015 E-tailers in India are coming up with products and offerings exclusively for senior citizens, turning their attention to a category of consumers that they had hitherto ignored in their rush to reach the growing young population in the country. Mumbai-based Rahul Upadhyay, whose Seniorshelf.com caters exclusively to senior citizens with mobility aids, toilet safety products and items meant for arthritis patients, said the venture was inspired by a personal experience when he went to visit his parents and then spent three hours looking for a blood pressure machine. "It was…
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Varun Jain, The Economic Times New Delhi, 5 February 2015 India's North-Eastern states are fast emerging as the drivers of growth for some leading e-commerce companies, which claim double-digit growth in the market after having overcome last-mile delivery challenges. In this region, where hilly terrain and limited road and flight connectivity have posed hurdles for companies wanting to expand operations, demand for goods online is being fuelled by unavailability of certain products and the deep discounts being offered by e-commerce companies on a host of goods, including branded products. Snapdeal's VP - operations, Ashish Chitravanshi, said the North-East region is…
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