Tata group, the over $108-billion conglomerate, is all set to heat the competition by unveiling its much awaited e-commerce business on 27th May.
E-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal which are battling to dominate the market, will soon have another major player to deal with.
Tata group, the over $108-billion conglomerate, is all set to heat the competition by unveiling its much awaited e-commerce business on 27th May.
Christened Tata CLiQ (www.tataCLiQ.com), it will be the first Indian online shopping destination to allow consumers to shop via its website, mobile site and mobile application (Android & iOS) from day one of the launch.
To start with, Tata CLiQ will sell apparel, electronics and footwear at the time of launch. Thereafter, it will expand the offerings by adding many more categories, brands and exciting features, the company said in a statement.
The earlier reports had suggested that Tata group's e-venture would be a marketplace wherein the platform will not only sell own products, but also those of the third party vendors.
The e-commerce business was in the works since October 2014 under Tata Industries and plans started taking a concrete shape a year after Tata Unistore was instituted. In fact, it was around the same time Tata Industries reassigned Ashutosh Pandey, who was hired to head e-commerce business as chief executive officer of Tata Unistore / Tata CLiQ in October last year.
The platform, according to Pandey, will curate authentic and exclusive products for customers with impeccable taste.
"A name that says shopping online is now so easy and trustworthy, that all it takes is a click. The 'Q' in the logo represents a magnifying glass – a visual representation of the brand's focus on curating only the best brands and products," he said in a media statement.
Launch of Tata CLiQ will be Tata group's second e-commerce platform after my247market.com, which was soft launched in April 2015. The online food and grocery shopping venture (my247market.com) is a division of Fiora Hypermarket Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Trent Ltd that operates retail stores under the brands Westside and Landmark.
With its e-commerce foray, the Tata group has taken a lead over Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh D Ambani-promoted Reliance Retails's entry into this space. While Reliance Retail launched its fashion and lifestyle e-commerce business portal www.ajio.com just last month, the company has not finalised on launching its e-marketplace yet. In January this year, RIL had said that its other 2.0 initiative encompassing development of marketplace platform was on track and will be rolled out in a phased manner.
The Indian e-commerce industry, according to industry experts, is still at a nascent stage and a large part of the commerce is ahead and not behind us. "Fortunately, from a timing point of view, the pure play companies are having a tough time with new policies and (FDI) regulations in place. That apart, new funding is also drying for the existing players. As a result, competitive intensity is not that high. So these factors should help Tata gain traction and capture market share," said K Vaitheeswaran, father of e-commerce in India and founder of Indiaplaza.
Recapturing the lost ground with respect to online shopping, Kishore Biyani of Future Group, had said a few weeks ago that the company will be relaunch its online shopping portals portals for Big Bazaar, shoe brand Clarks and plus-sized women's clothing brand All. The launches are expected to happen gradually over the next 3-4 months.
Commenting on increased focus towards online shopping by brick-and-mortar players, Vaitheeswaran said the one big issue is not that large business groups are trying it for the first time.
"The issue is with ability of offline retailers to successfully embrace e-commerce and make it work. That's a bigger challenge in my view. I hope the new entrants to online shopping are able to do this successfully," he said.
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