Paytm Mall plans Rs 1000 crore spend

BENGALURU: Paytm Mall has set aside Rs 1,000 crore for marketing, cashback and promotions in September-October in the runup to its first festive season. Run by Paytm E-commerce, it is gunning to compete with online retail market majors Flipkart and Amazon India with an aggressive budget.

Paytm Mall's marketing budget is over three times more than what its competitors Amazon India, Snapdeal and Flipkart spent last year, according to numbers available with research firm Forrester. "Amazon India, Snapdeal and Flipkart spent Rs 250-300 crore last year in promoting these (festive) sales," said Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst, Forrester Research. "We anticipate similar spending this year, with Amazon and Flipkart expected to fill the gap created by Snapdeal in terms of spending."

Over the past few weeks, Paytm Mall -which did not have brand stores on its platform -has brought on board 1,000 brand stores and 15,000 brand-authorised retailers. It plans to add 5,000 large brands and shops ahead of Diwali. "This festive season, while online retailers will focus on spending money and taking away business from shops in the neighborhood, we will work with them and bring special offers for consumers to shop from their nearby markets by enabling these shopkeepers with mobile technology," said Amit Sinha, COO, Paytm Mall.

Analysts believe that Paytm Mall may give tough competition to Amazon and Flipkart with respect to appliances and consumer electronics, but not when it comes to fashion retail, where the rivals have built deeper catalogue and logistics capabilities. Paytm Mall is aiming for a $4 billion gross merchandise volume by end of this year.

(With inputs from Mugdha Variyar)