Online businesses gear up to welcome 2008 with a bang
Those in the online business have reason to cheer - the consumer ecommerce market in India is expected to grow by 30% in 2007-08 to Rs 9210 crore.
By Vikas Kumar, TNN |
As 2007 draws to a close, the pace of activity at the office and warehouse of Bangalore-based Indiaplaza.in, is getting increasingly hectic. Business has been brisk this festive season. “In terms of growth it’s been an incredible year. We expect to do 3-4 times more business than last year,” says K Vaitheeswaran, co-founder and COO, Indiaplaza. A chunk of the firm’s business online comes from sales of books and electronic gadgets such as digital music players, mobile phones, and digital cameras, and is targeted at NRIs in the US who send gifts home.
Clearly, those in the online business have reason to cheer — from online shopping portals to internet trade exchanges, these are indeed good times for those doing business on the internet. According to recent research jointly conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and research firm IMRB, the consumer ecommerce market in India is expected to grow by 30% in 2007-08 to Rs 9210 crore, of which the online travel segment will continue to dominate with nearly 80% share. Advertising revenues for the industry too, saw an upsurge this year. From Rs 218 crore last year, this year online ad revenues are expected to touch Rs 320 crore.
No wonder it’s an opportunity larger players like Indiatimes (part of Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd, which also owns this newspaper), Rediff, and Yahoo, among others are looking to tap in a big way. “The year 2007 was great year and we launched a number of new applications, and the new look Indiatimes.com, which is a friendlier Web 2.0 version. It was like a new beginning for us,” says Upen Roop Rai, director Times Internet Ltd (TIL). This year indiatimes’ Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) —the industry measure of online sales—more than doubled over last year, and much if it comes from the travel portal, adds Rai.
It’s not just the consumer business that’s hotting up. B2B portal tradeindia.com is also preparing to usher in the New Year with a host of new technology-driven initiatives. “Our market is the SMEs who want to showcase their products to the world,” says its founder and CEO Bikky Khosla from Dubai where he’s just arrived for a holiday. So the company has introduced a service, ‘Call Me Free’, where instead waiting for suppliers to revert to a query interested buyers can key in their contact phone number, and they will be connected immediately by tradeindia’s operators directly to the respective suppliers through a conference call, for free. The technology is provided by US-based eStara’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform.
“We try and ensure that the limitations of SMEs is compensated through smart use of technology,” says Khosla, who plans to introduce an SMS enquiry service to speed up transactions, and host online videos of suppliers’ facilities for buyers to see before they contact them. Next on the cards is a video-conferencing based inspection of goods. Phew! Tradeindia did revenues of Rs 17 crore in 2006-07, and with increasing awareness and spread of broadband networks, Khosla expects to close this fiscal 35% higher than last year.
For consumer ecommerce sites, it will be a whole new game as innovations in technology and demographic shifts promise exciting times ahead. Says TIL’s Rai, “In the coming year, social networking will play a dominant role and will open up a lot more advertising spending. Search engine marketing is another area that will grow faster.”
Clearly, those in the online business have reason to cheer — from online shopping portals to internet trade exchanges, these are indeed good times for those doing business on the internet. According to recent research jointly conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and research firm IMRB, the consumer ecommerce market in India is expected to grow by 30% in 2007-08 to Rs 9210 crore, of which the online travel segment will continue to dominate with nearly 80% share. Advertising revenues for the industry too, saw an upsurge this year. From Rs 218 crore last year, this year online ad revenues are expected to touch Rs 320 crore.
No wonder it’s an opportunity larger players like Indiatimes (part of Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd, which also owns this newspaper), Rediff, and Yahoo, among others are looking to tap in a big way. “The year 2007 was great year and we launched a number of new applications, and the new look Indiatimes.com, which is a friendlier Web 2.0 version. It was like a new beginning for us,” says Upen Roop Rai, director Times Internet Ltd (TIL). This year indiatimes’ Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) —the industry measure of online sales—more than doubled over last year, and much if it comes from the travel portal, adds Rai.
It’s not just the consumer business that’s hotting up. B2B portal tradeindia.com is also preparing to usher in the New Year with a host of new technology-driven initiatives. “Our market is the SMEs who want to showcase their products to the world,” says its founder and CEO Bikky Khosla from Dubai where he’s just arrived for a holiday. So the company has introduced a service, ‘Call Me Free’, where instead waiting for suppliers to revert to a query interested buyers can key in their contact phone number, and they will be connected immediately by tradeindia’s operators directly to the respective suppliers through a conference call, for free. The technology is provided by US-based eStara’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform.
“We try and ensure that the limitations of SMEs is compensated through smart use of technology,” says Khosla, who plans to introduce an SMS enquiry service to speed up transactions, and host online videos of suppliers’ facilities for buyers to see before they contact them. Next on the cards is a video-conferencing based inspection of goods. Phew! Tradeindia did revenues of Rs 17 crore in 2006-07, and with increasing awareness and spread of broadband networks, Khosla expects to close this fiscal 35% higher than last year.
For consumer ecommerce sites, it will be a whole new game as innovations in technology and demographic shifts promise exciting times ahead. Says TIL’s Rai, “In the coming year, social networking will play a dominant role and will open up a lot more advertising spending. Search engine marketing is another area that will grow faster.”
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