Google partners e-commerce sites for ‘Cyber Monday’ on Dec 12

Google India on Tuesday said it has partnered with a host of e-commerce players including Flipkart, Snapdeal, Homeshop18, IndiatimesShopping, and makemytrip to bring to India its own version of ‘Cyber Monday’ on December 12. 

Internet users can log on to www.gosf.in and get deals for 24 hours on this day from over 50 partners across e-commerce, local and classified, online travel sites and BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) industries, Google said in a statement. 

The festival will offer users an opportunity to shop for jewelry, shoes, apparel, travel packages, books, kidswear, gadgets, watches, computer accessories, health and fitness equipment, home decor products and real estate deals, it added. 

First coined in 2005 as a marketing term by online retailers for the Monday coming after ‘Black Friday’, which itself is the name for Friday after Thanksgiving in the US, the ‘Cyber Monday’ has become a phenomenon over the years. 

In 2010, comScore reported consumers spent USD 1.028 billion online on Cyber Monday (excluding travel) compared to USD 887 million in 2009. 

With over 137 million Internet users in the country, India is witnessing a significant growth in the online activity. This is for the first time, an industry wide initiative of this scale is being attempted to offer users an incentive to gain from deals that they can find on the web on a single day, Google said. 

“The initiative is aimed at encouraging shoppers to adopt online shopping with a focus to reach out to first time online buyers. The participating companies will also offer special deals for the first time buyers on their websites,” it said. 

“The online shopping industry is already over USD 1.5 billion and with this initiative, we want to reach out and promote online shopping to the first time buyers,” Google India MD and VP Sales and Operations Rajan Anandan said. 

“For this 24 hour sale, we have lined up some really exciting offers from our portfolio of 500 brands and we’re confident that shoppers will come back for more,” Myntra.com Co-Founder and CEO Mukesh Bansal said. 

The partners include eBay India, Flipkart, Snapdeal, IndiatimesShopping, Makemytrip, Yebhi.com, firstcry.com, Homeshop18.com, Croma, Gitanjali Group, Monster India, Tradus, GoIbibo, among others.

Read more...

Flipkart, Bharti Walmart under lens: Anand Sharma

he Enforcement Directorate has been asked to investigate alleged violation of FDI regulations by e-commerce company Flipkart Online Services and cash & carry chain Bharti Walmart.

References alleging that some companies are carrying out activities in violation of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in retail market have been received, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma in a written reply to the Lok Sabha has said. 

“The RBI has informed that matters related to Bharti Wal-Mart/Cedar Support Services Ltd and Flipkart Online Services, respectively, have been referred to the Directorate of Enforcement for further investigations,” Mr. Sharma said. 

He said violation of FDI regulations is covered by the penal provision of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. 

Flipkart is under the scanner for allegedly flouting FDI rules which allow e-commerce companies with foreign investment to carry out only business-to-business (B2B) transactions but not business to consumer (B2C) transactions by creating complex structures that may not be permissible. 

E-commerce companies with foreign investments are allowed to do wholesale trading with B2C companies that are unrelated and can do wholesale trading with a group company only if it does not exceed 25 per cent of its total turnover and is used for internal consumption. 

The US retailer Wal-Mart had invested USD 100 million in Cedar Support Services, an arm of Bharti Ventures. CPI Rajya Sabha member MP Achuthan has complained that this violated Indian rules as this investment took place when FDI in retail was barred in this country. 

In an another reply, Mr. Sharma said India’s exports to the US and Europe during April-September 2012 stood at USD 19.68 billion and USD 25 billion respectively. 

The country’s exports to 10 developed countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea and UAE aggregated to USD 141.81 billion during the first half of the current fiscal.

Read more...