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On January 02, 2007, Pantaloon Retail
(India) Limited (PRIL), launched its online retail arm,
futurebazaar.com.1
This marked the entry of India's leading retail chain into
the online retail segment. Unlike many of the existing
e-commerce companies, PRIL had a strong presence in the
offline retailing segment. Analysts noted that this could
help PRIL give its customers a significant price advantage
by leveraging its economies of scale. PRIL's e-commerce
portal will offer services to more than 1500 cities and
towns in India, with a wide range of products. Describing
the new initiative, Anup Seth, Head, e-Retailing, PRIL, said
"The FutureBazaar concept is about extending the value
proposition of our offline formats (which are today limited
by our geographical presence) to the entire world by
leveraging the power of the Internet and be present across
geographical boundaries."2 |
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There were also instances of other companies that adopted the online
retailing route to complement their existing offline business formats.
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For example, Tata Indicom, a mobile and Internet
service provider, entered the online retail market with its website,
www.i-choose.in, to provide online mobile connection services. The
retail division of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. (G&B) had also
launched an online portal that offered its customers all the
consumer durable products that were available at Godrej's 'Lifespace' retail stores.
It was also reported that Reliance Retail, the retail arm of
Reliance Industries Limited, had set up a special team to establish
its online retail format. Analysts opined that the online strategy
being followed by these Indian retail chains was similar to that of
large international retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
(Wal-Mart), which had a well-established online and offline
presence. |
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