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Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 6, No.

4, 2015 277

Top e-retailers of India: business model and


components

Prateek Kalia
Department of Research, Innovation and Consultancy,
Punjab Technical University
Jalandhar-Kapurthala Highway,
Near Pushpa Gujral Science City,
Kapurthala-144601, Punjab, India
Email: kalia.prateek@gmail.com

Abstract: Thoughtful insights on business model components of top e-retailers


based in India have been achieved through content analysis of reliable books,
reports, journals and the web. Six major e-retailers are compared on the basis of
monthly traffic data obtained from similarweb.com. It is observed that online
retail is a meager 0.5% of overall retail in India and future potential is huge.
Due to FDI restrictions all top e-retailers under this study except HS18 prefer
marketplace model in pure/hybrid form and earn revenue through transaction
fee. Their marketing strategy essentially includes social media and internet.
They operate with lean manpower and functional departmentalisation except
Flipkart which employs massive 10,000 plus employees and prefers to recruit
generalists. National capital region and Bangalore are preferred locations for
establishment of their headquarters. This review will be useful to businesses
and researchers interested in developing/benchmarking successful e-retail
business model to win and sustain competition.

Keywords: e-retail; business model; India.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Kalia, P. (2015)


‘Top e-retailers of India: business model and components’, Int. J. Electronic
Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp.277–298.

Biographical notes: Prateek Kalia is a Research Scholar at Department of


Research, Innovation and Consultancy at Punjab Technical University, India.
His area of research is electronic retail and consumer behaviour. He has done
MBA from Punjab Technical University and Bachelor of Science from Panjab
University. In the past, he has worked as Deputy General Manager at Punjab
Informational and Technology Corporation Limited, under Ministry of Industry
and Commerce, Government of Punjab, India.

1 Introduction

It is estimated that Indian online retail will grow to 84 billion USD till 2016 (The Boston
Consulting Group, 2012). With internet population of 243,198,922 and penetration of just
19.1% (Internetlivestats.com, 2014). Electronic retail is about to sky rocket in the coming
future. Entry costs and barriers are low in online marketplace there are thousands of
aspiring e-retailers who dream to make it big in the market. Since entry is easy there is

Copyright © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.


278 P. Kalia

stiff competition between existing and upcoming players and survival depends on how
they differentiate themselves from other business and create a profitable niche for
themselves, which focuses on segmenting, targeting and positioning. Apart from focused
strategy keeping expenses low, selection broad and inventory control are few more areas
that an e-retailer need to tweak for success (Laudon and Traver, 2009). A business model
is a conceptual framework based on which value is delivered to the customer, and
customers are lured to pay for that value, so that the enterprise get paid and make profit.
Big technological achievements may become commercially unsuccessful if business
model is poorly designed (Teece, 2010).

1.1 Business model


Be it a new or established player, a business model is of utmost importance to every
organisation. Business modelling is managerial function which is similar to scientific
method, which starts with hypothesis testing and its fine tuning. It outlines, as system,
how fragments of business process fit together to make profit in the marketplace.
Although strategy is used interchangeably with business model but it differs because
strategy details about ‘How to have winning edge over competitors’ (Magretta, 2002). A
good business model formulates the structure for product, service and information flows,
and activities of people involved in business, their benefits and revenue sources.
Interestingly, electronic commerce is rendered with new set of opportunities to business
due to supplementation by power of WWW and internet (Timmers, 1998). Along with
opportunities, e-business leads to rigid competition in borderless arena of space and time.
In this rapidly changing complex competitive environment firms with flexible managerial
paradigms can only survive (Dominici, 2012). Because of digitalisation of product and
service offerings in e-business environment, whole new set of transactional conditions are
created that vary from those characterised by physical products (Dominici, 2009).
Constantinides (2006) suggested that managers should focus on building market-oriented,
flexible and inventive organisations which can constantly innovate and adapt to
fast-changing market conditions and deliver customer value.

1.2 Key components of business model


A thriving business model consists of eight key components i.e. value proposition,
market opportunity, revenue model, competitive environment, competitive advantage,
market strategy, organisational development, and management team (Ghosh, 1998).
Value proposition specify how product and service are put together and extended to fulfil
customer needs by company (Kambil et al., 1996). Personalisation, customisation,
convenience, and reduction of product search and price delivery costs are part of a
productive e-commerce value propositions (Bakos, 1998; Kambil, 1997). Revenue model
defines how a firm aims to generate higher return on investment and profits. Important
e-commerce revenue models include advertising, subscription, transaction fee, sales,
and affiliate revenue models (Laudon and Traver, 2009). Market opportunity gives
description of possible revenue a company is likely to generate from its proposed
marketspace. Competitive environment pertains to rival companies operating in same
marketspace, potential new entrants in the market, product substitutes available in the
market and bargaining power of customers and suppliers over your business (Porter,
1979). Competitive advantage is infused by elements that distinguish the company from
Top e-retailers of India: business model and components 279

its competition, they can be superior product, lower price, global/national/regional


presence, access to factors of production, favourable terms with supplier, shipper or
source of labour, more experienced/knowledgeable/loyal employees, patent on product,
investment capital, knowledge/information/power, brand name or leveraging huge
customer database and years of e-commerce knowhow. Market strategy is the program
company designs to outline how it will get into the market and draw in customers
(Laudon and Traver, 2009). Organisational development strikes a balance between all the
functions and skills necessary to carry out each job in a company, which require timely
recruitment of suitable candidates. Management team comprises employees at the highest
level of company who determine growth and expansion.
Overall market opportunity in context of Indian online retail market and competitive
environment in terms of monthly traffic generated by six online retailers under this study
is discussed before comparative review of complete business model of each e-retailer.

2 Market opportunity and competitive environment

2.1.1 Current scenario/market opportunity of Indian online retail market in


terms of size and growth
Indian population has enormous enthusiasm towards internet and it has become
fundamental element of our speedy lifestyle. Internet has evolved from just a medium for
communication to consumer-centric e-marketplace, where consumer can buy latest
products and services at best price and convenience. With changing lifestyles and
growing internet penetration in last five years, India’s online retail industry has grown
nine folds from around Rs 15 billion revenues in 2007–08 to Rs 139 billion in 2012–13.
This compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 56% is propelled by sales of books
electronics and apparel. New businesses are focusing on niche segments like grocery,
jewellery, furniture and apparel, this will further drive the market to healthy 50–55%
CAGR of Rs 504 billion by 2015–16 (Figure 1) (CRISIL, 2014). Many venture capitalists
and investors have their interest in successful and large online retail companies
(The Economist, 2014) and a relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) policy will certainly
help Indian retailers.

Figure 1 Indian online retail market size and growth (see online version for colours)

Source: CRISIL (2014)


280 P. Kalia

2.1.2 Total retail vs. online retail


Potential of India’s online retail industry can be estimated from the fact that it is very
small in comparison to organised and overall (organised plus unorganised) retail in the
country. It is expected that industry’s revenue will grow to more than double to around
18% of organised retail by 2016 from around 8% in 2013. Still its share will be just 1%
of the overall retail (organised plus unorganised) pie (Figure 2), which is very low as
compared to 9–10% in the USA and UK, and around 4–5% in China (CRISIL, 2014).

Figure 2 Comparative picture overall vs. online retail 2012–13 (see online version for colours)

Source: CRISIL (2014)

2.1.3 Digital commerce market category wise from 2009–2013


Digital commerce market in India has been dominated by online travel throughout its
evolution, but electronic retail is catching up and more and more online users are
showing interest in making purchase online. Another category which has shown upward
trend is financial services (Table 1). Based on total transactions done through personal
computer and mobile (IAMAI, 2013):
• Online travel transactions have been leading digital commerce industry with 73%
share (INR 34,544 Crores), and it is expected to grow further at the rate of 30% and
reach to INR 44,907 Crores by the end of year 2013.
• Non-travel transactions chip in remaining 27% (INR 12,805 Crores), out of which:
a e-tailing claims first position with nearly 50% share (INR 6,454 Crores)
b financial services take second spot with 23% share (INR 2,886 Crores)
c classifieds segment get hold of 18% of the whole non-travel industry pie
(INR 2,354 Crores)
d other online services sum up to the remaining 9% (INR 1,110 Crores).
It is expected that the non-travel industry segment will mature by 41% and reach up to
INR 18,060 crores by December 2013.
Top e-retailers of India: business model and components 281

Table 1 Digital commerce market size from 2009–2013

Dec-13
Year Dec-09 Dec-10 Dec-11 Dec-12
(estimated)
Total market size 19,249 26,263 35,142 47,349 62,967
Online travel industry 14,953 20,440 26,572 34,544 44,907
(78%) (78%) (76%) (73%) (71%)
Online non-travel industry 4,296 5,823 8,570 12,805 18,060
(22%) (22%) (24%) (27%) (29%)
E-tailing 1550 2,372 3,842 6,454 10,004
Financial services 1540 1,848 2,255 2,886 3,607
Classifieds 775 1,085 1,682 2,354 3,061
Other online services 431 518 792 1,110 1,388
Note: Figures in crores, percentages indicate share of overall market size
Source: IAMAI (2013)

2.1.3 E-tailing
E-tailing comprises of buying consumer items such as books, apparels and footwear,
jewellery, mobiles, cameras, computers (desktops/laptops/net books/tablets), home and
kitchen appliances, home furnishings, vouchers/coupons, flowers and toys, gifts
online. The e-tailing category has grown from INR 1,550 crores in the year 2009
(Jan–Dec 2009) to INR 6,454 crores in year 2012 (Jan–Dec 2012) (Figure 3). This
category is estimated to cross the 10,000 crore mark in the year 2013 (IAMAI, 2013).

Figure 3 Growth of e-tail in India, 2009–2013 (see online version for colours)

Note: Figures in INR Crores


Source: IAMAI (2013)

2.1.4 Components share of e-tailing, Jan–Dec 2012


Top components that take nearly 78% of total e-tail market are laptops/net-books/tablets
24.5% (INR 1,579 crores), followed by apparels and footwear which contribute 20.6%
(INR 1,331 crores) and mobile phones, cameras, mobile and camera accessories
contributing another 33% (INR 2,131 crores). Remaining 20% (INR 1,413 crores) of the
total e-tailing pie is constituted by consumer durables and kitchen appliances, books and
282 P. Kalia

home furnishings, i.e. INR 500 crores, INR 288 crores and INR 200 crores respectively.
Only about 3% is contributed by nascent category comprising products like
deals/coupons, toys, gifts, handicrafts, flowers etc (Table 2) (IAMAI, 2013).
Table 2 Components share of e-tailing, Jan–Dec 2012

Percentage Market size


Component
(%) (INR in Crores)
Books 4.50% 288
Apparels + footwear 20.60% 1,331
Jewellery + personal/health care accessories 3.70% 240
Cameras + camera accessories 14.10% 914
Consumer durables + kitchen appliances 7.80% 500
Home furnishings 3.10% 200
Mobile phone + mobile accessories 18.90% 1,217
Laptops/netbooks/tablets 24.50% 1,579
Other products (voucher, coupon, toys, 2.80% 185
gifts, handicrafts, stationary, etc)
Source: IAMAI (2013)

2.2 Competitive environment1


Six electronic retailers based in India are examined on the basis of monthly traffic they
generate. For comparison, similar web (Similarweb.com, 2014) has been used to find out
the numbers. Results are discussed below (Prabhudesai, 2014):

2.2.1 Estimated monthly traffic


Top position was held by Flipkart with over 62 million visits/month, followed by Myntra
coming bit lower at 59.5 million. Since Flipkart has taken over Myntra, together they
generate more traffic then rest of the four players combined together. Jabong grabbed
third spot with 42.5 million visitors, beating Snapdeal (31.4 million) and Amazon
(27.6 million) (Figure 4).

Figure 4 Estimated monthly traffic (in millions) (see online version for colours)

Source: Prabhudesai (2014)


Top e-retailers of India: business model and components 283

2.2.2 Time spent per visit (in minutes)


Again Flipkart is leading the pack with high levels of engagements of 8:35 minutes per
visit by each visitor, followed by Snapdeal which averages at 7:49 mins. Myntra and
Jabong had very poor scores of time spent by visitor at an average of 3.04 mins and
3.34 mins respectively (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Time spent per visit (in minutes) (see online version for colours)

Source: Prabhudesai (2014)

2.2.3 Page view per visit


As Flipkart has highest time spent by visitors, therefore it has maximum page views per
visitors at 8.53. Snapdeal (6.74), Amazon (6.65) and Homeshop18 (6.26) line-up close.
Myntra (3.96) and Jabong (4.16) are not very effective in holding visitors glued to their
webpages (Figure 6).

Figure 6 Page view per visit (see online version for colours)

Source: Prabhudesai (2014)

2.2.4 Source of traffic


Source of traffic can reveal insightful facts about from where and how electronic
commerce websites generate traffic. A website with higher direct traffic and lower search
traffic indicates that consumer can identify that website as brand and directly enters the
url, whereas a website with higher search traffic and lower direct traffic signals that
visitor is unaware about the website. Myntra, Flipkart and Jabong have better brand recall
284 P. Kalia

therefore they have lower search traffic and higher direct traffic. Contrary to that
Homeshop18 has high search traffic and low direct traffic. Myntra and Jabong have high
referral traffic, thorough coupon sites, affiliate partners etc. Myntra, and Jabong have
nearly 6% traffic coming from paid advertisements (Figure 7).

Figure 7 Source of traffic (percentage) (see online version for colours)

Source: Prabhudesai (2014)

3 Business model and components of top e-retailers based in India

The basic business model and components of six top e-retailers of India (Table 3) are
discussed below.

3.1 Basic business model


Myntra is a virtual merchant i.e. it is an online retail store only. Being aggregator of
many brands Myntra procures latest seasonal merchandise from different brands and
makes them available on its portal and in respective retail brand outlets (Wikipedia,
2014).
Flipkart is a virtual merchant which started with selling books online in 2007, and
later in 2008 it added electronics and other products. Flipkart owned the goods it sold till
2012, but it adopted marketplace model in 2012 (Shinde, 2013; Sivakumar, 2013). This
move was taken to combat restrictions on FDI (Dalal, 2014) in online retail by Indian
laws. In this hybrid model, out of 3,000 third party sellers on the website, WS Retail
(sister concern of Flipkart) acts as one of the seller. Flipkart has set its target of adding
12,000 merchants on the marketplace by 2015 (Press Trust of India, 2014). Beyond
ecommerce Flipkart also runs its own logistic service, ekart in 2013 which covers
150 cities and an online payment solution known as PayZippy (Nair, 2014).
Table 3

Component
Basic business
S. no. eRetailer Organisational
model Value proposition Revenue model Competitive advantage Market strategy Management team
development
1 Myntra Virtual merchant Giving consumers the Sales revenue Cost leadership, product Focused on establishing itself Small organisation with Established by
(aggregator of power and ease of and transaction differentiation and as a brand and now it focuses 250 employees Mukesh Bansal,
many brands) purchasing lifestyle fee model customisation. Global service on overcoming barriers in Offers best in class salary to Ashutosh Lawania
and fashion products across 40 countries. consumer mind. attract and retain talent and Vineet Saxena in
online Positions itself as new age Employs better qualified February 2007.
fashion brand people as compared to its Headquartered in
Uses digital platform like competition Bangalore with
facebook and electronic media regional offices in
Top management employees New Delhi, Mumbai
to target youth included people with and Chennai
Also uses viral marketing, IIT/IIM background
occasional and referral Work structure is not
discounts bounded in terms of
Launching virtual trial hierarchy and cubicles.
room application
2 Flipkart Virtual merchant Completely hassle Sales revenue First mover in the Indian Marketed through word of Massive team of Founded by Sachin
Business model of top e-retailers based in India

(marketplace free online shopping and transaction electronic retail industry. mouth advertising 10,000 employees and Binny Bansal in
model/hybrid experience with best fee model Became India’s largest online Social networking like Keep the hiring process 2007
model) prices in India bookseller. facebook transparent to attract and Headquartered in
Boasts 100% growth every Effectively uses search engine retain right kind of talent Bangalore
quarter since founded. optimisation (SEO) and Prefer to hire a generalist
Introduce cash on delivery Google ad-words Every employee has high
Top e-retailers of India: business model and components

payment system in India. In electronic media, Flipkart sense of ownership on


22 million registered users. launched advertisements individual and collective
Funded by owners Bansals, themed ‘no kidding no level.
VCs Accel India and Tiger worries’
global.
285
286

Component Table 3
Basic business
S. no. eRetailer Organisational
model Value proposition Revenue model Competitive advantage Market strategy Management team
development
3 Jabong Virtual merchant To achieve the highest Sales revenue Backed by German based Position itself as online Team of 1,000 employees Founded by Manu
(inventory model level of ‘customer and transaction Rocket Group. fashion destination closely monitored by the Kumar Jain, Praveen
P. Kalia

and managed satisfaction’ catering fee model Offers latest styles, new Internet is company’s main four co-founders and Sinha and Arun
marketplace to the fashion needs of fashion, customisation and source of promotion managing directors Chandra Mohan in
model) men, women and kids. innovations. Also focuses on television, Have a common and well October 2011
Wide variety of products; and launched its first TV identified goals and all Headquartered in
750+ brands and more than campaign in March 2012 departments work as team Gurgaon, NCR
50,000 products. Follow values, attitudes and Team members are chosen
Superfast delivery. lifestyles (VALS) model of as per job analysis and
Third-most visited online marketing cohesive functioning
shopping website after Launched digital fitness requirements
Myntra and Flipkart in India campaign with Bollywood Immediate responsibility
celebrities lies with the co-founders
Partnered with designer Keep organising knowledge
like Rohit Bal and and fun meetings with their
Lakme Fashion Week employees.
4 HS18 Virtual merchant Customer centric Sales revenue Venture of Network18 Group Dual advantage of on air as Team of over 3,500 people Launched on
(direct-to- offers, enriched with Presence across TV, web, well as online presence in 30 bureau locations 18 January 2011
customer model) quality, value, and catalogue, newspaper and Launched India’s first 24 hour (three are overseas) Founded by
convenience. mobile. home shopping TV channel Simple organisational Sundeep Malhotra
More than over 450 brands Homeshop18 joined hands structure composed of Headquartered at
and 1,00,000 SKUs. with social media platforms marketing, operations, Noida and has another
Strong distribution network and top online companies finance and planning and office at Bangalore.
across 3,000 cities Continuously upgrade their broadcasting departments
technology to support and Horizontal/traditional
Business model of top e-retailers based in India (continued)

develop its e-commerce organisational structure,


business transforms into bureaucratic
Dedicated call centre structure when hierarchy
levels increase
Formal organisation helps
proper distribution of work
and responsibility
Every department has
supervisors and subordinates
based on specialisations
Table 3

Component
Basic business
S. no. eRetailer Organisational
model Value proposition Revenue model Competitive advantage Market strategy Management team
development
5 Snapdeal Virtual merchant Offering customers Transaction Constant innovation and good Believe in doing things the big Team of 1000+ employees Headquartered in
(pure-play favourite products at fee model branding. way and creating the buzz One third of the manpower New Delhi
marketplace best prices and save Convenient and accessible through innovative ways is employed in sales team Started by Kunal Bahl
model) the one thing that processes/services. Celebrity endorsement Other important related and Rohit Bansal in
matters most to Wide range of deals and OOH promotion inhouse functions like 2010
buyer i.e. ‘money’. transactions content, online marketing,
Corporate social responsibility
Extensive network of retailers initiatives to boost image. customer support and core
Awarded as best ecommerce functional teams like human
startup resource, administration,
finance, accounts and
10–15% in engineering role
6 Amazon.in Virtual merchant To be Earth’s most Transaction Seasoned online retailer with Big advertising budget About 3,000 employees Launched in
(pure-play customer centric fee model experience of almost a decade Use almost every type of Organisational structure has June 2013 in India
marketplace company; to build a Extremely wide assortment of marketing medium business line function Registered office
model) place where people 1.5 crore products Primarily they use television comprising retail, at Bangalore with
can come to find and Gain from economies of scale to highlight about their selling international retail, seller fulfilment centres at
discover virtually and operate at minimum profit propositions (USPs) services, web services and Mumbai and
anything they want to digital media; and in support Bangalore
buy online. Get advantage out of their Promotional offers like special
functions it has
Business model of top e-retailers based in India (continued)
Top e-retailers of India: business model and components

good business relationships weekend discounts advertised Amit Agarwal is


with leading electronic in print medium communication, legal and e- vice president and
companies. commerce platform country manager
Product specific online ads.
287
288 P. Kalia

Jabong is a virtual merchant which follows both inventory model and a managed
marketplace model. In the inventory model, Jabong procures products from different
brands and store them as inventory at their warehouse. In managed marketplace model
Jabong only takes care of customer service and returns and do not store any inventory.
Apart from ecommerce Jabong had its logistic operations, JaVAS which served other
ecommerce firms and covered 50–55 cities. But in 2013 Jabong sold JaVAS to QuickDel,
a Gurgaon-based logistic company (SN, 2014; Soni and Mohta, 2014).
Homeshop18 is a leading virtual merchant having presence across TV, internet and
mobile. They follow direct-to-customer model i.e. they workout certain margins directly
with the brands, so that the pass on the price benefit to the final customer. Although these
margin vary across different product categories but customer always gets value for
money. Homeshop18 is revolutionising the ecommerce industry with a concept of
‘personalised recommendations’ in which Homeshop18 recommends products/option that
best suit consumer’s needs (India Infoline News Service, n.d.).
Snapdeal is a virtual online retailer which made a shift to pure-play marketplace
model in 2011 i.e. it does not stock and sell any product itself but it has more than 20,000
sellers registered on its website. By end of 2014 Snapdeal has targeted to achieve upto
50,000 merchants on its portal. Since Snapdeal is focused on its marketplace model, all of
its technological solutions are directed towards its sellers or buyers. To connect buyers
and sellers it has created an automated tech platform. It also has its own payment solution
known as Klickpay (Nair, 2014).
To gain access to Indian market, where foreign investment is prohibited, Amazon
started with the launch of Junglee.com in February 2012. Amazon entered Indian
ecommerce market in June 2013 as virtual merchant, operating as pure-play marketplace
player, enabling third-party sellers to get hold of customers. Biggest advantage of being
marketplace operator is that the company does not have to comply with the FDI
restriction, as no inventory is required. Amazon operates with marketplace model in ten
countries including China, USA, Canada, Japan and UK (BS Reporter, 2013).

3.2 Value proposition


Giving consumers the power and ease of purchasing lifestyle and fashion products online
is Myntra’s value proposition. They offer largest in-season product catalogue, cash on
delivery (COD), EMI option, 30 day return policy and 100% authentic products. Myntra
has dedicated 24 × 7 customer care team to help the customers with their queries
(Myntra.com, 2014).
When Flipkart started their business in 2007 their objective was to make books
available to the reading enthusiast with access to internet. Now Flipkart makes available
wide variety of products like electronics, mobiles, home appliances, cameras and a long
list. Flipkart is highly customer centric and all of their actions are synergistically targeted
to give consumer a delightful online shopping experience. They offer products at
exceptionally great price supplemented with ground breaking services like COD, free
and prompt shipping, EMI facility, a 30-day replacement policy and much more
(Flipkart.com, 2014).
Being young and vibrant company Jabong aims to serve for the fashion needs of men,
women and kids across categories like footwear, apparel, jewellery and accessories.
Jabong emphasises achieving highest level of customer satisfaction through its advance
e-commerce platform, seasoned buying team, nimble warehouse systems and dedicated
Top e-retailers of India: business model and components 289

customer care which render excellent buying experience, vast selection of products,
timely delivery and fast resolution to any concern (Jabong.com, 2014).
Homeshop18 works around the concept of what ‘you’ like. This core value is
reflected in quality, value, and convenience they put in their website, catalogue, payment
options or special offers. Homshp18 has comprehensive presence offering more than
1,000 Indian and international brands, having 3,000 plus delivery locations, secure
payment transactions, round the clock customer care, convenient payment options and
highly interactive product demonstrations (Homeshop18.com, 2014b).
Being India’s largest electronic commerce marketplace, Snapdeal has widest range of
national and international products from different brands, and its product category is
quite extensive covering laptops, cameras, mobiles, home appliances, apparel for men
and women, home, kitchen, health, automotive, watches etc. Snapdeal has over
20 million members i.e. 1 out of every six internet users in India. With a network of
50,000 merchants Snapdeal serve to shopping requirements of customer throughout
4,000 plus cities and towns. Snapdeal aims to give customer best price offer and a money
saving deal along with benefits like safe and secure payments, Trustpay (seven days
return policy and 100% money back) COD and discount coupons (Snapdeal.com, 2014a,
2014b).
With customer centric approach Amazon, positions itself as a place where customer
can search and buy virtually anything. For customer Amazon strives to surpass customer
expectations by offering them vast selection of products at amazingly low price and
superfast delivery, for sellers they offer world-class e-commerce platform (BS Reporter,
2013).

3.3 Revenue model


Myntra, Flipkart and Jabong have sales revenue and transaction fee model; Homeshop18
has sales revenue model and Snapdeal and Amazon.in have transaction fee model.

3.4 Competitive advantage


Myntra derive competitive advantage through cost leadership, product differentiation and
customisation. They offer huge range of products which can be sorted based on different
criteria like price, gender, brand etc. Its customer centric in approach and offers complete
anonymity to its customer, ease of making payment through multiple modes like, credit
card, debit card, net banking and COD and global service across 40 countries. Besides
core ecommerce Myntra has tie-ups with social media for customer support and customer
database expansion (Jain, 2012; Tecompboose.wikispaces.com, 2014).
A consistent repeat purchase rate of 70% reflects that Flipkart provides consumer an
excellent shopping experience. Anyone with an internet access can shop online on
Flipkarts intuitive interface and that not just all, consumer get host of facilities like COD,
30 day replacement policy and EMI options, and a product at great price (Yourstory.com,
2011).
Jabong is backed by German-based rocket group, which is a strong investor.
Consumers recognise Jabong as an aspirational online retailing brand which offers latest
styles, new fashion, customisation and innovations. Jabong offers wide variety of
products; 750 plus brands and more than 50,000 products, superfast delivery (same day
delivery in Delhi and national capital region (NCR), 48 hrs in top 10 cities and one to
290 P. Kalia

three days in other cities), quality customer service and flexible payment options. Within
few months of its launch Jabong derived highest amount of traffic on its website. Google
Zeitgeist India trends ranked it tenth most searched term in 2012 in India. That is not just
all, it ranked 44 in Alexa traffic ranking in India and within 20 months of its launch it
became third-most visited online shopping website after Myntra and Flipkart in India
(Saxena, 2013).
HomeShop18 is online and on-air retail marketing and distribution venture of
Network18 group having presence across TV, web, catalogue, newspaper and mobile.
Homeshop18 has a customer base of 2 million and they add a new customer every
6 seconds. Homshop18 have more than 450 brands and 1,00,000 SKUs. They have a
strong distribution network across 3,000 cities and products are delivered at doorstep
with an average timeframe of seven days from order. Homeshop18 offers Armchair
Shopping, with all kind of payment options, 15 days money back guarantee and free
home delivery (The Telegraph, 2011).
Snapdeal believes in constant innovation and good branding. They keep their
processes and services convenient and accessible. They offer wide range of deals and
transactions which are delivered to the final customer through their extensive network of
retailers through India. Their quality and initiative has earned them various awards and
recognitions including best ecommerce startup (Mbaskool.com, 2014).
Amazon is a seasoned online retailer with experience of almost a decade and super
strong customer base across the world. They have extremely wide assortment of 1.5 crore
products, covering almost everything. They gain from economies of scale and operate at
minimum profit.
They also get advantage out of their good business relationships with leading
electronic companies and publishing houses (Amazon.in, 2014).

3.5 Market strategy


Earlier Myntra focused on establishing itself as a brand and now it focuses on
overcoming barriers in consumer mind by highlighting positives of online shopping like
ease of use, approachability etc (in Feb 2012, Myntra did OOH-out of home campaigns
for brand building and promoting online shopping among masses). Myntra positions itself
as new age fashion brand and uses digital platform like facebook and electronic media to
target youth and expand its customer base. It also uses viral marketing, occasional and
referral discounts to gain popularity. In cut throat competition where most of the players
offer COD, 30 days money back policy, free home delivery etc, Myntra is trying to stay
one step ahead as it refunds money to customer incase of any product or service failure,
instead of exchange of product. They aired two television commercials centring on theme
‘Real life mein aisa hota hai kya’. In next few months they are launching virtual trial
room application, through which customer can view themselves in the desired apparel
with the help of web cam to have idea of size and fit (Choudhary et al., 2013; Khullar,
2012).
Flipkart knows that a satisfied customer is their best marketing medium, and therefore
website has been recommended and marketed through word of mouth advertising. Social
networking is another useful medium and official Facebook page of Flipkart has close to
9 lac ‘likes’. To reach masses Flipkart effectively uses search engine optimisation (SEO)
and Google ad-words as the marketing tools. In electronic media Flipkart launched
Top e-retailers of India: business model and components 291

advertisements themed ‘No kidding no worries’, to convey a message to the audience that
– if a kid can shop online, so can you (Tripathi and Tripathi, 2014).
Internet is company’s main source of promotion as mentioned earlier about its strong
internet traffic rankings. Apart from internet company also focuses on television, and
launched its first TV campaign in March 2012. Jabong in association with Puma,
launched ‘Gear up buddy’, a digital fitness campaign which featured Bollywood actor
Chitrangada Singh and recently it launched its new theme titled ‘Be you’ and endorsing it
with 360-degree multimedia campaign. Leading marketing consultants conceive that
Jabong is abiding by values, attitudes and lifestyles (VALS) model of marketing, which
is a proprietary research methodology used for psychographic market segmentation. It
guides the company to customise and orient its products and services, that charm most
likely customer (Sen, 2014). Since Jabong strives to position itself a online fashion
destination it has partnered with designer Rohit Bal (for an exclusive collection) and
Lakme fashion week for next four seasons (Fashionunited.in, 2014).
Homeshop18 is backed by Network18, which is only media company in the world
which has partnered with three of the world’s largest media conglomerates. Homeshop18
has dual advantage, because it is having on air as well as online presence. It launched
India’s first 24 hour home shopping TV channel on April 9, 2008. As a part of its
marketing strategy HomeShop18 joined hands with social media platforms and top online
companies like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, LinkedIn, You Tube and various other
online shopping sites. Homeshp18 continuously upgrade their technology to support and
develop its e-commerce business, growing product range and steadfast website traffic.
In addition, it is also reinforcing its call centre by putting huge investments into it
(The Telegraph, 2011).
Snapdeal believe in doing things in big way and exposing it to the wide audience.
Buzz and hit the right spot describes their first marketing strategy. Snapdeal used
celebrity endorsement and created lot of excitement on last Valentine’s Day with an
innovative ‘Date with me’ – Gul Panag campaign. Snapdeal’s next big thing is to hit the
outdoors. Recently they put a massive Snapdeal banner on a building at Gurgaon’s – DLF
cyber city. Under corporate social responsibility initiative Snapdeal.com supported a
village, by enabling easy access to portable drinking water and the villagers expressed
their gratitude by naming the village – Snapdeal.com Nagar. In short, Snapdeal’s
dynamic marketing approach includes doing things the big way and creating the buzz
through innovative ways (Snapdeal Team, 2011).
Amazon is using almost every type of marketing medium to mark their presence in
India, but primarily they use television to highlight about their selling propositions
(USPs) like wide range of products and one day delivery. Various promotional offers like
special weekend discounts are advertised in print medium and to increase traction on the
website product specific online ads are used. A huge Amazon delivery box is framed at
key locations of business hubs and various cities. It is only a year since Amazon has
started its operation in India, but this fiscal year (2014–15) it has planned to spend
Rs 100–150 crore on advertising (Dasgupta, 2014).

3.6 Organisational development


Myntra is a small organisation comprising about 250 employees. Myntra offers best in
class salary to attract and retain talent. Myntra employs better qualified people as
compared to its competition. Most of the top management employees included people
292 P. Kalia

with IIT/IIM background, who have quit their high profile jobs to be part of this
company. Work structure at Myntra is not bounded in terms of hierarchy and cubicles.
There are various departments like firm infrastructure, human resource management,
technology, procurement, outbound logistics and marketing and sales. to maintain
excitement and zest in atmosphere at workplace, they hire spirited people (Kumar, 2012;
Soni, 2012).
Flipkart has a massive team of 10,000 employees (Press Trust of India, 2014).
Flipkart knows that right kind of human resource is key factor for the success of a startup.
Therefore they keep the hiring process transparent to attract and retain right kind of
talent. They prefer to hire a generalist, who is adaptable and has a learning attitude in a
fast pace environment, instead of specialist (Das, 2012). Every employee has an high
sense of ownership on individual and collective level (Das, 2012).
Jabong has a qualified and growing team of 1,000 employees, which work in various
departments headed and closely monitored by the four co-founders and managing
directors of Jabong.com. Mukul Bafana, Manu Kumar Jain, Arun Chandra Mohan and
Praveen Sinha. They have a common and well identified goals and all departments work
as team. Team members are chosen as per job analysis and cohesive functioning
requirements of the company. Immediate responsibility lies with the co-founders and they
keep organising knowledge and fun meetings with their employees, to keep them
motivated and zestful (Nair and Julka, 2013; Saxena, 2013).
Being a venture of Network18 Group which is India’s fastest growing media and
entertainment group, Homeshop18 is supported by a team of over 3,500 people spread
across 30 bureau locations out of which three are overseas. It has fully integrated
broadcast and other infrastructure, including state-of-the-art hubs in Mumbai and Delhi,
spread in about 220,000 sq. ft area (Mehta, 2014). The organisational structure is quite
simple and composed of marketing, operations, finance and planning and broadcasting
departments for a effortless functioning of the organisation. Homeshop18 has got
horizontal organisational structure, popularly known as traditional structure but at times it
transforms into bureaucratic structure when number of levels in the hierarchy increase.
This formal organisation helps proper distribution of work and responsibility. Every
department has supervisors and subordinates based on specialisations and expert area.
Snapdeal has a team of 1,000 plus employees. Out of many teams at Snapdeal, one
third of the manpower is employed in sales team, who negotiate with vendors selling
product and services through website. Apart from sales team which work with thousands
of merchants to bring them onboard, there are other important related inhouse functions
like content, online marketing, customer support and core functional teams like
human resource, administration, finance, accounts and 10–15% in engineering role
(Snapdeal.com, 2014a; Team YS, 2012a, 2012b).
Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore hosts three development centres of Amazon,
where about 3,000 employees work. Organisational structure at Amazon has business line
function comprising retail, international retail, seller services, web services and digital
media; and in support functions it has communication, legal and e-commerce platform.
Top e-retailers of India: business model and components 293

3.7 Management team


Myntra was established by Mukesh Bansal, Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena in
February 2007. All three are IIT alumni and have been associated with several start-ups.
Myntra is headquartered in Bangalore with regional offices in New Delhi, Mumbai and
Chennai (Kumar, 2012).
Sachin and Binny Bansal (both alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi)
founded Flipkart in 2007 (Choudhury, 2012; Sachitanand, 2013). Flipkart is
headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. All the departments like marketing, operations,
engineering, categories, digital business, entrepreneurship and operations are headed by
alumnus of IIT, IIM, Delhi University, University of Arizona, Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania and other prestigious universities across world (Das, 2012).
Jabong went live on October 2011. Jabong.com is founded by Manu Kumar Jain,
Praveen Sinha and Arun Chandra Mohan, sharing the same designation – co-founder and
managing director. The company is headquartered in Gurgaon, NCR. Since foreign
investment in multi-brand retail is not allowed in India, Rocket internet has legally
structured way to support Gurgaon-based Xerion Retail Pvt Ltd which owns Jabong
(Gulati, 2012).
HomeShop18.com was launched on 18 January 2011 i.e. almost three years after the
launch of HomeShop18 television channel in 9 April 2008. It is headquartered at Noida
and has another office at Bangalore (Homeshop18.com, 2014a). Founder Sundeep
Malhotra, is chief executive officer of HomeShop18, India’s first 24-hour home
shopping channel and virtual retail enterprise from the Network18 Group. He has
made home shopping TV channel and e-commerce business a household name
(Exchange4media.com, n.d.). To capture mobile commerce, in beginning of 2013 mobile
version of HomeShop18.com was officially launched on android and iOS.
Based in New Delhi, Snapdeal.com is an online marketplace started by Kunal Bahl, a
Wharton graduate, and Rohit Bansal, an alumnus of IIT Delhi in February 2010.
Snapdeal has originated from Jasper Infotech Private Limited, which was founded in
2007 by Kunal Bahl (Thomas, 2014).
Amazon which is having its registered office at Bangalore, made entry into Indian
market through establishment of Junglee.com in February 2012. Subsequently in June
2013 Amazon was launched, operating through marketplace model, enabling third-party
sellers to get customers. Vice president and country manager of Amazon India is Amit
Agarwal. Amazon takes care of packing, shipping and delivery of the sellers’ products
through its unique service called ‘fulfilment by Amazon’. Products from different
categories are stocked at fulfilment centres, which are located at Mumbai and Bangalore,
measuring 150,000 square feet each (Wharton University of Pennsylvania, 2014).

4 Summary – implications to e-retailers

India’s online retail industry is estimated to grow to healthy 50–55% CAGR of


Rs 504 billion by 2015–16; this indicates that Indian e-retail market has huge potential
for future growth. An enterprise with suitable business model has fair chance to sustain
and win under such conditions. In this paper, salient features of business models of top
e-retailers in India are benchmarked and summarised below for reference of managers
and researchers:
294 P. Kalia

• Basic business model – Indian law restricts FDI in online retail and keeping
inventory is costly affair. Therefore, most of the leading e-retailers are shifting to
marketplace model in pure (Snapdeal and Amazon.in) or hybrid form (Flipkart and
Jabong) except Homeshop18 which has direct-to-customer model i.e. they directly
interact and work on certain margins with the brands and share that price benefit
with their customers. In current scenario marketplace model is highly recommended.
• Value proposition – It has been observed in the study that top e-retailers offer
different value propositions to their customers like ease, convenience and experience
(Myntra, Flipkart. HS18), best price/value for money (Flipkart, Snapdeal, HS18),
customer satisfaction/orientation (Jabong, Amazon.in), quality (HS18) and wide
assortment of products (Amazon.in). These value propositions can be benchmarked
by other competitors.
• Revenue model – As observed under this study, Myntra, Flipkart and Jabong have
sales revenue and transaction fee model; Homeshop18 has sales revenue model and
Snapdeal and Amazon.in have transaction fee model.
• Competitive advantage – In last five years Indian online retail industry has grown
nine folds and competitive environment is heating up. E-retailers are riding on their
competitive advantages like, cost leadership, product differentiation, customisation
and global service/presence (Myntra); good market position, experience, first mover
advantage, introduction of new services (COD) and huge user base (Flipkart); strong
parent company/lineage (Jabong, HS18); deep penetration (HS18); innovation,
branding, convenient and accessible processes/services (Snapdeal) and rich
experience, economies of scale and good business relations with major brands
(Amazon.in).
• Market strategy – It is observed that television is most popular traditional media
which is used by different e-retailers. Another medium on which companies are
focusing is internet i.e. using social networking, SEO and online advertisements.
Few other strategies are celebrity endorsement (Jabong, Snapdeal), fashion events
(Jabong), out of home (OOH) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative to
boost image (Snapdeal).
• Organisational development – In terms of number of employees Flipkart has
massive team of 10,000 employees, followed by Homeshop18 and Amazon.in
having 3,500 and 3,000 employees respectively. Snapdeal and Jabong have
1,000 employees each and Myntra is smallest of all with just 250 employees.
When it comes to organisational structure, majority of e-retailers have formal
departmentalisation (Jabong, Homeshop18, Snapdel and Amazon.in), except
Myntra and Flipkart where work structure is not bounded in terms of hierarchy and
cubicles. Considering the complex nature of processes from ordering to fulfilment in
e-business, formal departmentalisation is recommended.
• Management team – Managing technology-based business requires both, education
and exposure; therefore, most of the top executives have high educational
qualifications from reputed academic institutes of India (IITs, IIMs etc) or from
foreign universities. Secondly, Bangalore and NCR have emerged as preferred
locations for electronic retails to house their head offices.
Top e-retailers of India: business model and components 295

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Notes
1 Statistics taken for April 2014.

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