Wednesday, April 24

Tag: ecommerce

Online E-commerce Company Flipkart, Snapdeal & Amazon Raises Concern Over TCS Clause in GST
News

Online E-commerce Company Flipkart, Snapdeal & Amazon Raises Concern Over TCS Clause in GST

Online retailers Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon came together to raise concerns about the tax collection at source (TCS) clause under draft model GST law, saying it could result in a capital lock-down for sellers and discourage them from selling online. This is the first time that the three companies locked in intense competition for leadership of the booming Indian e-commerce market -- have come together to voice their concerns on an industry issue. In the past, they have even taken potshots at one another through social media platforms like Twitter and also offline. Stressing that GST is one of the most forward-looking tax initiatives, the players exuded confidence that it will have a transformative impact on the sector. However, the TCS clause would lead to a capital lock-down o...
Alibaba Paid $3.41 Billion in Taxes, Creates 30 Million Jobs
CHINA

Alibaba Paid $3.41 Billion in Taxes, Creates 30 Million Jobs

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba paid a total of USD 3.41 billion in taxes in 2016 and created 30 million jobs, the company said. Alibaba led merchants operating on its platforms, upstream manufacturers and logistics companies to pay at least 200 billion yuan in taxes last year and created more than 30 million jobs, it said. The company has also catalysed new business such as outsourcing of customer service, product photography, quality testing, e-shop design, recruitment and training for e-commerce, it said in a statement. There are over 45,000 such service providers on Alibaba's shopping platforms, Taobao and Tmall, the company said, adding those service providers had registered 142-per cent growth in income year on year as of September 30. Alibaba and its financial branch paid ...
US Blacklists Chinese E-commerce Giant Alibaba For Fake Product Selling
CHINA, USA

US Blacklists Chinese E-commerce Giant Alibaba For Fake Product Selling

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is back on the US government's annual list of "notorious markets" that sell pirated goods. The Office of the US Trade Representative said yesterday that Alibaba's on-line marketplace Taobao sells "high levels" of counterfeit goods and is slow to respond when companies complain about the knockoffs. USTR took Alibaba off the blacklist in 2012, but several US trade groups successfully sought to get it reinstated. "There are a lot of victims here," including US companies that lose sales to fakes and consumers who wind up with shoddy goods, said Stephen Lamar, executive vice president at the American Apparel & Footwear Association, which wanted Alibaba back on the list. Alibaba Group President Michael Evans said the company is "disappointed." ...
Home Grown Startups Like “Ola and Flipkart” Losing Confidence: Saurabh Srivastava, IAN, Co-founder
Entrepreneurs Talk

Home Grown Startups Like “Ola and Flipkart” Losing Confidence: Saurabh Srivastava, IAN, Co-founder

Indian startups playing up the 'home-grown' card and asking government to shut doors to global companies indicate that companies are losing confidence, entrepreneur and angel investor Saurabh Srivastava said today. Instead, companies need to focus on ways to create an "enabling environment" without closing the doors for foreign players, he said. "One needs to have a balanced matured view... I think, we are losing confidence... there's no reason for that... We should make sure that the environment that we have is fair, free and level-playing field," Srivastava, who is also the chairman and co-founder of Indian Angel Network (IAN) said at a media briefing ahead of the TiE Global Summit. He added that while Indian companies should not be at a disadvantage, the focus needs to be on "how to c...
Alibaba Backed Out To Acquire Indian E-commerce Firm Snapdeal
News

Alibaba Backed Out To Acquire Indian E-commerce Firm Snapdeal

China's Alibaba Group Holding is not buying Indian e-commerce company Snapdeal and is not in talks to do so, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday, dampening talk that an acquisition was in the works. Rumour rumour on the wall, which troll did you callYou said sold, they said bought, but whoever listened to you didn't get diddly squat.— Kunal Bahl (@1kunalbahl) December 1, 2016 Hangzhou, China-based Alibaba was also in talks with Flipkart for a potential buyout but it seems like the talks have fallen through as Alibaba takes an interest in acquiring Snapdeal, which has raised over $1.76 billion in 12 funding rounds. Alibaba had already invested in India's leading online payment platform Paytm in September 2015, also acquired 40% stake. A strategy likely t...
Myntra’s Big Billion Days – 10 Things to Look Forward to
News

Myntra’s Big Billion Days – 10 Things to Look Forward to

India's leading platform for fashion brands and a pioneer in m-commerce Myntra's Big Billion Days (BBD), is right around the corner and here are a few great picks that you absolutely can't miss at Myntra. Sanhita Dasgupta, Myntra Fashion Stylist, tells you how to dress-to-impress by picking great ethnic outfits this festive season and shares tips on styling them perfectly.   Women Straight Kurta: This silhouette has officially taken over the women's fashion world. Colourblock, quirky printed or solids, the options are plenty. They are delicate, feminine and graceful, just like you. Pair them with palazzos to complete the look. Cropped Palazzos:This breezy bottom wear is exactly the thing you need in Indian weather. Comfortable yet stylish, they can take your ethnic avatar to a...
Godrej Interio to Launch E-commerce Platform in 2017
News

Godrej Interio to Launch E-commerce Platform in 2017

Furniture brand Godrej Interio would unveil its own e-commerce platform in India by April 2017 to help customers make choice from a wide range of products. Godrej Interio, which has entered into a tie-up with Mebelkart, Pepperfry, and Flipkart to serve online customers in the country, has done a three-year-long survey and prepared a roadmap for the purpose, Assistant Vice President, Integrated Marketing Godrej Interio Bedraj Tripathy said today. "We will have our e-commerce from next April. Though its a very small part of our business, we will soon come up with it," Tripathy said. However, venturing into e-commerce would have no channels-conflicts, the official said. "It will be an advantage for the customers. But we have planned it in such a manner that it does not affect our chan...
Flipkart & Snapdeal Will Hire 20000 Staff Ahead of Festive Season
News

Flipkart & Snapdeal Will Hire 20000 Staff Ahead of Festive Season

E-commerce major Flipkart expects to hire over 10,000 temporary staff to ramp up its delivery and logistics service to meet the festive demand. The move comes as part of the preparations being made by e-commerce companies as they launch offers to boost sales during the upcoming festive period. "With the festive season coming in, we are confident that Big Billion Days (sale) will be bigger and better than before this year. "In addition to having the new capability of alternate delivery model, we are looking at hiring more than 10,000 temporary staff in logistics and last mile across the country," Flipkart Chief Administrative Officer Nitin Seth said. This will be done to meet the massive demand that Flipkart expects during the festive season, he added. Flipkarts rival Snapdeal al...
Snapdeal Offers Rs 1,000 Cr Collateral Free Loans For Sellers
News

Snapdeal Offers Rs 1,000 Cr Collateral Free Loans For Sellers

Online marketplace Snapdeal has announced collateral-free loans worth Rs 1,000 crore for its sellers ahead of the festive season to enable them to stock up adequately. The loans would be disbursed through its ongoing programme Capital Assist, which is now managed by FreeCharge and is available to all sellers and merchants on Snapdeal, Shopo and FreeCharge, Snapdeal said in a statement here. "The festive season provides an opportunity to our sellers to grow their businesses many times over, with the sharp increase in demand. Through Capital Assist, we have made the funding process frictionless and expect more than Rs 1,000 crore disbursal to Snapdeal sellers ahead of this Diwali season," Vishal Chadha, the Senior Vice President (Market Development) of Snapdeal, said. Snapdeals C...
There Should be One Policy For Retail Business and E-commerce, Says Amitabh Kant
INDIA

There Should be One Policy For Retail Business and E-commerce, Says Amitabh Kant

(Pic Source: Gaurav Munjal, Unacademy co-founder Facebook profile) India is the only country where there are different policies for different segments of the retail business and e-commerce. Logically, there should be one policy, said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, while interacting with CEOs at the Valedictory Session of the sixth edition of Massmerize 2016, FICCI’s annual flagship Retail, FMCG and E-Commerce Convention. He said that in today’s globalized world, it has become essential for India to become a part of the global supply chain. For this, India has opened up its economy and liberalized the FDI regime. Now India features as the number one nation in attracting FDI, which has given the country access to latest technology, global best practices and global innovations. Kant ...
Snapdeal Launches Its Own Cloud Platform Cirrus
News

Snapdeal Launches Its Own Cloud Platform Cirrus

Online marketplace Snapdeal on Thursday announced the launch of its private cloud platform, Cirrus, to help the company offer a more frictionless, reliable experience to customers and help save costs. This move will enable Snapdeal to ensure that business growth is augmented with platform speed, security, and stability, it said. The private cloud solution has been built and operationalised in under a year and is timed to handle long-term growth in traffic, Snapdeal said in a statement. The launch follows a sustained increase in online traffic at Snapdeal and will also satiate fast growing demand for crunching big data "to build personalised and relevant experiences for consumers," it added. "Snapdeal was born in the cloud, but public clouds stopped being cost efficient af...