Bye Bye 2014, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!!!

Finally the day is here which in few hours will make you believe that 2014 was past and 2015 will be the future. Today is the day which everybody wants to celebrate with all their loved ones so that the same love will prevail in new year. 


New Year brings new hopes, new aspirations and an excitement to start afresh. New Year's eve also gives you a chance to forget all the bad things which has happened in 2014 and to celebrate the last night in a way that only happy & blissful memories will stay with you in new year. 

New Year also bring new resolutions in everyone's life. I am sure that you all might have decided your new year resolutions by this time. If, not still you have got time to think on that front. 

I just wish you all A Very Happy and Exciting New Year. Stay Blessed and Spread Smiles!!!!

Junglee to compete with Olx and Gaadi.com

The online price comparison site of Amazon India, Junglee is all set to compete directly with Gaadi.com, OLX and Quikr for pre-owned cars and two-wheelers. 

We will be helping users find the best and cheapest car and two-wheeler available starting Tuesday when we launch our 26th category," said Junglee's general manager and director Mahendra Nerurkar. 

Junglee is partenering India's major Mahindra and Mahindra to start with. The portal will show the image of the vehicle along with the required details such as kilometers it has run, year of make etc. which will help consumers in taking a better decision. 

According to professional services firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers, "The pre-owned car market has accelerated at a CAGR of 15% in the past three years to reach about half the size of the new car market, with sales of up to 1.6 million in a year". 

The trend of online buying and sales of vehicles is emerging very fast, Snapdeal also forayed into selling of Mahindra Scorpio this year and Hero Group also manage to sell about 700 units of two wheelers in GOSF 2014 on Snapdeal itself. 

I am sure that more such deals will be seen in near future. Happy Shopping.

Few highlights from the ASSOCHAM-PwC study on Indian e-commerce.

2014 remained an ever exciting year for Indian e-commerce industry. The penetration is still very low as compared to developed nations like USA & UK but it is growing at a very rapid pace and the trend is not going to stop even in the new year.

E-commerce industry valued at $17 bn, growing at an compound annual growth rate of about 35 percent each year and will cross $100 bn in the next five years, noted the ASSOCHAM-PwC study. 

It is only India's love for online shopping which has made it a huge hit and it is not going to die in near future. As per the study, it is even going to increase in 2015. The average annual spending on online purchases projected to increase by 67 per cent to Rs 10,000 from Rs 6,000 per person. 

About 40 million consumers purchased something online this year and the number is expected to grow to 65 million by 2015 with better infrastructure in terms of logistics, broadband and internet-ready devices.  In 2014, the sector attracted the attention of investors, including top global firms and leading Indian industry leaders like Azim Premji and Ratan Tata, said the study, adding that brands like Flipkart and Snapdeal are enjoying edge over global players like Amazon in the country. 

Online apparel sales continue to capture a greater share of India retail ecommerce as a category along with the computer and consumer electronics sector, fuelling the overall market growth. ”The smartphone and tablet shoppers will be strong growth drivers. Mobile phones already account for 11 percent of ecommerce sales, and their share will jump to 25 percent by 2017,” Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

Computer and consumer electronics, along with apparel and accessories, account for the bulk of India’s retail ecommerce sales. These will contribute 42 percent of the total retail ecommerce sales in 2015 from the current level of 39 percent, said the study. 

India’s travel and tourism are second fastest growing travel and tourism industry in the world. Nearly 75 percent of total travel related business has migrated to e-commerce. With nearly one-third of internet users already making purchases online, the ecommerce growth will rely more on increased spending from existing buyers than first-time online buyers, it said. Other factors contributing to the growth of e-commerce include aggressive merchandising and discounting from flash sales and daily deals, more online loyalty programmes and increasing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers among consumers, the study added.

The industry is expected to spend an additional $500 million to $1 billion on logistics functions, leading to a cumulative spend of $950 million to $1.9 billion till 2017-20, it said. Currently, over 25,000 people are employed in e-retailing warehousing and logistics. It is estimated that there will be an additional employment of close to 1,00,000 people in these two functions alone by 2017-20, the study said.

Hope, 2015 will bring more happiness in lives of both customers and the entrepreneurs. Happy Shopping!!! 

स्वच्छ भारत अभियान to go online!!!

स्वच्छ भारत अभियान : The campaign launched by Mr Modi on 2nd Oct this year has already made headlines all across the globe. The campaign is to keep roads, streets and complete infrastructure of the country clean. Mr. Modi himself had nominated 9 famous personalities to carry this campaign forward. Yesterday also, he has nominated Kapil Sharma, Kiran Bedi and Saurav Ganguly to drive this mission. The Clean India initiative has already roped in many influential personalities from different sections in India who are contributing their part for this great cause. 

Now again, The Clean India Mission is making rounds as our worthy PM has made it mandatory to upload daily updates related to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan online. He is of the view that this will help to grab the interest of NRIs and youth of the nation. 

The Swacch Bharat portal will provide all the details regarding different activities happening in any area and this portal will be interactive in nature. As per Economic times, officials related with this mission has confirmed that the online feedback will be dealt in 48 hours. 

The portal will also include the details for all the financial transactions and donations made towards this mission. New guidelines have already been set up to implement Rs 67,000 crore in urban areas. 

By 2019, 1 crore household toilets and more than 5 lakh public and community toilets has to be constructed under this mission. 

I wish all the best to all the people who are directly or indirectly contributing to it.

Net Neutrality Violation: Airtel introduces differential pricing mechanism for Mobile Internet usage.

In a recent update, India's biggest telecom operator Bharti Airtel has introduced differential pricing based on type of mobile internet usage depending on the services used by the customer. Now, the customers using Viber and Skype will be charged differently from the users using other type of services/products on Internet.

The new conditions under new 3G tariff plans announced by the company state, All Internet/data packs or plans (through which customer can avail discounted rate) shall only be valid for internet browsing and will exclude VoIP (Both incoming/ Outgoing). VoIP over data connectivity would be charged at standard data rates of 4p / 10 KB (3G service) and 10p / 10 KB (2G service).

This means that the operator will charge users using 3G services for VoIP (like Viber and Skype) on different basis with respect to those using 3G for other services. This price differentiation over same net connection for different usage is violation of Net Neutrality.

Now, the further action has to come from TRAI or the Telecom Ministry regarding this violation. Hope to see the Indian customers getting back the Right of Net Neutrality.

Merry X'Mas !!!

We wish you all A Merry X'Mas. May God bless us all a very happy, prosperous, exciting and fun filled New Year. 

Just help the needy, extend your helping hand whenever required and don't forget to bring smiles.

Keep Rocking!!!!!

Will Apple return to its 4-inch iphones with launch of "iphone 6s mini" in New Year 2015?

This year only Apple has introduced its two new iphones, iphone 6 and iphone 6 plus with display size of 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch respectively. But rumour is there that Apple might introduce new iphones in new year with display size of 4 inch as its low -end handsets in the market.  

As per AppleInsider, Analyst Timothy Arcuri of Cowen and Company issued a note to investors this week claiming that Apple has been working on a new 4-inch iPhone model that could debut in 2015. 

AppleInsider also says that Arcuri has a “mixed” track record with Apple news. We have earlier also heard about Apple releasing a new 4-inch iPhone in 2015. Chinese publication Feng reported earlier this month that Apple planned to release a new 4-inch phone next year as a replacement for its legacy devices such as the iPhone 5s, which it still sells at a lower price point than its current flagship models. 

We are not sure it is a confirmed news or just a rumour. Anyways, I am sure that Apple will definitely let us know its new plans in new year. Till that time Happy Shopping.

"Snapdeal to sell Spice Mobility's Spice Dream Uno H"

A few days ago Spice Mobility has launched a Hindi variant of its Android One smartphone Spice Dream UNO, focussing at the Hindi speaking audience in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Called as Spice Dream Uno H, the phone is priced at Rs 6,499 and will run on a Hindi version of Android KitKat. It will also feature a Hindi keyboard, voice input and Hindi versions of Google services such as Chrome, Search, YouTube, Google Maps. 

Spice Mobility is the 2nd company after Robosoft which has launched Hindi Smart Phone in India. 

Now, Spice has even tied up with Snapdeal.com, one of the biggest Indian e-commerce giants to sell this Hindi Smart phone. According to Spice, Dream Uno H has been especially designed for the 300 million Hindi- speaking people in the country.  

Commenting on the announcement, Prashant Bindal, CEO, Spice Mobility Ltd, said, "We are delighted to partner with Snapdeal to offer India's first truly Hindi smartphone Spice Dream Uno H to a larger audience across the country through the online channel in addition to the retail channel. With this phone, we want to empower the 300 million Hindi-speaking people in the country with the power of internet in their hands." 

The dual SIM 3G smartphone device is powered with a 1.3 GHz quadcore processor, runs on 4.4.4 Kitkat OS and will soon get the latest Android Lollipop update. With a 4.5-inch IPS display and storage capacity extendable up to 32GB, the phone is expected to give a fine experience as far as multimedia is concerned.

Congrats Agra: Walmart is all set to open its 2nd store in Agra.

Hey, all you Agra people, get ready to rush inside the all new Walmart store. Walmart is going to open its 2nd store in Agra and it is also after a gap of 2 years. The company has set up its last store in Bhopal in 2012. 

The company said that it will continue its focus on cash and carry business in absence of clarity on FDI in multi-brand retail trade.

Till now Walmart has 20 cash and carry stores in India under Best Price brand. Earlier this year, Walmart announced plans to open 50 wholesale stores in the next 4-5 years to expand across the country. Walmart has also called off its partnership with Bharti last year and planned to operate stores independently.

Happy Shopping!!!

Flipkart files application to become Public, Raises USD 700 million !!!

Bengaluru based Indian e-commerce major Flipkart has raised $700 million in new round of funding from new investors. With new funding from Baillie Gifford, Greenoaks Capital, Steadview Capital, T. Rowe Price Associates and Qatar Investment Authority, total shareholders count has increased to more than 50. 

"Flipkart Limited (incorporated at Singapore) has filed with ACRA Singapore for conversion to a Public Company. This is a mandatory procedure for all companies where the number of shareholders exceeds 50," Flipkart said in a statement.

Flipkart said that the funds raised will be used towards long term strategic investments in India and to build a world class technology company, delivering superior customer experiences.

This latest deal has raised Flipkart's valuation at about $11 billion (Rs 69,000 crore) which is more than some of India's largest consumer companies, including Godrej Consumer which is estimated to be worth Rs 31,000 crore and Dabur India, which is valued at about Rs 41,000 crore. Flipkart has even reached to a valuation which is nearly half of India's fourth-largest IT services firm Wipro.

Some Hot Stats for Indian Digital, Social and e-commerce Industry!!!

According to a recent Google report: India, one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets, is expected to have 100 million online shoppers by 2016 when the industry will grow to $15 billion, or about Rs 93,000 crore, up from 35 million consumers and $3-billion valuation this year.

Acccording to Facebook India Managing Director Ms. Kirthiga Reddy : Facebook has over 112 million monthly active users, who share and connect on Facebook, of these 99 million use Facebook on mobile devices. So for us, digital and mobile are pretty synonymous… So, mobile is key part of our strategy, and is completely driven by how people are consuming content.” The U.S.-based company has also conducted a study, titled ‘Coming of Age on Screens’, which aims to understand people’s attitudes and behaviour both online and offline. The study found that 77 per cent of the users in the 13-24 age group agreed that they can’t leave their house without their mobile, while 63 per cent agreed that they would prefer to give up their TV for their mobile phone.

“Another interesting finding is that social media is the first place this group would turn to share a photo of themselves (41 per cent), a funny video or joke (37 per cent), an interesting news article (32 per cent) and a random observation (24 per cent) — ranking ahead of face-to-face, text, email and other means of communications,” Ms. Reddy said

Are you Xcited for the new i-Phone and the much anticipated i-Watch???

According to the New York Times, Apple is all set to make a big splash with larger iPhones and iWatch.  

The so-called smartwatch will be the first brand-new product unveiled under Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief executive, who took the helm three years ago, shortly before Jobs' death. It is expected to come in two sizes and combine functions like health and fitness monitoring with mobile computing tasks like displaying maps. It will have a flexible screen and, like the new phones, will support technology that allows people to pay for things wirelessly. 

"I believe it's going to be historic," said Tim Bajarin, a consumer technology analyst for Creative Strategies who attended the original Mac event in 1984. He added, "The design of this product is all Tim's fingerprints." 

Apple, which is highly secretive, has not officially commented on any of the new products. But multiple employees of Apple and its partners who were briefed on the products shared some details on the condition that they not be identified. 

I believe the time has come when Samsung and others should tight their belts as the Aplle i-watch will definitely going to rock the wearable market all around the world.

Keenly keeping an eye on the details to be launched this month.

After Flipkart, Lenskart, Bagkart...It's time for "Cowkart" or "Cattlekart'.

I know many will not believe but it's a fact. Now, you can even buy cows online. The Malabar regional co-operative milk producers union (which works under the the Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation) will soon come up with an e-commerce site to buy and sell cows. 

Tens of thousands of cows in the state will soon get an online profile complete with photographs, vital stats, age, pedigree details and even a UID number, with dairy cooperatives under Milma set to launch a unique cattle trading platform. (Source- A daily newspaper)

The website, will post details of a cow including pictures for to choose. The project will be implemented with the help of Indian Institute of Management- Kozhikode. The website will have details including approximate selling price, its size, height, age, breed and how much milk it gives.

So, now don't waste your time waiting for milkman. Just buy your own cow online. 

I have a question, How will they be shipped???