MAM
Going from clicks to bricks
MUMBAI: Nothing beats the feeling of being served at your doorstep and this convenience is what has thrust e-commerce to pole position among shoppers worldwide. Add to it the ease of picking, cross-checking prices across sites and the frequent discounts are the cherries on the cake.
The growth of e-commerce became evident since 1994, with the first sales of Sting album in the United States. Soon, products like wine, chocolates and flowers became the pioneering retail categories which further fuelled the growth of online shopping. Before long, researchers dug out that some products are more appropriate for e-commerce buying than others – most of them turned out to be generic items which didn’t need physical touch validity. Nothing isn’t online today, you name a product and it’s up for purchase.
India officially went online publicly in 1995; before that, it was only for research and educational institutes. It was in the early 2000s when India was introduced to a novel way of purchasing – teleshopping. With the advent of the internet age here, this hopped onto the web with Flipkart being one of the earliest entrants. Starting with books, the Softbank-backed company is now giving a tough fight to America’s Amazon.
Old teleshopping TVC:
Today, India has an internet user base of over 450 million, which accounts for 40 per cent of the country’s population. NASSCOM has projected the country’s e-commerce market to be worth Rs 2 lakh crore this year. As per Google, there were 100 million online shoppers in India in 2016. Online apparel is one of the most popular verticals, which along with computers and consumer electronics, makes up 42 per cent of the total retail e-commerce sales. According to various media reports, India’s online retail market grew at about 25 per cent in 2017 and is projected to touch $20 billion by the year 2020. It won’t be incorrect to say that it has been a joyride for online websites and e-commerce platforms in India.
But things seem to be changing now. Following a successful run in the online world, e-commerce companies are now venturing into a space they once thought would soon see the same fate as dinosaurs— brick and mortar stores.
Globally, this phenomenon has taken the industry by a storm. Large organisations that were leaders in online have taken the route of opening physical stores or pop up shops. E-commerce marketplace Amazon is one such example. The global giant has teamed up with Calvin Klein to open holiday-themed pop-up stores in New York City and Los Angeles. Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba is all set to steal a page from Amazon’s playbook by opening its first store in Shanghai.
In India, lifestyle and fashion company Myntra, beauty and cosmetics website Nykaa, eyewear company Lenskart, housing and furniture websites Pepperfry and Urban Ladder and lingerie website Zivame are a few of those who have taken the online-to-offline route.
Lenskart has established its strong presence in the offline space and is targeting to take its total brick and mortar count to over 900 in the next two years. Its current 400 offline stores contribute 50-60 per cent of its business. Online furniture website Pepperfry currently has over 23 physical stores which contribute 20 per cent to its overall sales.
Flipkart owned online fashion marketplace, Myntra is considering launching its own multi-brand offline stores where customers can walk in and shop for all the collection that is also available on its online platform. Earlier in March 2017, Myntra launched its first offline store in Bengaluru for its homegrown brand – Roadster. The decision is in line with the company’s effort to aid profitability.
Pepperfry, Lenskart and Urban Ladder are aiming to come up with their Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the next two to three years.
Chinese mobile handset manufacturer Xiaomi, which was only available in India via Flipkart and Amazon in 2016, decided to open up stores here to boost sales and boy, did that work for the company!
Xiaomi, which currently has 13 Mi Homes in top six metro cities, plans to increase the count to 100 by the end of next year. The Chinese manufacturer clocked revenue of about Rs 7000 crore in 2016 but doubled it in 2017 posting Rs 14,000 crore.
Online leaders are investing heavily in setting up physical stores to fuel their next phase of growth. The move aids them in getting more customers and the hybrid strategy helps in gaining double-digit growth figure while expanding the business.
Setting up offline stores also helps brands in balancing the high cost of acquisition that the online store demands. Although this is an emerging trend which will play an important role for online retailers in the days to come, brands have begun to embrace this omnichannel approach.
Having said that, it is also a gamble that not every brand might have an appetite for. Setting up physical stores means investing heavy money into infrastructure and land acquisition while also running the risk of the store being an utter dud! It is a win-win situation for brands that are willing to embrace the step back.
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Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
