Brands
Shopmatic’s user base swells to over 10000 within five months since launch
MUMBAI: With the current trend to digitize businesses gaining increasing mileage, Singapore-based e-commerce company, Shopmatic, which provides a platform for merchants to take their business online, has achieved tremendous growth within just five months since its launch. It has reached its first milestone with 10,000 online store owners choosing Shopmatic’s services to engage and expand their customer base.
Launched in October 2015, Shopmatic helps merchants and individuals handle the full spectrum of what is required to grow their business online, from developing a webstore to listing it on marketplaces, and promoting it on social channels, along with helping with insights on how to sell online. Within a month of launching operations, Shopmatic tied up with Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) to help its almost 6 crore merchants digitize their offline businesses. Earlier this year in January, Shopmatic signed a deal with online payments giant PayPal to enable its merchants to expand their global sales. The move also marked PayPal’s first tie-up with an Indian partner. All these tie-ups have been instrumental in helping the e-commerce company reach its first milestone.
Commenting on these growth numbers, Shopmatic Group CEO Anurag Avula said, “We are quite happy with this progress as this confirms that we are heading in the right direction. These numbers are also a reaffirmation of the surging confidence of small merchants in tapping the online ecosystem for increasing their consumer base on both the national and global front.”
Meanwhile, to enable easy payments and delivery solutions to the target consumers of online businesses, the e-commerce business-enabler has recently tied up with India’s payment getaway solution and mobile wallet, Citrus Pay. On the logistics front, Shopmatic has made strategic partnerships with local and global logistics players like Delhivery.
Since its inception, Shopmatic has been offering a revolutionary, all-in-one e-commerce solution that enables business owners to build and manage their businesses online, commission-free. This means they do not have to rely on commission-based marketplaces, which can charge up to 15% for each transaction. Shopmatic’s key features include:
• Compelling web presence with attractive store fronts;
• Seamless integration with local and international payment gateways;
• Tie-ups with logistics partners, enabling automated shipping;
• Facilitated listing across multiple marketplaces and social channels, such as Facebook;
• Organized dashboard with data insights and inventory management;
• Simple pricing with no hidden fees. All packages come with a one-month free trial;
• Customized solutions to service entrepreneurs, assisting them in promoting and selling their services to a wider customer base.
By offering comprehensive service offerings that help businesses establish an online presence as per their relevant market and target audience, Shopmatic is taking the right measures to ensure entrepreneurs do not miss out on the potential that the burgeoning virtual ecosystem promises today.
Brands
Nestlé weighs trimming ice cream footprint and Froneri stak
Swiss giant reviews options including stake cut in €15bn JV as it eyes higher-margin focus post-Unilever split.
MUMBAI: Nestlé is melting down its ice cream ambitions or at least scooping back a few spoonfuls amid a strategic review that could see it slim its stake in blockbuster joint venture Froneri. According to a Bloomberg report published 18 February 2026, the Swiss food and beverage powerhouse is mulling a reduced presence in the global ice cream segment. Options on the table include trimming its holding in Froneri, the joint venture with private equity firm PAI Partners that houses crowd-pleasers like Häagen-Dazs, Mövenpick, and Rowntree’s or even shifting some of Nestlé’s remaining wholly owned ice cream operations into the JV.
Discussions remain fluid, with no final decisions locked in and no guarantee of any transaction materialising. One scenario has PAI Partners boosting its ownership if Nestlé pulls back, while another could see the Swiss group offloading a portion of its stake to an existing investor like the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
Froneri itself got a hefty valuation boost in October (likely 2025), when Goldman Sachs and ADIA poured in fresh capital, pegging the business at around €15 billion (about $17.69 billion). The move turned heads in the sector, especially as Unilever spun off its ice cream arm last year into the now-independent Magnum Ice Cream Company freeing both giants to chase sunnier, higher-margin pastures.
Nestlé’s rethink, reportedly overseen by new CEO Philipp Navratil as he sifts through the company’s vast portfolio, mirrors broader industry trends: consumer giants are sharpening focus on core strengths amid shifting tastes and profitability pressures. Ice cream might be delicious, but it’s not always the creamiest part of the balance sheet.
Whether this ends in a stake sale, JV expansion, or just more pondering, the frozen dessert world could soon see another ownership shake-up. For now, Nestlé isn’t screaming “last orders” but it’s definitely checking the freezer temperature.
