Brands
On a roll, Amazon sells brands and showcases content
MUMBAI: Amazon is on a roll. Both, its digital and e-commerce platform have signed deals with three well-established companies. A studio ChuChu, a global online marketplace M&S and a popular brand YepMe.
Amazon India and Chennai based ChuChu TV Studios have announced a long-term deal. With this partnership, the video-on-demand (VOD) platform will become the subscription streaming home for all ChuChu TV’s existing and future videos ad free.
“ChuChu TV is one of India’s top animators and their series of upbeat songs and colorful animationsis much-loved by kids worldwide,” said Amazon Prime Video India director and country head Nitesh Kripalani. “We are very happy to partner with ChuChu TV to add to our existing bouquet of kids’ content for ad-free entertainment.”
ChuChu TV is one of India’s top content creators for kids animation and its TV channel, ChuChu TV Nursery Rhymes is the third most subscribed channel in India with over eight million subscribers and over 7.5 billion video views.
ChuChu TV Studios CEO and creative director Vinoth Chandar added, “We understand the need for quality storytelling and safe viewing especially for children. We hope that children and their parents alike, enjoy and appreciate the content line-up that we have to offer especially since it is an ad-free environment.”
Yepme meantime has announced its collaboration with Amazon for selling its merchandise in key markets worldwide under the Amazon Global Selling Program. Yepme’s wide array of fashion products will be available across key European markets like UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain via Amazon’s platform by 5 March with a portfolio of over 2700 products in Prime across categories such as apparels, footwear and accessories.
The merchandise will also be available in the US market through the program by March 2017.
“The Amazon Global Selling Program and this partnership can be game changing as Amazon providesglobal platform for Indian brands to service a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. Such partnerships can be truly disruptive as speed to market, customer service, latest trends on fashion will not be incrementally better than brick and mortar value fast fashion brand but would be a quantum leap in Value Fast Fashion Space” said Yepme CEO Vivek Gaur.
Amazon’s Global Selling Program facilitates easy, simple and convenient access for all Indian sellers- including entrepreneurs, SMEs, manufacturers as well as large brands – to sell their Make in India products to consumers across the globe. Through this program, the ‘Unreasonably Fashionable’ brand will transcend geographical boundaries and take its offerings overseas to delight international customers.
“We look forward to helping Yepme navigate through the process of selling globally seamlessly, taking advantage of our services such as Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) and leveraging the enormous demand for Indian fashion products across the globe,” added Amazon India director and GM Seller Services Gopal Pillai.
Additionally, Marks & Spencer (M&S) has also launched on Amazon.in, making it even more convenient for customers across India to shop its quality clothing and beauty ranges.
From today, Indian customers can now shop circa 1,000 Marks & Spencer products across Womenswear, Lingerie, Menswear, Kidswear and Beauty via www.amazon.in/marks&spencer. Customers will also be able to shop Marks & Spencer cosmetics online, with 220 lines available.
Amazon India head of fashion Arun Sirdeshmukh said, “Marks & Spencer is one of the leading and most loved brands and our endeavour has always been to offer the best brands with the most curated selection of products to our discerning customers across the country. Offering Marks & Spencer merchandise on Amazon is another step in that direction and will be an extension of the portfolio of global brands that our customers can enjoy through our platform.”
In women’s wear, customers can choose from key pieces from the spring range including stylish floral dresses with feminine detailing; authentic, fitted denim; and that must-have soft-touch trench coat. Marks & Spencer’s renowned quality and innovative lingerie including bras, knickers, shape wear and sleepwear in delicate and feminine colours and prints will also be available. In menswear, the range contains all the must-have pieces across casual and formal wear, whilst in kids wear, Marks & Spencer is a one-stop shop for high quality, on-trend baby and kids clothing for girls and boys including day wear, accessories, nightwear and essentials. An edited beauty offer will be available including skincare, body care, cosmetics and fragrance.
Marks & Spencer Reliance India MD Venu Nair added, “Whether choosing a classic white shirt, that special occasion dress or the ultimate feminine sleepwear, online shopping continues to grow in popularity in India as customers look for more choice and greater convenience. We’re delighted to launch today on Amazon.in, India’s largest online store, making it even easier for our customers to shop with us. Our range of 1000 quality, stylish products, combined with Amazon’s reach and fast delivery, means our customers can order something truly special online, wherever and whenever suits them.”
Brands
Google nears Nvidia in race for world’s most valuable company
Market cap gap narrows as Google hits $4.65 trillion, Nvidia at $4.86 trillion.
MUMBAI: In the AI gold rush, even the giants are sprinting and Google is suddenly gaining ground. Google is rapidly closing in on Nvidia in the race to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company, with the gap between the two narrowing sharply amid diverging stock momentum. The tech giant’s market capitalisation has surged to around $4.65 trillion, following a more than 140 per cent rise in its share price over the past year.
That rally has added over $2.6 trillion in value in just 12 months, including nearly $900 billion since January alone. Its stock recently hovered at $381.80, slipping marginally by 0.04 per cent, but still reflecting strong upward momentum.
Nvidia, meanwhile, continues to hold the top spot with a valuation of approximately $4.86 trillion. The chipmaker crossed the $5 trillion milestone in October last year and peaked at $5.27 trillion on 27 April. However, its shares have largely plateaued over the past six months, rising just 0.2 per cent recently to $199.99.
The contrast in trajectories is striking. While Nvidia has seen relatively flat movement, Google has gained over 36 per cent in the same six-month period. Barron’s estimates suggest that if current trends hold, the valuation gap could shrink to as little as $190 million by the time Nvidia reports its first-quarter earnings on 20 May.
Daily momentum paints a similar picture. Nvidia recorded average daily gains of about 0.66 per cent last month, compared to Google’s stronger 1.42 per cent, an edge that could prove decisive in the short term.
Driving Google’s resurgence is its aggressive push into artificial intelligence across its ecosystem, from search and YouTube to cloud computing. The company has already invested $144 billion in capital expenditure over the past two years and plans to deploy a further $490 billion over the next two.
Its cloud division is also gathering pace. Google Cloud reported an order backlog of nearly $220 billion in the latest quarter, with total backlog touching a record $462 billion, around half of which is expected to be realised within two years. The company’s entry into chip sales is also beginning to factor into its growth narrative.
The last time Google briefly topped the S&P 500 by market value was in February 2016, when it edged past Apple for just two days. This time, the stakes and the numbers are far higher.
At the heart of the contest lies a single force: artificial intelligence. As both companies pour billions into infrastructure, chips and platforms, the leaderboard is no longer just about size, it is about who can scale the future faster.
