e-commerce
Future Group to now tie up with an e-commerce site
MUMBAI: A day after lashing out at e-commerce sites such as Flipkart for undercutting prices, Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani said that he would announce his ‘exclusive e-commerce partner’ soon, according to media reports.
As per the reports, Biyani agreed that he met Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in Delhi last week, hinting that he might partner with Amazon to sell its private labels.
“We discussed many things like the macro environment, the prime minister and so on,” Biyani told a leading business newspaper talking about his meeting with Bezos.
“We can learn a lot of things from e-commerce players regarding their supply chain and logistics, sourcing and so on,” Biyani added.
The buzz is also that Biyani is expected to meet other e-commerce players for a tie-up.
The group would first take its fashion products online, followed by FMCG, general merchandise, food and others, he further said.
The reports also add, “While tying up with e-commerce portal is a ‘brand strategy’ Biyani said, the group’s own omni channel strategy, set to go live after Diwali, is a retail strategy or extension of his physical stores. He said the group’s omni channel strategy will work simultaneously along with retailing on e-commerce partner.”
As part of the omni strategy, the group’s electronics format, Ezone, is expected to go online first, followed by premium food chain Foodhall and hypermarket chain Big Bazaar, a group executive further revealed.
Biyani recently came out strongly against the strategy of e-com firms, accusing them of predatory pricing backed with foreign funding.
Media reports quoted him saying, “Laws in this country do not allow sales below cost price. This is anti-competitive. We (at Big Bazaar and other retail brands) never sell below cost price.”
The future group also launched ad blitz, lashing out at the e-commerce portals with taglines like, “No deal can win the trust of a billion people, you have to earn it.”
His comments came after Flipkart announced that it clocked record sales of $100 million (Rs 610 crore) in just 10 hours of its Big Billion Day sale on 6 October. Rival Snapdeal also claimed to have matched it with its chief saying the portal saw sales of over Rs 1 crore per minute.
But the Flipkart Big Billion Day was far from perfect, the e-commerce portal later apologised for the glitches encountered admitting its ‘failure’ in living upto the expectations of its customers. Acknowledging that it was not adequately prepared for the sheer scale of the event, Flipkart promised to come better prepared next time.
Targeting the e-retailer after it released the apology letter, Future group released another ad with the tagline ‘You can’t take a nation for granted even for a day.’
Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) too has expressed concerns over huge discounts being offered by e-commerce firms. It has asked the Commerce and Industry Ministry to take steps to monitor and regulate online businesses.
e-commerce
Giant water gun truck rolls through Gurgaon for Holi
Instamart’s oversized blaster stunt sparks viral buzz ahead of festival; premium guns see rising demand.
MUMBAI: Gurgaon just got Holi’d early because when a truck carries a water gun the size of a small car, the only thing getting soaked is everyone’s attention. A massive, larger-than-life water blaster mounted on an Instamart truck turned heads and triggered phone cameras across parts of Gurgaon this week. The eye-catching installation, part of the quick-commerce platform’s festive build-up to Holi, mirrors the premium water guns available on its app and quickly went viral on Instagram and X, racking up millions of views in under 24 hours.
Commuters slowed to gawk, children pointed excitedly from pavements, and social media lit up with reactions. One user posted, “Gurgaon seriously isn’t for beginners. I spotted an Instamart truck carrying a massive water gun. It was like a pichkari that decided to go 10x for Holi.” Another wrote: “Every festival now comes with its own ‘Did you see this?’ moment. Today’s one for me was a giant water gun on a truck.”
The stunt taps into a noticeable shift in Holi shopping habits. What used to be a last-minute grab for basic plastic squirters has evolved into planned purchases of high-performance blasters and premium festive items. Instamart reports strong demand this season for brands like Spyra water blasters, NERF Super Soakers, Police Gatlin Single-Barrel Water Guns, and Toyshine Electric Water Guns, alongside edible gulaal, natural colours, UV colours, phool gulal, organic options, body paints, aftercare products, sweets, flowers, and curated colour hampers.
Last Holi, the platform saw a 5x spike in flower sales year-on-year and rising interest in premium assortments. This year’s festive range positions Instamart as a one-stop destination for experiential Holi prep, with the giant blaster stunt serving as a rolling reminder that the festival of colours is going bigger, bolder and starting earlier.
In a city where traffic already feels chaotic, one oversized water gun turned the daily commute into the opening act of Holi. Consider the streets officially splashed.
