Kishore Biyani’s Future Group takes another shot at e-commerce
Amid growing competition from online stores including Flipkart and Snapdeal and newer firms such as Greencart and BigBasket, Future Group is betting big on India’s $2-billion (`12,000-crore) e-commerce space as part of its omni-channel strategy to boost growth.
This is the Kishore Biyaniled group’s second ecommerce innings. The company had launched futurebazaar.in, an ecommerce portal in June 2010, which remained largely unsuccessful. Its electronic retail arm eZone and sportswear arm Planet Sports, also have separate e-stores.
The group also operates Big Bazaar Direct, a tablet-based shopping experience that allows kirana stores to act as Big Bazaar franchisees and take orders. Customers walk into the outlet, order products via a tablet supplied to the franchisee and Big Bazaar delivers them. The programme is operational in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and NCR. The group plans to go pan-India with 50,000 franchisees, Vivek Biyani, director, Future Group, had told HT earlier.
When contacted, a company spokesperson said: “We have been talking about omni-channel strategy... Some of our arms already have an online presence and we also continue to expand our Big Bazaar Direct initiative.”
Biyani didn’t reply to phone calls and messages seeking details. He had, however, said in the past that the company is working on an omni-channel strategy.