TECHCIRCLE E-COMMERCE FORUM 2015: LEADING E-COMMERCE INTO THE FUTURE
Techcircle organized the 7th edition of the Techcircle E-commerce Forum on 26th February at Vivanta By Taj, Cuff Parade in Mumbai. The main focus of the enclave was: investments, business fundamentals, investor’s attitudes and the future of the e-commerce industry.
Techcircle.in, is owned by New Delhiheadquartered Mosaic Media Ventures Pvt Ltd, a leading online financial data and information services group. The group's products also include VCCircle.com and financial data platform VCCEdge. Techcircle, launched in February 2011, tracks the Indian technology startup ecosystem specializing in areas such as technology startups, founders, innovations, products, strategies and startup financing.
The 7th Techcircle E-commerce Forum saw robust attendance from over 350 industry stalwarts like top venture investors, leading e-commerce entrepreneurs and startup founders. The top speakers of the summit were Ambareesh Murthy, Founder & CEO, Pepperfry.com; Amit Jain, CEO & Cofounder, CarDekho.com; Dhruv Agarwala, Co-founder, Proptiger.com, Kunal Shah, Founder & CEO, FreeCharge.in; Mausam Bhatt, Sr. Director, Marketing (Mobile and Digital), Flipkart.com; and Vikram Chopra, Cofounder, FabFurnish; among others. THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE Proved to be an engaging annual platform for e-commerce entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, and top and emerging tech startups. There were key discussions around topics such as: E-commerce play in India, Consolidation, Impact of ECommerce on Retail, etc. The Nasscom 10,000 Startups powered Techcircle Ecommerce Showcase: A curated platform that brough five emerging companies to make elevator pitches to a jury, investors and fellow entrepreneurs.
NOTABLE PANEL DISCUSSIONS Panel I: E-Commerce Play In India: Too Expensive A Bet Or Futuristic Investment At A Nominal Price? Moderator: Vikas Dawra, Managing Director, Investment Banking, YES Bank Ltd. Panellists: Prashanth Prakash. Partner, Accel Partners; Sundeep Malhotra, Founder & CEO, HomeShop 18, Avnish Bajaj, MD, Matrix Partners; and Ambareesh Murthy, Founder & CEO, Pepperfry.com. The discussion centred around the ground reality of what’s driving investments, the fundamentals of the e-commerce business, investors’ bullish attitudes towards the sector as well as the future of the industry in the medium to long term. Panel II: Is Consolidation The Only Way Forward? Moderator: TC Meenakshisundaram,
Founder & MD, IDG Ventures Panellists: Supam Maheshwari, Cofounder & CEO, FirstCry.com; Yashish Dahiya, CEO & Co-Founder, PolicyBazaar.com; Niren Shah, MD, Norwest Venture Partners, Dhruv Agarwala, Co-founder, PropTiger. com. As quite a few niche players either folded up or were acquired in the past year and a half, the panel debated if e-commerce is attaining maturity and if there a trend towards consolidation. Panel III: Impact Of E-Commerce On Indian Retail Industry; Bridging The Online-Offline Gap Moderator: Samir Kumar, MD, Inventus Capital Partners Panellists: Abhishek Lal, Ecommerce Director, Adidas Group India; Vikram Chopra, Co-founder, FabFurnish.com; Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, Founder & CEO, BlueStone.com; Falguni Nayar, CEO, Nykaa.com; and Dippak Khurana, Co-founder & CEO, Vserv. The discussion centred on how the growth and popularity of e-commerce has led established retailers to rethink their strategy. The importance of having an omni-channel strategy in place, and the importance of creating brands was also touched upon. The panel also ruminated upon how to bridge the online-offline gap and secure customers’ mind and wallet share. Panel IV: E-Commerce Vs. M-Commerce; The Way Forward Moderator: Pradeep Tagare, Inves
ment Director, Intel Capital Panellists: Mausam Bhatt, Sr. Director - Marketing (Mobile and Digital) Flipkart.com; Kunal Shah, Founder, FreeCharge.in; Upasana Taku, Co-Founder, MobiKwik; and Aloke Bajpai, CEO & Co-Founder, Ixigo.com. The panel agreed that the m-commerce phenomenon will endure. Over 40 per cent of the traffic of leading e-commerce players already