Five Innovative Apps by Indian Startup's

Indian's Statup's Five Innovative Apps

Experts say that the key to success will be to develop user-friendly apps and ensure that the shopping experience is not lost across different devices.

URBAN LADDER - ONLINE FURNITURE RETAILER

UNIQUE APP FEATURE: The retailer's new augmented reality versions app feature helps customers visualize and build their own wardrobes using the app. They can check different colors, explore dimensions and compare pricing.

HOUSING.COM - ONLINE RENTALS, RESALE, LAND AND NEW PROJECTS

UNIQUE APP FEATURE: The app is completely gesture-based. Once a user starts browsing, a map adjusts to the location of the property automatically. The app also shortlists your favorite properties, with just one downward swipe. The one tap on 'Call Agent/Landlord' also lets the user make calls instantly.

LIMEROAD - SERVICES PROVIDED: ONLINE WOMEN FASHION RETAILER

UNIQUE APP FEATURE: The retailer's app posts new styles and product updates from customers and vendors every 30 seconds, having something fresh to see every time a user logs in. Products and looks created by users are streamed along with new products and trends.

VOONIK - ONLINE PERSONAL STYLIST PLATFORM

UNIQUE APP FEATURE: The app's swipe-to-like interface allows the user swipe to the right if they find some clothing/accessory attractive and to the left if you are not interested. Once swiped right, it will keep her posted on the discounts and availability for that item over time.

TAXIFORSURE - ONLINE TAXI AGGREGATOR

UNIQUE APP FEATURE: Instead of having to go through the ordeal of selecting a pickup and drop location every time, a user can shake the phone and the app suggests trips based on past usage. Passengers can also share location directly from the app via email, SMS, WhatsApp and let their friends and family track their journey. 

Azim Premji VS NRN Murthy OR Amazon VS Flipkart

Amazon NRN Murthy vs Flipkart Azim Premji

India's tech titans and fierce cross-town rivals, Wipro's Azim Premji and Infosys' N R Narayana Murthy, are squaring off in the burgeoning $3-billion e-commerce market space too. Premji has gone with the domestic players; he has investments in Myntra (recently acquired by Flipkart) and Snapdeal while Murthy has placed his bets on global e-tailing giant Amazon.

India's rapidly growing e-commerce market is turning out to be a two-horse race between Amazon and Flipkart.

Earlier this year, the Wipro chairman through his investment arm, Premji Invest, and a clutch of other investors, pumped in about $50 million in fashion e-tailer Myntra. Snapdeal, another e-commerce player, got $100 million in funding from five investors including Premji Invest.

More recently, Amazon and Murthy's family office, Catamaran Ventures, floated a JV to help small and medium businesses join the online bandwagon.

Xiaomi Mi 3 Now Available at eBay, Quikr & OLX

Xiaomi Mi 3

Xiaomi Mi 3 Now Available at eBay, Quikr & OLX

Xiaomi Mi 3

If you haven't managed to get your hands on the Xiaomi Mi 3 despite several attempts on Flipkart, don't be disappointed. The Rs 13,999-priced smartphone is available on eBay, Quikr and OLX through a number of resellers, though at sharply higher prices. A search on online retail platforms threw up several sellers across the country, including Mumbai, Delhi, Surat, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, offering sealed or unopened Mi 3 handsets at prices ranging between Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000. One, though, was being sold at the original price late Tuesday.

Xiaomi, the popular Chinese handset vendor, concluded its fifth flash sale on Tuesday where it sold 20,000 devices within 2.3 seconds, leaving the majority of the 100,000 people who had registered to buy the phone on Flipkart, high and dry. The next sale will begin August 26, for which registrations started at 6 pm Tuesday.

Xiaomi has an exclusive agreement with Flipkart to sell the Mi 3 devices only through the e-commerce website. But with demand far exceeding supply, resellers are making a killing. Manu Jain, India's head of operations for Xiaomi, told ET the company is requesting these sites to try to take down such ads, but admitted that it would not be able to do anything legally to stop people from reselling the phone.

"We can't legally stop them from selling it (Mi 3) after buying, but we're working with Flipkart to put some checks and balances in place," he said. For instance, Mi 3 purchases have been restricted to one device a person per week so that the same person cannot buy multiple devices, he added.

Jain added that Xiaomi is trying to increase the number of units put up for sale, which at the moment is only 20 per cent of demand. "We underestimated the demand, but we're trying to ramp up production. It will take us a few more weeks to do so, but future quantities will be significantly higher."

Including this week's sale, Xiaomi has sold 75,000 phones, a fraction of the exponentially growing Indian smartphone market, which is expected to cross 80 million devices this year, almost double the 44 million sold in 2013.

Some smartphone buyers, frustrated with the limited Mi 3 quantities put up for sale, opted for rival devices Moto G and Asus Zenfone 5, according to posts on Xiaomi's Facebook page. "I will be going to buy another phone, I can't wait more — this is third time in a row for me," said Sudhindra Sen on Xiaomi's official local page called Mi India.

The Motorola and Asus devices are available at lower prices than the Mi 3. Motorola recently reduced the price of the Moto G by Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,999 for the 8 GB version and Rs 11,999 for the 16 GB version. The 8 GB version of the Asus Zenfone 5 is available for Rs 10,000.

Both Xiaomi and Motorola follow the online-only sales model, making them direct competitors online, while they compete offline with large MNC players Samsung, Apple and Sony, apart from Indian companies such as Micromax, Karbonn and Lava. According to IDC, Samsung leads the smartphone market with a 29 per cent share, with Indian handset makers together taking up 32 per cent.

Flipkart makes Its Employees Billionaires

400 Flipkart employees become crorepatis

About 400 employees with stock options at online retailer Flipkart have hit the 'crorepati' jackpot because of the surging valuation of the online retailer.

The bonanza is reminiscent of the times when thousands of employees — among them office assistants, drivers and receptionists — at another Bangalore-based Infosys hit Esop paydirt. "About 400 of the employees who own a stake have now become crorepatis," said a person who has direct knowledge of the employee stock option scheme at Flipkart, which received $1 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) in funding last month, valuing it at $7 billion.

About one-fourth of Flipkart's 7,000 full-time employees own a stake in the company.

At the senior-most level, nearly 20 employees who are at the grade of senior vice-president or above and joined over two years ago are now dollar millionaires, meaning their stock options are worth at least Rs 6 crore on paper. The firm's stock options get vested over four years. Flipkart declined to provide details for the report.

It is the online retail market leader's valuation jump that has led to this wealth creation.

In 2012, the company was valued at about $850 million when it raised about $150 million.

In two years, Flipkart's valuation has grown eight times. For the company's founders, Esops are a conscious attempt at creating wealth for their employees. "While we are competitive when it comes to salaries, Esops offer the opportunity for wealth and value creation," said Sachin Bansal, 32, Flipkart's co-founder and chief executive. "It's a long-term reward for those who believe in the future of Flipkart."

After the IT services industry, ecommerce is now the next big opportunity for employees to create wealth, said Anshuman Das, managing partner at Longhouse Consulting, a recruitment firm that works with startups. "The message going out to entrepreneurs is that wealth creation cannot be restricted to just the founders."

A number of junior employees at Flipkart too hold sizeable stake in the company. This has helped employees like 29-year-old Ambur Iyyappa, a senior manager of customer operations at Flipkart. "I was getting married in 2012 and the buyback allowed me to take care of my wedding expenses," said the graduate of Annamalai University.

Iyyappa, who sold only a part of his stake at the time of the buyback, declined to reveal how many shares he still holds.

He was the second non-founder employee to join Flipkart in 2008. It was only in 2009, the same year that the company raised its first round of funding of $1 million (over Rs 6 crore) from Accel Partners, that Flipkart started providing Esops.

Fashion e-tailer Myntra, which was acquired by Flipkart in May, allowed employees to sell shares at the time of the acquisition, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The company declined to confirm this. Myntra provides Esops to all its core employees, numbering about 600, in functions such as technology and marketing across all levels.

For existing employees like Iyyappa, Esops provide recognition. "Esops are a motivation for us employees," said Iyyappa. "It is how the company recognizes our work."

FEMA Penalty On Flipkart

Show-cause notice on Flipkart - FEMA

The Enforcement Directorate is looking to slap a show-cause notice on e-commerce major Flipkart over alleged FEMA violation, a report by ET Now said on Thursday evening.

The channel quoted sources as saying, "Our investigation is over and our Bangalore team has found evidence of FEMA violation against Flipkart." According to the report, the e-tailer may face a penalty of over Rs 1,000 crore.

A source who refused to be identified said Flipkart had violated FEMA provisions as WS Retail, the holding company, had investments from companies overseas.

The Indian government does not permit FDI in e-commerce currently. In 2013, a year after ED's probe began, Flipkart changed its business model, allowing buyers and sellers to deal independently through its platform.

Flipkart Stores -- Open Now

Flipkart opens an offline retail store

A nudge from employees has opened up a fresh avenue of growth for e-commerce company Flipkart in the offline retail space, besides boosting internal pride in the brand.

A few months ago, Flipkart opened its first brick-and-mortar store called 'Fliptomania' in Bangalore after several employees called for company-branded products on 'sticker', or employee feedback walls.

Flipkart received repeated requests for company-branded T-shirts, coffee mugs and stationery. The Bangalore store is open to both employees and outside customers, and has witnessed heavy footfalls.

Encouraged by this, the company is planning more such stores at its offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, besides unveiling its branded products on its website for its employees.

"Deliberately, these products come with a very nominal price tag just enough to cover the cost price," says Arathi Vedantham, director of internal communications, Flipkart. Vedantham, however, did not disclose the revenues or footfalls from the store.

"These products instill a sense of pride and belonging among employees. Quirky things like even laptop stickers are a huge hit," she said.

Some of the employee messages read, "Can we have more of Flipkart branded T-shirts. I want to gift these," added a company spokesperson. Outside customers contribute just 10% to the total store footfall.

Building its brand has a twofold effect on a company — it augments the market valuation and pumps up employee pride. "By owning a brand, in some cases, the market valuation of a company has risen by 1.6 or 1.8 times from its original valuation," says Harish Bijoor, brand expert and CEO, Harish Bijoor Co.

Bijoor cites the examples of soap companies like Marico and Chandrika, which started out by manufacturing soaps for other companies before selling them under their own brand. The companies, he says, became very successful after introducing their own branded soaps.

Flipkart is all set to ride its own success with the Bangalore store. It is now preparing to cater to the next employee request for a baby line of products. So serious is the company's involvement in this initiative that it has hired a young designer, Subin Kurian Verghese, for designing in-house products.

The company spokesperson claims it had never advertised its offline range of products, and that they were a hit among buyers from day one. The Bangalore store sells merchandise like T-shirts, jackets, stationery, apparels and laptop stickers under its brand.