At a time when online retailers are yet to make money per transaction, sellers registered on their sites are not only clocking more sales but also booking profits.
WS Retail Services Pvt Ltd, one of the largest sellers on online marketplace Flipkart.com, doubled its turnover to ₹3,135 crore in FY14, according to the company’s filing with the Registrar of Companies. The filing also says that the company is profitable.
Several other sellers (small and medium retailers and enterprises) doing business on portals such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon and eBay have registered good growth in their sales riding the e-commerce wave.
WS Retail reported a net profit of ₹67 lakh for 2014, according to its filing. The company, an entity formed by Flipkart, was sold in 2012 after Flipkart became a marketplace. It is now owned by Rajiv Kuchhal, Meenu Gupta, Sujeet Kumar and Tapas Rudrapatna. The owners’ relationship with Flipkart’s owners could not be ascertained. WS Retail sources products from Flipkart India Pvt Ltd, the wholesale arm of Flipkart, and sells on Flipkart Internet, which manages the portal.
While Flipkart Internet’s total sales stood at ₹179 crore, Flipkart India Pvt Ltd clocked revenue of ₹2,846 crore in the year ended March 2014. However, in June the company had announced that it has crossed the ₹6,000 crore mark.
Good growth Vikram Chopra, founder of online furniture portal FabFurnish, said that about 50 per cent of the 3,000 sellers listed on its portal have witnessed three-fold growth after associating with ecommerce firms.
Spire Research and Consulting, a leading market research consultancy, which recently published a white paper, ‘India’s E-Tailing Industry — Seller’s Perspective’ said that over 54 per cent of businesses have reported a growth of more than 20 per cent in sales revenue since going online. The survey was conducted on 300 retailers across 13 States.
Bets on e-commerce Japnit Singh, Senior Director, Singapore and India, Spire Research, said that the maximum traction was seen in the apparel and food businesses. Spire’s study revealed that the majority of businesses have accepted online platforms as an extension of their brand. Businesses in the apparel (82 per cent) and food (80 per cent) sectors seem to have an advantage by going online compared with consumer electronics (72 per cent).