India’s own Flipkart’s customer base crosses 100 mn milestone
22 Sep 2016 10:58 PM GMT
Homegrown e-tailer Flipkart has crossed the 100-million registered users mark, becoming the first e-commerce company in the country to hit the milestone. The Bengaluru-based company has doubled its user base over the last year and added 25 million users in the past six months alone. “This is a small step in our efforts to build a platform that provides quality products, affordable and accessible to millions of Indians shopping online. This milestone has further energised us to ramp-up our efforts and build a world-class shopping destination,” Flipkart co-founder and CEO Binny Bansal said.
One of the most valued start-ups in the country, Flipkart has Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Morgan Stanley and T Rowe among its investors. The company has raised over $3 billion in funding so far and has acquired companies like Myntra, PhonePe and LetsBuy. It has also invested in start-ups like Cube26, NestAway and BlackBuck.
A recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch Report pegged Flipkart as the leader with over 43 per cent market share. It forecast that by 2019, Flipkart would increase its share to 44 <g data-gr-id="76">per cent</g>. e-commerce companies in India have witnessed tremendous growth on the back of strong demand for smartphones and increasing data usage.
India, among the fastest growing e-commerce markets globally, is expected to continue on the growth momentum over the three to five years. US online retailer Amazon and Chinese heavyweight Alibaba are making significant investments in India to capture the nascent market here.
India is being seen as an opportunity globally with a significant chunk of foreign investments flowing into the sector in companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Paytm. Meanwhile, Google has launched its messaging app ‘Allo’, which would compete with the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
Available for both Android and iOS platforms, Allo will also mark the debut of Google Assistant in a preview edition. “Whether it is planning a night out or just catching up, we rely on messaging to stay in touch with friends and family every day. But too often we have to hit pause on our conversation whether it is to check the status of a flight or look up that new restaurant. So we created Allo, a messaging app that helps you keep your conversation going, by providing assistance when you need it,” Google Group Product Manager Amit Fulay said.
Powered <g data-gr-id="74" style="color: #3b3b3b; font-size: 11px; background-color: white;">with</g> artificial intelligence, Allo packs in features including smart reply, options for sharing photos, emojis and stickers. For Indian users, Google has enabled smart replies in ‘Hinglish’. Google launch edits messaging app Allo, which will compete with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
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