“The Biggest Challenge for the Indian e-Commerce Industry is High Cash-on-Delivery Orders”

“The Biggest Challenge for the Indian e-Commerce Industry is High Cash-on-Delivery Orders”

The Indian E-commerce market has attained a significant growth in recent years; one of the major growth factors for this market has been boost in digital awareness among people. There has been a shift in consumer buying behavior from offline to online. Now a days they prefer to buy from e-Commerce sites. LatestOne is one of the leading e-Commerce player and doing well so far. Mr. Ameen Khwaja, CEO & Founder of LatestOne.com shared their achievements and market plans to continue their growth.

DT: What have been the crucial milestones of your company during year 2017?

Mr. Khwaja: We have achieved quite a few crucial milestones during the year 2017. Our private label ‘PTron’ crossed Rs 50 crore in sales since its launch two years back. We have sold more than one million pieces of PTron accessories like headphones, smart watches, Bluetooth audio devices, power banks, chargers and cables.

Secondly, LatestOne.com shipped 200,000 orders in the month of Nov’17 and registered gross revenue of Rs. 10 crores for the same month.

DT: How do you see the market growth in 2018 for e-commerce business in India? Please share growth drivers for this market.

Mr. Khwaja: The Indian e-commerce industry has been on an upward growth trajectory and is expected to surpass the US to become the second largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034. India’s e-commerce industry is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 30 per cent to reach US$ 200 billion by 2026. Much of this growth has been triggered by increasing internet and smart phone penetration. Internet penetration in India grew from just 4 per cent in 2007 to 34.08 per cent in 2016. A young demographic profile, rising internet penetration and relative better economic performance are the key drivers of this sector. The Government of India's policies and regulatory frameworks such as 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in B2B e-commerce and 100 per cent FDI under automatic route under the market place model of B2C e-commerce are expected to further propel growth in the sectors.

DT: What will be the biggest challenge for e-commerce players in India?

Mr. Khwaja: In my view, the biggest challenge for the Indian e-commerce industry is high cash-on-delivery orders and low success rate for internet banking transactions. Almost 50% of the transactions fail due to inefficient IT infrastructure. I think private and public banks should strengthen their IT infra with regards to online payments.

DT: What will be the major plans for your brand in India in year 2018?

Mr. Khwaja: We will be focusing on offline and online brand building of our private labels - PTron and DaZon by targeting the relevant demography. We will also target at building dealer network across PAN India for PTron and DaZon. For the FY 2017-2018, we will have 100 dealers in India.

DT: Please share your current revenue and market growth rate. What is your target for year 2018? How do you plan to achieve the set target?

Mr. Khwaja: LatestOne.com, owned and operated by Hyderabad based public listed Company, Palred Technologies Ltd has declared net revenue of 10.34 Cr for Q1 FY 17-18. LatestOne.com has emerged as No.1 e-tailer for Tech & Mobile Accessories in 2 years since its launch.

Company projects substantial operational and financial efficiencies from Q2 FY 17-18. As a result the Company expects an increase of 25% in its top line and improvement of almost 85% in bottom line in Q2 FY 17-18 as compared to same quarter previous year and huge improvements as compared to Q1 FY 17-18.

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