Arvind Internet to offer omnichannel service to brands
, ET Bureau|
Updated: Oct 12, 2017, 01.16 AM IST
KOLKATA: Arvind Internet, an e-commerce division of textiles major Arvind, is restructuring its business operations to become an omnichannel enabler for large brands and retailers, providing technological and back-end support to them.
The firm has already bagged contracts to create brand e-commerce sites and omnichannel capabilities for brands such as Puma, Levi’s, Reliance Brands, Converse, Being Human, Forever New, Numero Uno and BlackBerry in the Indian market, a top official said.
It aims to have another 30 brands by this fiscal, Arvind Internet CEO Mukul Bafana said. Originally floated to take the group’s apparel business online, Arvind Internet has now transferred the operations of group’s e-commerce venture NNNow.com to Arvind Lifestyle Brands, the group’s apparel retailing division.
Bafana, who is also a cofounder of Arvind Internet, said the group had spent several months and a few crores to create its omnichannel platform for NNNow-.com through IT vendors, but it remained a non-starter. It then decided to cancel all contracts with IT vendors and developed the platform in house.
“Almost every brand and retailer suffers in India in creating an omnichannel platform with IT vendors,” he said. “Hence, there was a huge interest from brands to utilise our platform and hence we decided to make it a proper business.”
Bagging so many clients in a short period highlights that there is a latent demand for this kind of service, he said.
“We have a pay-as-you-go model and we test all new capabilities in house before rolling them out for other retailers,” Bafana said. “We are also evaluating offers to create ecommerce and omnichannel capabilities in markets like Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand for some of the global brands. Talks are on with some of the big global brands which are sold in India by Arvind,” he said.
The firm has already bagged contracts to create brand e-commerce sites and omnichannel capabilities for brands such as Puma, Levi’s, Reliance Brands, Converse, Being Human, Forever New, Numero Uno and BlackBerry in the Indian market, a top official said.
It aims to have another 30 brands by this fiscal, Arvind Internet CEO Mukul Bafana said. Originally floated to take the group’s apparel business online, Arvind Internet has now transferred the operations of group’s e-commerce venture NNNow.com to Arvind Lifestyle Brands, the group’s apparel retailing division.
Bafana, who is also a cofounder of Arvind Internet, said the group had spent several months and a few crores to create its omnichannel platform for NNNow-.com through IT vendors, but it remained a non-starter. It then decided to cancel all contracts with IT vendors and developed the platform in house.
“Almost every brand and retailer suffers in India in creating an omnichannel platform with IT vendors,” he said. “Hence, there was a huge interest from brands to utilise our platform and hence we decided to make it a proper business.”
Bagging so many clients in a short period highlights that there is a latent demand for this kind of service, he said.
“We have a pay-as-you-go model and we test all new capabilities in house before rolling them out for other retailers,” Bafana said. “We are also evaluating offers to create ecommerce and omnichannel capabilities in markets like Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand for some of the global brands. Talks are on with some of the big global brands which are sold in India by Arvind,” he said.
