Tata Group, India's largest business house, is set to launch its online shopping portal next month, joining a list of major domestic companies that have forayed into the e-commerce sector to tap its vast potential.
"We will launch our e-commerce venture next month," Livemint quoted Nirmalya Kumar, member of the group executive council at Tata Sons, as saying.
Recently, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) had said that it would roll out its online retailing platforms for fashion and electronic devices by the end of this year.
The company also said that it would start selling its smartphones branded as 'LYF', as it gets ready to offer its fourth-generation (4G) mobile services by December 2015.
On the other hand, Aditya Birla Group has already launched its online retailing platform for fashion on 16 October. The portal offers brands of Aditya Birla Group and other companies.
Tata Group's online venture "will be an omni-channel branded marketplace, which will connect the online and offline assets of companies."
"What we have experienced so far is e-retail 1.0 with two different sets of people doing retail by themselves," KRS Jamwal, executive director of Tata Industries Ltd, had said in September.
"What we will offer is e-retail 2.0. It is merging these two different sides because the reality on the ground is that much more integrated," he said.
Domestic e-commerce market is expected to see a three-fold increase in its value compared to last year, as more people show interest in purchasing goods online.
The combined gross merchandise value (GMV) of the Indian online retailers is projected to surpass $12 billion (Rs 78,000 crore) by December against $4.5 billion (Rs 29,000 crore) recorded in 2014.
