New Delhi: Tata Group is looking for a big entry into the e-commerce space with a marketplace-based model. With this new venture the company will be hoping to replicate the success of Alibaba, which through its triumphant $21.8 billion initial public offering has eclipsed Amazon as the largest and most valuable e-commerce company in the world. Alibaba's vast e-commerce empire encompasses wholesale, retail, group buying, and payments.
Citing two sources, a leading newspaper said Tata Group's entry into the e-commerce space will be through it Tata Sons fully owned subsidiary Tata Industries Ltd "and not by its existing retail units".
The Group said it "will share more information at the appropriate moment". The marketplace is expected to be launched next year, the report suggested.
The new marketplace, which is yet to be named, will allow other merchants to sell alongside Tata's various units. The group has already reportedly begun enrolling vendors and hiring people, the report said.
The venture will initially only showcase brands from the Tata chain like Westside, Croma and Star Bazaar but the group is trying to rope in fashion brand Zara too, with whom it has a partnership in India, to also sell on the marketplace platform, the ET report quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The report also suggests that the company is looking model its business on Tmall.com, the Alibaba Group's marketplace.
India's ecommerce market has been growing at an unforeseeable pace with market leader Flipkart clocking a valuation of $7 billion in a July funding round when it raised $1 billion from a clutch of existing investors. A day later, Amazon announced plans to invest $2 billion in India.
