Ideas|Products|Startups|VCs

India’s largest and most trusted online retailer Infibeam has succumbed to daily deal phenomenon and  has launched “Infibeam Magicbox” – a section on the site with a unique product to be put on sale every Midnight. The product will be priced extremely attractively for customers.

Magic Box products would carry heavy discounts from their list prices but would be limited in stock. For all those who miss out on the Magic Box deal, they can request Infibeam to inform them as soon as they get available next. This initiative is bound to enthrall shoppers. Also, for shoppers that have missed out on Magic Box products, Infibeam offers Hot deals on similar products; with attractive discounts.

Infibeam has always offered lowest prices on most products and Infibeam Magic Box will be a major highlight.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Letsbuy, a New Delhi based e-commerce company founded by Hitesh Dhingra and Amanpreet Bajaj  in mid 2009 has raised an investment of $6M in series A round from Helion Venture Partners, Accel Partners and Tiger Global.

LetsBuy.com is an online retailer of consumer electronics, telecommunication products, laptops and computers peripherals, they deliver goods through out India. Earlier Hitesh Dhingra was the co-founder and Business Head of online advertising firm Quasar Media Pvt Ltd and Tyroo Media.

“LetsBuy.com in on the fast-growth path and the VC funding from the leaders in the space will only spur us on. The funds would be deployed in strengthening customer service, technology and supply chain processes,” said Dhingra, Founder & CEO, LetsBuy.com.

“India has witnessed tremendous growth in e-commerce and Letsbuy has been part of that growth. The team has the vision to have identified a very compelling opportunity and the execution skills to deliver to it,” said Ashish Gupta, Managing Director, Helion Venture Partners.

“The LetsBuy.com team has the vision and the business acumen to identify opportunities and make them stepping stones towards growth. In the process they present the best offerings to their customers and meet the goals chalked out by the partner investors. The strategy and plans match those valued by the Accel Partners team,” said Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel Partners.

If you compare the online traction of Infibeam, Futurebazaar and Letsbuy, letsbuy is catching up with Futurebazaar

Interestingly Letsbuy compete with Flipkart (also a portfolio company of tiger global and Accel Partners) in category like ‘Mobiles’.

I am impressed with wide range of payment options available for users at Letsbuy for order fulfillment, except for payment through mobile they have covered everything -

e-commerce space in India is very big enough to sustain and grow multiple payers. Online retailer with superior customer service, competitive pricing and quick delivery time will be successful.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Its been quite sometime i have bought books from offline stores since i generally don’t browse the bookshelf and buy books, i know which books i need to buy and i order it through online bookstores since its quite convenient and they offer decent discount. Before ordering i check the pricing and availability across all of them, and this process is certainly tedious and time consuming.

Indiabookstore is here to address the need of a average buyer like me,  Indiabookstore enables user to check the pricing of book, availability of book, days to deliver the book across various online bookstores. 

Indiabookstore is one of the first online book shopping aggregator to hit the market. Its a hobby project stated by Animesh Jain, founder of iTasveer and it is generating good traction.

This meta book search compares online bookportals at a time and It pulls textual data through its servers while images are fetched from the online stores at the client’s end which increases the speed of searching. I searched for Chetan Bhagat’s ’2 States’ and here is the result set -

UI is simple, clutter free and quite user friendly. Search speed is amazingly quite good and user doesn’t encounter any lag. Search results are based on relevance and ISBN. Indiabookstore supports 8 online bookstores and via affiliate programs Indiabookstore generates revenue.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

if you are avid book reader, love buying books and always look out at best price here is a web utility which will further enhance your buying experience.

Mysmartprice is a book comparison utility and it compares the price and availability across well known online book portals like Flipkart and Infibeam in India. In short its an aggregator.

Mysmartprice UI is simple and easy to use, their auto suggest works pretty well. I searched for book title “Devil” in Pinstripes” and here is the result page -

As per result page i find the best price from Infibeam, One column missing in their result page is “Availability” against the respective online stores, it may cause disappointment if as a user clicks on “Buy Now” on the cheapest price offered by bookstore and find out its not available.

Not sure of their exact business model but one obvious way of monetizing is through affiliate programs run by mostly all the prominent online bookstores. Do check out Mysmartprice and share your feedback.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Products from the homeland invoke a sense of nostalgia for Non Resident Indians that are separated by distances from their loved ones. Infibeam embarks on international expansion by launching a website Infibeam.us to cater to the Indians living abroad in US & Canada. The website will offer products from retailers in India for sale in the US & Canada.

Speaking on the launch, CEO and Founder, Infibeam Mr. Vishal Mehta said, “For Indians living abroad, receiving products from India at your doorstep is indeed a delight. In a bid to cater to our shoppers in the US & Canada, we have embarked on Infibeam.us in time for the Rakhi season”. He added, “The website will carry the best Indian brands in lifestyle categories. We will continue to expand the selection by adding more product categories starting with Books, Movies & Music.”

Many Indian retailers, publishers and distributors who wish to have their products sold in the US will use Infibeam.us platform and fulfillment services. The new site already carries a great selection of products in Apparel & Accessories, Beauty, Titan & Fastrack Watches, Jewelry etc.

Customers can now shop for authentic religion and spirituality products, traditional Indian clothing, handicrafts created by local artisans, decorative home furnishings that add an Indian touch to the interiors, ethnic gifts that emanate an Indian aura and get them shipped directly to their addresses in US. The website launch comes right in time for upcoming Rakhi festival and will carry rakhis and festival gifts as well.

Infibeam.us targeted at residents from the US and Canada is a novel idea and with this launch, Infibeam becomes one of the first Indian retail brand which is now global.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com