Specialty e-tailers step up offline play to stave off threat from Amazon, Flipkart

The e-commerce sector is dealing with slowdown in growth and adding to the pressure is the expansion plans of categories by giants Amazon and Flipkart.

To compete with the two biggies, players in the space are focusing on offline stores and are investing in bringing up physical stores for more customer satisfaction, reports Mint.

Companies like furniture brand Urban Ladder, baby products seller FirstCry are changing their strategies to fight competition.

Verticals have to up their game especially when horizontals are standing strong in the e-commerce sector and one way to do that is to build an offline presence or spread their wings across channels by launching brands of products.

It is very important for the verticals to build their brand and that is not only through marketing but product differentiation is key to set companies apart from competitors.

Concurring on product differentiation, Peyush Bansal, chief executive of Lenskart told the paper, “From lenses to frames, their material and fitting, and the cost at which we can procure and deliver to the customer—(Flipkart and Amazon) will never be able to do it.”

Unlike the large e-commerce platforms, category-specific brands have a greater focus on pleasing customers, said Ashish Goel, chief executive officer of Urban Ladder.

“As an omni-channel brand, we thrive on the value proposition created by being category-specific. We completely understand the customers who seek out our products and that allows us to go where the customer wants us. An omni-channel presence ensures that our brand is where the customer is, especially for a category like furniture which is so touch and feel,” Goel said.

Despite the efforts by category-specific companies, they will have a tough time as the sector is lacking fresh funds. This is due to the slow pace of growth in the e-commerce space, especially with the market growing by less than 15 percent in 2016 to USD 14-15 billion and it’s expected to grow only slightly faster this year.