NDTV news channel launched the online portal Indian roots in 2013 which sells ethnic clothing and accessories. In June this year the company announced that it was looking to raise 600cr to further expand in the ecommerce space.
Just last month NDTV reported that they would be launching a site for gadgets that would compete with current online biggies. The wait is finally over. The pioneer news channel has announced the launch of its Gadget 360 platform, the highlights of which would be the following:
The expansion strategy has already been chalked out to include leveraging the current 24 million unique visitors per month that the company attracts to its NDTV Gadgets website.
“Gadgets 360 will offer hand-picked products, which will be available in the general markets after a week. Clearly, we are delinking the editorial from the e-commerce,” said Vikram Chandra, NDTV group chief executive.
Through gadget 360, NDTV is aiming to sell 26 exclusive products over the next 1 year in the following categories:
NDTV has struck up deals with Chinese smartphone companies Gionee and Qiku, audio device players Harmon Kardon, JBL and Alkatel to sell products exclusively on its web and mobile platforms. Some of the deals will see products exclusively sold on the Gadget 360 platform, while other agreements will only give NDTV one week’s head start over the other marketplaces.
NDTV has brought in investors including Genpact founder Pramod Bhasin, M&S Partners founder and director Hiro Mashita, Unilever former chairman Vindi Banga, Nikhil Vora of Sixth Sense Ventures, and former Apple CEO John Scully which has jointly raised $50 million. It has already decided to invest 10% of the money into building the Gadget 360 site, team and technology. Apart from the monetary gains, NDTV will also surely be tapping the expertise from this enterprising group of investors.
Editor team is specialized in introducing the marketplace content targeting the Indian online sellers. They plan and coordinate to bring the appealing content for the small businesses on how to partner with the e-commerce sites like Amazon and Flipkart and strategies for improving their online business.
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