Tata Cliq – new marketplace on the block; Should Flipkart, Snapdeal & Amazon worry?

As always, Tata Group is right on schedule. IOS had reported that the conglomerate is going to launch an online marketplace on 27th May. And they launched Tata Cliq at the expected time last Friday.

Tata’s ecommerce venture is going to follow an omni-channel model, which is the most preferred format in the offline & online retail industry.

“At the Tata Group we have a rich heritage of pioneering initiatives. Tata Cliq a first of its kind omnichannel e-commerce marketplace is in keeping with this tradition, Cliq brings to India a smart combination of reassurance and in-store experience of large in-ground network with the convenience of online shopping, bringing the best of both worlds together. Tata Cliq is also symbolic of customer focus, tech orientation and collaboration across Tata Group,” said Cyrus P Mistry, Chairman – Tata Sons.

Tata Cliq – a curated marketplace

In spite of being a late-entrant, the firm isn’t worried. That’s because Cliq is a curated marketplace as opposed to ‘all are welcome to sell’ standard marketplace. Available as both, an ecommerce website and app, here are some of its features:

• It was developed over 1.5 years at a cost of $108-billion

• Domestic and International apparel, jewellery, footwear, and electronics brands will be sold on the platform

• As of now they have 2 lakh SKUs across 400 brands

• Looking to make use of the consumer database of 10 million shoppers

• Will cater to buyers across 5,000 pin codes in 101 cities

• The marketplace will be the sole authorized online seller of luxury goods brands such as Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Giorgio Armani, Tumi, Hugu Boss, Canali, Jimmy Choo, Coach, and Paul Smith in India

What’s in for online sellers

Tata Cliq is looking to source products either directly from brands or from legitimate sources. This is to ensure that counterfeit products don’t seep into the ecommerce portal and high-quality of service is maintained during pre & post-sales period. Therefore, it is an amazing opportunity for authorized wholesalers, retailers or dealers.

Due to the exclusive nature of the online portal, sellers/brands may not have to face issues such as unfair pricing, discount war, unauthorized dealers, brand infringement, and a congested setting, which are quite common in other online marketplaces.

Should existing ecommerce players worry?

Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon are struggling to stay afloat ever since FDI policy came into effect. From litigations to curb on discounts, etailers are fighting on all fronts while trying to outwit each other.

Add to that the fear of foreign ecommerce players Alibaba, Rakuten and Baidu that are all set to enter the Indian ecommerce market. Not to forget ecommerce ventures of other corporate biggies like Aditya Birla’s Abof, Mahindra Group’s portal and Reliance’s Ajio.

With Tata’s entry, the competition will get even fiercer. The MNC has a good reputation along with solid foundation and very deep pockets. And we very well know that trust, foundation and money matters a lot to run a successful ecommerce business.

But one thing is clear that Cliq is not getting into a discount war. Ashutosh Pandey, Chief Executive of Tata Unistore assured, “We don’t want to get into the discount wars, we want to serve customers with great products and build a sustainable business.”