Education, Retail Exports, National eCommerce on the agenda
Mumbai, April 17, 2014: eBay India ( www.ebay.in ), India’s leading eCommerce marketplace and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), (www.cait.in) the apex body representing the trading community in India, announced a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at benefiting the Indian retail landscape.
The MOU between eBay India & CAIT is aimed at education & modernisation of Indian traders with the establishment of an eCommerce Centre of Excellence (COE) within the CAIT Retail School. The COE will launch a nationwide campaign among the business community in India to educate them as to why their existing business format requires upgradation and modernisation and how such upgradation will be accomplished. This first of its kind national awareness campaign is being launched jointly by eBay and CAIT and will enable Indian traders for retail exports via eBay to 201 countries and national online trade to 4,306 Indian locations. The campaign will empower traders to grow their respective business in online domestic trade as an additional channel of business without having any adverse effect on brick and mortar shops.
Mr. Latif Nathani, Managing Director, eBay India said, “CAIT is an excellent partner with its large base of 60 million traders conducting business activities in retail trade of India. We look forward to enabling their member traders for a successful eCommerce business and creating an additional source of livelihood for them by enabling both retail exports of Indian goods and widespread national trade. This MOU signals the beginning of a multiyear relationship and will add a new era to modernizing the retail trade of India which is the need of the hour.”
Mr. B. C.Bhartia, National President, CAIT said, “Existing online marketplace platforms like eBay are one of the best opportunities for retail traders in India to generate additional business without much investment. It will certainly enable the standalone retailers to compete with global retailers and their Indian counterparts in an effective manner. It will further give ample opportunities of developing more business for service providers, transporters and other sections of Indian economy beside the business community”.
Mr. Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General, CAIT said, “We are delighted that eBay has taken the initiative to join hands with CAIT to upgrade and modernize the retail trade. The strategy of providing education and awareness among the trading community which will result into an effective eCommerce marketplace to our member traders to extend their customer base beyond their city and reach consumers worldwide as well as across India. eBay India is investing in training our member traders to set up a successful eCommerce store via the eCommerce Centre of Excellence within the CAIT Retail School. eBay’s philosophy of enabling merchants of all sizes to succeed and never competing with its merchants is very impressive and we look forward to a successful partnership.”
The MOU between eBay & CAIT was announced at a press conference in Delhi today followed by an interactive introductory eCommerce workshop for traders. Regional workshops are being planned across the country across the second half of the year.
Indian eCommerce market is at a nascent stage of development and is sized at $3.2 billion. Technology brings buyers and merchants together and fosters seamless trade in an online marketplace. This model has helped traditional retailers to equip themselves with the technological advancement, overcome geographical barriers and increase the customer base. From a customer’s perspective, this model has given wider scope to shop from different sellers at competitive price with assurance on quality and delivery time. In this model, the role of technology provider is to just provide the marketplace platform where the seller pays a fixed fee per successful transaction. It generates business for shopkeeper, revenue for technology providers, revenue for banks or other transaction facilitators, business for Logistics Company and satisfaction to the consumer.
About eBay India
eBay India ( www.eBay.in ), India’s leading eCommerce marketplace, is India’s No. 1 online shopping destination where thousands of Indian entrepreneurs list a wide range of products across Electronics, Lifestyle, Collectibles and Media categories. eBay India is a 100% subsidiary of eBay Inc.
About CAIT
Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT : www.cait.in ) is representative body of trading community of India with a vision to empower the Indian retail trade to meet any global challenges. Besides raising traders issues in a forceful manner from time to time, the CAIT has a large focus on development and structured growth of Indian retail trade with time needed upgradation and modernization.