The Hindu Business Line : Fabmall plans seamless `connect' with consumers

So, in Bangalore, Fabmall's customers have four ways to order groceries with it: visit the stores, SMS, call up, or order online. "This is to provide a seamless experience for customers transacting with us," said Mr K. Vaitheeswaran, Chief Operating Officer, Fabmall.

"We are also working on adding a catalogue ordering system, where customers receive product info by physical mail and then they can order using any method they choose."

On a national level, the company is experimenting with selling J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price, which readers can order online, over the phone or through SMS.

But providing a seamless experience is also a "mind-boggling technology challenge," he said. "The key is usage of technology at the backend. We have organised our backend stocking, logistics and fulfilment modules in a manner that, irrespective of how the order comes in from the customer, the logistics team can access a common module and process orders. This ensures that there are no separate stock levels monitored for different streams of order-ins."

Harry Porter is being used as the test case for the process. And in two weeks, "we will throw this open to more products that can be easily ordered by customers across mediums." Typically, these will be books, jewellery, gift items and home appliances.

The online mall achieved break-even last year, and expects revenues to touch Rs 20 crore for the year-ended March 2006.

Some of its stakeholders also have stakes in Sulekha.com and Indiaplaza.com, two portals with which Fabmall has a tie-up. Indiaplaza is an e-commerce portal, targeting mainly the NRI community; this has given Fabmall access to about 5 lakh NRI users. Fabmall itself attracts an equal number of Indian users, said Mr Vaitheeswaran.

Its brick-and-mortar operations were consolidated with departmental store chain Trinethra's last year, a deal which saw investment from private equity firm GW Capital. In Bangalore, the online store continues to have a marketing arrangement with the Fabmall retail stores.

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