Godrej Group set to acquire e-commerce company

Godrej Group is set to buy a small-sized e-commerce company through its retail arm Nature’s Basket, a subsidiary of Godrej Industries.

A separate e-commerce team has already been set up, which is offering products across companies such as Godrej Appliances, Godrej Properties and Godrej Industries. “We will acquire a small e-commerce company and its employees will work for us. Since it’s going to be a small business, we will run it ourselves and there will be no funding required through PE players,” said Adi Godrej, group Chairman.

Added Mohit Khattar, CEO, Nature’s Basket: “Due to a non-disclosure agreement, we are not in a position to reveal the name of the e-commerce company we are acquiring. Nature’s Basket was one of the first companies within the group to engage in e-commerce through its own site.”

However, unlike the rest of the subsidiaries of Godrej Industries, Nature’s Basket has yet to turn profitable.

“Nature’s Basket today has 50 stores. Some of the older stores may have turned profitable, but as a company, it has yet to record profit. But we will be expanding the number of stores since scaling up will ensure profitability,” Khattar added.

Positioned as a gourmet store, Nature’s Basket existed as a division of Godrej Agrovet and was subsequently hived off as a subsidiary of Godrej Industries.

The Group’s FMCG unit (Godrej Consumer Products) can also sell its products through the e-commerce platform of Nature’s Basket, which can serve as an additional distribution channel.

However, revenues from the e-commerce channel were not expected to be significant. “E-commerce is bound to grow, but sales will not be more than 20 per cent of the group’s existing revenues. It will still be a small part of our business,” Adi Godrej added.

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