Reliance Industries, which is lately getting bullish on the growing e-commerce market in India, has technically entered the online business on a pan India level with its fashion portal. The portal will compete with the already present leaders in the fashion portal segment such as Myntra and Jabong. Besides, it will also compete with players like Trendin, a fashion portal of Madura Lifestyle and Abof of the Aditya Birla Group.

e-commerce venture

Christened as Ajio (pronounced aajio), is first national roll out for Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of the oil and gas major that handles all the ecommerce initiatives for the company. The company is also simultaneously piloting an e-commerce venture for selling grocery and fresh produce in Mumbai at present.

Sanjay Mehra, CEO of Ajio, told media on the sidelines of India Lakme Fashion Week that Ajio will be an omni-channel initiative that will leverage the large network of Reliance retail stores --Trends and Footprints, present across the country. Reliance has over 2621 stores across all retail formats across the country.

"We are targeting all the cities by leveraging our Reliance Jio network. 60 percent of our merchandise is unique to the fashion ecosystem. This means we have a selection that you won't find anywhere. Omni-channel and our Jio digital ecosystem sets us apart in terms of providing better presence and connectivity respectively to our consumers," Mehra added.

Delivery

Ajio, which is being driven by Isha Ambani, daughter of Mukesh Ambani, has tied up with about 200 international and national brands. Most of the brands are daily wear and affordable brands from markets like Russia and Australia and Europe. It will also sell its own private brands.

Mehra further added that the company, which is an inventory-led e-commerce model, has tied up with various third party logistics partners for last mile delivery. The company plans to provide delivery in over 15,000 pin-codes over the next two months.

The portal offers a wide range of selection across categories from lingerie to jewellery for women at present. But it is soon going to cater to men and kids.

Mehra didn't give a time line for that and also refused to divulge any financial details including investment and sales target as Reliance is in its silent period.

Ajio rolled out a campaign at the fashion week here with a campaign "doubt is out" with an attempt to break the stereotype in the fashion industry.

Ajio's models who walked the ramp were not the usual anorexic models but a transgender activist Laxmi Tripathi, an MIG fighter jet pilot Suman Sharma, porn star turned mainstream Bollywood actress Sunny Leone, stand-up comedian Bharti Singh and yesteryear's item girl Helen depicting size no bar, age no bar, gender no bar and career no bar.

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