Kolkata: mjunction services, India’s largest eCommerce company, today announced the launch of its debut B2C initiative - www.straightline.in. Straightline promises to redefine consumers’ convenience by providing a trusted world-class online shopping experience, offering a diverse product range, backed by one of the most advanced technological platforms and providing relevant support services like logistics, customer support and a simplified online payment gateway. For sellers looking for a virtual shop open 24X7X365, straightline would offer an additional channel of sales bringing in significant reduction in distribution costs.

 

Unveiling straightline at a function held in Kolkata, world renowned magician PC Sorcar Junior said, “All you need to do is log on to www.straightline.in and with a magical click, you’ll get instant access to a wide range of products from apparel and jewellery to electronics, and can complete all your festive shopping in…3 minutes flat! Now, that’s magic even I can’t do!"

 

The all-new straightline offers top brands in apparel, jewellery, watches, electronics, home appliances, mobile phones, kitchenware, books, music, movies, computers and peripherals, games and luggage, combining the very best in quality and appeal. The list includes names like Van Heusen, Wills Lifestyle, Sony, Canon, Kenstar, Electolux, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Nirlep, Nirali, Funskool, Leapfrog, Zenith, Dicota, Titan, Citizen, D'Damas, Nakshatra, among many others.

 

At the launch ceremony, mjunction managing director Viresh Oberoi said, “We have been selling industrial products and commodities such as steel, coal, iron ore; stressed assets such as plants and machineries; automobiles and even land and building, online till date. Business volume in terms of transaction value of our B2B businesses have soared to Rs14,393 crore last fiscal – helping us retain our leadership position as India's largest eCommerce company. We will build upon our track record in the B2B segment with straightline, our first B2C venture. Straightline will continue to promote our ideals of efficiency, convenience and reliability by simplifying the eRetail supply chain to benefit sellers and end consumers. Straightline promises to live up to its name of being the shortest distance between two points – the seller and the end consumer.”

 

The launch of straightline signifies driving mjunction’s B2C business with an increased customer orientation and providing opportunity to the end consumers to experience the benefits of eCommerce in their daily lives. Currently consumers from 644 cities covering about 5,000 pin codes can experience online shopping at www.straightline.in which will be extended to rural India covering 10,000 pin codes by end of FY 2010. 

 

Straighline’s scalable eCommerce infrastructure has been developed and deployed by Cognizant, a leading global provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, using the COTS IBM WebSphere Commerce suite. This eCommerce platform delivers superior customer experience, enabling users to accomplish their tasks quickly and with the least possible clicks. The platform is also integrated with SAP ERP for billing, invoicing, payments, and refunds. 

 

Mr Oberoi further noted: “I would like to thank Cognizant and IBM for their commendable job in developing such an advanced technological platform, which will play a significant role in sustaining straightline’s business objective.”

 

R Chandrasekaran, president and managing director, global delivery, Cognizant, said, “We congratulate mjunction on the successful commissioning of their scalable eCommerce infrastructure for online retail. It was a fulfilling experience to leverage our vast experience of managing high-velocity, high-transaction-volume eCommerce applications for global customers to understand mjunction’s business vision, provide business consulting on the envisioned business processes, and address significant technical challenges in successfully delivering a complex solution spanning the entire eCommerce continuum across product categories. Besides helping mjunction diversify their product offerings and associated services, this solution will also enable them to generate revenues from new business models, and new lines of product sales and online services, thereby helping mjunction further increase their market share. The success of this implementation has further strengthened our relationship with mjunction and opened up more opportunities to engage with them as a transformational partner and deliver business-aligned IT solutions.”

 

IBM’s Nitin Singhal, country manager, IBM Software Group, said: "IBM is always looking to help deliver client success and this is yet another milestone for IBM and Websphere in specific and we are glad to have mjunction as our very important and strategic client for IBM Middleware in India. mjunction has deployed IBM’s Websphere Commerce platform effectively for its business practices, the solution provides a robust, scalable platform based on SOA. The solution will provide superior customer experience with intuitive user interfaces. This relationship will only get stronger as we work closely in creating a world-class eRetailing platform, where we look forward to bring world-class support from IBM to mjunction.”

 

mjunction has clocked a total transactional value of Rs14,393 crore in FY 2009 and is targeting a cumulative transaction value of Rs50,000 crore by FY 2013. The company’s eRetailing venture is expected to climb along with the 30 per cent growth rate which the Indian eRetail market is experiencing. With an extensive array of offerings and stout internet infrastructure, straightline plans to cash in on the boom in online commerce growth in developing economies.

 

Straightline is very optimistic about the market share it will cover in the next couple of years, with the Rs9,210-crore Indian eCommerce market growing at 30 per cent and the Rs2,210-crore B2C non-travel market also growing at 40 per cent. A recent study on the distribution of the global online population by 2012 noted that India will contribute 6 per cent, or 109 million users out of the 812 million, in all of Asia. This effectively means that a mammoth 45 per cent of all online users will be from Asia!

 

With greener pastures beckoning in the online B2C segment, straightline will employ vibrant choice, ease of accessibility and sharp technology to draw the path from the seller right to the consumers’ doorsteps – in a straight line.