e-Bay on partner expansion mode

Kolkata: After a comprehensive analysis of the Indian online marketplace, e-Bay has announced its expansion plans. Naming Kolkata as the sixth largest e-commerce hub in India, the company is now looking at expanding its partner base across the nation with special focus on incorporating small players from the upcountry markets. Already covering 2,427 locations across 39 countries, the company is planning to add new vendors and shop-owners within its fold.

Sharing more on the company's plan, Ambareesh Murty, Country Manager, e-Bay said, “With e-commerce entering into the mainstream market and the people becoming IT savvy, online trading is rapidly growing. Already, we are the dominant player in this space but I look forward to increasing out marketshare by incorporating the upcountry vendors and sellers in the realm.”

With electronic and IT items featuring on the top-list for buyers, Murty hinted to pursue the small-time IT vendors in the B and C-class cities to become a partner for the company. In this process, e-Bay is shortly coming up with extensive reward plans for its franchisees and will hold events in the eastern and southern upcountry markets.

“We conduct regular events and promotions to spread e-commerce awareness. Also, for our partners, we have lucrative trade options and hold regular training sessions to make them IT-savvy. The new partners and franchisees are given credit priority in the selling space to make them understand e-commerce better,” Murty added.

Offering at least 15 percent lesser than the market price, Murty declared that green products have made headway into e-commerce featuring in the top five sold items besides jewellery and collectable items.

Commenting on the global recession, Murty said, “E-Bay has made an exception to the global recession era. When most markets and companies were down, we have steadily held on to our sales and our franchises did not have to face the dire consequences of the slowdown primarily because of the price lead we have and the partner base we have built up.”