Electronics E-tailer Timtara Diversifies Into Lifestyle Vertical; To Launch A Separate Portal Soon

Timtara, (a part of Infosecure Consulting Pvt. Ltd) an online electronics retailer having a private label named Buzz, is all set to launch a separate domain which would deal with lifestyle products such as perfumes, home décor, watches and jewellery both under established brands as well as under its own private label.

To begin with Timtara has added these product categories in the existing portal but it would launch a separte lifestyle ecom site in another 1-2 months.

Talking exclusively to Techcircle.in, Arindam Bose, co-founder and chief customer officer said, "We need to do it fast, or else this would dilute the core positioning of Timtara that is electronics. We had to do this to grow our topline and make our bottomline healthy."

Timtara deals in various electronic gadgets such as LCDs, cameras, mobiles, laptops & peripherals, healthcare items, watches, gaming Items, kitchen & home Appliances. Bose added, "It is necessary to venture into new things to acquire newer customers. Right now, with the existing categories in the electronics segment, it was difficult to go beyond this. Hence a new domain was necessary."

Mobile, cameras and IT product are top selling products of Timtara and 90 per cent of the existing customers are male. With the new move, it intends to acquire a fair mix of female consumers.

Similar moves have already been taken by Letsbuy, another electronics focused ecom site. Check out here why Letsbuy moved into other verticals.

With the newer categories, Timtara is expecting a higher profit margin. Electronics doesn't yield more than 10 per cent profit margin, but the new ones are expected to give margins of about 30 per cent,  Bose said.

The online firm which claims 500-600 orders a day is growing at a rate of 10X year on year and intends to touch a revenue of Rs 100 crore by fiscal 2013 and Rs 500 crore by fiscal 2014. "We hope to break even by FY'14," Bose added. Right now, it does not carry any inventory, but would start doing so for some companies, once it touches the Rs 100 crore revenue mark.

Timtara is also looking at raising a series A funding in FY'13 which would primarily be used for expanding the company portfolio. Bose said, "We would use the money, for team expansion, growing our private label. In addition, we will work towards improving technologies, operations, logistics and supply chain."

Although operational since May 2010, Timtara has not raised any money yet other than funding from friends and family.

It is also planning to open new offices in Bangalore and Mumbai this year. The firm is currently operating out of its key office in Noida.