Croma clocking up to Rs 1Cr topline per week from online alone, says Ajit Joshi, CEO, Infiniti Retail

Tata Group firm Infiniti Retail Ltd which runs one of the largest national retail chains of multi-brand electronics under the brand name Croma, launched its online store in April last year. In its earlier online avatar, the company was just offering a catalogue of the products available in its offline retail stores.

One-and-a-half-years later, the company claims to have grown four times in terms of orders per day. The online store offers a range of products across categories like phones, computers and home & kitchen appliances. Besides, the company offers products and services under its private label brand- 'Simply Croma'.

In a chat, Ajit Joshi, CEO, Infiniti Retail, talks about how the firm's portal has grown and expansion plans. Here are the edited excerpts:

What was the strategy behind venturing online?

At Croma, the core idea to venture into e-commerce was to extend our reach beyond the boundaries of our brick and mortar stores. This indeed was the most logical step and has helped us achieve our goals to a large extent. By launching this e-commerce venture we have now serviced more than 500 smaller towns where our brick and mortar stores couldn't reach. Even in the cities where Croma stores are present, our online portal offers a choice of shopping interface to our customers.

How many orders are you doing daily/monthly?

When we started operations we received 10,000 visitors a day. We have grown 2.5 times since then in terms of number of visitors and four times in terms of number of orders per day.

How are you pushing your private label brand?

We have incorporated a dedicated section on the home page named 'Simply Croma' and also a microsite of our own label products. The link to the microsite is provided on the main browse menu bar. This microsite will carry a special promotion round the clock on our own label products.

How much does online contribute to sales? What is your target for next year?

We are already clocking Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore of top-line per week from online. Our growth has been over 100 per cent Y-o-Y. Though we don't share any numbers, we can say our average sales price (ASP) is Rs 4,000-5,000 and we have been able to maintain this ASP. Our prepaid order contribution is also very high (close to 76 per cent) unlike any other e-tailer. We are very positive about customer response in the coming years.

What are the new features you have launched online?

Our biggest USP is our offline-online integration. Croma has a base of close to 100 offline stores and with this hybrid model, we are able to leverage features like order online and pick up from the store to our customers. Apart from that, we have features like product review videos on our site, gift wrap and personal message to enhance buyers' online shopping experience.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)