Growing market: TCS looks to tap into e-commerce segment

People still don’t trust e-commerce businesses, says TCS E-COM CEO

KARACHI:

Mobile phones have traditionally been the top selling category for e-commerce websites, but not in the case of Yayvo.com where sales of fashion apparel have already taken over that of electronic gadgets.

An e-commerce portal of TCS E-COM Private Limited, Yayvo.com shipped more than 400 orders of Sana Safinaz (SS) silk collection within 48 hours of its September 14 launch and even booked pre-orders for Eid collection of Asim Jofa (AJ).

This also explains why the e-commerce site is promoting fashion apparel among featured items on its home page.

“Mobile phones had been our top category but women fashion apparel took over those three months ago,” TCS E-COM Chief Executive Officer Salman Hasan said in an interview.

Arguably, Yayvo.com is the only e-commerce player to have taken pre-orders for AJ’s Eid collection but that’s not the only thing exclusive to them. Formerly operating as TCS Connect, the company has gone through a rebranding process - thus the name Yayvo.com - and seems to be making a notable impact on the country’s e-commerce segment.

Yayvo.com, which went live on September 1, promises to deliver high demand items within 60 minutes of placing an order and offers a ‘seven-day return-no-questions-asked policy’, which will not only improve customer experience but also take the country’s small but growing e-commerce sector to the next level.

“TCS has the supporting infrastructure in place to experiment with such services,” Hasan said of the 60-minute delivery service, a first of its kind in Pakistan - even Amazon started this service for New York City only recently, he said.

The CEO said it was because of the same service that they recorded their highest ever sale in a day during Cricket World Cup 2015 by selling Pakistan jerseys.

Responding to a question about its return policy, Hasan said, “People still don’t trust e-commerce businesses and prefer visiting markets.” The ‘seven-day-return-no-questions-asked policy’ is to address their fears and gain trust, he said, adding this will benefit the entire e-commerce sector and not just Yayvo.com.

Despite TCS being the logistics partner for most e-commerce sites and online retail stores, its own e-commerce portal is not among the top players. The company is managing only 100 to 120 orders a day.

Asked if they were late to join the e-commerce bandwagon, Hasan said, “That depends how you look at it. Yes, we launched recently but the market is still very small,” he said adding, “If I say we have covered tip of the iceberg, it will be an overstatement.”

The country’s e-commerce sector is still in its infancy and represents only 5% of the conventional retail. However, the overall size of this fast growing segment has come close to $100 million, according to industry estimates.

The total e-commerce sales are equal to that of only one grocery store, Hasan said referring to Imtiaz Super Market. There is a lot of room to grow, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2015.

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