Welspun India forays into e-commerce with online store

Mumbai: Home textiles major Welspun India Thursday announced foray into e-commerce space with its new online retail store Shopwelspun.In, and targets a revenue of USD 50 million by 2020.

"Shopwelspun.In is set to be a one-stop shop for home furnishings, and we are targeting USD 50 million in online sales revenue," Dipali Goenka, CEO and Executive Director of Welspun India, told reporters.

The company expects 5 percent of its sales to come through the online channel this fiscal, and in the next 3 to 5 years, it expects 10-12 percent of its sale to come from the online store.

Welspun India presently sees about 3-4 percent of its sales coming from leading marketplaces.

The company is investing significantly in enhancing its technology, including digital marketing and online merchandising, content and customer experience as part of this exercise, she added.

While the company is looking at e-commerce segment, it will be one of the ways of distribution in its shift towards becoming omni-channel, Goenka said.

She did not disclose the investment details of the initiative, but indicated that they would take a "calibrated approach" towards e-commerce.

The company currently has over 200 shop-in-shops and about 300 distributors in offline retail and is growing at about 30 percent annually.

The firm is targeting sales of about Rs 160 crore for its retail business this fiscal, she said.

Welspun is also looking at a global footprint for its e-commerce initiative and will launch online retail stores in both the US and the UK over the next few months, she added.

"We are spending USD 5 million in the US market alone, to build our brands there," Goenka said.