Consumer durable portal aiming high

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, DEC. 14. When dotcom dreams bust easily, a seven-month old portal, dedicated to e-commerce in consumer electronic durables and appliances, with its emphasis on B2C, has already notched up sales of over 1,100 items of a value of Rs. 1.5 crores and this, according to its promoter, ``is good business since we are aiming at 30 per cent of total business in this industry sector.''

That is quite a slice that makes Mr. K. S. Raman, Managing Director of the portal, www.globalwonders.com, smile since the total sales in 1999 of the industry was Rs. 650 crores, and is projected to grow at 30 per cent.

Mr. Raman is optimistic about e-commerce provided ``we handle it well.'' He is a long-time chief of Consumer Electronics and Television Manufacturers Association (CETMA) and is now the chief of a FICCI panel on this industry segment. What has made his portal important is that in a competitive market where consumers get discounts routinely, he offers items at market operating prices, frequently updated by a team of five personnel.

Apart from making television sets for Konark Television of Orissa and for Videocon, Mr. Raman has been running all brands under-one-roof showrooms here and all the nuances of trading in this segment has now been transferred to the portal. His associate is Mr. S. Hadi M. Alam, with his own association with PCWonders, another e-commerce portal in the U.S.

Growing Internet connections promise that the globalwonders.com current dream is not to be limited to India alone but do business with franchises overseas as well.

The portal is close to an agreement with GE Finance to provide, through the portal, online credit for the 600 products of 26 national and international brands, and so far, televisions and refrigerators have been picked up more than others.

It is already using HDFC's payment gateway, which at Rs. 50 per Rs. 1 lakh payment, is cheaper than credit cards which levy a fee of 4 per cent.

globalwonders.com, which operates out of this city, has integrated itself with chaitimes.com of both the U.K. and the U.S. even as major dealers in the Gulf countries, prominently from Saudi Arabia, have asked to be linked to this portal, offering to become backroom operations. ``'Go to the site next month, click on Saudi Arabia as an option and you can order an item from there for delivery in that country," Mr. Raman said.

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Section  : Business
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