Couple of years back no one expected ecommerce to catch on so
fiercely in India, but today not a week passes when we don’t hear about
either a new ecommerce site getting launched or someone getting funded in this space.
We have yet another one joining the ranks – Fopping.com.
It is based on the premise of making shopping more social. It has more
deeper integration with customer’s social network than most others. fopping.com
integrates consumer’s social profile in determining price of the
product. Consumers earn rewards based on their social strengths and
friend circle.
We spoke to Mr. Rama Jamili, Director & Co-founder of fopping.com and here is what he had to say:
1) With Indian Ecommerce space getting saturated,
especially in verticals that fopping is into, what do you see will be
USP of Fopping ?
R.J - E-retail has caught the fancy of many
as the growth of technology has empowered consumers in India as never
before. Many websites have sprung up over the last one year who is
looking to tap into this emerging market. The key to survival for any
e-commerce website is to provide a wholesome shopping experience to the
customer while giving him the best value on the products.
As the customer is not able to see or feel the products, the onus of
reciprocating him for this as well as keeping his faith in the website
is the driving force behind fopping.com.
We want to make online shopping a fun experience so we have linked our
share and gain reward system with social networking sites like Facebook
and twitter. Ours is the first website in India that uses the social
networking strength of a person (based on his friend list) to reward
him with fopps. Each fopp is equal to a Rupee that can be redeemed for a certain amount on each and every product on our website. We
believe in delighting the customer with our deep and varied categories,
share and gain fopps along with prompt delivery. This is our USP.
2) How does Fopping plan to capture Consumer mindshare?
R.J - Today Google, Facebook and Twitter rule the
Internet space. We have focused our unique share and gain model on
fopps earned by sharing products from our website onto the customer’s
personal page. Depending on his friends list, he is rewarded fopps. But
more importantly, through him we are able to reach more of our targeted
market segment. At the same time, by rewarding the customer, we are
delighting him as we are demonstrating his socio- commercial impact. We
constantly endeavor to get every kind of merchandise on our website-
from Haute couture designer wear to cult brands, hi- fashion to
home-furnishings. Our website also stresses more on visual
merchandising through our banners and product displays to capture the
imagination.
3) Offering points (Rs) based on Social
Connections – Is it a big enough reward for users to come and buy at
fopping. What happens if a user has very low social connection?
R.J - It may or may not be. But we have this vision
of making Shopping more social, with that we have started. Soon you
will see more innovations from our end to make Fopping more Fun and
social.
4) I have not understood it really works…can you please elaborate on it
R.J - In simple steps, Share product before you
buy, Earn FOPPS depending on number of friends a user has and last is
buying the product.
5) What are future plans and targets you have set for fopping.com
R.J - We want to maintain our uniqueness and bring out more innovative ideas into implementation to make shopping more social.
6) Ecommerce market is heading towards consolidation, what are your thoughts on those.
R.J - Consolidation is good for us. Our uniqueness helps us in a consolidated market.
7) What is the existing customer base and are you seeing any transactions currently?
R.J - We are in stealth mode in regards to this. Our competitors are prying on us, but it is reasonable to say we are growing at a good rate
——
No comments:
Post a Comment