Reliance Industries Ltd, the oil to yarn conglomerate launched its online fashion portal Ajio.com with the preview of its collection at the ongoing Lakme Fashion week in Mumbai. Isha Ambani, director on the board of Reliance Retail, has been closely associated with the online fashion venture from its conceptualisation.

• The company has said that it will offer the largest collection of private labels for women online, in an earnings presentation in January.
• Some 60% of the merchandise it sells, including national and international brands and Indie (ethnic fusion) wear, will be exclusively available on the portal, RIL said in its earnings presentation on Tuesday. The products will be aimed at 18-34-year olds, the presentation said.

Reliance Retail, RIL’s retail arm is the country’s largest modern retailer with revenues of Rs.17,640 crore for 2014-15, of which 54% comes from its 616 stores spread across value retail that includes Reliance Fresh and Reliance Marts. The retailer has a total of 2,621 stores spread across 200 cities which will be part of its e-commerce drive.

Did You Know?

• The e-tail market in India is still nascent and so far has been dominated by pure play e-commerce companies who have grown rapidly.
• Online retail is now a $14 billion market as compare to a $1 billion in 2012 fuelled by venture capital investors, who pumped in more than $9 billion over the past two years alone.
• A huge chunk of this money has been spent on luring customers through advertising and, more importantly, discounts.