Indiaplaza was an Indian electronic commerce website.[1] It was one of the pioneers in the online shopping space in India.[2][3][4] Earlier known as Fabmart and then Fabmall, the company later acquired US-based online shopping firm Indiaplaza.com and rebranded itself as Indiaplaza.in in India, and as Indiaplaza.com in the United States, which were later merged into a single website.[5]
 Indiaplaza logo. | |
| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Owner | K Vaitheeswaran |
| URL | www |
| Launched | 1999 |
| Current status | inactive |
History
editIn June 1999, K Vaitheeswaran[6] and five of his friends including V S Sudhakar, Vipul Parekh, Hari Menon, V S Ramesh and Sundeep Thakran founded India's first online departmental store. The website Fabmart.com was launched in September 1999 which then offered only music CDs for sale. Between February and October 2000, the website introduced additional categories including books, movies, watches, and groceries. In February 2002, they launched their first offline grocery store in Bangalore, India.[citation needed]
Funding
editIndiaplaza.com received angel funding from The Indigo Monsoon Group (IMG), a private investment firm based in the USA known for investing in Indian Internet and mobile domains. IMG's other investments include Sulekha.com, an online community for Indians integrating social media with local commerce and EShakti.com, an online India-inspired and customized apparel retailer aimed at a global audience.[3] In February 2011, Indiaplaza successfully concluded a deal for Series A US $5 million funding from Indo-US Venture Partners (IUVP) who had previously invested in other internet companies like Myntra, and Snapdeal.[7]
Despite securing these funding sources, Indiaplaza was unable to raise sufficient funding in 2012–2013, which meant that the company had to cease trading.[citation needed]
Product range
editIndiaplaza offered a few thousand products online including books, CD-ROMs, cameras, mobile phones, apparel, jewelry, flowers, chocolates, watches, and food items.[1][8]
Indiaplaza Golden Quill Book Award
editThe "Indiaplaza Golden Quill Book Awards" were instituted by Indiaplaza in 2008, to be conferred to an Indian author domiciled in India. The award was for an original full-length novel or work of fiction in English or a translation into English of an original full-length novel or work of fiction of any Indian language published in India in the previous calendar year.[9]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Indiaplaza.in Looking At $10M Fundraise". Reuters. 2011-03-15. Archived from the original on 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
- ^ "Site for shoppers". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 2007-09-13. Archived from the original on 2012-11-10.
- ^ a b "Latest News: India News | Latest Business News | BSE | IPO News".
- ^ "Online retail: Are e-retail firms in India building a bubble again?". The Times Of India. 2011-07-19. Archived from the original on September 23, 2011.
- ^ "Fabmall.com acquires US-based online shopping firm | Business Line". www.thehindubusinessline.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-20.
- ^ "7 Lessons From The Failure Of E-Commerce Pioneer Indiaplaza". Huffington Post. 25 December 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
- ^ "SeventyMM Diversifies into E-Commerce". 30 August 2011.
- ^ Badrinath, Raghuvir (11 July 2011). "Indiaplaza raises VC from NEA-IndoUS". Business Standard India.
- ^ "Indiaplaza Golden Quill Book Awards – Indiaplazabooks's Blog".