Dabur India to expand e-commerce presence

Homegrown FMCG major Dabur is gearing up for a bigger play in the e-commerce segment in India to tap potential of the fast growing sector, according to a report by PTI.
The company – which has ventured into online cosmetics and beauty products through NewU, run by its wholly-owned arm H&B Stores – is working on a new platform called DaburUveda.com to enhance its presence in the e-commerce space.
“We do see that e-commerce is going to expand in a very big way. Thanks to technical development and increased mobile phone penetration, the e-commerce opportunity is going to be very very big. We feel that it is going to expand further in the middle and long term scenario,” Dabur India CFO Lalit Malik was quoted by PTI as saying.
Commenting on Dabur’s activities in the space, he told PTI: “Although we are growing in the e-commerce side, this is very niche category…presently contribution of online sales is very small. We already have a channel NewU and at the same time we are working on our new platform DaburUveda.com.”
Bullish on the segment, he was further quoted by PTI as saying: “Going forward we expect to become a significant channel with regards to distribution of our products.”
Malik said currently service providers are indulging in heavy discounts but in the long-run “it has to be a sustainable, profitable model.”
Various studies have predicted the Indian e-commerce market to touch a size of US $100 billion by 2020 from around US $13 billion at present.