Festive Season Sale: Paytm Mall Enters Race With eBay’s Catalogue

SUMMARY

Paytm Mall will be investing $30 Cr to promote new catalogue

The new catalogue will include over 1 Mn products

eBay to help Paytm set up shop in the Middle East as well

In the preparation for the Festive Season sale, Paytm Mall will be expanding its catalogue to include over 1 Mn products ranging from toys, collectables, fashion, automobile accessories, gifts, and decor festive items. The retail branch of Paytm will be investing INR 30 Cr to promote the catalogue.

Paytm Mall wants to expand its World Store — an “international bazaar” for imported goods — by becoming a launch partner for international brands. The platform also plans to establish itself as the largest player for this segment.

“Our partnership with eBay has enabled us to increase the variety of product range to cater to the retailers’ and shoppers’ need,” Sr. vice president Paytm Mall Srinivas Mothey.

eBay Acquires Stake In Paytm Mall

Earlier in July, the US-based ecommerce company eBay had acquired 5.5% stake in Paytm Mall for INR 150 Mn, with an additional top-up of $ 10 Mn, to make its inventory more accessible to the Indian audience.

Paytm Mall, in a subsequent statement, said that the strategic partnership would allow eBay to overcome cross-border trade challenges such as high delivery costs, returns and long timelines while ensuring that regulatory requirements, including the payment of customs duties, are met.

Last month, Paytm reportedly planned to expand its marketplace PayTm Mall to the Middle East. The global ecommerce corporation eBay will help Paytm Mall expand its catalogue in the region.

Paytm Mall In Losses

Founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2017, Paytm Mall is a subsidiary of the Indian fintech startup Paytm. The ecommerce platform is backed by SoftBank, Alibaba, SAIF and Ant Financial. The platform is said to have a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $2.1 Bn in 2018.

However, Paytm Mall reported a net loss of $245.65 Mn (INR 1,787 Cr) on total sales of INR 774.8 Cr during the 2017-18 fiscal year. The loss was nearly 150 times the loss of $1.86 Mn it reported in 2016-17.

To manage its losses, the company has been trying to cut down on its cashback offers. In February, Paytm Mall had slashed down its cashback by more than 80% across categories such as grocery, electronics, and fashion.