| Type | E-Commerce |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Key people | K Vaitheeswaran, CEO |
| Employees | 100 |
| Website | www.indiaplaza.com |
Indiaplaza is an Indian electronic commerce company offering different products for sale on their website.[1] Indiaplaza was one of the pioneers in the online shopping space in India. [2] [3] [4] Formerly known as Fabmart.com and later Fabmall.com, the company acquired US-based online shopping firm Indiaplaza.com and also rebranded itself to be known as Indiaplaza.in in India, and as Indiaplaza.com in the United States, which were later merged into a single website.[5]
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In June 1999 K Vaitheeswaran and five of his friends founded Fabmart.com, India’s first online departmental store. [6] The website Fabmart.com was launched in September 1999 and at the time it 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, Fabmart.com launched its offline grocery store in Bangalore, India.[7] [8] However in December 2002, Fabmart’s online and offline ventures were rebranded as Fabmall. In May 2004, the company was re-structured into two independent entities - Fabmall.com, which focused purely on the online retailing business, and Fabmall which focused on the Fabmall chain of grocery stores. In June 2004, Fabmall merged with Trinethra to become one of the largest grocery chains in India,[9] which was in turn acquired by Aditya Birla Group in December 2006[10] and rebranded as ‘More’ chain of stores in January 2008.[11] In January 2007, Fabmall.com acquired US-based Indiaplaza.com and created the world’s largest India-centric online shopping company with two distinct websites - Indiaplaza.com to serve customers in the US, and Indiaplaza.in to serve customers in India.[12] [13] [14] In February 2011, the company merged both websites into a common single website, Indiaplaza.com to serve customers worldwide.
Indiaplaza.com has received angel funding from The Indigo Monsoon Group (IMG), a private investment firm based in the USA and investing in Indian Internet and mobile domains. Other investments of IMG include Sulekha.com, a leading online community for Indians integrating social media with local commerce and eShakti.com, a leading online India-inspired and customized apparel retailer aimed at a global audience.[15] In February 2011, Indiaplaza successfully concluded Series A US $ 5 million funding from Indo-US Venture Partners (IUVP) who have invested in other internet companies like Myntra, Seventymm, and Snapdeal.[16]
In September 2003, Microsoft’s MSN Corporation entered into a strategic partnership with Fabmall.com to offer online shopping facilities to its MSN users in India.[17] Indiaplaza has business alliances with several media companies including Business Standard (bsbazaar.com), Sify.com, and with publishing houses like The Hindu and Business Standard to power their e-commerce initiatives. [18] [19]
Indiaplaza offers nearly 8 million products online including books, CD-ROMs, cameras, mobile phones, apparel, jewelry, flowers, chocolates, watches, and food items, and has nearly 1.5 million customers worldwide.[20] [21] The site also offers loyalty programs for customers. [22]
‘Indiaplaza Golden Quill Book Awards’ is an annual award instituted by Indiaplaza in 2008, to be conferred to an Indian author domiciled in India. The award is 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. The award also actively promotes the winning authors and these books. [23] [24] [25] The Indiaplaza Golden Quill - Readers' choice Award is given to the shortlisted book that gets the maximum number of votes from readers. Readers register their votes online in the Indiaplaza website. The award for each of these categories includes a cash prize, a citation, and a trophy. In 2009, Amitav Ghosh’s ‘Sea of Poppies’ won the Readers’ choice Award for fiction and Nandan Nilekani’s ‘Imagining India’ won the award in the non-fiction category. ‘Sea of Poppies’ also bagged the Jury Award for the Best Book. [26]