Bangalore's Affair with E-Commerce Startups Still Going Strong

The energy in Bangalore today is comparable to the Silicon Valley of 1996. The city plays home to many upcoming online retail businesses and some of the most successful online shopping companies in the country like Flipkart, RedBus, Koovs, 20North, Just Books, Itshandmade and Hoopos. Some of the sources in this article believe that Bangalore's weather is an indirect reason why technology experts from all over the country prefer to stay in the city. Apart from the weather, Bangalore's increasing traffic problems are also adding to demand for online grocery orders. Big Basket, an online grocery store in Bangalore receives about 500 orders each day.

On a more serious note, since technology is critical in online retail business, Bangalore definitely scores. One of the reasons behind this is the abundance of talent required in various areas of technology. In 1999, India's first e-commerce site Fabmart.com (now IndiaPlaza), was founded by Vaitheeswaran. Back then, he didn't take the conditions in Bangalore much into consideration. He reveals, "Bangalore was the inevitable choice as this didn't disturb my personal life or ecosystem. Bangalore worked out as a great location and even if I had compared with other options, it would be the best option." On the other hand, Hoopos, a portal that sells baby products online, was founded in Bangalore with availability of talent in mind. Anubhav Sudha, co-founder and VP-engineering shares, "Online retail is a highly technology-intensive business, and technology is the backbone of most enterprises today. People from all around the country come to work in organisations here and so, a talent pool is already laid out. Since there is no problem in finding the right skilled resources, Bangalore becomes suitable for any technology-intensive enterprise."

The presence of other entrepreneurs is not looked upon as a threat, but adds to the entrepreneurial vibrancy of the city. Zip Dial is a successful mobile marketing and communication startup whose clients include several reputed online retailers like Koovs, Myntra, TutorVista and Flipkart. Its co-founder, Valerie Wagoner feels that having many startups in one area provides as an intangible benefit, "People freely share ideas and lessons, and maintain an informal relationship between entrepreneurial friends. It's a case of people flocking together providing as a network and this creates a great ecosystem to grow."