By Saumya Tewari

Fashion and Lifestyle ecommerce portal, Yebhi.com has launched Virtual Stores across Café Coffee Day outlets in Delhi/NCR and Bangalore. Customers can purchase various products from the virtual wall with each having a corresponding QR or NFC Code. Customers can select any item by scanning the QR code or tapping on the NFC code via their smartphone, they will be taken to the Yebhi.com website, where they can buy the item. The company is offering offers and discounts exclusive to the virtual wall which won’t be available on its website otherwise. Presently, a discount of Rs 200 can be availed at Yebhi’s virtual store.

Launching the initiative, Manmohan Agarwal Founder and CEO, Yebhi.com said “This is a real triumph for the Indian ecommerce industry as it continues to be at the forefront of technological innovation. Presently, we have tied-up with CCD depending on the uptake of the initiative we might get more partners on board. Also, if this imitative picks up we plan to go one step ahead and launch products directly on the wall which means you don’t have to browse through a lot of products user can choose a product put his address and it will be shipped immediately.”

The company is aiming at least 20 sales a day from this initiative says Nikhil Rungta, Chief Business Officer, Yebhi.com. The number of users we are targeting to reach is tenfold of this number he further adds.

On being asked how is this initiative different than HomeShop18’s virtual wall set up at New Delhi’s IGI Airport, Nikhil asserts “We come with a different aim of reaching out to youth. We are targeting a customer when he/she is having a leisure time with friends and then they can check our wall and make a purchase. While once you are at an airport you’re always in a rush and chances are likely that you would not be able to devote your time to make a purchase. So, our targeting is different. We have not restricted ourselves to a particular spot we have a presence across 30 CCD outlets in two major cities. So, our user reach is large.”

Yebhi’s 10 percent of total traffic comes from mobile devices and tablets and the company is looking to roll out services on these mediums. Yebhi’s Android app is already there in the market and it will soon launch iOS and iPad applications in another 4-6 weeks informs Nikhil.

Speaking on marketplace version of Yebhi, Manmohan says “We have a small marketplace version for long time and it is highly controlled. It adds one fifth of our overall revenue and we do not allow vendors to interface with consumers we control the logistics. The inventory is with vendors.”

On the presence of mobile/DTH recharge option on Yebhi, he clarifies that it is a convenience for our loyal users and not a revenue option. Ecommerce continues to be Yebhi prime focus.

When asked to confirm the recent media reports on Yebhi raising $12M bridge funding, Manmohan refuses to comment adding ‘We are well funded currently and we are not looking to raise any funds.”