Godrej goes for

"All Godrej businesses will foray into e-commerce, either directly or through marketplaces,” stated Tanya Dubash, executive director and chief brand officer of the Godrej group on November 18, as reported Mint on the following day. Some of their businesses are already engaged in e-commerce, while others are ready to take the plunge. Officials of the group, focusing on the online platform, plan to make it a strategically important distribution channel for their goods and services. The company’s chain Nature’s Basket is already selling online while various e-commerce websites have been retailing washing machines and refrigerators manufactured by the group, the report notes.
In Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) premium products from the packaged goods division will be offered for e-sale. "Fast moving consumer goods as a category is still a very nascent one in Indian e-commerce,” Sunil Kataria, chief operating officer of sales and marketing said. GCPL has created a dedicated team within its sales force to focus on this channel, Mint mentions. There are no plans for a company owned platform and the sales will be managed by marketplaces. Online marketplaces like Flipkart and Snapdeal are places where products displayed are sold by multiple third parties, while the marketplace operator processes the transactions.
The group’s real estate arm, Godrej Properties Limited, is planning to sell homes online. "Even today, almost 25% of the business is coming through the digital medium,” Girish Shah, executive vice president revealed to Mint, speaking about the number of customers who compare properties online before making a purchase. The company’s own portal, along with Snapdeal, will commence selling homes by December 2014. They are also working on setting up their own online payment gateway, he mentioned. Two projects, one each in Calcutta and Madras, have been earmarked for online sales, initially of smaller homes.

(Top): Tanya Dubash; (below, L-R): Sunil Kataria, Girish Shah and Mehernosh Pithawalla

Godrej Appliances is already active on Facebook as well as focusing on creating a mobile phone app. E-commerce accounts for two to three percent of overall sales on its own online platform.
Mehernosh B. Pithawalla, associate vice president of Godrej Security Solutions claims, "We were the first ones in India to start selling security products online and we are developing products exclusively for the online channel.” At present seven percent of business is coming in via e-commerce. Other Godrej companies too plan to create products meant exclusively for online sale. "We want to create a whole ecosystem around e-commerce as we believe that experience is the key and not just price,” Pithawalla told Mint.