Television Shopping Channel

Friday, May 19, 2006

Mumbai (UNI): Electronic media major TV 18 India Ltd today announced that it would launch the country's first fully integratted Home Shopping Network (HSN) for the Indian market. For this, the Group has secured initial funding from S B Asia Investment Fund (SAIF) Partners, a leading Asian private equity fund. Both TV 18 and SAIF are committed to this initiative through its various lifecycle stages and intend to make this initiative the home shopping channel and an online venture in India, according to a TV18 release here.

The organised shopping market is witnessing a tremendous boom and is expected to become a USD 30.35 billion opportunity by 2010. With a changing socio-economic enviroment, higher disposable income willingness to spend and availability of cheap credit, the share of organised shopping is all set to increase in the consumer's wallet. Studies estimate that the spending population is expected to increase from USD 280 million in 2002 to 686 million in 2010. Nearly 75 millon sq ft of mall space is estimated to become available in India by 2007.

However, a critical factor to note is that the spender or spending population is not easily accessible at a single point. Poor infrastructure, absence of quality locations and complex taxation issues confront the sellers. Moreover, additional complications arise on account of the mind-logging availability of choice. With hundreds of brands hitting the shelves everyday, making the right choice takes up a significant amount of time of the spender in transaction process, thus delaying buying decisions, the release added.