Spencer’s Retail ropes in E&Y to plan its ecommerce foray

Spencer's Retail has brought consultancy firm Ernst & Young on board to structure it online firm, which it plans to launch in the next six months. The company plans to launch a separate firm to manage its online business so that it can attract overseas investments if the government opens ecommerce segment selling directly to consumers to foreign direct investment (FDI).

While the firm would operate as a marketplace model, Spencer’s Retail would be the prime seller on the platform and account for as much as 95 percent of the business across food, home improvement and basic fashion. The balance 5 percent will be occupied by sellers operating in segments like consumer electronics.

Spencer’s is looking at keeping both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar entities separate keeping an eye on FDI. The company would initially launch its ecommerce service in the cities where it already has an offline presence. These could be places like Kolkata, Gurgaon, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru.