FIRST STEP Cover Story
Fashioning The e-commerce
Manu Kumar Jain, 31 } Venture: Jabong.com } Education: MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (2007), Bachelors from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (2003) } Date of incorporation: October 2011 } Investment: Initial funding
journey which started a few months ago, has been extremely fast-paced, making Jabong.com one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in the country. According to AlexaComScore data, Jabong.com figures amongst the top five e-tailing companies. And the e-venture has grown rapidly to offer over 400 brands with more than 50,000 products.
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be the fastest growing e-commerce company. “Starting with less than 10 people, today we have a big talent pool. Most of our talent comes from varied background such as IIT, IIM, ISB, Harvard, Wharton, Oxford, McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and AT Kearney,” shares Manu, who believes that an MBA made him more familiar with the business environment and confident about tackling the challenges.
Journey of Jabong
Opportunities galore
Manu Kumar Jain, one of the cofounders of Jabong.com, did his MBA from IIM Calcutta in 2007. He was then offered a job as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co, where Manu spent five years. Even though it was a dream job, Manu had an inclination to become an entrepreneur. He founded Jabong.com, an e-tailing venture, with Praveen Sinha and Arun Ram Chandra in October 2011. “A management degree helped me become familiar with the dynamic corporate environment. Today’s corporate environment is complex and holds a lot of challenges. B-School training helps us to be more polished and take up today’s challenges in a more professional manner. However, we learn way more on the job than the B-school training,” says Manu. The journey has reaped dividends, with the company now claiming to
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Do what you believe in. Never underestimate yourself.
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Advanc’edge MBA July 2012
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challenges
Jabong boasts of cutting edge e-commerce platform, highly experienced buying team, agile warehouse system and state-of-the-art customer care centre. With strategies in place, Jabong aims to become the market leader in the category. “We secured initial funding. Getting the funding was not very difficult as our idea was strong and promised good returns,” he says, even though he remains tight-lipped about the investment and other financial details. “Well, nothing comes easy. The main challenges faced include finding the right talent, getting the right brands on board, and ensuring high quality service delivery – differentiated from the competition,” shares Manu. Jabong currently fights tough competition with many e-tailing websites wanting a share of the consumers’ wallet. “Our focus is on creating a superior shopping experience by continuously adding more international and national brands in our portfolio along with cash on delivery, 24X7 customer service, free shipping and 30-day return policy,” he concludes. www.advancedge.com