ITC Ltd. has shut down its own e-commerce platform, itcstore.in, four years after it launched the service in Oct. 2020.
The FMCG giant said that the platform was introduced as a Covid-19 pandemic response to meet rising online demand but has now “served its purpose.”
“It has been a strategic endeavour to enhance the omnichannel reach of ITC’s Trade Marketing & Distribution infrastructure across physical and online channels and given that today a large number of products are available in the popular e-commerce platforms, the online ITC store has ceased operations,” an ITC spokesperson told NDTV Profit in response to queries in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
The move underscores ITC’s shift towards aggressively tapping third-party e-commerce players like Blinkit, Instamart, Amazon, and Instamart to reach online consumers more effectively. The company has seen a 50% growth in these channels, the spokesperson added.
Several other packaged goods companies including Nestle, Amul, Dabur and Marico set up their own e-commerce platforms to cater to the growing trend of online shopping post-Covid-19. The initiative, however, was not aimed at competing with quick commerce or traditional e-commerce giants but focussed on acquiring new customers.
Owning their own online platform helped these companies save on distributor and retailer margins by selling directly. It also allowed these companies to stock their entire product portfolio, which they cannot do on larger e-commerce platforms like Amazon or Blinkit. Most of these companies sought to enhance their customer base by offering up to 40% discounts on their products ranging from soaps to staples.
However, the strategy appears to have not worked in favour of ITC, forcing it to shut down operations and revaluate its approach.
The website currently displays a message stating, “not processing any orders currently”.
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