Kishore Biyani’s Future Group has acquired Chaupaati Bazaar, a Mumbai based startup (we profiled them earlier) that is into phone commerce.
Chaupaati runs two portals – Chaupaati.in & Phonepedeal.com (B2B service) and enables customers to purchase products over the phone (integrated IVRS for credit card transactions).
The acquisition is part of Future Group’s foray into digital commerce and as Zishaan (of Chaupaati) tells me, the company (and angel investors) got a good return from this venture.
It’s important to note that Future Group recently launched its GSM service, T24 which is one of its kind – i.e. you get free talk time based on your purchase at Future Group stores. Expect an integration with Chaupaati pretty soon as Chaupaati products gives Future Group a tele sales platform to sell its physical inventory.
“I am delighted to share with you that Chaupaati Bazaar will now become part of Future Group’s digital commerce business. This gives us all a much larger canvas to achieve our common goal of providing convenience & access to consumers across India in shopping for genuine products & services at great prices and top service levels, without going to a physical shop. Mr. Rajiv Prakash, CEO of Future Ecommerce, would like to welcome all business partners of Chaupaati Bazaar to the Future Group platform with a commitment to continue partnering with them and growing the business together. In the words of Mr. Kishore Biyani, “Future Group is committed to making significant investments in building the digital commerce business. Having a strong phone commerce channel is integral to this vision. Chaupaati Bazaar is a phone commerce pioneer and we are proud to join hands with them in our journey.” – from Chaupaati’s blog.
