KOLKATA: STAR CJ Alive, a home shopping channel, will start selling cars from April, said Kenny Shin, chief executive officer, STAR CJ Alive.
The home shopping channel owned by STAR CJ Network India, a joint venture of STAR Asia and South Korean home shopping major CJ O Shopping, has already entered into agreements with two car manufacturers, said Kenny Shin, chief executive officer, STAR CJ Alive.
Shin declined to name the two car manufactuers.
Star CJ Alive earlier planned to start selling cars from this month but the 3-6 per cent reduction in excise duty across different class of vehicles in the interim budget resulted in its plan getting delayed.
CJO Shopping which sells cars in China and Korea since 2003, garners good business from the auto segment. “In the year 2012-13, out of $1.5 billion turnover, around Rs 1,000 crore (about $161 million) was contributed by auto sales in China,” he said.
Shin said about 15 per cent of the enquiries get translated into deals. The shopping channel has around 50 million viewership.
Shin expects cars priced between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 10 lakh to sell the most.
He said the shopping channel will also start selling products like insurance and travel packages in another three to four months. It has earlier carried programmes for creating awareness about ICICI Lombard and Tata AIG products.
Star CJ Alive was launched about four years ago and is one of the fastest growing shopping channels in the country. “The television shopping industry is growing at a rate of 35-40 per cent whereas in the current fiscal, we are growing at a rate of around 60 per cent,” he said.
The size of the television shopping business in India is around Rs 2,000 crore and STAR CJ Network India enjoys a market share of around 30-35 per cent at present, Shin said.
Star CJ Alive is in the third position in terms of sales. Home Shop 18 is at the top. Star CJ Alive gets 90 per cent of its business through the television channel and 10 per cent from online shopping.
“Looking at the change in the consumer behaviour in India due to the penetration of online shopping, we intend to strengthen our presence online and reach out to a wider consumer base,” he said. Star CJ Alive offers an array of products ranging from fashion, lifestyle, home appliances, kitchenware to digital products.
On buying preference and trends, Shin said home shopping trend has changed and consumers now also buy personal care products and products like sarees and jewellery. Earlier, home shopping was restricted to digital products.
The channel has 5 million registered customers and aims to increase the customer base to 8 million in the next 2-3 years.
