E-tailers eyeing offline stores across smaller towns

Flipkart is one of India's biggest e-commerce players, with its headquarters in Bengaluru, India.

Founded nine years ago by ex-Amazon employees, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the e-commerce portal is now valued at over $15 billion.

With revenues exceeding $1.5 billion last year, the company has popular online platforms such as Jabong and Myntra under its belt.

Last year, Bengaluru-based e-tailer Flipkart announced a new spree of offline collection centers to facilitate online purchases for their clients.

Flipkart opened 20 convenience stores across 10 cities and said that the store count would increase to 100 this year.

The online platform launched the new services as part of expanding its operations across smaller markets and enabling easier service for clients.

Earlier this year, one of the biggest e-commerce giants in the world, Amazon, sketched plans to open its physical store in New York City.

The company has opened its first offline Amazon Books store last year in Seattle.

The highly secretive project was touted to be under wraps, titled Project Anne.

Amazon reportedly announced plans of opening an offline store in San Diego.

India's e-tailers are considering launching their offline stores across small cities in the country.

In a sudden spurt of e-commerce trends in India, many big players are targeting smaller towns to expand their customer base.

Companies such as Flipkart and Amazon recorded massive sales from smaller towns.

Nearly 65% of Flipkart's orders were pitched to have come from Tier-II towns and below.

The e-commerce portals partner with retail shops of brands such as Samsung and others.

The e-tailers like Amazon and Flipkart then train the store representatives on their products and pay them a commission for every sale they make.

These e-commerce companies' websites will act as the platform for customers to make their purchases, and the stores serve as delivery or physical points.