Offline traders' body CAIT has argued that e-commerce companies are misinterpreting MHA's new lockdown guidelines and "twisting (them) in their favour to misguide the various state governments and authorities and to create unnecessary confusion." The government has extended lockdown till May 17. It, however, gave some relaxations for business activities and people's movement within areas with limited or no COVID-19 cases.

Until late Sunday, only a handful of states including UP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Odisha, Delhi and Uttarakhand issued notifications on the lines of MHA’s Friday order.

Amazon’s India unit has contracted 2 million sq ft while Walmart-backed Flipkart has contracted 1 million sq ft across Bengaluru, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Coimbatore, said multiple persons aware of the development.

The funding comes at a time when the company’s sales and margins have doubled, compared to the same period last year.

​​​The intention is to bring all B2B, B2C, consumer-facing, consumer-based content platforms, apps-based commerce and IoT device-based services under the policy, potentially engulfing products like the Amazon Echo, which is powered by artificial intelligence-driven virtual assistant Alexa, and MG Hector, the Internet-enabled vehicle from Morris Garages in the regulatory realm of e-commerce.

They also suggested that the levy should not be imposed on services or goods that are executed online but delivered offline – for instance, online hotel bookings, air ticketing and even heavily regulated financial services – besides seeking a clear definition of what comprises online sale of goods, services and the digital or electronic platform.

E-commerce companies have been permitted to sell all items in Orange and Green Zones starting from Monday, the first day of the third phase of the nationwide lockdown that began on March 25.

Sources in the company said, McNeal’s role will now be divided between Sriram Venkataraman, who is expected to take over as the CFO of Flipkart as well as the fashion etailer Myntra, and Adarsh Nahata who is currently PhonePe’s CFO.

In his new role, Venkataraman will be responsible for key finance operations and functions at Flipkart and Myntra, including Tax, Risk Management, and Treasury.

Amazon has become a lifeline for consumers facing lockdowns and restrictions around the world, and the company is in the process of adding some 175,000 new employees to cope with the surging demand. But the company has also faced protests from warehouse workers and activists who claim Amazon has failed to do enough to keep them safe.

The Walmart-owned company said it had seen an increase in searches for consumer electronic products, including personal grooming equipment such as trimmers.

Highlighting that network capacity and higher bandwidth services have proved to be crucial, not only during the pandemic itself, but also for e-commerce and economic inclusion in general, it said in an information note: “What can WTO members do to improve communications networks and services?”

As per estimates by Forrester Research, regions in Green and Orange zones accounted for 30-35% sales of ecommerce firms prior to the lockdown.

The death marks the fourth confirmed COVID-19-linked death of an Amazon worker, following deaths in Hawthorne, California; Tracy, California and the death of a Staten Island, New York, worker who was stationed at the JFK8 fulfillment centre.

Buying online might become pricier or less convenient, we might need to rethink fast deliveries, and our neighborhoods may look different.

Under the initiative, Amazon will deliver orders to a designated delivery point in the vicinity of the containment zone, from where volunteers will further deliver the packages to customers' doorstep, the company said in a statement.

The Centre, in its revised guidelines on May 1, had allowed “standalone shops” to operate in the red zones, while it restricted operations of e-commerce companies to sale of essential items only.

Demand for razors, epilators, trimmers and hair colour soars on ecomm platforms during the lockdown

Even at locations open to deliveries, e-commerce players are facing manpower crunch due to travel restrictions on delivery partners.

Companies need to come up with strategies to keep the lights on, both by keeping control on the cash burn as well as generating revenue in these difficult times.

The business is split in three verticals, services, products and skilling. The services which include slimming and diet planning is the oldest and most known.

, Jawed Habib and Jawed Habib Express, across India's small and big towns, besides metro cities, Jawed Habib said.

Gillette India reported a net profit of Rs 72.63 crore in April-June quarter a year ago, Gillette India Ltd (GIL) said in a BSE filing.

O2 Spa is currently operating 60 centres across 17 cities in the country.

Salon chains and wellness providers look to spur sales and attract new clients.

Its total income from operation was up 7.59 per cent at Rs 419.29 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 389.68 crore in the same period last fiscal.

With this acquisition, a total of 18 outlets will become a part of O2 Spa and would be known as Zazen Spa from the house of O2 Spa.

Aware of the changes in customer preferences, hotels, resorts and online platforms are working to cater to the demand for healthier diets and rejuvenation treatments.

To help new mothers ease back into work, they can also avail of reduced work hours for two continuous weeks immediately after resuming work.

The announcement was made at the L'Oreal Professionnel Indian Hairdressing Awards, held in Bambolim on Wednesday.

The chain which currently has 20 outlets operating across Delhi-NCR aims to open over 100 outlets in financial year 2017 across multiple cities in India.

Beauty & wellness co expected to spend Rs 100 crore on acquisition, integration and category development of on-demand beauty services startup.

LCC is now further extending its presence in the high-growth Fast Moving Healthcare Goods (FMHG) segment, with its foray into the nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals segment.

The plan is to launch six such centres in Saudi Arabia in the next 3 years with an estimated investment of over AED (Arab Emirates Dirham) 30 million (around Rs 52 crore).

World’s oldest barber shop Truefitt and Hill is keen to take its India tally to 17 by the end of this year.

With 600 Naturals outlets, Groom India today owns the country’s largest beauty and wellness chain.

Enrich founder & director Vikram Bhatt said for the year ending March 31, 2018, the salon chain clocked Rs161crore in revenues and Rs 16.5 crore of positive ebitda.

Zurich-based Committee International d'Esthtique et de Cosmtologie (CIDESCO) is considered world standard for Beauty and Spa Therapy.

Even though 60% of the world’s population has either curly or wavy hair, Indians have always considered straight hair the ideal type.

"The consumer goods industry... is in turmoil," new Beiersdorf CEO Stefan De Loecker, who took over on Jan. 1, told a presentation to analysts. "I need to act now."

These products are manufactured in Europe. So this is an imported range which we are bringing in India. But once we build up the volume, then we may further decide on manufacturing it locally.

Nykaa currently offers a limited selection of products under men’s grooming on its main portal with the category being one of the fastest growing ones for the firm.

Jain, who will join from August this year, will be L’Oréal India’s first Indian managing director after the French cosmetics giant entered in 1991.

It was a trend investment banker Falguni Nayar was betting on when set up Nykaa to sell everything in the cosmetic and wellness category. Today she has around 750 professionals across different divisions.

This is the fourth round of fund-raising by Nykaa, which last raised about Rs 100 crore in 2016 from Max India, the Sunil Munjal family office and Harsh Mariwala.

With the opening of more institutes, VLCC is eyeing a 35 per cent year on year revenue growth. In FY 2018, it had a turnover of Rs 55 crore for the skilled business.

Khosla’s mandate will be overseeing the firm’s wellness centres, personal care products and its institute of beauty and nutrition, across Middle East, Africa and CIS countries.

"The journey actually began in June when we did well due to marketing, though we were actually not ready operationally."

The latest round of funding was led by the startup’s existing backer Harminder Sahni, founder of consultancy firm Wazir Advisors, Lets Ventures’ Mohit Bajaj and Calcutta Angels.

There is no market for me today because every brand in the category has convinced the consumer that they need to look fair to be successful in life.