SeventyMM, once an online movie rental business, has diversified into mainstream e-commerce, offering product categories like Apparel, Electronics, Mobile Phones and Tablets, and even Books, among others. The company which has till now raised around $21.4 million from Matrix Partners India, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, ePlanet Ventures and NEA- IndoUS Venture partners, in separate funding rounds, with an objective to expand movie rentals, has taken a mid-way course correction. It has, as the saying goes, pivoted. But it isn't just SeventyMM: Reliance ADA Group company BigAdda also changed into an e-commerce company, as did Battery Ventures funded group buying site Taggle. E-commerce is India's new gold rush. At the time of writing this post, SeventyMM offers a limited catalogue of products across each category. The apparel and accessories sections do feature Bollywood themed products. However, we are not sure why SeventyMM would like to come in direct competition with online stores like Flipkart, LetsBuy, HomeShop18 and IndiaPlaza, and lose its niche status of being a movie rentals service. Organized Movie Rental Services: A bleak future? While video libraries were a popular phenomenon in the 90s, local movie rental services have been on the decline after the advent of cable, DTH, online video streaming and cheaper DVDs. Companies like Moser Baer reduced the price of movie DVDs and introduced DVDs that feature more than one movie. With satellite rights for movies being finalized at an early stage, movies are premiered on television, through tv channels and DTH operators, weeks after their theatrical release. Online piracy…
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