MUMBAI: Tata has entered the e-commerce business with the launch of its 'CLiQ' portal where the customers have the option to either get goods delivered at their homes or pick them up from the stores. They have given the double-benefit venture a funny name, manifesting a struggle they are undergoing for quite some time now in finding suitable names for their new brands. The current one is 'phygital.'! A hybrid of 'physical' and 'digital'.

The clean, dedicated, age-old conglomerate, starting from steel to reach every Indian household with its Kerala-flavoured Tata salt, is looking to a bright digital future ahead even as the India e-tail is catching up with the western model of moving the whole marketplace all over to the online.

TataCLiQ.com will sell apparel, electronics and footwear and most other things. Foregn labels too will be made available. The portal was inaugurated by Tata group chairman Cyrus P Mistry by making an online order. At present it covers 6,856 pincodes across 689 cities and towns and 23 States and two Union Territories.

Inaugurating the e-tail portal, Cyrus P Mistry said, "TataCliq is a first-of-its-kind 'phygital' e-commerce marketplace bringing a smart combination of the reassurance and in-store experience of a large on-ground network with the convenience of online shopping, bringing the best of both worlds together."

He said there are only 30 million regular online shoppers in the country and that he wants to bring the remaining 100 million customers online.