By Dyanne Coelho

Leading 24/7 home shopping channel Star CJ now has a new name. It dons a new logo and will be called Shop CJ Network Pvt. Ltd..The company, which started business in September 2009 with Star as a joint venture partner, has now allied with Providence Equity partners. According to Shop CJ Network CEO Kenny Shin, Star exited the alliance as it figured that home shopping was not a part of its core competency. “Star wished to focus on the entertainment and sports business, which is why they quit the alliance,” Shin said.

At the launch of the new logo and identity of the network, Shop CJ also presented its new tagline – ‘Shop a new trend’ by which it wishes to cater to a wider spectrum of consumers.“Shop CJ is focused on trends to transform the Indian customer’s lifestyle. We are not focused on discounts and on catering to the customers pockets like our competitors Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon,” said Shop CJ Marketing head Donald Kwang. Kwang stressing that unlike some e-commerce destinations, Shop CJ’s major sales come from its television network. As much as 94 percent of CJ Shop’s sales are from TV, whereas a meagre 6 percent comes from the internet and mobile combined. “For the time being we would like to focus on our television consumers, as they contribute to the largest part of our revenue,” Kwang added.

The rebranding of Shop CJ is to better align the company’s philosophy with its future strategy. Talking about future initiatives, Shop CJ CFO N. Ramakrishnan said, “We are looking to expand in the east and north-east through physical warehouses. We are also looking to enhance our warehouse management system in order to enhance logistics and boost back-end services.” In order to further their stance in the e-commerce market, the company is attempting to understand buying patterns of the Indian consumer. “Indian consumers have a much rationalizsd purchase behavior. If they don’t like a product, or if the quality of the product is not up to the mark, they will send it back. This is why we ensure a high standard of product quality testing,” said Shin.

Other than India, parent CJ O Shopping operates home shopping networks in Korea, China, Japan, Thailand Turkey, Phillipines and Vietnam.