HomeShop18 appoints Vikrant Khanna as CMO

Khanna replaces Rashmi Berry, who had put in her papers at the company in March.

HomeShop18, the home shopping brand of Network18, has appointed Vikrant Khanna as chief marketing officer for its TV, web and mobile business. In his new assignment, Khanna will lead a 360 degree role which includes marketing and communication, CRM, B2B sales and alliances.

Khanna replaces Rashmi Berry, chief marketing officer of HomeShop18, who put in her papers in March. Berry was appointed as CMO in July, 2012.

Khanna was VP, consumer engagement and digital at Airtel. He was involved with campaigns such as "Har Friend Zaroori" across integrated platforms and the 2011 Formula 1 sponsorship.

Khanna comes with 19 years of experience in marketing and business roles across FMCG, telecom, IT and paints. Other than Airtel, he has worked with brands such as Dabur India, General Mills and ICI Paints. He holds an MBA degree in marketing from IMT, Ghaziabad and has leadership training from INSEAD. He is a Delhi University alumnus.

Sundeep Malhotra, founder and CEO, HomeShop18, says, "We are glad to have Vikrant head our marketing team. He brings years of rich experience in marketing roles across various industries. Vikrant will work towards building stronger consumer orientation across various touch points, shape a solid consumer franchise and take the HomeShop18 brand to newer heights."

Khanna says, "HomeShop18's unique business model of enabling TV, laptop and mobile screens with transaction capabilities, aligned respectively to each layer of the consumer pyramid, has great strategic significance for a diverse market like India and we intend to fully leverage this opportunity."

Recently, as a marketing activity, HomeShop18, in association with Delhi International Airport (DIAL), introduced a virtual shopping wall named 'Scan N Shop' at Terminal 3 (domestic side) of New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). According to HomeShop18, the passengers got to browse through its entire range of products and could order by scanning the QR code displayed against each item with their smartphones. Consumers could also order by calling at the call centre.

In 2011, HomeShop18.com acquired online books portal CoinJoos.com, which was started in November 2009 by the Noida-based technology start-up, On-Graph Technologies. Eventually, the company discontinued the Coinjoos.com brand and merged the books business with Homeshop18.com.

Launched in 2008, HomeShop18 competes with 24-hour home shopping television channel Star CJ Alive and some individual programmes like Telebrands India, NaapTol, TVC SkyShop and Televantage. In the e-commerce space, the company has competitors like Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and Snapdeal, among others in the country.

G S Home Shopping of Korea, the third largest home shopping company in the world, has a 15 per cent stake in the company. Network18 has the controlling stake of 51 per cent.