Celebrity shopping network Best Deal, promoted by IPL team owner Raj Kundra and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, said it has roped in private equity players to build logistics infrastructure to scale up the fledging business.

The free-to-air channel, which went on air, on Thursday, said it will retail celebrity-endorsed lifestyle products, fashion and beauty range and even mobile phones through its platform.

“We have raised about ₹32 crore from PE players by selling about a 15 per cent stake. This will be used to scale up our logistics infrastructure,” Kundra, co-founder and promoter of Best Deal, told BusinessLine .

On why he has chosen television home-shopping over ecommerce, Kundra said: “Television penetration is still far higher than internet penetration. Most e-commerce players are not making money which is why we entered the television shopping space.”

Target orders

He said the promoters have so far invested about ₹100 crore in the company.

According to industry data, teleshopping is estimated at ₹13,000 crore.

Kundra said the company is currently using third party partners to tackle the logistics. “As the business grows, we hope to build our own logistics channel to create the last mile delivery. We are also looking to tap the India Post to service our logistics needs.”

He said the company is targeting about two-three lakh orders a day pan-India. Asked about the celebrities associating with Best Deal, Kundra said Sonakshi Sinha, Shilpa Shetty and Ektaa Kapoor were among those who will be rolling out their products. “We will be handholding celebrities to launch a line by taking care of sourcing, packaging and creating product lines.” Kundra said the target clientele will be middle class and upper middle class customers who can afford the range of ₹1,500 -₹7,000.

Best Deal TV will be available across all major cable and DTH platforms as well as online.

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