With an investment of Rs 5 crore for the e-initiative, the company is putting finishing touches to its launch activities. This will include special promotional offers, discounts and advertising. Ground level activities will include roadshows and efforts to target cyber cafes, colleges and outdoors.

Promotions will play a critical role in driving traffic to the site and there will be on an average two-three promotions every week to keep interaction alive and generate interest. Inaugural promotions will includespecial offers on almost all categories of products. This will be supported by a campaign in print and the electronic media in mid-September.

Besides the range of over one lakh products available in the offline store (ranging from books, cosmetics and garments to household goods), ebonyclick.com will offer added attractions like flowers, bakery products,sweets and gift items, specially targeted at the NRI market.

Says Anas A Wajid, manager, marketing, ``Our intention is to be as customer friendly as possible making delivery and fulfillment possible on the easiest and simplest terms. We offer a 14-day replacement policy, during which we will undertake to pick up the item and replace it at our cost. We will also enable easy access through pagers, Web-enabled call centres and toll-free numbers.''

The company is reluctant to talk about targets. Says Kumar,``For the first six months we will not be looking at revenues. We will concentrate more on building up closer ties with customers and increasing customer conversion ratios.''

As far as logistics go, a 10-man team is in place to look after the details of delivery. It has tied up with DHL for international deliveries, Dartmail for the NCR region and AFL and XPS for domestic deliveries. Customers will have the option of paying by cash, demand draft or through credit cards.Ebony, which began operations in 1994, is the largest retail store chain in the north, with three outlets in Delhi, Chandigarh and Noida and plans to open two more stores in the next two months - one in West Delhi and the other in Ludhiana.

By 2001 it plans to expand its national presence to 10. It achieved a turnover of Rs 22 crore last year and is targeting Rs 50 crore this year. The Ebony Stores are owned and managed by the $350-million DS Group that is engaged in real estate, hotels, leisure management, retailing and construction.