Flipkart

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal – both alumni of IIT Delhi and formerly worked for Amazon, formed Flipkart in October 2007. Initially, the business concentrated on online book purchases and country-wide delivery. Flipkart steadily rose in popularity after its launch; by 2008, it was generating 100 orders a day.

Bansal Duo concentrated on building a powerful backend with simple to use functionality. This became Flipkart’s USP in its early days. Initially, only in Bangalore, they sold books but later spread the company in other Tier 1 cities.

Their first investment was from Accel Partners in 2009 and, since then, have raised a total of US$ 3 trillion in various funding rounds.

Why start a business as an online seller?

By cutting through the distance barrier, many retailers have switched to market their goods online, recognizing the broader scope an e-store would offer. The thing today is to become an online trader, but in this arena, there is still a tremendous rivalry.

Flipkart and other popular stores’ success stories have also been inspiring and you need to make sure you get the right start if you plan to be an online seller.

When you are searching for answers to how to start an online seller business, there are some basics you must remember. First and foremost, it is important to have a business strategy in place and any aspect that may be crucial to the future of the online sale business should be carefully integrated into the plan.

The purpose of an online seller

An online seller’s goal should be to feel the customer’s nerve by giving him or her unique product options, timely support, and personalized shopping ideas. You will have a duty for your workers as an online vendor and would aspire to provide them with a good work atmosphere where they can learn and improve on the job, a secure workplace, and equal pay.

You will have to find out what are the trending products in India. As an online seller, you should find out a plan of fool-proof promotions that can set you apart from your rivals. Create a strong picture of your brand and decide how, using the effective methods of SEO, social media, and blogging, you can express it to your customers.

You would also need to take care of the finances. Finance is a vital aspect of any organization because, without a definite financial plan, no business plan can be complete. Projected cash flow, revenue needs, and projected benefit and loss projections are derived from forecasts.

Top 10 Ways To Increase Your Sales On Flipkart

We are all well aware of Flipkart and its growing day-by-day success. Flipkart has been selected by many reputed and well-known businesses as their most reliable means of online selling of their goods. Have you opted for it yet? If yes, then the huge increase in visibility and sales of your product online must have been noticed.

If you’re a new vendor on Flipkart, get ready to feel the all-new taste of your product’s improved total sales. But no seller wants to restrict their growth and opportunities to boost profits in the online market. Here are some ways by which you can accelerate your growth on Flipkart.

Improving the catalogs

In the e-commerce website, the catalog represents your commodity and plays a prime role in affecting consumers. It is important to provide a well-crafted catalog with a crisp overview of your goods to turn the traffic on your products into sales.

Remember, most individuals buy online to save time, and they can be impressed with your product summary without making them waste any time attempting to comprehend your product.

Adding your goods into the correct category and sub-category is another essential aspect in cataloging that will help you boost your sales. This will help customers quickly search for the merchandise and add to the flow.

Product Images

Photos are the nearest the consumer can come to the look and sound of the actual product on a digital medium, making it a crucial factor for online sales.

The pictures of your product should be high definition and clarity in any aspect. What looks nice sells better, so ensure the product photos are well photographed to attract attention from customers.

Product Listing Ads

You need to first push the targeted traffic to your product in immense numbers to maximize your revenue on Flipkart. The more clicks you get for your products, the more ways there will be to sell your items. The fastest way to get more clicks on flipkart.com for your product is through Product Listing Ads.

This is how you work with product listing ads:

• Pick a product on flipkart.com and create an Ad campaign for it.
• On the related pages of the web, Flipkart lists these items as “featured products.”
• When looking for the items consumers want, they see and click on your ad.

This allows you to make your goods more recognizable and eventually boost your profits. Via this, as customers browse to select a specific product, the product comes into the greater spotlight.

Good Quality Packaging

The first thing that leaves an impact on the consumer with your service and goods is the way the product is packaged before the product is shipped to the customer. This is the first thing any buyer observes as they get the package from the vendor or open it, which really affects the experience of the buyer.

A good product packaging protects the product from destruction in shipping, but more than that, it tells something about the service and the quality of the product, which in turn will improve the popularity of the brand, the buyer’s interest, and your profits. You will seriously get positive results by investing in high-quality packaging.

Participating in Spike Sales

With its thrilling shopping activities, which are also called spike sales, Flipkart gives sellers diverse ways to boost their sales. Flipkart provides very exciting offers to almost any group during the spike sales, drawing a vast number of viewers and pushing massive traffic to its website or smartphone app.

In this way, engaging in the spike sales gives retailers the excellent ability to market their goods as much as they can during a specific spike sales period all in a single go.

Become an Advantage Seller

There are several benefits to the Flipkart Advantage program. You will take advantage of our best-in-class delivery centers with this program. Everything you need to do is store your goods with us, and from packaging your products to managing refund requests, we will take care of the rest.

In addition to storage space, Flipkart Advantage provides you with expert quality control of your items, quicker distribution, and much more. This will suggest optimum revenue, minimum refunds, and greater experience with the customer.

On-time Delivery

So if you are a serious vendor and really want to sell your goods on Flipkart to improve sales, then you have to make sure that your products are shipped easily and on schedule.

In terms of both efficiency and execution, you must satisfy the standards of the customer. Often, delivering the return or swap orders on time builds the confidence of the buyer and a great experience with the buyer.

Customer Satisfaction

You should still work towards spreading happiness to your buyers to boost your profits and becoming a good seller on Flipkart. It is important to devote to satisfying your clients to the best of your abilities to fulfill their high standards.

As a vendor, in order to grasp their issues and address them easily, you sometimes need to step into your clients’ shoes. Recognizing input and striving to provide them with quality support would give them more reasons for smiling.

Follow The Rules

The sale policies and market practices of Flipkart are intended to improve the confidence of customers in Flipkart sellers like you and help you get better ratings and feedback.

Buyers buy more for strong scores and feedback from sellers. It will win you many happy Flipkart customers by following all our sales policies and not indulging in dishonest sales practices such as selling false goods and delivering empty boxes to the buyer.

Apart from these 10 things, there is another thing that a lot of sellers don’t realize but helps in improving sales on Flipkart

Stock Up Inventory

Stock is a vital feature of every retail organization and an eCommerce shop. If you are such a company owner, you must bear in mind that you must continue to restock your goods with numerous variations to satisfy the customers ‘ demand as quickly as possible.

It also means that you are ready for a shopping festival or other upcoming shopping events.

Conclusion

By following these 10 tips, we are sure you would build a really successful online selling business for yourself on Flipkart. Being a Flipkart seller can be really profitable if done correctly. We have given you all the necessary details you should know before you start selling on Flipkart.

A) With a maximum online presence and maximum credibility, Flipkart is the pioneer in Indian e-commerce.

We are the best partner to deliver the goods to consumers across India with more than 10 crore registered customers, 10 million daily page visits, and 80 lakh shipments per month to over 1000 cities.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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Retail

Retail is basically the sale of products/services from a business to a customer for his/her own use. A retail transaction handles small quantities of products whereas wholesale deals with the purchasing of products on an outsized scale. Do not confuse Retail transactions with online transactions; goods must be sold from one point on to a consumer for his or her end users.

A retailer may be a person or business that you simply purchase goods from. Retailers do not always produce their own items. Instead, they purchase goods from a producer or a wholesaler and sell these goods to customers in smaller quantities. Retailing is the distribution process of a retailer obtaining goods or services and selling them to customers to be used. This process is explained through the availability chain.

Types of retails

There are many different types of retails but there is no specific answer as to which retail type is better as it may depend on business to business. Some types of retails are:

1. Independent retailer– An independent retailer is someone who builds their business from the bottom up and from the scratch. Usually, the owner does it all, but he/she may have assistants or hire a helping staff to help him carry out the functions of the business.
2. Franchise– A franchise is an existing business plan, including a trademarked name, and already determined set of products, and established business strategies. If a retailer wants to become a part of a franchise, they are granted permission to use all of the above elements. The tradeoff to buying the rights to a franchise is that there typically are ground rules and processes that one has to follow so as to retain rights to the franchise. And, the retailer also has pay a fee to the franchise owner.
3. Dealership– A dealership may be a mixture between a franchise and an independent retailer. A retailer who works with a dealership has the authority to sell a brand of products. Unlike a franchise, there are not any fees to the licensor.
4. Existing retail business– An existing retail business is, because the name suggests, a retail business that’s already running smoothly. Mostly, someone inherits an existing business and takes over all the ownership.
5. Network Marketing– Network marketing, or multi-level marketing, maybe a business model where the selling of products depends on the people within the network. On the one hand, an individual is selling products, but at the same time, other salespeople are also recruited to sell the same goods.

eCommerce

Ecommerce, also referred to as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling of products or services using the web, and therefore the transfer of cash and data to execute these transactions.

It is commonly referred to as the sale of physical products online, but it also can describe any sort of commercial transaction that’s facilitated through the web.

The history of eCommerce began with the most primary online sale on August 11, 1994. A person sold a CD by the band “Sting” to his friend through his website. This is often the primary example of a consumer purchasing a product from a business through the planet Wide Web—or “eCommerce” as we commonly realize it today.

Since then, it has evolved to form products easier to get and buy through online retailers and marketplaces. Freelancers, small businesses, and gigantic corporations have all reaped the benefits from e-commerce. It enables them to sell their goods and services at a scale that was not even possible with traditional offline retailing methods. Global retail eCommerce sales are projected to earn $27 trillion by 2020.

Types of eCommerce

There are mainly 4 types of eCommerce models that can describe the proper functionality:

1. Business to Consumer (B2C): When a business sells an honest or service to a private consumer (e.g. you purchase a pair of shoes from a web retailer).

2. Business to Business (B2B): When a business sells an honest or service to a different business.

3. Consumer to Consumer (C2C): When a consumer sells an honest or service to a different consumer.

4. Consumer to Business (C2B): When a consumer sells their own products/services to a business.

Now let us get to the talk of the hour!

Can eCommerce save retail?

A digital presence has certainly been an advantage for many retailers in recent years. Online grocery sales incremented to $7.2 billion USD a month this summer, rising from $1.6 billion USD last summer. Consumers have experimented a lot with new shopping methods like taxi pickup and delivery apps.

These adaptations are dependant on existing trends, as retailers are moving further into the digital universe. The research suggests that, for several customers, digital can never fully replace the social and physical aspects of shopping.

Even within the midst of an outbreak, people want to physically experience many forms of products before committing to buy them. Shoppers want to touch fabrics, assess colors without the filter of a screen, and test the comfort of furniture. Stores know this and do everything they will to urge customers back within the door, from mask requirements and fever checks to shopping by appointment.

As they stress cleanliness, close-fitting rooms, and discourage touching the merchandise, stores are taking a page out of the Zappos playbook and lengthening return policies so people can get a pity for the product reception.

Shopping is additionally an intrinsical group action. People browse stores in groups, peruse online reviews from fellow customers, and text their friends for advice on what to shop for. Customers create their shopping experiences through interactions with employees, forming relationships with their favorite bartender or store manager.

While a number of the social aspects of shopping now happen online – from Yelp reviews to “unboxing” videos – they continue to be rooted in experiences with real people and products.

Conclusion

It is still a little dicey to say that eCommerce is promoting and helping retailers expand their businesses. At certain times there are a few things that a customer wants to enjoy at the store like trying on clothes for fittings or selecting the freshest fruit possible. Even though online retail marketing holds a really important position, it is still not okay to say that all retailers might want to switch to eCommerce.

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In the modern world, reselling has seen major growth and people are getting more and more inclined towards this concept. But why are people opting for reselling? The answer is simple.

Reselling offers you to have a quick and easy expansion of business. It is timesaving as you do not have to wait for the products to arrive and it is also cost-saving because you do not require a high margin and can set your own price.

But before we move on to the main topic of this article, let’s understand what reselling actually means:

What is reselling?

Reselling, in simple words, is the practice of buying and selling for profit.

A big example of reselling can be found in the telecommunications industry. The companies buy excess of calling time from different carriers and sell it to smaller carriers.

A reseller mostly acts as a retailer. The selling price for a reseller is not that different from that of the manufacturer’s listed price. But down the line, the main goal for everyone is to fetch the maximum profit per sale.

Well, online reselling is a pretty wise move for people who are just starting with their entrepreneurship journey and are ready to put in the efforts.

Resellers mostly conduct their businesses through the internet. A reselling business is a profitable and easy way to start for young entrepreneurs. In a reseller business, you can virtually sell anything you want to. You can pick any trendy niche or an evergreen product and then you can sell those as a reseller online.

The Only Drawback

When it comes to reselling, the only drawback is that the reseller cannot be sure of the quality of the product he/she is sending to the consumer as they are nowhere involved in the chain of packaging or delivery.

Because of this, as a reseller, you need to have a really good relationship with the manufacturer. You must make sure that the goods being delivered are of good quality and packaging.

Why you should start reselling?

Now that we know a little about reselling, let us talk about why you should start your own reselling business:

1. No need for Inventory– From an e-commerce perspective, an inventory is just a collection of finished products used in production which is held by a company. Now the good part about reselling is that you do not need to have an inventory. You can use reseller dropship model where you resell goods without having to bulk buying inventory in advance.
2. Save your time–  You can start a reselling business really easily and you do not have to spend all of your time on it. Managing your business is really easy because a lot of stuff that goes on in reselling is automated. You save a lot of time when you do not have to pack and ship the products to the consumer.
3. Set your own price– Unlike a wholesaler, in the business of reselling you have your freedom of setting up your own prices for the products according to the profits that you want. The cost of a lot of products is low so resellers can set their price near the industrial standards of pricing and reap the maximum benefits.
4. Wide range of products– It is not necessary for the reseller to deal with only one niche of products. As your business expands, you can diversify your range of products. For example, If you have a reselling business of clothes, you can also start dealing with jewelry, shoes, and accessories in the coming time.
5. Minimal financial risks– The cost of setting up a reselling business is very low, making it the perfect business for budget-conscious potential entrepreneurs. Since you do not have to bulk buy inventory and not even have to ship and package the products, you are hardly investing any finances in this business and reaping the maximum profits.

When it comes to reselling, there are a few companies like Meesho, Poshmark, Chairish, Letgo, and many others who have already made a mark in the Indian reselling industry but one company, in particular, is GlowRoad.

What is GlowRoad?

GlowRoad is an Indian eCommerce company that connects manufacturers with resellers and uses drop shipping to keep the overhead expenditures low. It is a networking website to help women become entrepreneurs by exploring profit-making opportunities from home.

Glowroad was started with the simple goal of giving housewives and stay-at-home mothers a way to start their own business in the field of reselling.

The company is a firm believer in providing women with low risk and low investing opportunities so they can be a part of their reselling business. Some of the resellers in GlowRoad keep inventories at home but most of the product is just shipped directly from manufacturer to consumer.

The biggest niche of GlowRoad’s is Indian ethnic fashion, cosmetics, and even jewelry. The majority of the selling takes place through WhatsApp or in-person and GlowRoad has even claimed that the resellers complete around one thousand transactions every single day.

It is even claimed by GlowRoad that it is operational in more than 2000 cities, has more than 20,000 suppliers, and more than 1,80,00,000 buyers from all around India.

Founders

GlowRoad was founded in the year 2017 by Dr. Sonal Verma. She was also the founding member of HealthcareMagic which was supported by Accel Partners. Kunal Sinha, Nitesh Pant, Shekhar Sahu, and Nilesh Padariya are the co-founders of GlowRoad and have helped take the business to new heights in just 3 years.

Fundings

• In its starting years, GlowRoad got Series A funding of $2 million from Accel Partners in 2017.
• GlowRoad further managed to raise a Series B funding of $10 million from China’s CDH Investments, and then
• Another Series B+ funding of $11.5 million from Korea Investment Partners and Vertex Ventures.

Vision

It follows the vision of #BeYourOwnBoss by giving resellers access to a virtual shop with millions of products to choose from at wholesale prices. In today’s time, financial freedom means everything and almost every working professional is striving for it.

Everyone wants to work for themselves and according to their own conditions without taking orders from others around them. GlowRoad allows the college graduates and stay-at-home mothers and housewives to become financially independent and have an experience of what it means to be your own boss.

How is GlowRoad different from any distributor business?

A Distributor usually buys products from the manufacturer and sells them to the end consumer or has a lot of resellers working for him/her. Distributors buy a lot of inventory most of the time to stock up the supply and try to maintain a really close relationship with the manufacturer as compared to the reseller.

Being a distributor, you have to hold on to a lot of stock. This makes them start feeling pressurized because you have to sell all of it. They often look for higher margins from the manufacturers.

However, when it comes to resellers, they do not need to hold on to any inventory stock. They are just a middleman of manufacturer and consumer.

How to make money on GlowRoad?

The main goal of every reseller on this website is to make sales and profits fast. There are many strategies you can use to maximize your reselling business:

1. Pricing– While selling your products, it is necessary to take into account that pricing your products well can help you get more sales and maximize your profits. As long as your product rate stays within the market limits, there is no need for you to underprice your products.
2. Create Ads– While doing business as a reseller, you need to make sure that people know about the product you’re dealing with. You have to create urgency amongst the crowd to buy your product. Spending on advertisements is not a compulsion if you are just starting with your reselling business. But, it is definitely a good idea to invest in advertisements if you have the budget to increase your sales.
3. Content creation– Whether it is video content or blogging, can definitely help you elevate your sales and brand presence in people’s minds. If you are a reseller, you can create a lot of blogs and videos which promote your niche. Also, this can help you draw more people towards yourself and increase sales and profits.

Reselling niches for your business on GlowRoad:

If you are on GlowDark, you will notice that you can literally start dealing with anything. There are wide options for potential resellers to choose from. Let’s see what you can choose according to your interests:

1. Clothes– The clothing niche is the most popular on GlowRoad. You can already find a lot of manufacturers and resellers who deal with both women and men’s clothing. Clothing is an evergreen field in the reselling business and you can start dealing in clothes as well as jewelry, accessories, shoes, etc.
2. Cosmetics– There are a huge supply and demand existing in the field of reselling for cosmetics. You can find all sorts of face wash, moisturizers, makeup kits, etc on GlowRoad. Reselling is easy with products which have a wide variety because every person prefers different brands of cosmetic for their skin.
3. Pet Supplies– It is no lies that Indians are fond of having pets so GlowRoad has tonnes of options to choose from when it comes to pet supplies. Fish food, dog collars, aquarium medicines, there is nothing you cannot find here.

Now that you know about the active niches on GlowRoad, we would request you to explore your options so you can deal with the niche you like and make good money out of it!

Visit Glow Road Website to get started!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The post All about GlowRoad – How it works, funding, owners, earning model and more appeared first on Growthonomy.

We found a few articles that give the steps to sell Meesho Products on Amazon. BEWARE of such sites!

If any website or anyone tells you that you can sell Meesho products on Amazon by simply copying the images and details and listing them on Amazon, stay away from them. NO, you can not use this method. Your Amazon Account will get suspended for sure!

In this article we will tell you where you can sell the Meesho Products, is it possible to sell Meesho products on Amazon and how.

Let us start by understanding how Meesho and Amazon works.

How Meesho Works?

Meesho is a Reselling App. It is one of the most cost effective option for selling products. You can start reselling products with zero startup investment while working from home.

Sellers or Manufacturers list their products on the Meesho App at wholesale rate along with MRP. Anybody who is registered as a reseller can choose any product to resell without investing in purchasing the inventory. Resellers market them to earn a profit or commission on every sale without the need to invest in inventory, storage or shipping.

For more details, read [What is Meesho App and How it Works]

How Amazon Works?

To sell on Amazon, a seller or reseller requires brand authorization letter from the brand whose product you want to sell.

Also, you need to purchase the inventory from the manufacturer, distributer or other genuine supplier with a proper invoice mentioning all details of the exact products purchased as well as contact information and GST details of the supplier.

Only then, you can list the products on Amazon.

Amazon can ask you for these documents at any time and if you fail to provide these documents, your account will be suspended and it will hold up any balance that you may have in the account.

So, if this is the condition, is it possible to sell Meesho products on Amazon?

Can We Sell Meesho Products on Amazon?

Yes and No.

Ideally No. We would not advice it.

Selling Meesho Products on Amazon is a Really Bad Idea! You can even end up losing money and the ability to sell on Amazon ever again in future.

However, if you would still like to go ahead, make sure you have read all policies of Amazon, before you start selling from Amazon. Amazon has very strict policies and will suspend you account if you violate them and you will never be able to sell on Amazon again.

However, There is one way to sell Meesho Products on Amazon. However, we would not advice it as it is still risky.

Know more about Amazon Account Suspension

How to sell Meesho Products on Amazon

Selling Meesho Products on Amazon is basically a form of dropshipping which is technically allowed on Amazon but with conditions.

1. You require Brand Authorization from the brand owner.
2. You must be able to show invoices when Amazon asks from them. The invoice should clearly reflect the name of the products & quantity of products as listed on Amazon
3. The invoice shipped with the product to the customer should be in your name, not the seller or manufacturer who listed the product on Meesho.
4. Also, since the customer is buying from Amazon, they will expect an invoice from Amazon.

These are the basic requirements for drop shipping. And as per our understanding, to fulfill these conditions, you will have to have a tie up with the manufacturer, brand or seller.

If you can establish such a setup, then YES, you can go ahead and list your Meesho products on Amazon. Otherwise NO. Do not try to sell Meesho Products on Amazon.

Major reasons selling Meesho Products on Amazon is not Feasible

1. Brand Authorization Letter and Invoices required to sell on Amazon – Not all sellers would be willing to provide such documents. And if you fail to provide these documents to Amazon when asked, Amazon will suspend your account .
2. Quality of Products – It is not feasible to quality check each and every product that is shipped to the customer when a third party is handling it. And Amazon is absolutely customer friendly. If there are any complaints from the customers regarding the quality of products, Amazon will give you notice of selling inauthentic products. And multiple such instances can again lead to account suspension.
3. Shipping Time is crucial – For Amazon, shipping time is crucial. You have to ship the products within a given time frame.
4. Returns – Amazon has a customer friendly return policy. If the customer does not like the product and returns it, you will have to refund the entire amount paid by the customer. Moreover, you have to pay a return fee as well. So, you will end up paying out of your pocket.

Where can we sell Meesho Product?

There are many other ways to promote Meesho Products.

1. Social Media like facebook and Instagram
2. Promote on Youtube channel
3. Affiliate links through blog
4. Whatsapp and word of mouth.

Conclusion

Unless you know the manufacturer or seller really well and have the brand authorization letter, and you are absolutely sure you can get the invoices when required, DO NOT TRY TO SELL MEESHO PRODUCTS ON AMAZON!

Amazon has really strict policies and you will can end up losing money instead of earning. Once your Amazon account is suspended, there is no going back!

The post How To Sell Meesho Products On Amazon appeared first on Growthonomy.

The lockdown declared by the government in view of the COVID19 pandemic, resulted in small retailers closing shutters and consequent huge job losses especially amongst the lower and mid-level store and sales executives.

Per recent reports based on the data collected from primary sources like companies, job portals and Linkedin, almost more than one lakh people are looking for jobs. And the numbers continues to grow unabated.

However, like the other side of the coin, good news is that e-commerce sector is able to absorb a large part of this talent at the entry and mid-levels in delivery/logistics and at warehouses. Some of the entry level talent is also willingly turning into delivery boys for e-commerce players per a recruitment agency.

According to reports, the surge in job seekers is the highest at the level of middle operational managers from the physical (brick & mortar) retailers, as the sales figures have almost evaporated compared to the pre-Covid monthly figures as well as uncertainty surrounding the revival. They are rightly worried if their current employers will be able to sustain them for long.

Pandemic enforced lockdown has contributed in significantly enhancing the prospects of digital commerce because while on one hand Digital retail and supply chain companies have stepped in to fill the gap left by brick-and-mortar retail, the customers have also been forced to opt for this new way of shopping and getting used to it.

Someone’s loss is other’s gain, as they say, for E-commerce companies like Flipkart, Amazon and Udaan are on a hiring spree and picking up these aspirants. Given the evolving scenario, even senior executives have also moved over to these digital platforms, though in smaller numbers.

We are on a hunt for talent too. Want to grow your skills as a content writer? We are currently looking for content writer interns.

The post E-commerce helping jobless entry, Mid-Level Retail Talents appeared first on Growthonomy.

What is Meesho App?

Meesho is an Indian born mobile/ laptop portable reselling and shopping application that is rapidly changing the face of doing online business in India.

It enables small entities and individual resellers to start their virtual stores and sell their products via social media channels such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram etcetera.

How Meesho Application was born?

It all started in mid of 2015, when two dynamic Indian origin IIT Delhi graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal came up with the idea of FashNear, an application of hyperlocal fashion discovery and commerce.

Progressing further by the end of 2015, they pivoted to a more customer oriented application and named it Meesho, shorten for “Meri shop” (meaning My Shop). That is how the Meesho online shopping app came in to existence.

Initially, the Meesho app worked for enabling the physical stores to make their goods available online and sell them through various social media channels. Soon after, Meesho revamped again, morphing into India’s first-ever online distribution channel for long-tail products.

Vision and Mission of the Meesho App

With the insight of the first venture that the makers noticed the lack of footfall at the shops, the images of the products were shared on social media to gain customers.

The traditional business structure for small and medium enterprises was showing signs of disruption and was trying to climb the online model without proper ladder. Meesho entered as a strong ladder and the game changed forever.

Though earlier it was designed keeping in mind the targeted audience as the shop owners reducing their capital needs, it is homemakers who are now the flag bearers of the Meesho business.

Aims and objectives of Meesho Company

Meesho’s objective are clear that it targets at soothing the pain points of the WhatsApp commerce world by shifting most of the buying experience towards its dedicated mobile shopping app known as the Meesho.

The customers have been given the navigation ease where they can browser ‘carousels’ of the products, enquire about it from the party, and make payments digitally via a simple clickable URL if they prefer to do a cash or bank transfer.

Aiming at “financial independence of women” Meesho has been able to achieve some unparalleled benchmarks in the socio-commercial world.

About Meesho App’s Business model

Providing varied varieties of products like Amazon and Flipkart, Meesho has given a wide range to choose from, to its customers. Business model is clearly to become a competitor with e-commerce. The delivery time, customer base and the ease of reach makes it a good alternative for the e-commerce sites.

There are 4 parties involved in the mechanism of selling/ reselling at the Meesho app; namely–

1. The supplier/seller; or the first party
2. The reseller/ App users (anyone with the Meesho app can become a Meesho reseller).
3. Meesho Application
4. End-User or the final consumer of the product. They have no direct interaction with the Meesho platform.

What is Meesho App about?

The Meesho app provides a cost effective option for selling goods as no start-up investment is required by the sellers. Meesho is an online marketplace that connects sellers and resellers to relevant customers with the help of business men’s social media space.

In the words of Google “Meesho is a business for empowerment; the innovative app that enables you to work from home, Meesho provides products at wholesale prices that you can resell to earn a profit and commission.”

How Meesho works?

Basically, anyone willing to work on the Meesho platform shall have to share the products listed on Meesho through their various social media handles within their network of friends. If any of the products get sold, they get to earn an additional profit margin for it.

The willing sellers/ resellers need to follow the below-mentioned steps to get associated and earn with Meesho reselling and shopping app:

1. The entrepreneur/ supplier/ seller needs to register their business/ individual details on the Meesho application.
2. A virtual store is created on it.
3. Next they need to list their products on the virtual store along with some images of the product description, and the selling price
4. Meesho app user browses the app and if he finds an appealing product he shares it further.  This way he becomes a Meesho reseller of the product.
5. The reseller shares the images of this particular product in his or her network through social media platforms like WhatsApp Facebook and Instagram etcetera with a message stating the product details and the price (usually at a price higher than the quoted selling price by the original seller)
6. If anyone from the network wishes to buy the product they shall have to send a message to the app user regarding the same. This way this person shall become the ultimate end-user of the product.
7. The user of the Meesho App shall process the order further to the seller by stating his or her additional profit margin and shall list the address of the end-user and thereby placing the order.
   In case the sellers directly get a customer, the additional profit margin of resellers is saved.
8. After the seller accepts the order and it is processed for delivery to Meesho. Meesho shall pick up the order and deliver it to the end-user within the specified time at an Invoice price as quoted by the reseller.
9. The end-user shall pay the invoice price to Meesho App.

Earning structure for the Meesho sellers and resellers

The division of money is carried out by Meesho. The money left after paying the originally quoted price to the original seller and keeping a minimal amount of delivery charge the rest is transferred to the Meesho App user’s account.

The reseller or the person who has placed the order shall receive a commission on every order placed. Reselling with Meesho is similar to earning by drop shipping or affiliate marketing as the resellers earn without actually physically holding any kind of inventory.

It is basically a Win-Win situation for all – sellers, resellers, and the ultimate customers.

Revenue Model of Meesho

Meesho earns by charging from its users for every order they receive. The revenue model is kept to focus on volumes of sales and not on the margins of profits.

• In case of delivering an order – Meesho earns by taking a 10- 20% commission based on the nature of the product along with the delivery charges for the product.
• In case of product return – Meesho charges a hefty penalty for the product returns. Customer satisfaction is the given topmost priority and sales returns are dealt with very strictly.

The Meesho journey so far…

Meesho Application came into existence in December 2015. Its headquarter is situated in Bangalore and ever since the app is gaining wide popularity among the women entrepreneurs, housewives preferring to work from home, college students, small and medium business owners, B2B traders, or anyone for the fact looking for a passive source of income.

It has raised $125 million in a new financing round to expand its business in the country and change the way millions of consumers now shop online.

Feathers in the Meesho cap

Meesho has been able to perform exceptionally well and put some medals to its shoulder. Let us have a look at them-

• With 90 lakh+ products sold and Rupees 80 Crore + Income generated; Meesho has gained the trust of more than 50 lakh Resellers across 5000+ towns and enabled them to earn money digitally by working from home, making the Meesho App India’s number 1 reselling application.
• Meesho is the first app that has first been featured in Play Store on Women’s Day by Google India and later was highlighted in the Independence Day spotlight. This is the recognition of a real impact at scale at a mass level.
• Meesho was one of the three Indian companies to be selected for Y Combinator in the year 2016.
• Meesho added another feather in its cap by being a part of the first batch of Google Launchpad – Solve for India program.
• Later in June 2019, Meesho became India’s first startup to receive an investment from the social media platform Facebook.
• The five-year-old start-up entity has raised $190 million to date. It filled a revenue of Rupees 84.88 crore for the Financial Year ending 2019

The quality and quantity of Meesho business

The products available on the Meesho app are mostly in the stream of lifestyle and fashion. The range of products have varied but the quality has not been compromised. The quality products in ‘n’ number of quantity has been the most striking factor of the Meesho App.

With lakhs of products being hosted on the platform, the company has been able to ensure high standards of quality with its strict and stringent rules and regulations on the benchmark of products.

This uncompromised quality assurance is the most striking feature of the Meesho Application that binds the trust of its customers.

Other Reseller Concepts Like Meesho

With Meesho being successful it is important to know the platforms which work on more or less same kind of business model as that of Meesho Application-

• The Social Distribution Model For Farmers, enabling to bridge the social gaps of the farmers. This concept is somewhat similar to Meesho, but it indirectly serves a social purpose as well, and adds a little depth to the business model. 
• Concept of social commerce called seCommerce, this is a very unique online commercial business model with redefined user navigation.

Meesho shopping App turns the mobile in to money machine

With earning made as simple as sharing on Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, Meesho has successfully turned the mobile device into a money-making tool for common people. The Meesho App turns out to be a boon for many people as it has enabled many of them to earn their first income, particularly the homemakers.

The mobile economy has been given a new definition for otherwise seen as the non-economically contributing section of the society by the Meesho Application.

Impact on the Social fabric

• Where women facing struggles to create their own identity; Meesho has come up with a very innovative and first of its kind platform to provide financial independence to the females of the society.
• Meesho provides an excellent career opportunity to develop an Internet business especially to the women who are unable or unwilling to step out of their homes without having to build any website or app of their own. We can put it under the banner of social commerce.
• It is one of the best earn- money App for the Android world. Eighty percent of Meesho’ s user base is female. The very core societal problem leading to is being addressed by the new-age digital reselling and buying app Meesho.
• Meesho started with an educational section in the Meesho App called as the “Meesho Business Academy”. It includes a series of videos making it easier for new users to use and navigate the Meesho App. The advantage associated with this App is the flexibility of working, the time of working, the removal of friction of starting any business, and the convenience of working from home.

Meesho Selling App Stands Out Of The League

Meesho is an exception, in the world where online giants are killing the middle men. It has made every individual app user a middle man. Just that, instead of buying the product the Meesho App gives the user feature to share the image to Whats App or other social media profile. Plus the earning is easier as when anyone orders the product the Meesho user will get his margin.

With Meesho being one of a kind it is able to set its own unique benchmarks and outperform them every now and then. Within the short span of its life it has become a blue-eyed boy of the economy.

The Application promises a great future for the socio economy. Looking forward to witness its own standards and records getting broken by setting even higher benchmarks.

Official Website

You may also be interested in:

• Can I Sell Meesho Products on Amazon?

The post What Is Meesho App And How It Works appeared first on Growthonomy.

In order to sell their product online, sellers must register themselves on the Flipkart to get the seller’s account. There is a set of criteria from Flipkart, which must be fulfilled by the sellers in order to sell anything online.

We are going to discuss here how to register on Flipkart. But before that, we need to understand why it is so important for the sellers to register on Flipkart.

Why Register as a Seller on Flipkart

Flipkart is one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in India and if you are selling online but not on Flipkart, then you are missing out on a big opportunity. [Know all about Flipkart]

But, in order to sell anything on Flipkart, sellers must get registered on the online portal. After registration sellers get their seller’s account login id and password.

Online registration for Flipkart’s sellers account is also important because it gives sellers recognition and authenticity. From Flipkart’s perspective, it is important to distinguish between sellers and buyers.  Seller’s registration on the seller portal serves that purpose.

Flipkart Seller Registration – Requirements

To create a seller account on Flipkart, you have to go to seller.flipkart.com.

On the registration portal, the following credentials will be needed:

• Email id
• Phone no. for the OTP
• Full Name
• Password
• The agreement needs to be checked.

Documents required at the time of Registration:

• GSTIN.
• PAN Card Registration.
• Bank Account no. with KYC.
• Canceled cheque of the account used
• Address and Pickup address.

How to Register on Flipkart – Step-by-Step Process

After having a glimpse of Flipkart’s seller account requirements, let’s see the registration details through the following illustration.

Step 1 – Start the Registration Process

• Go to the link seller.flipkart.com on your browser.
• You will see a portal with login and registration options.
• Enter your mobile number and click on ‘Register now’
• An OTP will be sent to your mobile number and you will be redirected to the signup form.

Step 2 – Verify Mobile No., Email Id to Create Account

• In this form you have to submit your – Email Id, Mobile Number, OTP, and Full Name.
• OTP remains valid for 10 minutes.
• Choose a password that is at least 5 characters long and click on sign up.
• You will receive a verification link on your email. Click on the link to verify your account.

Step 3 – Give your Pickup and Address details

• Enter your pickup Pin Code and click on continue. This is the pin code of your warehouse or address where you are keeping your inventory.

• Flipkart will verify your pin code for the eligibility of pickup.
• Once your pin code is successfully verified, you will be asked to submit your business address.
• Enter your Pickup Adress and click on continue.

Step 4 – Give Your Business Details

• If you have a GSTIN number, submit your GSTIN number and click on continue.
• If you don’t have GSTIN or your GSTIN application is in process, you can select “I have applied/will apply for a GSTIN” option and continue.
• If your category doesn’t require GSTIN, you can select “I will only sell in GSTIN exempt categories like books”
• After Submission, Flipkart will verify your GSTIN, if you have provided it.

Step 5: Submit Business Details

Submit the following Business Details:

• Business Name
• PAN Number
• Business type – Proprietor or Private Company.
• Business Address with Pin Code.
• Your scanned Address Proof via upload option
• Your scanned signature via upload option or digitally signed  

Note: You can skip uploading of address proof and signature by checking “I will upload address proof and signature later”. However, you still have to do it later before you can start selling.

After submitting all the details, click on continue.

Step 6 – Give your bank details.

• Enter Account Holder’s Name. This should be exactly as your Name on the Bank Account.
• Submit your Account Number
• If you do not have a bank account yet or want to submit the information later, you can select “I have applied/will apply for Bank Account in my registered business”
• Click on Continue

Your Registration Process for Flipkart Seller Account is complete and you will be redirected to the Seller Dashboard.

On the dashboard you can check all important details about everything which is required to sell a product on Flipkart.

Complete Your Flipkart Seller Account Profile

In order to make your profile 100% verified and complete, you have to check the following details.

Details Status

You will see all the pending actions on your seller dashboard. The items will get dissolved, once you have submitted all the required details.

Update your Store Details

You will see a window with the option of updating the store details.

Submit your store Name, address, and other details in the form. On the right side, you can check where this description will be displayed.

Check your signature details

After the store details, you will see the section for Signature.

Check your Signature details and update it accordingly.

Bank Details

When you scroll down further, you can see the section to update your bank details.

If you did not submit the details at the time of registration, here you have to submit your Name and Account number. Your IFSC code will also get verified here.

Upload a canceled cheque

Scan a cancelled cheque or take a picture of it and click on ‘upload’ to upload the picture.

Cancelled cheque should be of bank account whose details were submitted to Flipkart in previous step.

Note:

• Image size should be less than 20 MB.
• Allowed file formats are png, jpeg, jpg and pdf.
• Image should have white background.

Upload your Address

If you haven’t submitted your address at the time of registration, you have to do it here in order to complete your seller profile.

Upload the scanned image of your address proof.

• Allowed file formats for the image are: png, jpeg, jpg and pdf.
• Picture with only white background are allowed.
• Size of Image should not be more than 20 MB.

Product Listings

With this option, a seller can list items to sell on Flipkart.

You can either search already listed products on Flipkart to sell them or you can list your own products.

You can take the help of the video provided on the right of this section to understand the process of listing.

Note: In case you are unable to list the products, leave this step. Once you complete all other steps, a Flipkart agent will call you to help you with product listing.

Verify Your Account through Email.

If you haven’t checked your mail for the verification code, you can resend the verification code from here as well.

A verification code is valid for 24 hours only. If it expires, account verification can be completed later on as well.

With Flipkart seller’s registration, you get the authority to sell anything online. You can list your products on the marketplace and start doing your business online. The seller’s dashboard helps sellers to organize their products and get every detail about their business.

The dashboard serves as a mode of communication between sellers and Flipkart. A 24X7 support is also provided to the sellers for their queries. The seller support team solves their queries in the least possible time period.  This also proves that Flipkart is also a seller centric e-commerce platform.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Still have doubts regarding Flipkart Seller Registration or completing details of your Flipkart Seller Account? Ask in the comments below and we will answer your concerns.

The post Flipkart Seller Registration Process Made Easy [STEP-BY-STEP Tutorial] appeared first on Growthonomy.

Flipkart online shopping app is India’s most-used shopping app with more than 11 million users. The Walmart-owned Flipkart’s revenue was $6 billion in 2019. Flipkart India, which is the wholesale arm of Flipkart, made $4 billion in the same financial year.

The company has a 70% share in the Indian market under the apparel and accessories section. India’s Online Fashion market is expected to grow rapidly in the upcoming future. It acquired Myntra and Phonepe which made the business easier and also added significant growth to Flipkart’s revenue.

Flipkart Subsidiaries

Flipkart has more than half-a-dozen of subsidiaries like Myntra, Jabong, and Phonepe, etc. under its asset list. Let’s discuss more about Flipkart subsidiaries and see how they fuel up the revenue of Flipkart.

• Myntra – Flipkart–Myntra took place in 2014 with a breaking deal of $280 million. Myntra had 30% of the market share in fashion sales, which influenced this purchase. After the merger, Flipkart had 50% of the overall market share and had nearly 100% of annual growth.
  
• Jabong – Jabong was acquired by Myntra in July 2016 for about $70 million, which indirectly made it a subsidiary of Flipkart. In early 2020, Walmart-owned Flipkart formally shut down Jabong to focus on Myntra. 
  
• Ekart – Ekart is the Logistics arm of Flipkart. Ekart was acquired by Flipkart in 2015 from WS Retail services. But from Feb 5, Ekart no longer operates its customer-to-customer courier service started in 2016. This step was taken to consolidate the logistics of Flipkart.
  
• Phonepe – Phonepe is an online payment platform, acquired by Flipkart in April 2016. Phonepe is recognized as an independent business unit with over 218 million users. Phonepe is set to raise $10 billion for the current fundraising cycle of the company.
  
• Jeeves – Jeeves is Flipkart’s branch for after-sales services for large home appliances and electronics. The company acquired the majority of stake in Jeeves in November 2014 to enhance consumer satisfaction. Currently over 300 Jeeves centers are operating across the country.
  
• 2 GUD – Flipkart launched the 2GUD website to sell refurbished products. Initially, it started with 400 categories of electronic products.  Refurbished goods market is expected to grow over $20 billion in upcoming years; this made Flipkart India introduce 2GUD to the existing users. 

Walmart-Flipkart Acquisition

Walmart-Flipkart acquisition took place in 2018. The U.S-based retail giant bought 77% stake of the company worth $16 billion. This was the biggest investment in the history of e-commerce sector. Flipkart’s global recognition made a significant growth after that.

Cause of Acquisition

Initially investors were worried about the loss due to acquisition of Flipkart. But Indian e-commerce market is expected to touch $200 billion by 2026, which made Walmart invest in the Indian e-commerce company.

Flipkart, before & after Acquisition

Flipkart started from an online Bookselling platform in 2007 and made subsidiaries like Myntra and Phonepe before its acquisition. After acquisition from Walmart in 2018, its net worth reached up to $21 billion.

Impact of Walmart Flipkart Acquisition

Walmart-Flipkart merger brought job opportunities for the people and was influential for small business growth in India. It gave the company the global exposure to increase its global reach. 

Flipkart Funding and Investments

Flipkart’s funding started in 2007 when Bansals invested around US$5500 on-site development. After that its business model was able to attract many small to large investors towards the organization. Following are some of the important investments of the investors in Flipkart till date.

• First investment came from Accel Indian which made $1 million in 2009.
• Tiger Global came up with $10 million in June 2010 and $20 million in 2011.
• Naspers Group’s MIH invested $150 million in August 2012.
• Existing Investors invested $200 million Flipkart got $160 from new investors in 2013
• Existing Investors and Yuri Milner’s DST Global invested $210 in 2014
• Company raised $1B from GIC Singapore and existing backers in 2014
• In 2015, it reached a valuation of $15.5B and rose $700M from existing investors.
• IN 2017, it raised a total of $3B.
• In 2018 Walmart bought a 77% stake of the company at $16B.

Following is the year-wise analysis of Flipkart Funding till the Acquisition.

Flipkart Revenue

The company gets most of its revenue from collection, marketplace, and logistics. A lot happened in a previous couple of years in the company. Due to an edge-to-edge competition from its rival Amazon, its revenue surely hampered.

Let’s try to find more about it’s revenue in previous years with the help of data below.

Flipkart’s revenue in FY 2019

• Flipkart revenue in the financial year ending March 2019 was $6 billion.
• It was a part of Walmart now.
• There was a 42% increase in income as compared to previous year’s income.

Flipkart’s revenue in FY 2018

• Revenue of Flipkart in the financial year ending March 2018 was $3.8 billion dollars.
• There was a 19% increase in income as compared to the previous year’s income.
• This time its wholesale arm was the major part of the revenue.

Flipkart’s revenue in 2017

• Flipkart revenue in the financial year ending March 2017 was $2.6 billion.
• The marketplace was performing badly due to bad Business model.
• There was a 29% increase in income as compared to the previous year’s income.

After multiple acquisitions and a head to head competition from another e-commerce giant, the company saw a dip in the revenue during 2017-18. But after the emergence of Walmart, its revenue growth went up to whopping 42%. As Indian online market is expected to grow rapidly in upcoming years, it looks like the company is sitting on a goldmine.

Flipkart in Global Market

Flipkart is India’s top e-commerce platform. Despite being at the top, it gets a direct competition from its rival Amazon in India. The company holds 38% of market share in India where Amazon plans to invest $1billion per year in its infrastructure in the country.

Let’s look at Flipkart’s position in the global online retail market.

• Walmart-Flipkart the acquisition increased monthly customers to 45% and there is a 30% increase in transactions as well.
• According to the fourth-quarter earnings of 2019, growth in international sales is 2.3%, which is $33 billion.
• Last year was not that good in terms of cash flow, as it went down to $14.5 billion from $17.4 billion of 2018.

It’s position in the global online retail market looks stable. After Walmart acquiring most of the company stakes, sales have seen significant growth in the previous years. Even if the prime focus was to target the Indian online market, company’s global share has shown increment. This is a good sign for the Indian e-Commerce platform.

People behind Flipkart

No organization can become successful without its capable workforce. Flipkart started as a bookselling platform in 2007 and now it’s a big name in the e-commerce industry. The company had many ups and downs like any major organization.

Let’s try to find out more about the people behind Flipkart and see how they helped this organization to reach to the level where it is standing today.

Flipkart Founders

Flipkart founders, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal were both alumni of IIT Delhi. They worked for Amazon before starting Flipkart.  Due to the same surname they often get mistaken as siblings, which is not the case. They were named as most powerful people of 2017 by India Today.

Ex-Flipkart CEO, Sachin Bansal

Sachin Bansal was born on August 5, 1981, in Chandigarh. He completed his Degree in Computer Science and engineering in 2005 and joined Techspan. After working there for a few months he joined Amazon Web Services as a Senior Software Engineer. He quit Amazon in 2007 to start Flipkart.

In December 2018, Sachin Bansal made an exit from Flipkart and founded BAC Acquisition Private Limited. He held a 5.5% stake in Flipkart, which he sold off to Walmart. At the time of exit, his net worth was $1 billion.

After exiting Flipkart, Bansal decided to work on pending projects and investments in local and early-stage startups. In April 2020, Navi Technologies announced him as its Managing Director.

Ex-Flipkart CEO, Binny Bansal

Co-founder Binny Bansal was born in 1982-83 in Chandigarh, same place as Sachin Bansal. Binny Bansal also had a Computer Science degree in engineering from IIT Delhi. After his graduation he joined Amazon and remained an employee for 9 months. He started the e-commerce company in 2007 along with Sachin Bansal

Co-founder Binny Bansal worked as the chief operating officer until January 2011 then got promoted and from 2016, he served as a CEO of Flipkart till 2017.  He resigned from the company in November 2018 post allegations of personal misconduct.

Currently Binny Bansal lives in Bengaluru and working to help startups. In 2019, Binny Bansal started his new venture ‘xto 10x Technologies’, where idea is to help 10,000 early and mid-level startups, not 10. Binny Bansal still has a 4% share in the organization.

Flipkart CEO

Kalyan Krishnamurthy is the current Chief Executive Officer of Flipkart. Before that, Krishnamurthy served as the director of Finance and Portfolio Companies at Tiger Global Management.

Mr. Krishnamurthy has an MBA degree from Asian Institute of Management, Philippines, and another MBA degree in Finance from UIUC College of Business, Illinois, USA.

Krishnamurthy joined the company in 2013 as a Finance head, but due to some bitter fallout with Sachin Bansal, he left. He rejoined the organization in 2016 and working till date for the betterment of the company.

Past and Future of Flipkart

Flipkart already has 60% of the Indian e-commerce market in the apparel sector, since it acquired Myntra. After its acquisition by Walmart, it has made a significant increase in sales in previous years. The plan is to grab the opportunity in $1trillion potential of the Indian Online retail market.

Major Events in Flipkart’s Timeline

• Bansals found Flipkart in 2007 with a website to sell Books.
• In 2014, it got the biggest initial Investment which was above $1billion.
• Acquired Myntra in 2014 for $280 million.
• Acquired Phonepe in 2016 to solve its payment issue.
• Fueled its logistic arm Ekart with $213 million in 2018.
• Walmart bought its 77% stakes at $16 billion in 2018.
• Bansals exit the organization with $1 billion net worth

Future of Flipkart

The future of Flipkart depends upon its investment and business plans by the parent company Walmart. Walmart tends to invest more in the payment branch which made $6 million in FY 2018-19.  Walmart is planning to acquire a global market share of e-commerce parallel with the Indian online retail market.  In the upcoming future, Flipkart is not too far from becoming a big hit in the Online Retail Industry.

To sum up, the e-commerce giant has seen many ups and downs along with different roles and responsibilities of different leaders. It has acquired many companies, before its acquisition to grow its business all over the world.

After Walmart’s acquisition, it saw significant growth in overall sales and valuation. After a multi-billion dollar deal, Walmart saw the potential in the Indian online market. It has seen a very positive response from the global online retail market after the Walmart merger. So, it won’t be wrong to say that Flipkart is set to become the next big thing in the e-commerce market.

The post What is Flipkart – Founders, Subsidiaries, Funding & Revenue, Walmart Acquisition and more appeared first on Growthonomy.

The e-commerce industry was growing rapidly but a time came in history when Kirana stores overpowered e-commerce giants. It was the Covid-19 pandemic that jolted the economy and e-commerce was one of the worst-hit sectors of retail businesses.

What is a Kirana store?

Kirana store can be considered as a small grocery shop in your area. It can be owned by a single owner or it can be a family business. They mostly work on the credit system. They get the supplies from the distributors in credit and return the credit after selling the product.

 In rough stats, Kirana owners make around 16-18% profit annually by doing the business locally. There are more than 6.65 million Kirana stores across the country and have over 90% of share in the Indian retail market.

Structure of the Indian Retail Market

As we know, the structures of the Kirana or Parchun shop chains are mostly unorganized in India. Most of the revenue comes from these Parchun shops which are an integral part of the Indian Economy. The organized retail sector holds over 165 billion dollars of market share. The total value of Indian retail is worth 600 billion dollars.

Even after the emergence of e-commerce online retailers, the offline market has a stronghold on the Indian retail economy. Let’s see further how dependency on the Kirana store works in this country.

Dependence on Kirana Shops (Parchun shops)

The majority of Indian customers are depending upon local general stores or Parchun Shops for daily essentials. Food products are mainly distributed by small Parchun shops across the community. This is very difficult for online giants like Grofers, Flipkart, Amazon, etc. to establish a customer belief in a very short time. Kirana stores are providing over 13 million people their wages.

Impact of technology on Kirana and Parchun Industry

After the arrival of retail giants like Reliance and Grofers, Kirana stores are getting converted into their own branded outlets. Grofers have converted 200 Kirana stores to their own outlet. Idea is to maintain consistency over the unstructured layout of the stores in the country.

Reliance is planning to convert 5 million Kirana stores by 2023. This is a huge interference to the Indian retail market. Indian retail market is changing but according to Forbes India, Parchun and Kirana stores are going to stay here in India for some considerable amount of time.

Effect of Pandemic on the retail Industry

During the COVID-19 pandemic, services got hampered directly as mobility was restricted for the sake of people’s safety. People were not allowed to get out of their houses and it was necessary to provide daily essentials to the consumers. This was the time when Kirana stores played an important role in proving the essential products to the people.

Kirana stores were allowed to open during the lockdown period where online services were banned. Online giants were asked to provide essential services to the customers, which didn’t happen effectively during the lockdown period.

Kirana and Parchun Stores – A Lifeline during Lockdown

When demands of food items suddenly increased during the lockdown period, Kirana stores served as a life savior for the retail industry in India. People were asked for social distancing and traveling was not allowed.

People were allowed to go out for emergency services only. At that time people found these Kirana stores in their neighborhood for essential food item supply. Kirana stores turned out to be a lifeline during this pandemic.

Let’s dig more into how Kirana stores turned out to be a life savior for over 1.38 billion people in this emergency situation.

5 Reasons why Kirana Stores overpowered eCommerce giants

1. Better connectivity
2. Better Availability of essential items
3. The Comfort zone of Indian Customers
4. Ease of doing business
5. Government’s interference during the lockdown – The restrictions

1. Better connectivity of Kirana stores

When we talk about the structure of the retail industry in India, Parchun Shops prove to be the most visited place for the purchase of daily essentials. This happens due to its better connectivity to the local residents. People find it easier to go out and purchase grocery items from these Parchun shops rather than going to a relatively complicated system of e-commerce grocery purchases.

2. Better Availability of essential items

During the period of lockdown, e-commerce giants got overwhelmed by the sudden increase in demand for essential items. It was impossible to fulfill the needs of customers once at the same time. At that time essentials were available at the local Kirana outlets which have a very vast network across the country.

People found it easier to go the traditional way. As the demand didn’t overwhelm the large network of outlets, the demand got distributed and thus Kirana stores became more effective during the lockdown period.

3. The Comfort zone of Indian Customers

E-commerce is relatively new to the Indian retail market. People are not used to buying essential items from any retail platform working online. Retail businesses are trust-based businesses that run on retail’s relation with their customers.

During the pandemic, people went for the local Kirana shops to buy essential products. Even today, people find it comfortable to buy products from local markets rather than buying it online. This made Kirana stores more effective than online stores during this pandemic.

4. Ease of doing business of Kirana stores.

E-commerce businesses run on a wider area with an integration of multiple service providers. This makes the process of delivering the ordered product longer than the Kirana shops. A product reaches its customers after lots of processing. This makes the delivery costly as well as time-consuming.

In the case of shopping through a Kirana store, geographical distances are negligible which makes it easier to get the orders instantly. A Kirana store is easily accessible and due to zero interference of third party bodies, services are easily availed at a very convenient rate.

5. Government’s interference during the lockdown

During the lockdown, e-commerce services were restricted to essential items only, whereas offline stores were able to provide non-essential items as well. This gave an extra amount of favor to the Kirana store services to do daily businesses.

Lockdown forced people to remain in their houses. The e-commerce delivery services were unable to deliver the ordered products because of the restrictions. Kirana stores had the permission to continue their services amid lockdown. Parchun shops also provided home delivery to the people in their locality. This made Kirana shops more helpful to the customers amid lockdown.

Future of Kirana and Parchun Stores in India

Indian retail Industry is digitalizing and local Parchun Shops are getting converted into branded supply chains. This has a significant impact on the traditional way of selling good and daily essentials. India has the second-largest population of internet users. This creates a great opportunity for the technology giants to sink in.

E-commerce giants are already on a move to digitalize the Indian retail Industry. Recently Facebook and Reliance made a $5.7 billion deal to enhance the Jio Mart project in India. Jio mart is an ambitious project of RIL to provide an online-to-offline platform to the customers. Idea is to connect all local Kirana or Parchun Shops to the customers through an online platform without losing the benefits of an offline store.

In short, a customer can place an order online and purchase offline. This will have support with Whatsapp which has 20 crore customers which will connect 3 crore Kirana stores to the customers. This will have a great impact on Kirana stores. Currently, Jio Mart is available in some parts of Maharashtra and expected to be available across the country very soon.

Conclusion

Hence Kirana stores overpowered e-commerce giants in this rare cause of an event. This came as a life savior for people locked in their houses. Kirana stores have a history in India and it’s not going anywhere for some considerable amount of time. It is true that technology will have an impact on the retail industry in India, but the traditional way of selling groceries will not vanish.

Kirana stores are evolving rather than getting extinct. This is very early to come to any conclusion. Things are changing rapidly but we cannot deny the fact that change is the only constant and Indian Retail Industry is on its move. With the change, Kirana stores are holding their position as the lynchpin of the Indian retail industry.

You may also want to see:

• List of Kirana Stores in Noida providing home delivery!

The post Time in History when Kirana Stores overpowered e-commerce giants appeared first on Growthonomy.

With the increasing demand of products online, speedy fulfillment of orders is something which not just “Good to have” but it is the expectation of each consumer.

In order to ensure the faster and expedited delivery of the products and to capture most of the market base businesses have already got in to the race of developing new technologies and experimental supply chain models and few leading startups like Shadowfax offering last mile delivery solutions are coming at the forefront.

The major aim of these models is to increase shipment volume and focus on expedited delivery to ensure a happy and delightful consumer.

What is last mile delivery?

If we talk about last mile delivery in layman’s term it refers to the final delivery of the product to the end user or the consumer.

During the journey of a product from the shelf of a warehouse to the doorstep of a consumer, the “Last Mile” refers to the final step of the process. The point where the product finally reaches the buyer’s door.

It is also referred to as the major aspect of customer satisfaction because as early as the consumer receives the product more satisfied he/she is.

In addition to being customer satisfaction aspect, the last mile delivery is also considered to be the most expensive and time-consuming part of the shipping process.

Importance of last-mile delivery in B2B Logistics:

With the expectations been set by the e-commerce companies amongst the consumers. Majority of the B2B clients also like to enjoy the same purchasing facilities that is being granted to the B2C side.

B2B logistics movement plays a major role in the industry as these are the huge transactions and need to be completed effectively and efficiently.

Also the reverse logistics is one of the major trouble faced by the B2B companies due to huge cost involved. Therefore, importance of last mile delivery in B2B logistics cannot be ignored.

About Shadowfax

When it comes to last mile delivery solutions you always need a trusted partner to ensure that you are able to fulfill your promise and ensure customer satisfaction.

Now a days Shadowfax is emerging as the leading on demand logistic network offering tech enabled one stop shop delivery solutions be it Groceries, pharmaceuticals or E-commerce deliveries.

Shadowfax is enabling millions of micro-entrepreneurs and suppliers in logistics using a singular platform/IOTs to bridge the information gap and eliminate inefficiencies across the entire value chain of logistics.

Origin of Shadowfax:

Established back in 2015 with a seed funding of $300k, the company has grown itself in to leaps and bounds. The company since its inception started acquiring small businesses.

Shadowfax was the one that launched same day delivery for the e-commerce industry and also the same day heavy shipment intercity deliveries.

Shadowfax while operating profitably, kept on increasing its daily partners and further kept widening its span and secured its place in the Forbes India 30 under 30.

Currently operating in 500 cities, Shadowfax is fulfilling 400,000 orders each day. Last year i.e. 2019 it has also foray in to social commerce and kirana delivery model.

The Shadowfax Leadership:

Bengaluru based Shadowfax is the brainchild of few IIT Delhi Alumini, i.e.

1. Abhishek Bansal

Abhishek Bansal Co-Founder and CEO of Shadowfax completed his B.tech from IIT Delhi in Production and Industrial engineering. After that he served a company referred to as HAY group prior to the establishment of Shadowfax, India’s most trusted on-demand last mile logistics network.

 3. Vaibhav Khandelwal

Vaibhav Khandelwal Co-Founder and CTO of Shadowfax completed his B.tech from IIT Delhi in Electronics and telecommunication engineering. After that he served few companies like Adobe & System 2 Advisors, LP prior to the establishment of Shadowfax, India’s most trusted on-demand last mile logistics network.

3. Gaurav Jaithliya

Gaurav Jaithliya Co-Founder and Chief of strategy at Shadowfax completed his Masters in Technology, mathematics and computing from IIT Delhi. After that he served Gulf Talent as a senior software engineer in Dubai prior to the establishment of Shadowfax, India’s most trusted on-demand last mile logistics network.

4. Praharsh Chandra

Praharsh Chandra Co-Founder and CFO at Shadowfax completed his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi. After that he was associated with A.T Kearney prior to the establishment of Shadowfax, India’s most trusted on-demand last mile logistics network.

Apart from these major founders or we can say the Pillars of Shadowfax. It has a huge pool of talent in every department to ensure smooth functioning of the business. Be it human resource or finance, all the departments are well equipped with the brilliant minds.

Investors and Funding

Shadowfax was established back in 2015 with a seed funding of $300k from Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal and others.

Over the years Shadowfax has received a series of funds:

1. $8.5 Million– Series A Funding from Eight Roads Ventures in 2015.
2. $10 Million- Series B Funding from fidelity investments in 2016.
3. $22 Million- Series C Funding from NGP Capital, Qualcomm and Mirae Asset in 2018.
4. $60 Million- Series D Funding led by Flipkart in 2019.

Shadowfax Network and Orders year on year

1. 2015: The business launched itself with a presence in 5 cities with a delivery Capacity of 15000 orders per day.
2. 2016: The Business after launching Same Day Delivery for E-commerce made its presence available in 15 cities and delivering 30000 orders per day.
3. 2017: Shadowfax after the launch of its Next day Express intercity deliveries and same day heavy shipment intracity deliveries the company made its presence available in 75 cities and delivering 80000 orders per day.
4. 2018: With marking its entry into FMCG and consumer goods intracity distribution. Shadowfax almost doubled its presence in to 200 cities with delivery of 150000 orders per day.
5. 2019:  Shadowfax foray into Social Commerce and Kirana Delivery Model and made its existence available in 500 cities with delivering 400000 orders per day.

Milestones in Shadowfax Journey

1. 500+ Active cities which are currently serviceable.
2. 7000+ Pin codes for hassle free delivery.
3. 100k+ and growing partner network.
4. More than 1 Cr+ monthly transactions.
5. 3000+ commercial vehicles and still counting.
6. 35+ Air Routes.

Delivery Services Offered by Shadowfax

Shadowfax is on its fast track growth of becoming India’s biggest B2B one stop new-age logistics solution company.

Various Services that Shadowfax is currently offering:

1. Hyperlocal Delivery
2. Same Day Delivery
3. Next Day Delivery

1. Hyperlocal Delivery

Shadowfax is offering instant delivery of essential products like Food, Medicines and Grocery under this service. This instant delivery time can range between 30-90 minutes.

With the help of the Live tracking system it becomes easier for delivery partner through optimized routes to ensure hyperlocal deliveries are completed effectively and efficiently.

2. Same Day Delivery

With its huge span over the states and the country. Shadowfax is offering the fastest intracity delivery services in India.

Be it reverse logistics or Express Grocery delivery. The LCV Fleet offers fast and reliable same day delivery.

3. Next Day Delivery

To ensure minimum time is taken to deliver the products, Shadowfax offers its express intercity delivery service.

With a stronghold on technology and an impeccable air and surface connectivity, the forward logistics and Kirana delivery is ensured to reach the destination in the minimum time possible the very next day.

Categories of operation

Shadowfax has emerged as a leader in last-mile delivery and last mile logistics solutions and has further divided the categories of its delivery services.

Various categories of operations that Shadowfax operated under are:

1. Food Delivery
2. Pharmacy Delivery
3. Grocery Delivery
4. E-Commerce Deliveries
5. E-Commerce Reverse Logistics
6. Economy Express

1. Food Delivery

Curing the hunger, Shadowfax is serving the biggest players in the food industry and local restaurants to ensure that the last mile carrier service is completed hassle free at any hour.

2. Pharmacy Delivery

Shadowfax Ensures 90-minute delivery of the pharmacy products through its widely spread last mile delivery network. To effectively manage the criticality behind the delivery of the medicines.

3. Grocery Delivery

To ensure that the end consumer is able to get the quality service at the comfort of their home. Shadowfax is offering last mile delivery service for Grocery items within the stipulated time to eliminate the customer efforts and providing the services at their doorstep.

4. E-Commerce Deliveries

With the movement of people from offline to the online market, Shadowfax is all set to ensure the last mile delivery and help E-commerce giants fulfill their promise.

Services Offered under E-commerce

• Pickup from Marketplace or the Warehouse.
• Multimode Connectivity across PAN India.
• Calls Masked over the network to reduce the chances of fraud.
• Feature to track end to end shipment.
• Doorstep payment solution.

5. E-Commerce Return logistics

Return logistics can be a nightmare for any seller and the reason being the huge cost and time involved in the process.

However, Shadowfax with its tech based and cast network has made Return logistics a cost effective process.

6. Economy Express

To eliminate the consumer pain areas and to ensure seamless & super speed delivery of intercity goods. Shadowfax has emerged as the most cost effective, trusted and efficient partner.

Establishing Gold Standards in Reverse Logistics

Shadowfax reverse logistics has beaten its own expectations through a successful launch of e-Commerce logistics 2.0 which has taken the reverse logistics to a new height by identifying each and every pain area.

With the identification of these areas and using its tech based last mile delivery technique has developed a seamless reverse logistics network to ensure businesses are able to get back maximum shipments.

Solutions Shadowfax is offering

• Quality Check with 18000+ checkpoints at the doorstep.
• Auto allocation of pickups instantly along with live updates on successful quality check.
• Quality Check at the door step offers direct shipping to the merchants.
• No need to wait for 3-4 days for refunds, Shadowfax offers instant refunds.
• No manual paper work involved eliminating the dead weight of paper for the riders.
• Merchants can define the priority of the pickup.

Milind adds, “In the near future, we are working hard to predict scheduled pickups and be able to pick products up within 90 minutes of a customer’s request. Both our clients and their customers will love a doorstep KYC procedure and instant replacement for the products. We have received some requests for customized packaging as well.”

Shadowfax Seller Portal

Shadowfax offers an app based platform for the merchants to ensure that they are able to track the delivery of their orders on the go.

Along with that Shadowfax Seller Portal 2.0 version of the e-commerce logistics offered by Shadowfax enables the merchants to set the priority of the orders or the return logistics.

Not only that the transparency in the Shadowfax Seller portal dashboard helps make the entire process hassle free for merchants and Shadowfax both.

Shadowfax Order Tracking

Shadowfax offers a great order tracking system with live tracking that makes Shadowfax order tracking system user friendly and ensures complete customer satisfaction.

In Shadowfax Order Tracking system you just need to enter the tracking id and you are all set to get the latest updates regarding your order.

Also the inbuilt notification system in Shadowfax Order tracking platform makes you aware about all the latest updates.

Other Last Mile delivery startups

1. BLACKBUCK: Blackbuck is an Indian last mile delivery startup for online logistics transaction to provide one stop solution to the users, Delivering anything anywhere.
2. BookMyPacket: BookMyPacket is a technology based logistic operator providing express service, which is effective, efficient and easy on pocket. It is one of the top rated Last mile delivery startup.
3. Ecom Express: Ecom Express one of the last mile delivery startup has seen rapid growth by proving end to end last mile logistics solution to the Indian E-Commerce industry.
4. CityXfer: One of the leading Indian last mile delivery startup offering intracity logistic service for volumetric products with the help of innovative technology.
5. Grofers: Grofers has established itself as one of the leader in the last mile delivery startup by enabling the end user to order the product from different categories using its mobile app and online platform.

Last mile delivery is increasingly getting popularity in India as a new wave of startups are coming on the forefront with innovative ideas and technologies to address the inefficiencies in the sector.

And with the ongoing automation across the industries, it’s expected that we may witness delivery robots, drones, and self-driven vehicles attempting these last mile deliveries in near future.

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