If you’ve ever done online shopping, you must have evaluated the product by seeing the available product images. But what if you were presented with a poor-quality, blurry, static product image on the online store? Would you still buy the same product? The answer is a big NO. Unlike a visit to the traditional brick-and-mortar store, you don’t get the option to pick a product and assess its quality during online shopping.
You instead try to judge the product and its quality by seeing the product image. It would be an understatement to say that many online conversions result from uploading top-notch product images. If you own a relatively new or old eCommerce store and are struggling to generate sales, making changes in the product image quality can bring a huge difference.
While eCommerce store owners understand the importance of uploading top-quality images to their online store, many don’t know the best practices of doing it. It inadvertently hurts the bottom line. To help you improve your store’s user experience and boost online sales, we’ve curated this epic product image guide for eCommerce store owners. So let’s quickly go through the below-shared practical tips or settings that can get you visible results.
Tips for Improving Product Images for Your eCommerce Store
Upload a Product Image in all Available Colors
Instead of telling visitors that you offer a product in three more colors, show them the different available options with the help of images. Visualization helps people make better decisions than mere statements.
For example, if you sell luggage in different color variants, click an excellent product picture in all the available color ranges. The viewer should be able to see the product in the desired color he clicked on. This one change can bring a massive difference to your online sales.
Maintain a Balance Between Website Performance & Image File Size
Have you ever visited any online store whose catalog and product images took an extended time to load? If yes, you’re not alone. Various eCommerce stores are yet to optimize their product’s image size and website performance.
If image loading time and page loading time are not aligned, visitors can immediately leave the store for other better-performing sites. You should ask your SEO manager and website developer to work together with the product photographer to fix this problem. Together they can ensure the product image size and resolution are pitch-perfect.
When uploading the desired image file type, always store and upload product images in JPG format. This format is supported by many online store platforms, including WooCommerce, Shopify, etc.
Allow the Shopper to Zoom in & Zoom Out Without any Hassle
Irrespective of the product you’re selling online, it is crucial to allow the prospective customers to easily zoom in and zoom out by clicking on any part of the picture. This feature lets customers get a closer and relatively clear look of the product. If you’re into the clothing business, you can leverage this feature to your advantage.
Customers can get to zoom in and display any intricate design or detail that sets your product apart from others in the market, ultimately leading to increased sales. You can either check whether the platform you’re using to run the eCommerce store is offering this functionality or contact a web developer to do the needful.
Maintain Brand Consistency Throughout the Product Images
Branding is a crucial component that can make any brand appear more reliable than others. As a store owner, you wouldn’t want your website images to look like random picture pieces picked up from the internet. When it comes to product images, store owners can subtly include their brand style to exert the much-needed influence.
To maintain branding and consistency across all uploaded pictures, pay special attention to the lighting, product placement, background, modeling, etc., while clicking the picture. Inconsistency in product images can be distracting and can prevent store visitors from making a purchase. To impart a professional and more reliable feel to all the product images, always ask the concerned professional to abide by the brand guidelines.
Upload Pictures from All Viewing Angles
It might sound like a piece of cliché advice, but you’d be surprised to know that not many eCommerce stores have incorporated this into their website. When shopping online, people don’t get the benefit of picking a product in their hand and analyzing it from different angles. But you can fill in this gap by offering advanced, and high-resolution product images clicked from various angles.
When the same product is viewed from different angles, it highlights details that a static image or a specific angle fails to cover. It is why when you visit eCommerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, etc., you get the option to view a product from different angles. It lets you know how big or small the product really is. It also enables you to gauge the product better.
If the product you’re selling has some unique details, don’t forget to highlight it by clicking pictures from relevant angles.
Customers Survey on improvement of the Product Images in E-Commerce Grocery
While product descriptions are essential for online shoppers, quality product images are equally important. According to a survey, approximately 75% of respondents said that product images are very influential and help them make a purchase decision. The same poll also disclosed how around 22% of respondents returned the purchased product because it looked very different from what it looked online in the product image.
Online shoppers want to see product images because it gives them proof of texture, color, shape, design, and more. Well-taken pictures instill a spark among potential buyers, inclining them towards a particular product. It also gives shoppers a clear idea of what they will get for the offered price. If you can provide this one thing that customers yearn for, you can definitely boost your online sales.
Your sales revenue gets boosted by bettering the Product Image Quality.
The necessity of having high-resolution and quality product images on an online store cannot be emphasized enough. In today’s age, a lot depends on how products look and feel. With eCommerce players doubling down on product imagery and visual content, you cannot take the risk of being left behind. If you have uploaded multiple good-quality pictures of every product to woo your visitors but still aren’t getting impressive results, try adopting the tips shared in the guide.
After analyzing various eCommerce stores across different niches, it has been found that stores offering the best product imagery content perform better than the rest. This guide suggests some of the best and most practical tips that have the potential to skyrocket your online sales, so give them a try for visible results.
FAQs
Which image format is best for eCommerce websites?
JPEG and PNG image format is the best for eCommerce websites.
What size should WooCommerce product images be?
The recommended size of WooCommerce product images is 800×800 pixels.
What size should Shopify product images be?
Shopify recommended product image size is 2048 x 2048 pixels.
What is the best image size for online?
The optimal file size for images on an eCommerce website should be less than 200 KB.
Video content is becoming a major factor in deciding whether to buy a product or service. This is stated in a study “Future of Ecommerce” conducted by Shopify. According to analysts, 46% of consumers watch videos about the product before buying it. Therewith, 81% of companies plan to increase or maintain investment in live broadcasts to increase their sales by the end of 2022.
According to a Demand Metric report, 83% of marketers believe that video is more important today than ever. This is confirmed by WYZOwl statistics, according to which 87% of companies use video as a marketing tool.
The streaming video market is projected to reach $ 972.31 billion by 2030, growing by 18.1% CAGR – Market Research Future reports. An indisputable factor in this growth is the globalization of marketing strategies of brands that seek to expand their audience to new markets.
The global economic landscape opens up many opportunities for the expansion of foreign business. However, linguistic and cultural differences are major obstacles to international success. Thus, in the EF Education First study in partnership with the Economic Intelligence Unit, more than 49% of executives of international companies admitted that misunderstandings in communication were an obstacle to signing large business agreements and led to significant losses. In this context, the growing market for the translation industry and artificial intelligence software for automatic online video translation is becoming apparent. Such technologies enable international companies, educational organizations, bloggers and media representatives to scale their content and business around the world.
As the video format actively displaces all other sources of information and ranks first in the world, high-quality video translation and localization is becoming increasingly popular. The most common video localization strategies are subtitles and dubbing, each of which has its advantages in a particular market. To successfully expand one’s presence, one should pay attention to the format of localization in each market. For example, people in many European countries (namely France, Germany, Italy and Spain) prefer duplicate content due to historical factors and ease of listening to duplicate videos. However, their Scandinavian neighbors (Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway) usually prefer subtitles. The Asian market, according to IndieWire, chooses dubbed content. This is explained by the predominant consumption of content by users on smart devices in combination with the simultaneous performance of other tasks. In the United States, according to Statista, 59% of American adults prefer to watch dubbed movies than watch the original with subtitles.
In response to the growing demand for high-quality, fast and affordable video translation, duplication solutions have begun to appear on the market, including from technology giant Silicon Valley. In March 2022, it was announced the launch of a new product from the internal incubator Google Area120 – “Aloud”. According to the developers, with the help of Aloud, content creators will be able to duplicate their videos in several languages. At the moment, the service, which is designed to “overcome language barriers”, is not available to a wide range of users.
Another project differs in its philosophy – online video translator Vidby, launched in Switzerland in 2021 and available for use. As founders Oleksandr Konovalov and Eugen von Rubinberg point out, “We are not just overcoming language barriers, we are creating comprehension technologies while preserving the world’s linguistic diversity.” The service offers video translation in 70 languages with up to 99% accuracy thanks to artificial intelligence (subject to post-editing of the original language within 24 hours after automatic recognition). If you just need to understand or convey the general content of the video or translate the necessary fragments – just use the automatic recognizer with an accuracy of 80%. It only takes 1-2 minutes of waiting for 1 minute of video.
Thus, reaching more customers in different parts of the world through video localization means strengthening the global business presence. Speaking to the target audience in one language is not just a metaphor. There is a clear correlation between the language of the content you show customers and the likelihood of making a purchase. Representatives of the Common Sense Advisory conducted a survey and found that 72% of consumers are more likely to buy goods with information in their native language, and 56% of respondents said the opportunity to receive information in their native language is more important than price.
The “God’s own country”, Kerala is also a very vulnerable place to natural disasters. However, the people there are “warriors of God” too. They face each and every problem and fight through it. Does it sound familiar? Yes, Entrepreneurs! They also face and fight each and every problem. Not everyone in Kerala is an entrepreneur, but the state has given amazing startups to the country. Here, we have a list of the best startups in Kerala.
800+ stories, thousands of founders, and millions of visitors. Want to be the next?
StartupTalky is where founders, entrepreneurs, startups and businesses hang out and look up to for inspiration. If you have the means, we have the medium! Inviting founders and startups who are building sustainable solutions from ground zero! Startups who run the show, StartupTalky will let the world know!
Founder: Anoop Balakrishnan, Arun Ravi and Nikhil Dharman Founded Year: 2015
RecipeBook Logo
An app for the tyro chefs out there; an app that can list out possible recipes that can be prepared from whatever ingredients you have in hand. Using machine learning and image processing, RecipeBook provides a helping hand for anyone interested in cooking.
RecipeBook was founded in December 2015, by Anoop Balakrishnan, Arun Ravi and Nikhil Dharman. Stimulated by their own experience of cooking meals using whatever condiments and items they had at hand, they decided to solve this problem faced by bachelors in PGs, students in hostels and nearly everyone who has to make meals.
With more than a million installs, it has been recognized under Google’s ‘Editor’s Choice’ in the play store. There’s even an offline shopping list which enables you to add ingredients to a list for the purpose of referencing.
2. SurveySparrow
Founder: Shihab Muhammed Founded Year: 2017
SurveySparrow Logo
As the name suggests, SurveySparrow is a tool which lets you create surveys and study them. SurveySparrow has the tagline “Turn surveys into conversations”. It simply depicts that they create surveys which are conversational and hence interesting for the people to fill. The idea came into the mind of Shihab Muhammed when his HR called him for the third time to fill out the “boring” employee survey form. Now SurveySparrow has become one of the leading startups in Kochi.
3. Innot Technologies
Founder: Rajith Nair and Prasanth Thankappan Founded Year: 2014
Inntot Logo
Streaming music, videos and images through the home networks is common today. There are various companies in this market at present, catering to millions of users across the globe. However, digital media receivers aren’t dirt cheap; they are expensive with the retail price growing exponentially as new features are being developed.
To counter this expensive problem Inntot has created the breakthrough Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) receiver solution. The startup also offers services pertaining to consumer electronics and IoT.
Currently based at InfoPark, Kochi, the endeavour launched in 2014, was the product of the combined efforts of Rajith Nair and Prasanth Thankappan. It was among the ten startups chosen for the Industrial Innovation Awards held in 2017.
4. Techmago
Founder: Rahul Krishna Founded Year: 2017
Techmago Logo
Offering the gadget repair service from the comfort of sitting at home, Techmago has received accolades at events such as Startup Saturday Kochi, Techsparks 2016, Nasscom Product Conclave, and the World Startup Expo.
To schedule the service, customers need to visit the Techmago website, raise their complaints, schedule a free pickup as per their convenience, and once the repairs are done, a free drop service ensures that the repaired product reaches back safely to the right hands.
With benefits such as free diagnosis and cost estimation to avail, anyone in possession of a mobile, tablet, computer or laptop should take advantage of this venture.
5. Profoundis
Founder: Anoop Thomas Mathew, Arjun Pillai, Nithin Sam Oommen, and Jofin Joseph Founded Year: 2012
Profoundis Logo
A never back down spirit that lead to unprecedented achievement in spite of three failed attempts is the reason why Profoundis has been featured on this list. Launched in 2012, the key product of this startup, ‘Vibe’, provides verified data through APIs and SaaS.
Vibe was launched in 2014, Which means two years of futile efforts, the startup was acquired by US-based FullContact with the announcement of the same being made on 23rd August 2016. After the acquisition, the entire Profoundis team joined FullContact and scaled.
Entri is an online learning startup based in Kochi that is ‘adaptive’. It offers a variety of features such as dashboards that institutes can access to see student reports, a course structure that allows students to transition from being a novice to an expert in any topic of their choice, and a test preparation platform for exams such as IIT JEE, PSC, SSC and others.
Entri can be used either as a web app or a mobile app, thus providing greater flexibility. This initiative of Mohammed Hisamuddin and Rahul Ramesh has been rewarded by Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. Moreover, it is being supported by ‘LearnLaunch’ and is a member of Facebook’s program for the most promising mobile apps.
7. Paysack
Founder: Nicky Jacob, Ricky Jacob, and Vivek Vinod Founded Year: 2015
Paysack Logo
This fintech startup from Kochi is helping the business to take better care of their employees by reimbursing the expenses hassle-free online. It provides a mobile wallet and a card using which employees can make payments. All expenses and tracked and the employees of the company save a lot on taxes.
8. Sastra Robotics
Founder: Akhil Asokan, Aronin Ponnappan, and Achu Wilson Founded Year: 2013
Sastra Robotics Logo
This Ernakulum-based robotics startup is working hard to create new robotic solutions and technologies. The company supports the idea of humans and the robot’s coexistence. Also, they help and take help from different research institutions for their development. The company was started in 2012 and was selected as the top 5 startups of 2012 in the StartupVillage, incubation center.
9. Mashinga
Founder: Nidal Rashid, Nijil Yesudas, and Sreekumar Kr Founded Year: 2013
Mashinga is a computer software company. It was also incubated at the StartupVillage. Mashinga provides a suite of tools to manage your meetings and make them interactive. Their tools help you to manage and schedule everything prior to the meeting and also help you during the meeting to present everything perfectly.
10. Vyus Case Stringer
Founder: Sajulal GL Founded Year: 2015
Vyus Case Stringer is software developed by Vyus Technologia. Vyus Case Stringer enables legal professionals to go paperless and enhances their efficiency at the same time.
Since lawyers and legal professionals create lots of documents that need to be managed in a systematic manner, Vyus Technologia has created a modern, cloud-based web application that innovatively helps legal professionals go paperless. The key advantage of this web application is that it can be accessed from anywhere.
11. Baabtra
Founder: Muhammad Haris NP and Anoop KC Founded Year: 2010
baabtra.com Logo
baabtra.com is the software development training division of an IT Company baabte System Technologies, a member of NASSCOM, CAFIT and GTECH, established on 31st March 2010. baabtra.com helps freshers to start their professional careers by making them skilled programmers through internship programs in the most popular technologies like Python, Java, PHP and the latest technologies like Angular & Node.js. The platform is connected with over 70 IT companies, 282 training institutes, and 80 colleges.
So, this was our list of successful startups in Kerala. Hope you enjoyed reading it. If you know about any other Startups in Kerala that aren’t a part of this list, do contact us and we would love to feature them in this post!
FAQs
Is Kerala good for startups?
Yes, Kerala is a great place for budding startups. The country ranks alongside the top cities for growing startup ecosystems in India.
Which are the best startups in Kerala?
Recipebook, SurveySparrow, Innot Technologies, Techmago, Profoundis, Entri, Paysack, Sastra Robotics, Mashinga, and Baabtra are some of the successful startups in Kerala.
How many startups are there in Kerala?
Kerala has around 3000 startups which are contributing to the startup ecosystem of India.
What is Kerala Startup Mission?
Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is the central agency of the Government of Kerala for the development of entrepreneurship and startups in Kerala, India.
What is the best business to start in Kerala?
Designer Fashion Boutique, Online Home Decor Services, Accounting Services, App-Based Home-made Food Delivery, and Property Management Services are some of the best businesses to start in Kerala.
Most eCommerce brands focus on improving their social media presence. While social media is very important, a brand is missing out on a very big opportunity if it is not incorporating email marketing into its marketing strategies.
So, if you think email marketing will not help you in growing your customer base and revenue then its statistics will be an eye-opener for you. In this article, we will be mentioning various email marketing statistics for eCommerce that will help you to create a powerful marketing strategy for your eCommerce brand.
The following stats show why you should care about email marketing:
The number of email users worldwide in 2020 was recorded to be 4 billion. This number is expected to grow to 4.6 billion users by the year 2025. This stat shows that there is a huge opportunity to attract and engage users and ultimately increase the revenue of an eCommerce store.
In 2020, it was recorded that 306 billion emails were sent and received each day. This figure is expected to grow to over 376 billion daily emails in 2025. This shows that almost every other person is using email for communication. So, no matter how big or small your eCommerce business is, it is important that you should use emails to build a connection with your target audience.
82% of marketers worldwide are taking advantage of email marketing to grow their business.
In 2020 the global email marketing market was valued at 7.5 billion USD. This figure is expected to increase to 17.9 billion USD by 2027. This shows the true potential of email marketing.
For every 1 dollar spent on email marketing, business owners can expect an ROI of an average of 42 USD. This indicates that if you write a compelling email and segment your audience properly you can surely increase your rate of interest.
About 81% of SMBs use email marketing for customer acquisition.
80% of retailers said that email is the biggest source of customer retention for them.
99% of email users tend to check their email every other day, with some checking 20 times a day. Out of these people, 58% check their email first thing in the morning.
Thus, emails are an integral part of people’s lives and the statistics above clearly show why you should care about email marketing. Now, we will discuss email marketing statistics for eCommerce from the perspective of different segments.
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Email Marketing Statistics for ECommerce in 2022
Number of Emails Sent and Received Per Day Worldwide from 2017 to 2025
Email marketing is an essential component of the success of an eCommerce business. The following are some of the most important statistics for eCommerce in 2022:
Personalization and Segmentation Statistics
Writing generic subject lines and email copy won’t get any eCommerce business more clicks rather you might end up in the spam folder. You need to write emails that are tailored according to your target audience’s needs. So, an important thing to get the most out of email marketing is to focus on personalization and segmentation of the emails as per the audience as it can increase click and open rates. The following stats show the importance of personalization and segmentation in email marketing:
Emails with a personalized subject line have 50% higher open rates. When talking about personalization most people just think about inserting the name of their customers in the subject line. Well, this is a great tactic, you can also narrow it down further by targeting their age group, demographics, hobbies, and desires. This will help you to string a direct connection with your audience.
In tune with this, 88% of email users said that they will reply to an email if they know that the email is specifically written for them. This shows that you need to make your readers feel special.
Emails that target the hobbies of the users, generate an open rate of 27.35%. One can conduct quizzes or surveys to find out the likes and dislikes of the target audience.
Ecommerce brands that used segmentation in their email marketing strategy witnessed a hike of 760% in their revenue.
Once the user has made their first purchase or created an account on your store you should send a welcome email to them. Many of you might think that nobody reads welcome emails but, a recent study found that 82% of consumers open welcome emails.
15.8% of all the emails end up in the spam folder. To avoid this make sure that there are no spam words present in the email copy and subject line. Also, it is important to follow the rules of the CAN-SPAM Act.
According to the email users, they don’t like the following things in personalization:
Recommending products and services that don’t match their needs (34%).
Inappropriate season or location offers (14%).
Expired offers (24%).
Already purchased promotions (13%).
After writing a perfect email your job is not over yet. You need to send emails at the right time and the right day to make sure that your recipients read the email so that your eCommerce business gets the most out of its email marketing strategy.
Sending the emails at the right time and day can increase your open rates. Here, are some interesting statistics that will help your eCommerce brand achieve the maximum open and click rates:
The best time to send emails is 8 AM followed by 1 PM, 4 PM, and 6 PM.
Monday has the highest email open rates (22.0%).
Although, Tuesday gets the highest click-through rates (2.4%).
Wednesday and Tuesday received the highest click-to-open rates (10.8%).
What is the difference between the open rate and click-through rate?
In simple words, the open rate refers to the total number of people that simply opened your email whereas the click-through rate refers to the percentage of people who completed the desired action in your email against the total number of people who opened it.
You don’t need to mandatorily stick to these times and days only. You need to understand who is your target audience, what their day looks like, when they are working and when they are free. You need to send emails on different days and times to understand which day and time works the best for your eCommerce business.
Email Open Rate and Click-Through Rate As Per Days of The Week
Visual Content in Email Statistics
Nobody likes a vanilla-style email. Instead of just plain texts, you can pack your email copy with exciting images, videos, and even emojis. The following are some of the important statistics about visual content in email marketing:
68% of millennials love emails that contain emojis, GIFs, and stickers.
Emojis in the subject lines have a 56% higher open rate. So, you can use different emojis that match your brand’s voice for effective marketing.
According to Forrester, adding a video to your email copy can increase your CTR by 200-300%. This shows that users love receiving information in the form of videos.
Even if you just insert the word ‘video’, you can increase your open rates by 19% and CTR by 65%.
Emails that have some kind of image witness an open rate of 27% and CTR of 4.5% than that of plain text-based emails (20% and 3%).
Mobile Optimization Statistics
Most people access their apps via mobiles. This is why it is extremely important that you optimize your emails for mobiles otherwise you can lose your subscribers. Below are a few of the email marketing statistics for eCommerce that show the importance of mobile optimization:
59% of millennials use mobile phones to check their emails.
67% of the Gen Z check their email inbox on mobiles.
42.3% of email recipients will delete your previous email if they are not able to read the email properly on the mobile. This means that you need to format your emails properly and make them mobile-friendly always.
Email automation is another great strategy that can save your time, increase open rates and click-through rates, and thus, ultimately help you grow your revenue. The following are some important email automation statistics:
Brands that use email automation can save 30% of the time.
Event-triggered emails based on customer lifecycle (15%), etc.
Conclusion
In order to boost the email marketing strategy for your eCommerce business, first understand the needs, hobbies, demographics, and pain points of your target audience to write a compelling email. Use personalization and segmentation to boost your open rates and click-through rates. Don’t just send a plain email. Instead of sending plain emails, add videos and pictures in your email copy. You can even add emojis in your subject lines. Optimize your emails for mobile and use email automation to boost your revenue.
At last, use A/B testing to find which version of your email are having the best results as A/B testing can increase your email marketing ROI by 37%. Thus, the above-mentioned statistics are sure to make you understand the value of email marketing and make the best out of it.
FAQs
How many emails are sent a day in 2022?
The data shows that the number of emails sent a day crossed 319.6 billion in 2021 and the figure rose to 333.2 billion in 2022.
What role does email marketing play in a successful eCommerce brand?
Email marketing plays an important role in lead generation in a successful eCommerce brand. A targeted email list helps to attract potential customers and convert them into leads.
How do you calculate ROI in email marketing?
You can simply calculate ROI in email marketing by dividing the net revenue gained (from your emails) by your total email marketing cost.
The article is contributed By Mr. Yash Dubal, Director, A Y & J Solicitors, London, UK.
The UK Government has unveiled a range of measures to entice talented Indian workers but has made life more difficult for some entrepreneurs and investors.
Recently, the British immigration system introduced several significant changes designed to attract ‘the brightest and best’ migrants from around the world. The aim of the policy changes is to boost UK productivity, making the nation more competitive.
One of the most significant updates is the introduction of the highly anticipated Scale-Up visa route on August 22. This is targeted at highly skilled graduates wishing to work for UK companies with an annualized growth of at least 20% over the last three years and at least 10 employees at the beginning of the period.
The Scale-up visa holders will be able to change employers after six months of working for their initial sponsor company, unlike workers on Skilled Worker visas who can only work for their sponsor.
The Scale Up visa application process is anticipated to be easier than the current system for Skilled Workers. Candidates must speak English proficiently and have a job offer that is at the graduate level or above with a £33,000 per annum salary, or the going rate for the job, whichever is higher.
The visa lasts for two years and can be extended for a further three if certain criteria are met. After five years’ continuous residence, an application for permanent settled status can be made, providing certain conditions are met.
Another option for talented individuals wishing to work in the UK is the High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, which is opening for applications from 30 May. This ‘elite’ visa route is aimed at applicants who have gained a bachelors or postgraduate degree from a top-ranking university. The list of qualifying universities will be compiled annually by the UK Home Office – the UK government department in charge of immigration. Generally, post-grads from institutions in the top 50 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings and The Academic Ranking of World Universities will qualify. Candidates will also need to speak English proficiently and can sponsor dependents.
The visa will allow high-flyers to work in any full-time job at any skill and pay level but is not a route to settlement.
While the HPI and Scale Up visas are squarely aimed at attracting highly qualified individuals to boost the UK’s tech, digital and fintech sectors, there is also a new route for business people. The Global Mobility visa offers several options for workers going to the UK on temporary business assignments. There are sub-categories for graduate trainees, service suppliers, seconded workers, managers and specialists transferring from overseas branches and senior employees deployed to the UK by Indian businesses to expand their UK presence. These routes open from 11 April 2022.
While these new routes aim to poach talent from other nations, other well-established visa routes have been closed. The controversial Investor or ‘golden’ visa was closed earlier in the year following concerns it had been used as a way of bringing dirty money to the UK to be laundered.
The Sole Representative Visa route has been closed for initial applications from 11 April 2022, and also the Intra-Company Transfer route. These closures create real problems for businesses in India wishing to expand into the UK, for which Global Mobility routes are unsuitable. In these cases, A Y & J Solicitors, an expert immigration legal practice based in London, has pioneered a new, legal process called Self-sponsorship.
This innovative idea allows those with a genuine intention to open a business in the UK a route to realise their ambitions. The process involves establishing a UK company, and then applying for a sponsor licence, which allows that company to sponsor an overseas worker on a Skilled Worker visa. That skilled worker will be the applicant, who, in effect, will be sponsoring themself to work in their own company. Under this scheme, after five years the visa holder may also qualify for residency and after six, for citizenship. They can also take spouses and children under 18.
There are big changes in the UK immigration system over the next months and the advice offered is to seek legal help from a reputable immigration expert when weighing up the possibilities of emigrating.
Selling your products online can be the most-effective way to reach out to a wider audience and increase awareness of your brand. Need not to say this can help you boost your sales severalfold.
As per records, 61% of the customers agreed that they made more purchases online during and after the covid-19 pandemic proving that e-commerce is the future of sales.
Still, most vendors hesitate while starting their online sales. The biggest reason to get confused is “which platform to use for selling their products for the greater benefits”.
One option is to create your own e-commerce website that gives you complete control of the sales. Other options are online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart which are already being used by millions of customers and are capable of increasing your product visibility.
If you are also about to start your online business but are confused about which platform to choose, we are here with the answers to all your questions.
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Let us begin with understanding the basic difference between an online marketplace and an e-commerce website.
“E-commerce is a powerful tool to connect the unconnected to global trade” – Arancha Gonzalez
Difference Between the E-commerce Website and Online Marketplace
Although both online marketplace and e-commerce websites are built with the purpose of selling products, they are quite different from each other. Let us understand the key differences between the two:
Online Marketplace
Ecommerce Website
These are similar to the real-life shopping mall that offers a variety of products from different sellers. Three parties are involved: customer, seller, and website administrator. Example: Amazon, Flipkart, etc.
Here a single seller displays and sells his products. It is similar to a bakery shop selling self-made cakes and bread.
Existing traffic on the website makes it easier to get instant customers
Need to make efforts to attract the target audience
Can be set up quickly, mostly in a day or two. The vendor can immediately start selling after the registration is complete
It takes time to build and manage a website. Reaching your target audience is rather more time-consuming.
Extra costs like plan fees, referral fees, etc. are involved. Moreover, these websites keep a good share of the profit obtained by selling your products for themselves.
Once you have settled the website there are minimal costs involved in maintaining your e-commerce website.
Now, when we know the basic differences between these two platforms, we can move forward to discuss the details of each of them.
Although there are plenty of online marketplaces available, Amazon and Flipkart have cornered the Indian e-commerce ecosystem for a long time, and each of them is a veritable gold mine for you if you know how to use them to their full potential.
Similarly, building your own e-commerce website can also be extremely productive if used correctly. So, if you want to maximize your profit, you’ll have to choose the right platform for selling online.
Each of these online selling platforms has its own set of benefits. Let us understand each of them one by one.
Selling with Amazon
Founded in 1994, Amazon has emerged as the leading e-retailer across the Globe. As per a survey, the net sales of Amazon grew up from US $88.99 billion in 2014 to US $469.81 billion in 2021, which is a growth of more than 400%.
Annual Net Sales of Amazon
The prime membership of Amazon offers rewards like 2-day delivery, video streaming, music, etc. It is preferred by most of its customers who are quite engaged in shopping.
Amazon hosts a maximum number of vendors on its platform and is known to have the highest reach across the globe.
Amazon Seller Registration
Selling on Amazon requires you to go through a registration process, similar to what you would do for creating an online channel.
Amazon seller registration is a three-step process as mentioned below:
The seller on-board process allows you to decide your product category, create listings, and enter your product details.
On Amazon, you can list your products for free, provided you are willing to give up a certain percentage of your sales in exchange for visibility.
You can also opt to pay a small fee to make your product listing a featured item, which will appear at the top of the search results.
Benefits of selling on Amazon:
Reach
Amazon has a massive user base and a presence in several countries, which means that you will have a huge audience to cater to through your products.
Visibility
Amazon puts a lot of emphasis on product listings, owing to the fact that customers usually browse through products before they decide to buy something. In fact, product listing is one of the most important aspects of selling on Amazon.
Data
Amazon offers a lot of insight about your customer base, which you can use to increase your sales and make better marketing decisions.
Delivery & Returns
Amazon provides the seller with FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) service. This means that Amazon will take care of your product delivery and customer care. Moreover, when a customer returns your product Amazon will bear the logistics.
Branding
You can use Amazon’s platform to build your brand, leveraging the website’s popularity among customers to attract more buyers.
Selling with Flipkart
As per a survey, Flipkart Private Limited reported revenue amounting to approximately 433 billion Indian rupees in the financial year 2021. Additionally, the e-commerce player had an increase of 25 percent in its revenue, compared to the previous year.
Unlike Amazon, Flipkart is more of a niche player and hosts fewer sellers, but that doesn’t make it any lesser of a great place to sell online.
Flipkart Seller Registration
The seller registration procedure for Flipkart is similar to Amazon, but it can take 1-2 days to get the business up and running with the required paperwork submitted to the company while Amazon takes 24 hours to approve the account. In some cases, the process may get delayed but it gets resolved once you contact seller support.
Benefits of selling on Flipkart
Niche Audience
Flipkart has a niche audience, which means that you get the opportunity to cater to your target customers, making it easier to retain them.
Visibility
Flipkart puts a lot of emphasis on high-quality product listings, which means that you can maximize your visibility on this platform just by providing quality products.
Data
Flipkart offers a lot of data that you can use to make better marketing decisions and improve your sales.
Sales
You can receive payments through Flipkart’s payment gateway, which means that Indian customers and those from neighbouring countries can also shop from your store.
Delivery & Returns
Flipkart handles the cost of delivery or picking returns. They also provide a customer care facility for your product.
Branding
You can use Flipkart’s popularity to build your brand, and get more customers to your store.
Selling With Your Own Website
As per a survey, 52% of the sellers stated that they only sell through their own website, while 42% sell through both their website as well as an e-marketplace, and only 6% stated that they only sell their products through an e-commerce website.
According to another survey, in 2020, the private labels shared more than 50% of repeat purchases under all categories. The largest repeat purchases were recorded in the cosmetics category i.e. around 75%. The other categories such as grocery, wellness, furniture, etc. also showed a hike in repeat purchases.
Creating your website
In comparison to selling on any e-commerce website creating your own website can be a tedious job. You will have to manage a lot of different aspects right from payments, and orders to setting up a full-fledged store.
This might even be cost-intensive and way more difficult than the simple process of registering and selling available on other e-commerce platforms.
Benefits of selling on your website
Store control
You are the owner, you set the rules. So, you do not have to worry about any change in terms, designs, or priorities. You can change your product priority. You can also design your website in accordance with your product to improve customer retention.
No comparative purchase
Online marketplaces offer hundreds of options to buyers in your product category. This might reduce your visibility. On your website, buyers only see your products and are able to appreciate the quality and variety you have on offer.
Amount deduction
Other than sharing a certain percentage of profit with the e-commerce platform you use, there are several charges that you are expected to pay. These may include plan fees, referral fees, etc.
Analytics
Instead of just being dependent on the data provided by the e-commerce platform, you can choose your own analytics. Google Analytics can help you identify your best-selling products, and most visited products, track buyers’ activities, etc.
Brand loyalty
A customer buying your product through an online marketplace platform will recommend that particular website in return for your product quality. However, if the purchase is made directly from your website it becomes a means of oral publicity.
Conclusion
So, which option is better? We say it is completely your call.
In this blog, we have tried to list all the pros and cons of owning an e-commerce website as well as selling through an online marketplace like Amazon or Flipkart.
However, no matter which option you choose for yourself just remember that looking at the current scenario selling products online is not a choice but a necessity. So, if you have decided to sell your products online, you have already made a step towards success.
Looking at which option to choose, with their unparalleled brand recognition Amazon and Flipkart are a great fit for first-timer and casual sellers who do not want to spend much time worrying about customers and related issues.
Also, selling your products here cut down the risk percentage. Amongst these Amazon is arguably the largest e-commerce platform while Flipkart has a loyal customer base, that trusts the site for quality.
At the same time, they may not be suitable for keen sellers owing to a number of hoops like fees and competition. This might also create difficulty for the small businesses to make their presence felt on these platforms.
At such a point, creating your own website can help you make your presence felt, maximize your profit, and increase your brand loyalty.
FAQs
Is it better to sell on your own website?
Yes, selling on your own website is always better than selling on any online marketplace because you don’t have to share the commission with the marketplace but building an audience can be quite a tedious task.
Can I have my own website on Amazon?
No, you cant have your own website on Amazon, you can only sell your products via Amazon.
Do I need an e-commerce platform to sell online?
It is not necessary to have an e-commerce platform to sell online, you can sell through various online marketplaces or through social media.
The ups and downs in life sometimes make us feel low. But life never stops for anyone, we need to get going. Be it losing a job, or a break-up; negativity always creeps in through the smallest vents. We may need someone to motivate us so we can move on and keep going. So, here we present the list of the top 10 motivational speakers in India.
Now one might ask, what do motivational speakers do? Are they magicians whose words will influence us? The answer is no. But they will encourage you. They will bring the willpower in you to face the challenges. You should have your eyes on these best motivational speakers in India, who might change you and change your thought. Eventually, these motivational speakers can help you change your life.
Instagram Followers: 3.1 Million Facebook Followers: 16 Million YouTube Subscribers: 22.8 Million
One of the most followed motivational speakers in India, Sandeep Maheshwari is very popular among the young generation. He started with his YouTube channel. His channel has 20 million subscribers which makes him the most popular speaker. He was struggling with his career for a long time. Later, he took his example and started his motivational channel. There he started talking about approaches that people might have not thought of before.
Sandeep Maheshwari- Motivational Speaker in India
Sadhguru
Instagram Followers: 8.1 Million Facebook Followers: 5.2 Million YouTube Subscribers: 9.95 Million
Jaggi Vasudev is famously known as ‘Sadhguru’ is the Indian Yogi, whose contribution has impacted millions of lives. He is also the founder of an NGO called ‘Isha Foundation’. He mainly focuses on yoga, education, and the environment. He has been honoured with ‘Padma Vibhushan’ the 2nd highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the prestigious Bharat Ratna. His books talk about things such as faith, religion, health, and spirituality. He has also been featured in ‘The New York Times Best Seller List’.
He is among some of the best motivational speakers in India. He is followed worldwide which makes him the most followed guru in India. As a public speaker, he has spoken at the UN’s Millennium World Summit, the British parliament’s House of Lords, the MIT, the International Institute for Management Development, and the World Economic Forum. He was invited to numerous universities like Harvard, Columbia, Oxford, the University of Toronto, and many more.
Sadhguru- Motivational Speaker in India
Dr. Vivek Bindra
Instagram Followers: 2.9 Million Facebook Followers: 9.3 Million YouTube Subscribers: 19.1 Million
The CEO and Founder of Bada Business, Dr. Vivek Bindra is one of the best motivational speakers in India. He has 11 million subscribers on YouTube. His videos mainly consist of case studies of different companies. Besides being a motivational speaker, he is also an entrepreneur and leadership trainer. He inspires entrepreneurs as business speakers and business motivators and teaches them leadership qualities. He has written almost 10 books on motivational talks.
Akash Gautam is an Internationally acclaimed Motivational Speaker for Corporate Events, Youth & students. 30+ of the NIFTY-50 Companies in India, the world’s premier-most corporate organizations, TEDx platforms & colleges such as IIMs, IITs, XLRI, SRCC etc. trust him repeatedly.
His Events are ‘Motivation MINUS the Boring Gyaan’. He is a storyteller and his genre is humour & tolerable sarcasm. His training audience is very diverse & includes Miss India contestants, Tihar Jail inmates & IAS officers too. He is a Blogger too & his social media has 300,000+ fans.
A politician, author, and activist, Shiv Khera started his journey as a car washer. Later, he worked as an agent in an insurance company. But now, he is one of the top 10 motivational speakers in India and widely popular abroad. His first book was “You Can Win” which made him the best-selling author. He has also been a part of the movement against caste-based reservation in India.
Shiv Khera – Top Motivational Speakers in India
Gaur Gopal Das
Instagram Followers: 5.2 Million Facebook Followers: 7.1 Million YouTube Subscribers: 4.34 Million
Belongs to an absolutely a different field from others, Gaur Gopal Das is a wonderful motivational speaker. He is highly spiritual, polite and not at all driven by impulses. This life coach has been honoured with the title of “The Ideal Young Spiritual Guru”, by MIT, Pune.
He is also a member of “The International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).” His famous book is called “Life’s Amazing Secrets”. He owns a YouTube Channel where he delivers his speeches. He tells wonderful stories that are directly related to life lessons.
Motivational Speaker in India- Gaur Gopal Das
Chetan Bhagat
Instagram Followers: 818K Facebook Followers: 8.2 Million YouTube Subscribers: 577K
The popular writer is also one of the top 10 motivational speakers in India. He has served as a popular columnist for The Times Of India and Dainik Bhaskar. Chetan Bhagat has a unique approach to grabbing the heart of especially the young generation. This is what draws more people and they get mesmerized by the speaker. He made to list of Time magazine’s World’s 100 Most Influential People in 2010.
Chetan Bhagat- Top Motivational Speakers in India
Ujjwal Patni
Instagram Followers: 281K Facebook Followers: 930K YouTube Subscribers: 6.11 Million
Dr. Ujjwal Patni is a Business Speaker as well as a motivational speaker. He has an audience of millions from over 500 companies. Dr Ujjwal Patni has started a venture “Businessjeeto.com” which presents India’s top Business & Life coaching courses in easy Hindi and at low cost. Apart from all these, he is also an author and has released 7 motivational books.
Ujjwal Patni – Top Motivational Speakers in India
Simerjeet Singh
Instagram Followers: 16.7K Facebook Followers: 79K YouTube Subscribers: 1.51 Million
A performance coach as well as a motivational speaker, Simerjeet Singh has achieved his desired goals, overcoming all the hurdles in life. He started from the scratches of being a motivational speaker. He had no prior experience when he started. Now, he is not only among the top 10 motivational speakers in India, but also renowned as an international speaker. He has inspired millions with his more than one thousand programs, keynotes, workshops, and videos.
Top Motivational Speaker in India – Simerjeet Singh
Among the top 10 motivational speakers in India, Priya Kumar is a worldwide famous speaker. She started her career as a motivational speaker under the mentor Dr Niranjan Patel. She became the youngest motivational speaker at just the age of 24. She has also written 9 books until now. With their entertaining and unique style of speaking, she has already made her place in many hearts.
Top Motivational Speaker in India – Simerjeet Singh
Yogesh Chabria started investing from the age of 16, and now has become a huge personality. His childhood was hard as he had to start selling toys at the age of 5. Now, he is the founder of The Happionaire™ Way and also is a member of the Chicken Soup for the Soul. At the age of 21, he held his first seminar. His contributions as a columnist is found in CNBC, Times of India, and even Entrepreneur Magazine are very evident among the people.
Top Motivational Speaker in India – Yogesh Chabria
Conclusion
The challenges in our lives are never-ending, the more we grow up the more intense it becomes. We need to stay steady and fight bravely. So, to get more energy and more optimism, motivational speakers often uplift our spirit which in return helps us in continuing our life and gives us enough motivation to do what we want to do.
FAQs
Who is the No 1 motivational speaker in India?
Sandeep Maheshwari is the most popular motivational speaker in India.
Who are the top 10 motivational speakers in India?
Sandeep Maheshwari
Sadhguru
Dr. Vivek Bindra
Yogesh Chabria
Shiv Khera
Gaur Gopal Das
Simerjeet Singh
Chetan Bhagat
Priya Kumar
Ujjwal Patni
Who is best business motivational speakers in India?
Ujjwal Patni is best business motivational speakers in India.
Ever since Covid-19 arrived, everything has digitised. With that, the shift towards a delivery-only model has accelerated. The Cloud Kitchen market got benefitted from this. Every small and large scale restaurant have also started their online food delivering services. And this is the major reason for the growing popularity of cloud kitchens. Not only that, it has become the latest trendsetters in the restaurant industry.
Let’s have a look if cloud kitchen is really going to be the future of the restaurant industry or not. Here are few things that this article will cover:
Cloud Kitchen/Virtual Kitchen/Take Away Restaurant is a kitchen space with no physical outlet and dining facilities.
A cloud kitchen is a virtual kitchen or ghost kitchen with no physical outlet and dine-in option. In other words, it is a mobile application that accepts only online delivery demand via apps or calls or online food aggregators.
While the concept was popular even before the pandemic struck, cloud kitchens have become more lucrative now. Cloud kitchens witnessed a huge surge in their demand during the pandemic as well. People got stuck in their homes and missed their favourites food. Gladly, those cravings got saved by online food delivery platforms like Zomato, Swiggy, Uber and more.
And these cloud kitchens have their presence on these online food delivery platforms via which customer can order their delivery.
Top Cloud Kitchens In India
Faasos
Faasos is one of the biggest cloud kitchen restaurant companies in India. It delivers in more than 15 states in India. It has an add-on feature which is to deliver the order free if the food is not delivered within 30 minutes. This is to keep the customers satisfied.
All About Faasos Business Model – The Biggest Cloud Kitchen
Box8
Currently, Box8 is one of the fastest-growing food delivery apps in Delhi, India. They define their selling agenda by keeping the taste desi. From paratha to lasagnas, desserts to chicken tandoori, you can have it all on Box8.
Travelkhana
Travelkhana is a company that provides fresh food for Indian railway passengers. Many items can be delivered right to your seat. TravelKhana has now grown to have 1,200 vendors on its site.
Oven Story
Oven Story is cloud kitchen famous for providing different types of pizza to their customers. Oven Story falls under Rebel foods, which is online restaurants company. It deals with over 11 cloud kitchen in India, one of them is Oven Story.
Biryani By Kilo
Biryani By Kilo is perfect for those Biryani lovers, who cant think about their life without the lip-smacking dish. It is a cloud kitchen, where one can order Biryani and Kebabs and the best thing is the Biryani are delivered to your doorstep in earthen bowl.
Behrouz Biryani
The recipe of Behrouz Biryani is 2000 years old and itcame from the kingdom of Behrouz which is in Persia. This cloud kitchen is famous for all types of Biryani especially Murg Tikka Biryani and Dum Gosht Biryani and serving the customers with love.
How Cloud Kitchen Works?
Cloud Kitchen follows the delivery-only business model. they take orders from their own website or rely on other food delivery apps, through which they get orders. As they are delivery only restaurants therefore there is no need to build a proper dining place for their customers.
Restaurant interiors, rent and extra staff costs are not needed here and the restaurant’s digital presence is enough to gather customers for the cloud kitchen. Cloud kitchen only needs proper infrastructure of the kitchen, chefs to make good food and of course the delivery people.
With the arrival of online food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato, the demand for online food delivery has increased. According to DataLabs by Inc42, the food ordering market of India is expanding at a CAGR of 16% to reach $17 billion by 2023. The projected market size of cloud kitchens is expected to reach $1.05 billion by 2023.
With the digital shift of all the services, people have started preferring online platforms. So is the case with food. They have no free time to walk down to a restaurant or drive-in jam-packed traffic for food. And this problem has been beautifully solved by the food delivery service providers.
In the coming future, Cloud kitchen will transform the way we dine. The reason for its growth is that the amount of risks is comparatively lower. The monetary constraints can easily be dealt with as the demand for the digital platform lowers the operational cost.
Conclusion
The conventional method of dining is always going to remain there but Cloud Kitchen will be the first preference of the consumer as they prefer to order online rather than visit a restaurant. The reason for this inclination is comfort eating because of the convenience and mobility of consumers.
FAQs
What is a cloud kitchen?
A cloud kitchen is a virtual kitchen or ghost kitchen with no physical outlet and dine-in option. In other words, it is a mobile application that accepts only online delivery demand via apps or calls or online food aggregators.
Are cloud kitchens profitable?
Cloud kitchen can reach customers throughout the city without using large premises, it can be more profitable than a restaurant. Cloud kitchens are likely to become profitable faster than restaurants due to their low cost and broad reach.
Can I start a cloud kitchen from home?
Yes, you just need to have a base kitchen for the preparation of delivery-only meals. You can collaborate with online food ordering and delivery platforms like Zomato and Swiggy to deliver your meals to the customer.
Why cloud kitchens are so popular?
Cloud kitchens are popular because of the rise in online food delivery services.
What is the future of cloud kitchen?
Cloud Kitchen is not only the future but it has become the latest trend now. The cloud kitchen market is going to expand at a higher rate in the future with the surge in the demand for online food delivery services.
Rajan Anandan is an Angel Investor and businessman who currently serves as the Managing Director of Sequoia Capital India. He was born in 1966 in Sri Lanka. After schooling, Anandan went abroad for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering and completed them at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.
Rajan Anandan served as the top executive in big tech companies. Before Sequoia Capital Anandan was the Vice President at Google India and the SEA region, Managing Director at Microsoft India and Vice President at Dell India. He was also a partner at McKinsey for 11 years from 1992. His passion for technology and hard work have taken him to a higher position in globally acclaimed companies.
Besides being an executive and a businessman, Rajan Anandan is an active Angel Investor. In the last 13 years, he has made around 80 personal investments in multiple startups. This article covers the entire investment portfolio of Rajan Anandan over the years.
The following are the companies that have received funds from Rajan Anandan as an Angel Investor:
Smytten
Industry: Wellness and Beauty Care Investment Amount: $1.3 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Smytten – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Smytten is an online wellness and beauty care startup that offers some new and exhilarating shopping experiences for its customers. The company also offers a free trial of over 500 Indian and International brands along with some exciting benefits and discounts.
Smytten raised a funding of $15 million through a Series A round in May 2022. Earlier, Smytten received a Seed Fund of $1.3 million on April 11, 2016. Rajan Anandan along with a few other investors was a part of it.
InnovAccer
Industry: Healthcare Investment Amount: $2.5 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
InnoAccer – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
InnoAccer is a healthcare enterprise software company based in San Francisco. This platform curates and brings in all the information on healthcare and innovations in the industry and makes it accessible to everyone in need.
Through a Series E round held in December 2021, InnovAccer raised funding of $150 million from various investors. Rajan Anandan has also been one of the investors in InnovAccer during its Seed Round where it raised $2.5 million.
Indifi Technologies
Industry: Finance Lending Investment Amount: $18.8 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Venture Capital
Indifi Technologies – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
A sum of $18.8 million was invested by the investors, including Rajan Anandan, in November 2021 through the Venture Capital round. Also, an undisclosed sum was invested by him in Indifi Technologies during the Seed Round.
WebEngage
Industry: Customer data and marketing automation Investment Amount: $100K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Angel
WebEngage – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
WebEngage is a B2C customer data and marketing automation platform that helps companies to boost their revenues. WebEngage assists companies to personalize their website & application and launching targeted campaigns.
This startup received debt funding of $930k from investors in October 2021. WebEngage also received an Angel Investmentof $100k from Rajan Anandan in October 2011
It is an online platform that offers store space for sellers to sell their products online. Instamojo integrates all the services like payments, marketing and shipping into its platform and offers simplified solutions. This company also offers online payment services for businesses.
Instamojo received an undisclosed amount through the Venture Capital round of funding held in June 2021. In May 2013 Instamojo managed to procure $500K as a Seed fund and an undisclosed amount during the Angel Round in July 2012. Anandan was a part of all the above investments.
Dunzo
Industry: E-Commerce Investment Amount: $3.7 million in 2020 and $650K in 2016 (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series E and Seed
Dunzo – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Dunzo is an e-commerce platform that delivers groceries, food, meat, medicines, fruits and vegetables in big cities. It also offers pick-up and delivery services within cities.
Ranjan Anandan invested in Dunzo during its Series E funding in December 2020 and Seed funding in March 2016. The company received funding of $3.7 million and $650K in the respective rounds.
Omnify is an online platform that helps businesses with booking and scheduling solutions in their day-to-day operation. This cloud-based platform also supports businesses with CRM, billing, staff and payment management.
Omnify went through two rounds of Seed Funding in which Anandan has invested. The first round of funding took place in April 2017 and the amount secured was $150K. In October 2020 Omnify went through the second round of funding and the amount remains undisclosed.
Industry: Software Development and AI Investment Amount: $2 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
NAYAN – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
NAYAN is a visual search engine that uses AI-powered software to find details on visuals and images. This platform offers a real-time search facility that can be used to find anything in the public domain. This company received a Seed Fundingof $2 million in January 2020.
AskSid is an e-commerce site that uses AI to offer conversational solutions to customers and deliver a seamless shopping experience for them. This company was acquired by GupShup in April 2022. Rajan Anandan along with Krishnakumar Natarajan invested an undisclosed amount in AskSid during its Angel Round in October 2020.
PlusPin Healthcare partners with pharmacists, clinics, diagnostic centres and doctors to provide affordable healthcare services to people. It guides people with authentic and appropriate medical support in times of need.
Rajan Anandan invested $675K in PlusPin Healthcare along with a few other investors. The company raised this fund through Seed Round.
Freshtohome
Industry: E-Commerce Investment Amount: $11 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series A
Freshtohome – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Freshtohome is an online platform that sells fresh fish, meat and chicken online and delivers it to customers’ doorstep at their convenient time. Freshtohome services are available in major cities. The company claims to sell only chemical-free and antibiotic-free fish and meat through its online store.
Freshtohome managed to procure $11 million in its Series A round of funding. Rajan Anandan has participated in Freshtohome’s Venture and Series A funding rounds.
StyleDotMe is an Augmented Reality fashion platform that enhances the jewellery shopping experience of users. This SaaS platform uses MirrAR software that helps users to view themselves in different jewellery and share them on social media.
On May 5, 2019, StyleDotMe received an undisclosed amount as Seed Fund from Rajan Anandan and other investors.
simsim
Industry: E-Commerce Investment Amount: $1.3 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
simsim – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
It is a platform that connects customers with local suppliers and sellers. simsim posts expert review videos on products and sellers. This helps the customers to know their quality. This startup also offers product recommendations in fashion, beauty, kitchen appliances and many more areas.
Rajan Anandan participated in the Seed Funding round of simsim where the startup raised $1.3 million. He later made an exit from the company.
Codejudge
Industry: Software Development Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Pre-Seed
Codejudge – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Codejudge makes the process of hiring easy and valuable in the tech industry. It uses real-world projects to determine the skills of the developer. This platform simulates and automates the hiring process and helps identify the right person for the team.
Codejudge received an undisclosed amount from the Pre-Seed round of funding in January 2019.
Signzy
Industry: Software Investment Amount: $3.6 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series A
Signzy – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Signzy is a software platform that provides AI-powered solutions to banks and other financial institutions. It helps the banks improve their speed and accuracy in dealing with customers and day-to-day operations.
Signzy obtained a $3.6 million fund on November 20, 2018, through a Series A funding round.
Trell
Industry: E-commerce Investment Amount: $1.3 Million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Pre-Seed
Trell – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Trell is a social platform where users can create video reviews on various products and services in categories like fashion, technology, gadgets, movies, etc., This startup allows users to create reviews in 10 Indian languages.
GamingMonk is an eSports gaming platform that conducts online competitive games and events among the gaming community. The company offers its games both online and offline and they can be played either on mobile phones, PC or consoles.
GamingMonk collected $514K through Seed Round. After investing in a seed round, Rajan Anandan exited the company.
PregBuddy is a SaaS platform that serves as a connecting element between hospitals or doctors and expecting mothers. This AI-based software keeps track of mothers’ medical needs and assists them with required healthcare tips.
PregBuddy has been recognized by companies like Google and Apple. Anandan invested an undisclosed amount in the Seed Funding of PregBuddy in April 2018.
Buttercups was an online lingerie platform that used to sell its products exclusively on its online platforms. Unfortunately in 2019, its founder announced that she is closing her company for unsaid reasons.
Rajan Anandan funded Buttercups early in 2018 during its Venture Round. The amount of the investment remains undisclosed.
Industry: Cyber Security Investment Amount: $2.2 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Safe Security – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Safe Security is a cyber risk management company that offers assistance and evaluation on cybersecurity and digital business risks. The company claims it as the global leader in its field of operation and a pioneer in cyber risk quantification.
Rajan Anandan along with a few other investors offered $2.2 million to Safe Security during its Seed Round.
myUpchar is a wellness and healthcare platform that offers online medical support from experienced healthcare experts for a small fee. It offers expert solutions for all problems and doubts related to health.
myUpchar received $257K as a Seed Fund from various investors in September 2017.
Inclov is a SaaS platform that is involved in the business of match-making for differently-abled people. It is the world’s first online platform to offer such a service. The company was established in January 2016 in Mumbai.
Funding for the Seed Round took place in September 2017 when Inclov managed to secure $257K from investors.
EasyGov
Industry: Government Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Angel
EasyGov – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
EasyGov is an AI-powered startup that was established to develop an interface between the government and the citizens. The main goal of EasyGov is to take government plans and schemes more accessible and understandable to the people of our country.
The company received an undisclosed amount as an Angel Investment from various investors including Rajan Anandan. He later revoked his investment and exited from EasyGov.
With an aim of supporting farmers, Crofarm functions as a supply chain platform that procures fresh farm products at the right price from producers. These products are then sold to both online and offline retailers. Crofarm received $748K as Seed Fund on August 15, 2017, from various investors.
Monsoon Credit Tech – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Monsoon Credit Tech is a fintech startup that works with various banks and financial institutions to help them with money lending. This SaaS platform uses AI-powered software to analyze client data and approve lending options. This company through its Angel Investment round received an undisclosed amount in July 2017.
Karza Technologies – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Karza Technologies is another SaaS platform that works with banks to secure loans for its customers. It also helps to avoid loan fraud and data theft from such financial institutions.
Karza Technologies received a Seed Funding of $388K from investors. Later, Rajan Anadanan exited the company for some reasons.
Innov8 Coworking
Industry: Co-working Space Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Pre-Seed
Innov8 – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Innov8 provides workspaces for business and professional people that enable them to work together with their community. The company’s beautiful workspaces are now available in around five cities.
Innov8 went through a Pre-Seed round of funding where it received an undisclosed amount from investors. Rajan Anandan exited the company after a few years.
Wishberry is a crowdfunding platform that was designed to help creators and artists in securing funds to empower their work. Its main aim is to inspire and encourage creative ideas and activities.
Rajan Anandan invested in Wishberry during its Seed Round in January 2017. The amount of this investment remains undisclosed. Whereas, the amount received through another Seed Round in October 2014 was $652.7K.
Tinychef
Industry: AI and Cooking Investment Amount: $352.6K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Angel
Tinychef – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Tinychef is a culinary platform that offers curated recipes and content based on one’s taste and preference. It is an AI-powered voice recognition software that helps its users turn a home cook with some amazing and delicious food recipes.
Rajan Anandan made both personal and partnered investments in Tinychef. The personal investment was during its Angel Round when the company raised $352.6K. later in 2018, Anandan partnered with Swamy Kotagiri to invest $540.8K in the company.
Rapido started with an innovative idea of bike taxis in India. With their unique concept and adverse marketing strategy, Rapido became quite popular among people. Rapido operates in over 100 cities in the country.
Rapido on October 19, 2016, received an undisclosed amount as a fund from investors through a Seed Round.
Maya
Industry: Women Healthcare Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Angel
Maya – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Maya is a health tracker app that keeps track of women’s menstrual cycles through a mobile app. This company was earlier known as Plackal Love Cycles.
Maya went through the Angel Round of funding and procured an undisclosed amount from Rajan Anandan and other investors. He later made an exit from the company.
Fulfil.IO helps online retailers with managing and automating their operations and focusing on customer experience and marketing. It helps the businesses in managing orders, finance, inventory, warehouse and many more
Fulfil.IO is another startup that has kept information on its Seed Round undisclosed hence, the amount of investment remains unknown. Anandan was a part of that particular round.
Leflair is an e-commerce platform that sells products on fashion, beauty and furnishings. This Vietnam-based company also sells products from over 2300 luxury brands. Leflair made $750K in its Seed Round held on May 31, 2016. Anandan later revoked his investment and left the company.
Unacademy has become a household name in India. It is an e-learning platform that offers numerous learning aids and lectures on diverse areas of education. It was started with the motto of giving a better learning experience for the students in the country.
HashLearn is another e-learning app that tutors students with content based on actions. It makes learning fun and interesting. This company was acquired by Byju’s in 2021.
HashLearn went through a Venture Round of funding and secured an undisclosed amount in March 2016. Anandan exited the company in its later stage.
Smartcooky
Industry: Media & Entertainment Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Angel
Smartcooky – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Smartcooky is a venture of NDTV that was established to sell healthy foods and personal care products. It also publishes articles and information on food and health regularly. But NDTV shut the company in 2017 without giving any formal reasons for its closure.
During its Angel Round, Rajan Anandan invested an undisclosed amount in Smartcooky.
AppVirality is a referral marketing SaaS company that customizes, analyzes and automates customer referral activities. This helps the businesses to pitch their growth plan on the right path.
AppVirality received $500K as a Seed Fund from investors. This funding happened during the third quarter of 2015. This startup went through another round of Seed Funding in early 2015 when it collected $465K from Anandan and a few others.
Zenatix is a venture of Hero Electronix that was established in 2013. It is an asset management company based on IoT. Zenatix provides infrastructural solutions for construction that helps to minimize energy consumption and increase and maintain the structure’s life.
A Seed Fund of $200K was received by Zenatix from investors in 2015. However, Rajan Anandan exited the startup later.
Little Black Book
Industry: Events and Lifestyle Investment Amount: $150K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Little Black Book – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Little Black Book is a site that helps to identify the best and most recommended products, places, local experiences, destinations and many more.
Little Black Book procured $150K from investors during its Seed Round of funding.
Mypoolin is an online payment application that helps users to send and receive money using UPI. The company was started with the main goal to provide simple and convenient solutions for payment-related activities.
Anandan left the company and took back his support for unsaid reasons. Before exiting Mypoolin he invested in the company’s Seed Round.
Dazo is a food startup that enables its customers to look for and order their food from the restaurants of their interest within seconds of opening its app. The company partnered with a few hotels to provide this service. But within a year of its inception, Dazo was forced to shut down due to a lack of funds.
Rajan Anandan invested in this startup during its Seed Round. Dazo managed to procure $236.6K from investors during its initial days.
Mapmygenome
Industry: Healthcare Investment Amount: $1.5 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Angel
Mapmygenome – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Mapmygenome is a diagnostic company that offers solutions to health issues based on genetic tests. It combines the genetic test results with the health history of the patient to arrive at a better solution for the problem.
Mapmygenome collected $1.5 million from our Angel Investor and others during its Seed Round.
InstaLively
Industry: Video Streaming Investment Amount: $120K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
InstaLively – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
InstaLively is a platform to broadcast LIVE events with easy and simple procedures. This software also links the live stream to your Youtube channel directly. InstaLively was later acquired by Hike Messenger in 2017.
InstaLively made an amount of $120K in its Seed Round which was held on March 2, 2015.
ZipGo
Industry: Transportation Investment Amount: $3 Million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
ZipGo – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
ZipGo is a commute service that is available only for members and reservors. Regular commuters can book a seat in this on-demand AC bus service using the ZipGo app. It offers its services between many cities and states.
The company attracted investors with its innovative ideas and received a sum of $3 million in the Seed Round itself.
GiftCardsIndia carries numerous ideas for gifts for all the occasions. It also offers gift cards and gift vouchers with fantastic designs and exciting prices. This startup is a one-stop shop for our gifting needs.
In the Venture Round of funding that was held on November 11, 2014, this startup received an undisclosed amount as an investment.
POPxo
Industry: Health & Lifestyle Investment Amount: $500K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Angel
POPxo – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
POPxo is a hangout space exclusively for women where they talk and share anything of their choice. It operates in a wide variety of categories like fashion, food, travel, lifestyle, fitness, etc., POPxo is now available in 6 languages. POPxo procured $500K from investors during the Angel Round.
Socialblood Inc
Industry: Healthcare, Social Media Investment Amount: $96.5K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Socialblood – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Socialblood is an online platform that was designed to bring together blood donors and the people in need of blood. Facebook serves as its major operation base which makes it easier for the startup to bring in more donors.
Sociablood went through two rounds of Seed Funding and received $36.5K and $60K in them. Rajan Anandan invested in both rounds.
SocialCops
Industry: Information Technology Investment Amount: $320K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
SocialCops – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
SocialCops is a data intelligence company that has partnered with various organizations and governments to collect and publish data. These data, in turn, are used to make crucial decisions and future assessments.
In the Seed Round held in July 2014, SocialCops managed to receive a fund of $320K from investors.
LetsVenture is a company that acts as a support system for startups. It helps the new ventures raise investors’ money by finding the right source with possible means. LetsVenture has grown to become a trusted source among investors.
Rajan Anandan participated in the Seed Round of LetsVenture and became a part of the total investment of $650K.
Ciafo is a software company that is involved in the creation of software based on customer needs. In simple terms, this startup is involved in the business of web-based consumer products. Ciafo was funded with $245K during its Angel Round.
Avaz
Industry: Software, Language Learning Investment Amount: $550K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Avaz – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Avaz is a company that develops software named ‘Awaz’ to help people with speech disabilities. This tool gives voice to people with autism and helps them communicate their thoughts. A sum of $550K was invested in Avaz as a part of its Seed Round held in April 2014.
Frrole is a consumer intelligence platform that gathers and analyzes customer data to give business owners, sales persons, or hirers market insights. Similar to Ciafo, Frrole was given $245K from Anandan and other investors during the Angel Round.
Threadsol
Industry: Business Intelligence, Fashion Investment Amount: $200K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Threadsol – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Threadsol is software that helps manufacturers in planning and buying fabrics for their production. It reduces time and makes the process seamless using its innovative technology. The company Coats acquired Threadsol in December 2018.
In the Seed Round that happened in 2014, Threadsol received an investment of $200K from investors. Rajan Anandan made no further investment in the company and also revoked his initial investment made during the Seed Round.
TravelKhana
Industry: Food Delivery Investment Amount: $2 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
TravelKhana – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
TravelKhana is a food delivery app but on a train. The food gets delivered to your seat on time when ordered. This app can track trains in real-time to make on-time food deliveries. A whopping sum of $2 million was pumped into TravelKhana by Rajana Anandan and other investors as a part of its Seed Round.
Airwoot is a customer support platform that offers real-time support to customers in need of assistance. Its intelligent customer experience software automatically identifies the customers in need and helps businesses conserve time. Airwoot received an undisclosed amount from investors during its Angel Round in August 2013. Anandan later left the company and took back his investment. The reason for his exit remains unknown.
Designed as the functional programming language, transforming data is the major purpose of Dataweave. It also helps to analyze public data in a uniform format on the web. On April 25, 2013, Dataweave received a Seed Fund of $270K from multiple investors for developing its business.
Lumos Design Technology – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Lumos Design Technology was established with a motto to make cycling and cyclists safer with the use of modern technologies. It manufactures backpacks, solar chargers and other consumer electronics that are used for traveling. A sum of $32K was offered to Lumos Design Technology by Anandan and others during the Angel Round.
Industry: Digital Marketing Investment Amount: $4 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series A
Mobilewalla – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Mobilewalla is a consumer intelligence platform that provides solutions for companies, brands and agencies. It is a Singapore-based company founded in March 2011. It analyzes consumer data with AI to arrive at a perfect result.
Mobilewalla received a huge sum of $4 million from a Series A funding round that was held in February 2013.
Myshaadi.in is an online startup that offers wedding-related services. It helps people with profile personalization and finds the best wedding partner for their life. Myshaadi.in received an undisclosed amount from angel investors like Rajan Anandan and others during the Angel Round held in April 2012.
Aurality is a software developed by Aurality Technologies Pvt Ltd. This platform helps people convert texts from blogs, articles, and news sites into audio format quickly and easily. Aurality received $300K from investors as a Seed Fund.
Reach Accountant offers the best service that can replace the accountant in one’s office. It performs the daily and monthly accounting services that an office requires. The data are stored online, hence it becomes accessible anywhere anytime. The fund received by Reach Accountant from investors during its Angel Round was not revealed by the company.
MissMalini Entertainment
Industry: Media and Entertainment Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Angel
MissMalini Entertainment – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Rajan Anandan exited the company after investing an undisclosed amount during its Angel Round of funding.
authorSTREAM.com
Industry: Software Investment Amount: $5 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series A
authorSTREAM – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
authorSTREAM is a web platform that allows users to upload and share PowerPoint presentations. The presentations can be shared through Youtube, blogs websites, etc., authorSTREAM received a whopping sum of $5 million from its Series A round held in December 2010.
Conclusion
The above are the startups that received funds from Rajan Anandan. Instead of focusing on the startup’s sector, Anandan gave importance to the founder’s vision, passion and clarity towards their business. He never failed to support a team with the said qualities. The number of investments he made shows his passion and love for startups and budding entrepreneurs.
FAQs
Who is Rajan Anandan?
Rajan Anandan is an Angel Investor and businessman who is the MD of Sequoia Capital India.
Which are the top startups funded by Rajan Anandan?
Some successful startups funded by Rajan Anandan are:
POPxo
Dunzo
Unacademy
GamingMonk
Trell
Rapido
Appknox
MissMalini Entertainment
LetsVenture
Smytten
InnovAccer
Indifi Technologies
What is the net worth of Rajan Anandan?
Rajan Anandan’s net worth is expected to be over $1 million.
There are plenty of business model options available for startups. They choose according to their business field, work, and customers they want to engage with. Among such, the Customer to Customer (C2C) business model is quite prominent. In this business model, customers trade products with each other. This is majorly done through auctions and assessed advertisements.
With the growing marketplace in India, many startups are pursuing a C2C business model. The C2C businesses combine with eCommerce technology and gather their potential audiences.
C2C companies like eBay, and Amazon sell their products and services through a well classified or through an auction system. The customers generally purchase goods from another customer through a third party, where the transaction occurs.
When it comes to India, there are dozens of companies that follow the C2C business model and many have adopted it lately. The eCommerce and online auction platforms specialized in the technology of the third party which stimulates the buying procedure. In this article, we will be talking about the top C2C eCommerce companies in India. Let’s get started!
India’s leading online platform, eBay provides auctions, timely purchasing, and assessed models of trading from person to person. The company was established in 2006, headquartered in Goregaon (East).
eBay offers a broad range of product marketing, categorized into dozens of lists including Apparel, Cars and bikes, computers, personal loans, health & beauty, antiques, jewellery, real estate, mobile phones, travel, and many others. eBay is listed out in ‘Top Websites in India’ with the ranking of 25th.
2. Coutloot
Coutloot Website
Coutloot is a social commerce platform founded in 2015. It is widely known as India’s biggest offline and online social marketing platform that offers its customers the service of selling anything online to buyers with reasonable bargaining, across the country.
Quikr is a very prominent online C2C eCommerce marketplace, launched in 2008 that offers a series of posting and reacting to free local confidential ads of various kinds including Apartments, Pets, furniture, jobs, events, cars, housing, and others.
Today, Quikr has expanded its services to more than 940 cities across India. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. According to Alexa, Quikr is listed in the ‘Top Website in India’ at the 16th position.
Well, Olx has made quite a strong presence in the digital market in today’s era. The company was established in 2006. Olx is known as the strongest and most popular consumer to consumers (C2C) based digital platform in India.
Olx offers the service of selling, buying, and renting goods through free assessed advertisements from customers’ locales. You can buy anything including cars, bikes, furniture, mobiles, computers, apartments, electronics, and properties, digitally. Olx is ranked 32nd by Alexa.
5. Amazon
Amazon is an extremely popular and largest online retailer across the world. The most interesting thing about Amazon’s marketing is it operates both business consumers (B2C) as well as consumer to consumers (C2C) business model. Although the company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States, in India, the company is known to be the biggest E-commerce company.
Amazon has over 334555 employees with annual revenue of $221.60 billion. The company was founded by Jeff Bezos who has stepped down from the position of CEO of Amazon. It acquired around 83 companies such as Canvas technology, Blink, Pillpack, and Ring.
There are tons of companies in the market that are shifting towards the consumer to consumers (C2C) model and getting great outcomes. Through this, the companies are improving their customer relations and developing more potential audiences. Especially the eCommerce companies opt for the C2C business model. And with such growing technology and marketing, C2C based companies are making enormous outcomes.
FAQs
What is an example of C2C in India?
Some examples of C2C eCommerce startups in India are eBay, Amazon, and Quikr.
What is C2C?
C2C is a business model in which the customers trade with one another in an online environment.
What is the difference between C2C and B2B?
In a C2C model, the customers trade with one other while in a B2B business model the company concentrates on providing the raw data for another company.
Arbaz Sayed
