Online markets have been in existence for quite a long time. But the pandemic made them a necessity more than a want.
The e-commerce industry has seen significant growth over the past few years. This has encouraged many people to launch new startups in this field.
To build an e-commerce platform, the most important base is a strong website. If the website is not well-made and easy to use, it will not bear the fruits of success.
A successful website needs certain features to work well. These include- customer services, detailed information, reviews section, different payment options, and more.
Trade and commerce play a huge role in the global economy. Buying and selling have been in existence almost since the existence of mankind. Earlier it took place as barter and then the monetary values got involved.
Now, the buying and selling process has modernized because of the increasing technology and digitization. This has given birth to e-commerce. It stands for electronic commerce. In simple terms, it is just the commerce happening over the internet.
But how does this happen? The entire process happens over a website. It is a website that gives power to people to buy and sell products, services, and more, over the internet. For this, a person does not have to go to a physical store.
The origin of a startup is based on an idea. The idea is to solve a problem and add value to society. There is no doubt that the problem of providing products and services at home has been solved. Some of the leading platforms like Amazon, Flipkart have done that already.
But this does not mean that the newcomers cannot enter the market. To dive into this market and swim successfully needs strategic planning and its implementations. The basic and foremost strategy is to build an effective website that can help you earn a place in the market.
Here are some of the important features that you need to add to your e-commerce website:
Accessible Design
The first thing you do before putting in the various elements in anything is to make a blueprint. The most important thing for any website is its design. Make sure to keep it simple and uncomplicated. Adding a lot of elements can be fun and attractive for some. But it is the road that can lead to further complications.
Your design should be such that when a user enters your website, they access everything at ease. This makes for a great experience for the users. So, always remember to keep your design easy, uncomplicated, and user-friendly.
Mobile Optimization
E-commerce Website feature – Mobile optimization
Most people like access to everything at their hands. This means nowadays, they want everything on their smartphones. So, while developing a website make sure that it is suitable for mobile phones as well.
It is important to include the feature of mobile optimization. The design must be adaptive for both computer and phone screens. Its size should change according to the screen size.
Different Payment Options
E-commerce Website feature – Several Payment Options
This is the most important feature that ensures the seal of a purchasing deal. Many people might like the platform and fill their carts with your products and services. But when they proceed to the checkout and do not find their preferred payment option, they won’t make a buy.
So, it is important to include various payment options as your feature. You can add options of debit and credit cards, Net banking, PayPal, COD, and more. If suitable, you can also add buy now and pay in the future plugins.
Another feature to include is product description and shipping information. It is important that every product or service has its description with it. It should also include the information of when is the shipment expected and extra charges (if any).
This feature makes the website appear clearer and more trustworthy.
Filter, Sort, and Search
E-commerce Website feature – Filter and Sort Feature
This feature makes the process for customers easy and effective. Search enables the customers to look for products and services without endless browsing. The Filter ensures that they can target their exact preferences. Sorting helps them to select a criterion for listing.
So, for a sorted user experience, it is important to include this feature.
Cart and Wishlist
E-commerce Website feature – Cart
It is the most important feature needed for an e-commerce website. This enables the users to add all their items in one place. Many websites ditch the e-commerce buttons of a wishlist, thinking that it’s not important.
But it is necessary to think from the people’s perspective. There are times when a customer likes six items but they only have the budget for four. So, they like a place where they can keep the left items for some time and come back later for it. Thus, this is a vital feature for ensuring a good experience for users.
Review Section
This feature is helpful in many ways. It will help you to get feedback about what is good and what is not. It will help you know about customer preferences. The most important thing is that it will help the customers build more trust in your site.
Since the customers cannot see the product as they do in a physical store, they gain trust with these reviews. It is like word of mouth that helps attract more customers. So, make sure to include the feature of user reviews on your site.
Customer Care
It means to be available for support for online customers. The whole process works over the internet. So, many customers have questions to ask and also face challenges with certain things.
It is the duty of the platform to keep the customers satisfied. Including the feature of customer care service in your website shows your support and availability for the users. This feature can also gain new potential customers as they can get their doubts cleared.
Discount and Offers
E-commerce Website feature – Discount Feature
This is an important feature, responsible for attracting more customers. Everyone loves when they get a discount while making a buy. You can add this feature to the homepage. So, when a person opens your platform, this is the first highlight on their screen.
You can send certain offers and codes to users via various marketing channels. For this, you can add the feature of the code box at the time of checkout.
The above-mentioned are the most important features to include in one’s site. Apart from these another thing to keep in mind is to ensure that the website has a short loading time. Long wait snatches the interest of users from the platform.
A great e-commerce website is not one that is too fancy. It is the one that gives a clear, accessible, and intuitive experience to its users. So, when you offer quality items and clear access to the website features, it is bound to take you towards the path of success.
FAQs
What are the important features of an E-commerce Website?
Some main features of a Good E-commerce websites are:
Accessible Design
Mobile Optimization
Different Payment Options
Descriptions and Shipping Information
Filter, Sort, and Search
Cart and Wishlist
Review Section
Customer Care
Discount and Offers
What are types of e-commerce?
There are four traditional types of e-commerce:
B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
B2B (Business-to-Business)
C2B (Consumer-to-Business)
C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer)
What are the best platforms to build an E-commerce website?
The best platforms to build an E-commerce website are:
This article is contributed by Anshul Agarwal, Co-founder of XR Central.
Most people we know, when they need to buy supplies, will take a few hours or more in order to: a) go to the shops, b) search for the desired shop, c) go to the relevant section in the desired shop, and so on and so forth, you get the picture. The internet has made e-commerce faster and more convenient than ever before, but there are still things that we hesitate to buy online. We want to try on glasses, try on clothes, see how everything fits before we click that button. And for that, you have to take a few hours to go to the shops.
The advent of the metaverse, and technology like 5G, will make e-commerce even more intuitive and convenient for customers. Now, you can scan your body or enter your measurements and try on all sorts of clothes and accessories on your virtual avatar. With the level of precise detail made possible in the metaverse, this will be as close to the real experience as possible and will take a fraction of the time. And if you think, well, this is an activity that I’d like to do with friends, then the social component – that gets missed from a lot of e-commerce experiences at the moment – will also be there for you. Your friends will have the opportunity to create their own avatars and accompany you on virtual shopping trips from the convenience of their own homes.
Indeed, XR-powered platforms power the collaborative and social aspect of retail via omnichannel messaging and real-time avatar interaction. You and your friends will be able to stroll in a fully immersive experience through the shops in your local neighbourhood – or even thousands of miles away. And shop owners will have a chance to showcase their goods effectively while maintaining their customers’ level of trust. There is also a rise in AR apps you can use to project makeup and accessories onto your face. Snapchat, for example, is debuting a version of Shopping Lens that will enable users to swipe through different kinds of makeup and cosmetics and virtually try them on their faces. Attached to the AR overlay will be detailed on prices, colours, and sizes. Major brands have already signed on to this new way of shopping and there are predictions of more and more brands jumping on the bandwagon soon.
Last year, Gucci made a big splash selling NFTs of digital clothes and accessories for millions of dollars. As we transition to a predominantly digital presence, we can expect to see a big uptick in our Direct-to-Avatar (D2A) purchases. For an appearance-conscious generation, digital avatars will need to exhibit personal flourishes via clothes and accessories. We know what makes us unique in real-life, but what will that be in the metaverse?
Like we’ve seen with H&M’s new virtual store, it will be possible to have cross-platform flexibility and access to major brands in a virtual setting. Users will be able to access retail stores on their tablets, smartphones, laptops, or by using VR-enabled headsets or glasses. Having stores at a ‘virtual’ address will offer brands a chance to be hyper-local in a truly global setting, and to gain access to a wider audience and secure cutting-edge brand equity.
For brands that don’t want to go all out on digital products, there is an opportunity to have hybrid showcases – where real-world creations are matched with virtual accessories to be sold as NFT collectibles. NFT collectibles are custom digitized tokens that, by definition, are truly exclusive. They cannot be exchanged with each other. And it’s low-cost, without raw materials, fittings, export duties, and comparable workers’ fees. Users can have their NFTs digitally rendered into Instagram or Snapchat filters, Zoom filters, QR codes, and seamlessly project an extension of their personality into the digital realm. In fact, the highly scalable and highly custom nature of virtual retail will make it so that retailers will create less waste and be able to recruit new customer bases with relative ease.
A case in point for retail’s future in the metaverse is the participation of FMCG companies. You could think that FMCG doesn’t really fit in the metaverse, but we have innovative branding strategies being implemented by the likes of Hellmann’s mayo – who created a campaign on Animal Crossing regarding food waste – and Proctor and Gamble – who created lifelike skin for avatars to advertise their Venus razors. A unique, multi-faceted campaign can result in a hundred-fold increase in social media mentions and make creaky brands seem slick and savvy.
And lastly, home shopping will become easier. We now have interior designers and decorators visualising furniture and all manner of home accessories in a rendering of your flat. And using AR shopping apps – like Amazon’s Room Decorator – you can see how that new bed you’re thinking of buying will look in your room, or how that painting or that rug, or that vase will look in your home. The tools powering the metaverse will provide an unprecedented ability to visualise 3D objects accurately, so you can be confident of your purchase.
So, in summary, retail and e-commerce have a bright future in the metaverse on a number of different fronts. Some of them are already here and some will continue to evolve and mutate far into the future. It will be interesting to see where we land.
The article is contributed by Mangesh Panditrao – CEO and Co-Founder, Shoptimize.
Propelled by the incumbent pandemic, online shopping has gained immense traction over 2020 and 2021, and the positive ripple effect is still being seen in the e-commerce industry. Throughout this period, e-commerce and omnichannel businesses innovatively leveraged the digital avenue to manage their offline stores and sustain themselves in the pandemic-battered business environment. However, with the rising competition, the next phase of success for e-commerce companies will be led by a deep understanding of the target market and meaningful connections with the customer. This is where data comes into effect.
Significance and Benefits of Data in E-commerce
Data Assist Brands Stay Updated With Crucial Business Insights
The overarching goal of every business is to increase its revenue. To accomplish that, the brand must make the right decisions at the right time, which can be done efficiently by analyzing data. Insights driven from consumer-centric data can help brands understand how the company is being perceived by customers, how the brand is performing in different markets, and the improvements required to maximize profits. This allows businesses to serve consumers, grow revenue, and improve operations.
Enables Brands to Provide Personalized User Experiences
Understanding how customers interact with your company is critical to determining what appeals to them. As a result, e-commerce companies might leverage data analytics to better understand their customers’ needs and improve their end-to-end purchasing experience through personalization. For instance, various platforms use data to understand customer demographics and tailor their marketing messages to suit different cohorts of consumers.
Helps in Making Data-Driven Decision
Customers’ needs are constantly changing, and with many brands available, they have more options than ever before. And to keep up with the ever-evolving needs of the consumers’ D2C brands will need to focus on improving their capabilities. Hence, data-driven decision-making is necessary for success. Brands may track their customers’ preferences through data and analytics based on factors such as location, demographics, and online behaviour. An evidence-based data enables brands to make informed decisions and thoughtfully prepare to achieve their objectives.
How Brands Can Leverage Data to Increase E-commerce Sales
Converge Data From Various Platforms and Channels
Ever since doing business went digital, the amount of data it has been generating on the side continues to get bigger and bigger every day. Analyzing this data to make critical decisions becomes overwhelming for internal teams and marketing companies. It requires a highly specialized skill set and cutting-edge technology to gauge insights and aid quick, efficient decision-making. E-commerce analytics helps brands quickly and easily gather data in one place, break down data silos, and increase productivity, efficiency, and business agility.
Join the Dots Between Your Customers and the Numbers
Simply collecting data and not being able to use it results in wastage of money and time. After the data is collected, data analytics gives a detailed view of the big picture; it also looks at relationships and patterns among several of its components before delivering business insights. Hence, one way of achieving this is through unified data analytics. Unified data analytics is basically a process that merges data processing with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to deliver business insights and outcomes.
Know When to Take Action
Seasonality and trends can play a significant part in your efforts to provide your consumers with the most seamless experiences possible. As a result, it’s essential to consider and maintain a close check on trends to take timely action. Understanding seasonal patterns & trends might assist you in determining how things will pan out throughout the year. As a result, you’ll be able to focus on the right products that are available at the right time so that customers’ expectations are met.
Reading Data to Understand Websites Shopping Behavior Flow
To understand the website’s shopping behaviour flow, you can monitor how a customer lands on your site, browses through products, adds them to the cart, and checks out. Sifting through this data will help you understand your website’s purchasing behaviour flow and reveal where customers are more engaged and which paths lead to conversions. Furthermore, it will draw attention to what isn’t working. This will allow you to read your visitors’ minds by observing their behaviour and better cater to them.
Use Data to Track Your Product Performance
It’s critical to look at detailed product data for both marketing and sales tracking. It helps in understanding the price band for different consumer segments. How are individual products performing & figuring out the bestsellers and the low-performing products. This allows businesses to devise the marketing campaigns accordingly. Furthermore, keeping track of returns and refunds helps improve the product’s quality. This approach can help an e-commerce business improve its services and quality, increase revenue, and improve operations.
Conclusion
Data is critical for businesses to thrive in this digital age. So, it’s high time that companies start making data-driven decisions to succeed at online selling. Integrating e-commerce analytics across the customer lifecycle is essential for creating a competitive customer experience. These findings will help brands improve the discovery, acquisition, conversion, retention, and advocacy process.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed every aspect of work and life this outbreak has resulted in many concerns all over the world. The pandemic is having a direct or indirect impact on many sectors such as airline profitability is getting impacted by low seat occupancy, supply chains are getting disrupted globally and retail stores are running out of dry goods and toilet paper in many countries which are eventually leading to an economic slowdown.
The Covid-19 has already resulted in early signs of a shift in how consumers and businesses behave. For instance, pre-coronavirus crisis, only a few people had the experience of working remotely. But Coronavirus spread during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led many organizations to recommend their staff to work from home full-time. Some of these changes are direct, short-term responses to the crises which will revert to regular levels once Covid-19 is contained. However, some of these shifts will continue even after the coronavirus is contained such as creating a long-term digital disruption that will shape businesses for decades to come.
History is evident that every economic recession and pandemic that happened in the past has changed the trajectory of governments, economies and businesses’ work culture which resulted in altering the course of history for years to come. The Black Death in the 1300s broke their conventional feudal system in Europe and replaced it with the more modern employment contract. Similarly, the great economic recession kick-started a major innovation drive that radically improved agricultural productivity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already changed many things in the corporate and business world, it is also going to shape the future of many businesses, startups, and governments in the coming future. Over the last few years, as the coronavirus has swept across the globe, we have all had to adjust our daily lives. The technologies which came into the limelight after the pandemic are taking over many conventional methods. Some of the Coronavirus innovations which are likely to come are discussed below.
COVID-19 is acting as a catalyst for educational institutions worldwide to search for innovative solutions in a relatively short period. Due to the lockdown, closure of many schools, colleges and institutions have started online teaching via interactive apps. The use of online learning platforms has increased massively. Students can take classes at their convenience and it is also helping their teachers to solve their queries, doubts effectively. Students are also making and sending their videos of athletic training and sports to their teachers as homework, making students do things differently.
The interaction among students and teachers has increased. This slow pace of change in academic institutions globally is likely to take over old lecture-based approaches to teaching, conventional institutional classrooms. Currently, various creative solutions are being implemented around the globe. This has led the innovators to find more tools and technology to be used for educational purposes.
With 5G technology becoming more prevalent in countries such as China, US and Japan, we will see learners and solution providers truly embracing the ‘learning anywhere, anytime’ concept of digital education in a range of formats. Thus, E-learning could become a habit that is integrated into daily routines.
Digital Administration will become Mainstream
The Covid-19 breakout has caused government administrators to take action quicker than ever before. South Korea drove rapid testing of over 200,000 of its citizens and used smartphones to tag the movement of the infected — alerting the non-infected of those movements via real-time updates. All of these efforts, as well as transparency of biological impact, could have been improved if there were more smart cities in the world.
As governments learn from the Covid-19 experience, it will shift investment in favour of smart cities as it would be critical to have them in order better manage the pandemic event. Today also, many key players benefiting from this shift in gears would be smart governments, focused companies such as Cisco, Microsoft and Siemens as well as digital city startups across Europe and the US.
It is straightforward to predict that the Covid-19 is going to be an accelerant for remote working as well as online education. This shift will likely impact the efficiency, productivity and mental health of workers throughout the globe and businesses need to prepare for it.
For companies looking to add the human touch digitally to their workplace, the choices are limited today — with Humu, a startup by ex-google HR chief Laszlo Bock. A handful of other tech companies, such as Github and Automattic, which run predominately on a remote collaboration model can also choose to productize their insights and capabilities to help other companies cope. This will create many opportunities to develop such platforms that connect people from remote places and let them work remotely with more efficiency.
In-home Diagnostics
Though the trend of wearables has been growing in popularity over the past 5 years, driven mainly by Fitbit and Apple, there is some limitation in their features. However, new features are emerging as sensor technology continues to advance. The pandemic will potentially change this space forever.
Today neither the Apple Watch nor the Fitbit measure body temperature. However, there is a bigger opportunity, outside of wearables will be the in-home diagnostics market. There will be a bigger shift towards virtual doctor appointments as a result of this.
However, virtual doctor appointments don’t completely replace the need for in-person visits when patients need to take the standard flu test, strep test, or have their vitals read. But surely there will be more research in this field which provides many remedies in house only. The amount of new investment and focus on this space will accelerate the progress.
Grocery E-commerce
Ordering Groceries Online
Before the coronavirus crisis, though there was a good demand for online shopping surprisingly there was a tiny demand for grocery e-commerce. According to sources, only 4% of Americans ordered groceries online before this crisis but in India, this demand is even lesser. But since stay-in-place orders went into effect, shoppers are shifting their grocery shopping online.
This has meant a significant increase in demand for grocery retailers who relied on e-commerce as a small percentage of sales. Suddenly they’re dealing with many times their normal volume. The consumer is learning that ordering online isn’t as challenging as once thought, and the retailer is learning to properly staff and fulfil these orders at scale.
As the reliability of customers on online retailing is speeding up, there is going to be demand for online grocery shopping even after coronavirus is contained. So, this is likely to create opportunities for startups to develop more technologies that help in easing the grocery e-commerce experience. However, if the crisis does last longer, retailers will catch up to demand, the experience will improve, and shopping habits will be altered.
Conclusion
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed our perspective towards many things. This pandemic led people to think out of the box to make their lives easier which led to the discovery of many things. It has created opportunities for people to explore different fields and come up with something new.
As if phraseologies like ‘drug mafia’ or ‘movie mafia’ weren’t exciting the hipsters enough that even a legally run business had to be suffixed with this dreaded jargon ‘mafia’! Flipkart, we know, is the ‘don’ of online shopping in India (only figuratively we mean, don’t you worry!). But do you want to know why and how did this term, mostly associated with crime, got associated with one of the most cherished Indian startups?
Interesting, isn’t it?
This term was invented around 2007, to denote a set of former PayPal employees, who teamed up after quitting their jobs to ideate, fund, and found some of the leading tech companies of the world, such as Tesla, Inc., LinkedIn, SpaceX, YouTube, Uber, Airbnb, Yelp, etc., all of which eventually made huge fortunes.
Money talks – as they say – and it sort of yelped in this case because in just a few years half a dozen of those tech-preneurs became billionaires.
Quite a story isn’t it?
A similar thing happened with Amazon, where two ex-employees of the American eCommerce giant, Sachin, and Binny Bansal, dropped the company to found a new Indian eCommerce firm, Flipkart. Little did they know that this new company would be ushering in the new era of online marketplaces for the country, much like the companies founded by ex-Paypal employees.
Destiny worked in similar ways even with Flipkart, whose ex-employees continued to form new businesses and startups. Therefore, when a bunch of former Flipkart-ians aka ‘Flipsters’ did the same, i.e., build bold tech startups by deploying their innovative ideas and investing their genius selves, they were called ‘Flipkart Mafia’.
Yeah! And among these “mafias” some of them turned millionaires soon after if you are wondering!
Why Flipkart?
Flipkart has been a popular cradle to the latest bunch of over 200 startups because it looks for ‘audacity’ in its employees – entrepreneurial spirit and appropriate skill set that is in the words of its ex-COO of Flipkart-
No wonder so many of its employees went on to become successful entrepreneurs, he adds. Apart from that, he also claims that Flipkart has a very open culture. One which weighs ideas above ranks. Also a deeply engineering technology driven outlook which searches for knack for problem solving as a major quality in its people. No doubt such an ambience bred quite a few notable founders & their inventive startups. Let’s take a look.
Not all dreams come true but the Flipkart mafia has more than a few great ones.
It is not us who are proclaiming it merely out of some ‘new India / startup India-themed optimism’, nor it is the published data from the Govt. of India, but the market, businesses, and direct customers and consumers, who have placed their faith in these tech startups founded, funded or supported by Flipkart mafia (Flipsters) that says so. The list is long, so we picked some of the most talked-about companies.
Let’s look at the startups founded by Flipkart Mafia.
Founders: Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar, and Vaibhav Gupta
Udaan Logo
Udaan was founded by ex-employees of Flipkart employees, Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar, Vaibhav Gupta, this startup perfectly fits its name ‘Udaan’. That is to say, Udaan gives wings to millions of entrepreneurs running India’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that are the blood and bone of the Indian economy.
It is one of the largest Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce platforms connecting retailers, traders, wholesalers, manufacturers, importers etc. with the power of the internet.
Udaan can be used by the businesses to:
Buy and sell on their own terms while the payments, security and logistics are handled by the company.
Grow and discover by accessing new regions and markets.
Connect in their own language with prospective buyers/sellers via a personalized real-time chat facility. Thus, it makes doing business easy, convenient and also efficient.
Udaan hailed as a unicorn, has raised around $1.2 billion in just 5 years over the 6 rounds of funding that it received from 13 investors in total.
Navi Technologies
Founders: Sachin Bansal, Ankit Agarwal
Navi Technologies Logo
Navi Technologies is an emerging unicorn, which taps into the immense potential of the BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance) sector, having created a lending app that offers paperless personal/home loans to consumers with just a few clicks.
Navi Technologies is founded by Flipkart founder, Sachin Bansal, conceptualized by him right after Walmart bought Flipkart in Dec 2018. Having raised $500+ million in 5 rounds of funding by 14 investors in just 2 years. It sure has vital investor confidence.
PhonePe
Founders: Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer
PhonePe Logo
How can we not talk about this mobile payment app, which revolutionized digital payments for Indians?
PhonePe took on Paytm, which simply wasn’t easy when ‘Paytm Karo jingle became synonymous with digital literacy.
It was acquired by Flipkart within a year of existence. This says a lot about its acceptance as a one-stop solution for all kinds of transactions by all kinds of users i.e., individual as well as business users. And it sure is gaining popularity, revealing its growth figures, 25 Crore users leading with 40% share of all UPI transactions. It has raised over $1 billion investment so far, one but all from its parent Flipkart.
Having the privilege to witness India’s growth story so closely Burzin Engineer, Rahul Chari, Sameer Nigam have certainly made something to be extremely proud of!
Groww
Founders: Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal and Neeraj Singh
Groww Logo
Investing is a futuristic goal, likewise, a startup in this sector in India is futuristic too. Out of a billion people, less than 1% invest in the share market. Sensing the need of you and me to invest in return rich stocks, mutual funds, gold, and more from the safety and convenience of our homes, this online venture was started by Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, Lalit Keshre, and Neeraj Singh.
It has amassed 10+ million users already, and those who vouch for the platform claim that it makes investing simple and fun. What more can one ask for when it comes to managing our savings and finances!
The Flipkart Mafia – Flipsters
Vogo
Founders: Sanchit Mittal, Anand Ayyadurai
Vogo Logo
Rent, ride and return are what Vogo says. Whether you are new to the city, or you don’t want the headache of owning an automobile, or even you are on a short vacation wanting to explore the city without getting stuck in mindless traffic – worry not because Vego will rent you a bike from the word go. All you need to know is how to ride a two-wheeler.
It has seen over $180 million in funding from 21 investors. This dockless rental service is the brainchild of Anand Ayyadurai, Balakrishnan Padmanabhan and Sanchit Mittal. Technology has clearly inspired some great ideas to kick start.
Cure.fit
Founders: Mukesh Bansal, Ankit Nagori
Cure.fit Logo
Fitness is something that fires the imagination of youth as much as money, fame and love because one naturally flows from the other. A fit body houses a fit mind, is an adage as old and as true as science itself. Yet, the importance of good health can never be overstressed.
Cure.fit takes this into consideration and has designed multiple fitness programs for each type of customer – the dance lover, Yoga enthusiast, meditative type or the diet freak. Online classes as well as physical fitness centres. They have it all.
No wonder it picked up like rage among millennials who have no time or opportunity for health tips from multiple sources but need one wise website to do that for them. Quite a generation shift eh?
Ankit Nagori, Mukesh Bansal are responsible for pushing this shift further. Going by the number of investors showing interest in this venture (32) and the number of acquisitions it has already made (8), this company looks pretty healthy and why not!
Suki
Founders: Punit Soni
Suki Logo
Suki isn’t a Chinese app or a China-based company. Our very own ex-Flipkart members Punit Soni, Anshu Sharma and Karthik Rajan visualized this next-gen AI-powered, voice-enabled digital assistant for doctors. It is headquartered in California, US.
Suki aims to assist healthcare workers in their routine tasks, such as dictating notes, retrieving information, and other mundane admin tasks. Now, doctors could focus on managing diseases, not files.
Founders: Shivakumar Ganesan, Ishwar Sridharan, and Siddharth Ramesh
Exotel Logo
Exotel was founded in 2011, by Shivakumar Ganesan, Ishwar Sridharan, and Siddharth Ramesh. Exotel is a cloud telephony platform that empowers small and medium-scale companies to carry on with their usual work seamlessly.
The company was formed by Shivakumar Ganesan, as an offshoot of his previous company, Roopit. While working on Roopit, Shivakumar discovered that he would be needing an automated call center solution to streamline their work processes. This eventually emerged as a standalone company that goes by the name Exotel.
Among the founders of Exotel, Shivakumar Ganesan was initially with Flipkart, where he worked as the Vice President – Products and Technology.
Arzooo
Founders: Khushnud Khan, Rishi Raj Rathore
Arzooo Logo
Arzooo is a retail tech platform that works on a B2B business model. It was founded by Khushnud Khan, Rishi Raj Rathore in October 2018.
Arzooo is known as the fastest-growing tech retail company that is empowering the physical retail business to embrace digital ways. The brand boasts of being connected with 100+, powering 5000+ stores with its business operating in 10+ cities to date.
Both the founders of the platform were ex-employees of the retail giant, Flipkart, making Arzooo a classic example of a company formed by Flipkart mafias. Khushnud Khan, was an Associate Director, Retail and worked for 3 years in the firm whereas Rathore worked in the Product Management department and served Flipkart for 2 years.
Hansel.io was founded in 2016 by Mudit Krishna Mathur, Parminder Singh, and Varun Ramamurthy Dinakar. Hansel is built as a B2B enterprise software that resolves the runtime issues of the mobile apps, thereby removing the need to update them frequently.
Hansel derives its name from the famous folklore “Hansel and Gretel.” According to Varun, one of the co-founders of the company, they have named it Hansel because it is quite similar to the story of the novel where two children were left to die in the woods but Hansel founds their way back, bringing him and Gretel to safety He says that Hansel, their company, is to bring the mobile apps, Gretels, safely back home.
All of the co-founders trace their way back to Flipkart, where they work at some point in their lives. Varun worked in the Digital and Mobile department of Flipkart, Parminder Singh worked in the iOS team and Mudit was a developer of the Mobile team in the company.
Hansel was acquired by Netcore Cloud on November 24, 2020.
Parrhai is an ed-tech startup founded by Anshu Gupta, Prashant Anand, Akash Chandra. Here, Anshu Gupta, one of the co-founders of the company, was an ex-employee of Flipkart, where he went on to work for 2 years 10 months and resigned as a Product Manager of the company.
Parrhai is an ed-tech company with a difference. Where most other similar companies focus on offering classroom-like sessions, which includes pre-recorded classes, live classes, and other course-related modules, Parrhai aims to demystify key concepts and change their lesson plan dynamically to ease the learning process. Therefore, the platform plays the role of a model teacher leveraging the power of AI to do it!
Homefuly
Founders: Vinay Indresh and Arnab Saharoy
Homefuly Logo
Vinay Indresh and Arnab Saharoy were classmates at NIT Warangal and founded Homefuly in January 2016. Vinay was an ex-Flipkart employee whereas Arnab worked at Myntra from where they resigned and set up their own company. Homefuly was modelled on a marketplace model where the brand connects with the best vendors and the best designers to promise world-class outputs.
Now you might be thinking is that all?
The answer is no. There is over 200 startup business that is launched by the ex-employees of Flipkart, Flipkart mafia, and many more to come!
Here are some more companies by ex-Flipkart employees that are worth mentioning –
xto10x technologies: Yes, helping companies, basically startups, scale their operations from 1-10 is no simple business. Binny Bansal has co-founded this one knowing it fully well with personal experience
Playment: An AI startup for businesses to help machine learning engineers build datasets for training
Runnr: A B2B platform offering hyper-local logistics service, now acquired by Zomato.
GrabOnRent: Yeah! Just grab on rent any furniture, appliance etc. out of thousands to choose from in multiple categories. Currently operating in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, you sure wish this company comes knocking on your door soon.
A story alone cannot make you think out of the box, but this article here, can make you dare to dream, it can further make you believe that the world does not come to an end if you start with serving in a particular company. Furthermore, it will also remove that little/large amount of doubts or the fears of failure that usually stop you from taking starting your own company.
Inspirations are always helpful, regardless of whether they come right at the beginning or in the midway of our journey, they always tend to gear us up making the outcome far more pleasing than if it was otherwise. When it comes to entrepreneurial ventures, motivations in the form of the stories of the ‘firsts’, who took the risky road and with their passion and dedication, made history out of it, are ever so rejuvenating.
The stories here, of the ‘Flipkart mafias’, who put to use their learning, management skills, and insights to start out with their unique ventures will certainly be added boost to the budding entrepreneurs and quite interesting a piece overall. Wish you all the best for your brainchild in its creation!
FAQs
Was Flipkart inspired by Amazon?
Flipkart, the e-commerce giant of India is founded by two ex-Amazonians Sachin and Binny Bansal. Amazon was the inspiration behind the inception of Flipkart, which initially began as a bookstore.
How many startups are there in India currently?
India has around 50k startups going by the latest govt stats. Out of these, nearly 10% are tech-based startups making India the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world.
Why do most startups fail?
Approximately only 10% of startups succeed while 90% fail in general. Why do they fail is a matter of in-depth research. Few arresting reasons would be fund crunch, lack of product/market research and an unviable business model.
Why was Flipkart sold?
Apart from Walmart’s $16B lucrative deal which they couldn’t turn down, why did the founders decide to sell it, is open to assumptions and theories?
How soon can a company reach unicorn status?
There’s no absolute number but on average Indian companies/startups are reaching this status much sooner than a decade or two earlier.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Milkbasket.
With a rising number of startups and the presence of many existing players in the industry, the customer acceptance of home delivery services is growing leaps and bounds. Living in the current era, we are surrounded by an increasing number of eCommerce platforms that offer almost everything and deliver all of these things right at our doorsteps.
It is true that most of our daily needs are satisfied by the old and the newer players that are dominating the home delivery services, but for some of our daily needs, which are always in demand, like fresh milk, groceries, we often find a crunch, even if it is for a specific product. This is why many startups have solely dedicated their businesses to meet the growing requirements, thereby aiming to achieve a demand-supply equilibrium. One such startup that aims to take care of the fresh supply of milk and more is Milkbasket.
Milkbasket is a subscription-based micro-delivery service that provides customers with the regular dairy necessities and household needs each morning. Within the first six months of its launch, Milkbasket claimed to have shipped 30 million orders.
Founded by Anant Goel, Anurag Jain, Ashish Goel, and Yatish Talavdia in 2015, Milkbasket is a Haryana-based company that is currently owned and operated by Reliance Industries, when the latter acquired 96.49% stakes in Aaidea Solutions Private Limited Milkbasket parent in October 2021.
Know more about Milkbasket’s startup story, business model, funding, revenue, growth, and more in the article ahead!
October 23, 2021 –Reliance Industries’ subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd completes the acquisition of Milkbasket by acquiring 96.49% stakes in the company.
August 28, 2021 – Milkbasket, a daily grocery delivery app, has advanced its bid to go public in the second half of 2021, boosted by solid market growth in recent months despite the pandemic, according to a top company executive.
“Milkbasket has a near-perfect record of reaching growth targets since being founded in 2015. The rapid adoption of at-home grocery delivery amongst consumers due to the pandemic has provided us with an impetus to target IPO in just a year, which we had initially planned for the year 2023,” Anant Goel (Milkbasket co-founder and CEO) said.
About Milkbasket and How it Works?
Milkbasket is a Gurugram-based company that creates an online grocery network to meet consumers’ everyday household needs.
The company provides a simple delivery system that delivers milk, bread, eggs, butter, juices, and other everyday necessities and basic dairy amenities to users’ doorsteps every morning. The platform also allows them to keep track of daily expenditures, schedule vacation time off, and easily build repeat orders every day.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created a huge growth opportunity for the online grocery delivery sector, which predicted that India’s online grocery market could reach $3 billion in 2020, up from $1.7 billion in 2019. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 37.1% from 2021 to 2028. The industry was valued at USD 2.9 billion in 2020. It has gained tremendous traction since 2020.
Milkbasket – Name, Logo and Tagline
‘Milkbasket’ as the name suggests, was a milk delivery startup initially but later on decided to come up with a simple delivery system that delivers milk, bread, eggs, butter, juices, and other everyday necessities and basic dairy amenities to users’.
Milkbasket Logo
Milkbasket – Founders and Team
Milkbasket was founded by Anant Goel, Anurag Jain, Ashish Goel, and Yatish Talavdia in 2015.
Milkbasket’s Founders
Anant Goel
Anant V Goel was the founder and CEO of Milkbasket. Goel was a B.tech, Civil Engineering student of NIT Kurukshetra, after which he visited The Wharton School and INSEAD to complete MBA exchange and MBA, Strategy and Operations, Corporate Finance programs. Goel started his career at Tata Consultancy Services where he worked as a Project Leader and then went to Capgemini to join the company as a Sr. Strategy and Transformation Consultant. Goel then became the CEO and Managing Partner of UrSqft before founding Milkbasket and becoming its CEO. Gallup Consulting was another company where Anant Goel worked as an Associate Partner. Goel exited the company and stepped down from the CEO designation on August 23, 2021, after Milkbasket was acquired by Reliance Industries.
Milkbasket Founder and former CEO Anant Goel is all set to launch his new startup that will be based on the fruits and vegetable segment. It would be a consumer-centric platform that will delivery the fresh produce from farmers to the consumers, as per the sources close to the company and to the matter, reported on February 15, 2022.
Anurag Jain
Anurag Jain has been a co-founder of Milkbasket.com. He was also an alumnus of NIT Kurukshetra from where he completed a B.Tech degree in Civil Engineering. Jain later successfully pursued a PGDBM in Operations Management and Supervision from XLRI Jamshedpur. Anurag became a co-founder of Milkbasket after serving managerial roles in several companies like Spencer’s Retail, Cinepolis India, TPG Wholesale, and Samsung India.
Ashish Goel
Ashish Goel served as the Co-founder and CTO/CPO of Milkbasket. A Mechanical Engineering student of Delhi College of Engineering, Ashish co-founded two companies – Zamoona and UrSqFt before co-founding Milkbasket in 2015. Ashish Goel is currently serving as the CTO of ZipLoan after leaving Milkbasket in January 2021.
Yatish Talvadia
Yatish is currently hailed as the present CEO of Milkbasket after Anant exited the company. Talvadia has a Masters’ degree in Engineering/Industrial Management from Manipal Institute of Technology. Yatish was the Sr. Lecturer of JECRC and later served as a Core Team Member of Zamoona before co-founding Milkbasket with the 3 other founders of the company.
Milkbasket – Startup Story
Ashish Goel availed of the ‘Milk and More’ service to deliver groceries and daily necessities to his home when he was in the U.K. This made Anant realize that India also needs one such service. However, entering around that time when the market was already being dominated by successful players like Grofers, Big Basket, LocalBaniya, and Peppertap, Milkbasket had only one intention, which is to stand as an alternative to the mom-and-pop stores of every Indian neighborhood.
Milkbasket founders started in 2015 when they first set up a stall in an apartment complex in Gurugram. The founders soon got the first paying customer, who installed the app. The founding team of Milkbasket initially started to deliver milk by themselves, in their personal car. With the increasing demands, they eventually had to hire an autorickshaw to deliver it. The order volume further increased, which made Milkbasket partner with corporates and automotive companies and ultimately set up their own delivery fleet.
Milkbasket started off with just 22 customers in April 2015, and by the end of June of the same year, the team saw a growth of 30,000+ customers, and that too only in Gurugram. Ashish and Anant started with their initial capital seed of 50 Lacs.
Milkbasket – Vision and Mission
The company’s mission is to become the default mom and pop shop for over a million households. Milkbasket is by far the most cost-efficient model in the online grocery space as compared to its domestic and global competitors, accomplishing positive unit economics within about six months of launch. This is perhaps why the company has been acquired by Reliance.
Milkbasket is a hyperlocal e-commerce company that believes in an inventory-based model where it sources its products directly from brands. Milkbasket co-founder Anant Goel believes that his company has developed a contactless hyper-local grocery delivery model. Customers can place orders before midnight and have them shipped by 7 a.m., according to Milkbasket.
The e-grocery delivery startup doesn’t need checkout or payment because the purchase is prepaid with the help of a mobile wallet that is on the app. Therefore, the users can simply top it up whenever they run out of funds. Milkbasket earns from its delivery charges, subscriptions, and commissions from each transaction.
Milkbasket – Revenue and Growth
Milkbasket, a hyperlocal distribution startup based in Gurugram, announced a 3.8X increase in revenue in 2020, which ended in March last year, with only a small increase in losses. In 2020, the company reported revenue of INR 322 crore, of which 99.9% (INR 321.7 crore) came from operations.
In 2020, the hyperlocal startup’s expenses rose at the same pace, to INR 337.7 Cr, bringing its losses to INR 15.7 Cr. In 2019, the company posted revenue of INR 84.6 Cr and expenses of INR 94.1 Cr, resulting in a loss of INR 9.5 Cr. Over the same time frame, it received around 99.7% (INR 84.4 Cr) from its operations.
Milkbasket is based on the habit of people residing in India, of having milk delivered to one’s doorstep every morning, and the company only delivers during one delivery slot, from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. By October 2017 they had delivered around 1.5 million orders and employed around 200 people.
Milkbasket had earlier displayed an annual sales run rate of around USD 100 million, delivering over 9,000 items across FMCG, dairy, fruits, and vegetable categories in Indian cities including Hyderabad, Dwarka, Delhi, Bengaluru, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, and Noida).
MbBulk and senior citizens-only helplines were also introduced in several cities to help people stay on lockdown without having to go out for groceries and dairy products. Within the first six months of its launch, Milkbasket successfully shipped around 30 million orders and achieved positive unit economics.
The company has been in high demand since the lockdown began, as demand for hyperlocal grocery delivery has increased dramatically. During the lockdown, many companies with a logistics and distribution backbone, such as Swiggy and Zomato, switched to grocery delivery as these were the only essentials in demand across the board.
Over the course of 11 rounds of funding, Milkbasket has raised total funding of $78.5 million. Milkbasket’s Investors’ include InnoVen Capital, Inflection Point Ventures, Mayfield Capital, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures among others.
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Oct 23, 2021
–
$40M
Reliance Retail
May 13, 2020
Series B
$5.5M
Inflection Point Ventures
Jun 27, 2019
Debt Financing
₹150M
InnoVen Capital
Jun 4, 2019
Series B
$10.5M
Unilever Ventures
Dec 19, 2018
Series A
$7M
Mayfield Fund
Nov 12, 2018
Series A
$100M
Mayfield Fund
May 22, 2018
Series A
$7M
Kalaari Capital
Jan 23, 2018
Seed Round
$3M
Unilever Ventures
Aug 23, 2017
Seed Round
$840.9K
Blume Ventures, Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (LCIG)
Dec 1, 2016
Seed Round
$634.9K
—
Apr 26, 2016
Seed Round
$500K
EVC Ventures
Milkbasket – Competitors
The top competitors in Milkbasket’s competitive set are –
Though Milkbasket initially started fine with the capital pool from the founders, the app has faced money crunches in regular intervals, which has been one of the major challenges of the company. Milkbasket was ultimately acquired by Reliance Retail and two senior executives of Reliance Industries Limited – Nikhil K Chakrapani, CFO of Reliance Retail and Rajendra Kamath, CFO of Reliance Content Management have joined the board of directors of Milkbasket as additional directors.
Milkbasket – Future Plans
According to a top company executive, Milkbasket has advanced its intention to pursue an initial public offering by the second half of 2021, boosted by solid market growth in recent months despite the pandemic. The widespread adoption of at-home delivery services among shoppers during the coronavirus disease outbreak, according to Anant Goel, has opened an opportunity to target an IPO in less than a year.
“Milkbasket has a near-perfect record of reaching growth targets since being founded in 2015. The rapid adoption of at-home grocery delivery amongst consumers due to the pandemic has provided us with an impetus to target IPO in just a year, which we had initially planned for the year 2023,” he said.
However, the company didn’t manage to go public till now. Milkbasket is currently looking forward to expanding its range of offerings and is looking for profitability after being taken over by Reliance. The company is also deemed to be a part of the Reliance super app.
The company provides a simple delivery system that delivers milk, bread, eggs, butter, juices, and other everyday necessities and basic dairy amenities to users’ doorsteps every morning.
Who founded Milkbasket?
Milkbasket was founded by Anant Goel, Anurag Jain, Ashish Goel and Yatish Talavdia in 2015.
What companies do Milkbasket compete with?
The top competitors in Milkbasket’s competitive set are Supr Daily, DailyNinja, BB Daily, Town Essentials, Amshop, RainCan, ZopSmart, PepperTap, Big Basket, Grofers, Dunzo, Zomato and Swiggy.
E-commerce business has experienced an immense boom during the last decade and in that boom, the pandemic just added fuel to the fire. You can get anything delivered to your doorsteps with just a few clicks.
Groceries, apparel, medicine, food, you name it and it can get delivered to you. How the world shop, has changed dramatically, we are more depended on online shopping now, reasons are quite evident. Online shopping is hassle-free, convenient, and doesn’t require much human interaction.
Due to the rise of various E-commerce sites, it is obvious that people are noticing this industry and the demand is also increasing. Various startups are indulging themselves in this business. There are various business models that can be used in an E0Commerce business, one of them is the Hyperlocal Model. In this article, we will talk about how the Hyperlocal model can be used for your business. So, let’s dive in.
“Thus, in the future, instead of buying bananas in a grocery store, you could go pick them off a tree in a virtual jungle.” – Yasuhiro Fukushima
Hyperlocal means a certain small geographical area and a defined community. Your neighbourhood or your locality can be termed as hyperlocal. Through the hyperlocal model, a business can cater to the needs of the people from that certain locality. It is an online delivery model that fulfils the needs of the consumers with the help of a local ecosystem, which means the pickup and the delivery location need to be in the same zone.
The business that uses this delivery model receives the order from the customer for a certain product or service through the app. Then the app passes on the details of the orders to the aggregator and then the aggregator assigns a person that will deliver the requested products or services to the customer’s place.
Features of a Hyperlocal Delivery Business Model
Below are some features of this model that makes it unique and useful:
The target area in this model is a certain place where people have a high demand for goods and services and through this those demands can be fulfilled instantly.
It takes care of the needs of people with the help of modern technology.
This model provides the deliveries for the goods extremely fast and they arrive at the customer’s doorstep in no time.
GPS, Social Media, and mobile applications are needed so that this model can function in your business.
Benefits of Hyperlocal Delivery Model
Some of the benefits that the Hyperlocal model gives out are:
The hyperlocal model helps the local retail stores gain the visibility that was endangered due to online shopping sites.
Retail shops enjoy a significant advantage and that is they don’t need to create and maintain an app for their business, they can just add their business on the E-commerce platform and it can function easily.
How to Build Business around Hyperlocal Delivery Model?
If you are choosing the hyperlocal model for your E-commerce business, then you need to follow the steps below.
Choose the Industry
The first and foremost thing you have to do is select the industry around which you want to build the hyperlocal delivery model. It can be for groceries, food delivery, medicines or other products. The market you choose will decide the future of your business.
Choose your Target Audience
After selecting the industry, the next step is to decide your target audience. Not everyone can be your audience, so you must decide to whom you want to serve.
Form the Partnership
It is now time to partner up with the retail shop and the aggregator who will provide your customers with the products and services. You need to choose them carefully, as your business reputation depends on them. The delivery network has to be strong.
Select a Revenue Model
Think about how you want to earn revenue through this business and what model you want to use. There are inventory-led models, aggregator models and hybrid models in the hyperlocal business model. Choose the one that will go with your business.
Develop an App
In this step, you need to build an app, through which your customers, delivery partners, and suppliers will be connected. The app has to be user-friendly and hassle-free, this way it will strengthen your customer base.
Companies that use Hyperlocal Delivery Model
Haptik
Through this app, you can book your movie tickets, recharge your phone, and order food.
Zomato
One of the biggest food delivery apps that serves the people of India. You can book a table in a restaurant, order food, and discovers multiple restaurants that serve your favourite cuisines.
Pluss
The app delivers your medicine to your doorsteps and can also conduct any tests suggested by your doctor here, they will deliver the report after completing your test.
Blinkit
This app delivers groceries to your place, not only that it also delivers other products including cosmetics and frozen foods.
At present, the Hyperlocal model has become one of the most important ones in the E-commerce sector. In a fast world, having your things delivered to you in lesser times is one of the blessings of this model and that is what attracts the customers. With time, the apps by the businesses that follow this model need to be more developed so people can receive better services. The business will continue to grow when they try to better itself.
FAQ
What is the hyperlocal delivery model?
The hyperlocal delivery model is an online business model where the demand of the customers can be fulfilled through local shops.
What is Hyperlocal targeting?
Hyperlocal targeting means targeting your audience from a selective geographically limited area.
What is a Hyperlocal delivery system?
It is a process of delivering goods from a seller to customers from the same locality.
How would you build your business around an on-demand hyperlocal delivery model?
Select the industry you want to operate in, select your target audience, Partner with an aggregator, build an app, and prepare a revenue model.
Gone are the days when only the English language can be used by social media users to communicate. Thanks to various social media apps and the development of technology, people are now able to use their regional language while handling social media. Communication is possible for everyone and they are able to use the language they prefer without any problem.
When it comes to India, with a population of over 1.3 Billion people, the country is known for its diversity. As per the constitution of India, it has 22 scheduled languages and in total it has 121 languages.
Time has changed and the people of India are avid users of the internet, especially social media and they can do this in their native languages. In this article, we will talk about the report that is being released by ShareChat and GroupM called ‘Bharat- The Neo India’ and how businesses can benefit from it.
“Our native language is like a second skin, so much a part of us we resist the idea that it is constantly changing, constantly being renewed.” -Casey Miller
Bharat – The Neo India is a report comprised of ShareChat and GroupM both of them jointly conducted research to find out about the situation of the people who use the internet in their native language.
This report will help brands and businesses to understand online behaviour, the trends of internet consumption, and the way people use social media. People who are using Indic languages are called Bharat and people who prefer using the English language are referred to as India.
Why the Report is Important?
The report made after the thorough research is important because of the reasons below:
This will help the businesses to understand the behaviour of the people who uses the internet in their native language.
It will help the businesses to form a proper marketing strategy to grab the attention of Bharat and engage them in their business.
It will expose all the common misconceptions regarding the people who prefer the Indic languages while using the internet.
Bharat vs India: Which One is More Tech Savvy?
The report stated all the information of internet users of Bharat and India, their media behaviour, choice of content, lifestyle, interest, and others. Some of the findings from the report are stated below.
Bharat or the people who prefer Indic languages can be found throughout the country, in fact, 39% of them are from the metro cities and 53% are from the non-metro cities. The survey was conducted by YouGov on 3432 people from 17 Indian states who are active internet users who put their input into it.
Financial Activities
Bharat users are quite aware and in the same range as the Indian users in terms of completing any financial activities online. In fact, people who prefer Bharat are using online payment mode more than Indian users. 56% of Bharat users complete their monetary transactions through net banking and online debit card transactions.
Not only that, 49% of them use mobile wallets. Bharat users are quite aware of mutual funds, cryptocurrency, stocks, and other new-age investments and are naturally investing in them as well.
Social Media
When it comes to social media, Bharat users seem more occupied with it than Indian users. 29% of Bharat users post daily on social media, instead of 22% of Indian users. 39% Bharat uses Social media for consuming News as its primary source.
Streaming
The online video streaming platform is a prime source of entertainment nowadays. Streaming videos are more popular amongst Bharat users than watching TV. 50% of Bharat users love to watch free videos while 47% indulge in watching TV.
Food
In the case of ordering food online, 42% of Indian users indulge themselves in it compared to 24% Bharat users.
Voice Search
When it comes to using the technology of Voice search, 26% of Bharat users seem to use it compared to just 15% of Indian users.
Online Shopping
Online shopping by Bharat users has increased and in 2021, 46% of them purchased gadgets online. Apart from that, apparel, beauty products, skincare products, and any kind of booking related to travelling.
All these findings state, that the native language users are not far away from English language users and are maintaining their digital presence quite well. They are technologically aware and are using different platforms and are enjoy the digitalization of everything.
Some Other Facts of Bharat Users
Every one in five-person who uses social media in their preferred Indic language is investing in Cryptocurrency. 27% of Bharat users pay for using video streaming platform services and 37% of them use the internet for listening to music.
The article concludes that an internet user who prefers their native language is not at all far away from English language users. They have adapted themselves and some Bharat users are even more comfortable in using the digital facilities than the Indian users. They are educated and digitally aware.
As per the report, it seems Bharat is much more Tech-savvy than India. Businesses can now easily form their market strategy and can touch the market that they were not able to in the past.
FAQ
What is Bharat – The Neo India?
The Neo India is a report comprised of ShareChat and GroupM, both of them jointly conducted research to find out about the situation of the people who use the internet in their native language.
How many languages are there in India?
India has 121 languages and 22 scheduled languages.
What is the difference between Bharat and India?
People who use Indic languages are called Bharat and people who prefer using the English language are referred to as India.
Online shopping can be a saviour when it comes to great shipping are an easy delivery policy. As of 2020, 2.1 billion people are online shoppers and every online customer wants great shipping for easy delivery options and to get delivery quick and fast. Shipping refers to the transportation of goods from one place to another place.
Now, for shipping purpose, e-commerce company uses different companies across the countries. But, getting the one that satisfies all the needs, can be a tricky one and often difficult. Here is the list of best-shopping companies for e-commerce in India so, let us see the complete insights on the topic- The Most Trusted Shipping Companies For E-Commerce.
Delhivery is one of the most reliable online delivery companies in India for domestic shipments in India. The aim of the courier service is to deliver satisfaction to the customers at their doorstep in less amount of time and apart from domestic shipments, it also offers services for reverse logistics and also, international shipments too. It is known for catering to the need of various successful e-commerce businesses in India. With it, one can provide on-demand delivery on the same day or next day delivery along with time-based delivery according to the convenience of the customer.
2. Indian Postal Service
Indian Postal Service Logo
Indian Postal Service is one of the oldest courier services in India and, has been in service for years, also known as one of the best shipping companies for e-commerce in India reliable and has the highest coverage and maximum reliability, for which it is known for years. The rates are also affordable and the services are extremely satisfactory. The tracking shipment is also very accurate. The service can be very useful for companies who have started their e-commerce due to its easy nature of use.
3. Blue Dart
Blue Dart Logo
This courier company needs no introduction as they have been one of the most popular e-commerce shipping companies in India. Blue Dart is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharastra. They have their subsidiary cargo airline and also provide courier service for e-commerce websites. It was founded in November 1983 by Tushar Jani, Clyde Cooper, Khushroo Dubash.
Other services include delivery, express mail, freight forwarding, third-party logistics serving the whole South Asian Country zone, known for its good service factors. They have a strong delivery base in India. The shipping rates are also quite affordable, making it a more profitable company, preferred by e-commerce companies.
4. Ekart
Ekart Logo
Every person who has ordered from Flipkart must have known Ekart. It is also a very popular e-commerce delivery partner in India. It is an electronic commerce subsidiary company Flipkart Pvt Ltd. It is headquartered in Banglore and was founded in 2009, by Flipkart. It currently serves 38,000+ pin codes throughout the whole country.
The courier company has service klick2Shop logistics services international, a Singapore – based company that invested 1641 crore INR in Ekart in October 2017, giving it a backup and strengthing the position of the company in the Indian market.
5. FedEx
FedEx Logo
FedEx is known for its excellent delivery service and affordable prices in the areas of its services. The features like large volumes of shipments, high-speed shipping requirements, high levels of customization and flexibility, has an on-premises solution with limited internet connectivity, manages customer relationships by integrating FedEx service with the warehouse management system (WMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The shipping rates are also very affordable.
DHL (Dalsey, Hillblom, and Lynn) is an international courier, parcel, and express mail, division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post DHL, one of the largest e-commerce shipping services in the world, present in 220 countries and territories, worldwide. They deliver over 1.3 billion parcels per year. They are known for their standard domestics and international parcel pick-up, delivery, and return solutions for business customers, including e-commerce logistic services.
7. eCOM Express
EcomExpress Logo
Another newbie in the field of the e-commerce shipping market. It is suitable for both shipping and logistics services. It is a leading end-to-end logistics solutions provider that focuses on speed, safe and reliable nationwide express delivery, especially for the e-commerce industry. It has more than 600 thousand+ satisfied customers and has 25,000 pin-code coverage in more than 2400 cities. The rates are pretty affordable and are known for their great service quality and quick timing.
8. Shiprocket
Shiprocket Logo
It is one of the cheapest e-commerce delivery solutions in the fast-moving world, as they provide services at discounted prices. It has partnered with the courier partners like DHL, FedEx, Ecom Express to provide automated shipping solutions to the e-commerce business to choose a delivery partner for every order depending upon the price, pickup, delivery region, and their preference. The company can also sync their orders from all channels and ship them to one platform.
9. Zipping Logistics
Zipping Logo
It is a courier aggregator company that allows shipping anywhere in India to up to 15,000+ pin-codes, pricing is also very affordable in nature. It provides an easy solution that focuses on the user’s processes and allows the users to save time, logistics conveniently, connect with multiple carriers, multiple sales channels on one platform. It has over 2145+ clients and serves over 22491 areas of Pin Code.
10. iThinkLogistics
iThink Logistics Logo
It is a very new company in the market of e-commerce logistics as it was launched in 2017. Even though it is a new company, it is the first one to use AI-driven technology, to ease up the work in the supply chain. They are currently spread to 26000+ pin codes in India. They have the highest successful delivery percentage of 89% in India. It has gained popularity because of its transparent, cost-effective services, NDR technology, hard-working teams, cooperative founders. It also managed to bag a position in Your Story’s top tech startups in 2018, a year after their release, making it the most talkable courier company for E-commerce.
11. DTDC
DTDC Logo
DTDC is in the shipping industry since the 90s with a widespread network throughout the nation. The services offered by DTDC are highly reliable but may not be affordable for small e-commerce businesses as the prices are quite high. An established venture can easily afford DTDC services. The company originated in India but has spread across 20 countries.
India is a nation of 1.4 Billion people where the demand for logistics is huge. The demand for these companies will rise exponentially in the future, even in international waters because of the increasing exports of our inbuilt varied culture that we uphold in front of the entire world. It is the perfect time to start a shipping business as the world will lean towards logistics in the upcoming years.
FAQ
Which courier service is best for e-commerce in India?
Blue Dart, Delhivery, DHL, DTDC, Ecom Express, FedEx, are some of the best delivery services for e-commerce in India.
Which is the fastest shipping company in India?
DHL Express is the fastest shipping company in India.
Which is the biggest courier company in India?
Blue Dart Express is the biggest courier service company in India with a market cap of approximately 156 billion Indian rupees as of 2021.
How to tie up with courier for e-commerce?
There are several things that need to be taken into consideration. Before you tie up with a courier company check shipment rates, understand the mechanism and hidden costs in service, check how can you benefit, and talk to other e-commerce to know better. After selecting a courier company for your e-commerce reach out to the service provider and you are all set.
Which is the best courier service provider in India?
Considering reliability, consistency, and quality FedEx and Blue Dart are best. But they are very expensive. If you are a startup or small e-commerce business and cost is the constraint then Delhivery, GoJavas, Shiprocket, and DTDC are the best options.
We are quite aware of the economical status of Russia. Russia’s economy is known as the 11th largest economy in the world. Its economy is contributed majorly by the service sector at 62.3% of the 1.63 trillion dollars, along with the 63% of total employees for the labour force. On the other hand, Russia is widely supported by Europe as being its largest trading partner.
When it comes to the startup culture, Russia has the support of some major factors like sea routes access, location, access to natural resources and European markets. However, a large number of Russian startups are established in Moscow & St. Petersburg.
In the modern era of the millennials, Russia works as the nerve centre of the whole Eurasian startup culture. Russia has more than 3.8K tech startups among which 9 are public estate. And, in that case, we have brought you the Russian startups which are listed among the unicorns of the World along with the top potential “Soonicorn” startups in Russia. Go through the article and you will find the exclusive Russian tech startups with a substantial valuation status. Let’s get started!
Russia has two very prominent unicorns, Avito.ru and Wildberries. These two companies exceed their valuation of billion dollars. Russia is quite famous for its economy and startup ecosystem. And, these companies have made their way to the list of unicorns with a valuation of over $1 billion. These are briefly discussed below.
Avito
Founder- Jonas Nordlander and Filip Engelbert Founded Year- 2007 Funding- USD 1.3 Billion
Avito – Unicorn in Russia
The well-established Russian company, Avito.ru is a classified advertisement website. It’s known as the most prominent and established classified website in Russia and the second largest in the world. Avito.ru was founded in 2007 by Jonas Nordlander and Filip Engelbert. The company works through the services of E-commerce and web communication.
Moreover, the website of Avito has further categories of general goods for sale, personals, jobs, real estate, services and cars for sale.
Avito.ru made its biggest achievement when in 2019, the daily visitors of the website reached 10.3 million. The services and valuation of Avito.ru mark the company in the eyes of Russian Forbes. Later with the ranking as third, it came out in the list of most expensive companies of the Runet. The estimated valuation of Avito.ru is around $4.9 billion.
Wildberries
Founder- Tatyana Bakalchuk Founded Year- 2004 Funding-
Wildberries – Unicorn in Russia
Wildberries is known to be Russia’s largest online retailer. The company was established by Tatyana Bakalchuk in 2004. It was headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Tatyana was formerly a teacher but, on her maternity leave, she developed this website. And now, the company has crossed the revenue of over $3 billion. Wildberries is the leading Russian E-Commerce market at a valuation of $30bn.
Wildberries employs over 48,000 people with the work establishment in 7 countries. On average, Wildberries process 750,000 orders per day online with the wide categories of 37,000 brands of clothing, cosmetics, children products, shoes, food, books, jewellery, electronics and many others.
When the pandemic came in 2020, the company progressed with a sudden increase in sales volume and reached up to $6 billion. Wildberries have experienced great development in the past years. And now, it is moving towards its development in countries such as the United States. Besides, the company has now started online sales in Russia through instalments or on credit.
Well, as we went through the unicorns of Russia it would be absolutely interesting to know the potential startups which are on their way to get the unicorn status, or the Soonicorns. Therefore, we have discussed the potential startups of Russia as well. Let’s get started with the Soonicorn startups.
Waves Platform
Founder- Sasha Ivanov Founded Year- 2016 Funding- USD 240 million
Waves Platform – Soon to be Unicorn in Russia
Waves Platform is a very well known blockchain-based startup that provides the service of digital application advancement infrastructure for public institutions as well as enterprises. The company is headquartered in Moscow, Russia.
Moreover, Waves Platform has many potential investors such as Dolfin, Blockchain R&I, CV VC and many more.
Indriver
Founder- Arsen Tomsky Founded Year- 2012 Funding- USD 15 million
Indriver – Soon to be Unicorn in Russia
Indriver is a company offering a ride-hailing service through a digital application for the demand of intra-city taxi rides. The application offers plenty of passenger based services such as setting their price, negotiating and more. The company was founded in the year 2012 and is established in Yakutsk, Russia.
Indriver is expanded to many cities across South Africa, CIS, America and LATAM.
Founder- Vladimir Vinogradov and Oleg Savtsov Founded Year- 2010 Funding- USD 25 million
Biglion – Soon to be Unicorn in Russia
The digital platform for the wide range of category O2O deals. Biglion is a well-known company that offers many deals of services such as fashion products, beauty and health, fitness clubs, restaurants, and many more. Biglion was founded in 2010 in Moscow, Russia. It has its potential investors as RTP Global and Tiger Global Management.
MANEL
Founder- Manel Guillen I Sola Founded Year- 2010 Funding- USD 12 million
MANEL – Soon to be Unicorn in Russia
MANEL is a prominent company that develops high technological equipment for the development of a porous nanostructural non-metal non-organic coating that occurred from the microarc oxidation. It has taken it to a next level of quality as well as advancement. MANEL was founded in 2010 and headquartered in Tomsk, Russia. Its significant fundings comes from Rusnano and Tomsk State University.
Founder- Serge Faguet Founded Year- 2011 Funding- USD 51 million
Ostrovok – Soon to be Unicorn in Russia
The well-established hotel booking platform, Ostrovok.ru offers great services through brief research, review and convenience along with further travel details. Ostrovok.ru is known as the OTA for hotel booking. Its digital application suits Android and iOS very well. Its prominent investing comes from Fritz Demopoulos, Niklas Zennstrom and Vaizra Capital.
There is a vibrant and wealthy startup ecosystem in Russia. Although there are only two or three startups mentioned in the unicorns list, there are dozens of startups that have a high valuation and a very fair chance of becoming unicorns soon. Alongside, many are counted as potential startups who can gain unicorn status one day. There are many powerful and prominent startups in Russia and these have many potential investors as well. Russia has a long way ahead, meanwhile, its startup culture is progressing with each passing year.
FAQs
What are the unicorns in Russia?
Two unicorns has been identified in Russia. They are:
Avito
Wildberries
Which are the most valued startups in Russia?
Some of the potential startups on their way to get the unicorn status are:
Waves Platform
Indriver
Biglion
MANEL
Ostrovok
Which is the largest company in Russia?
Some of the largest companies (as per market capitalization) in Russia are:
Gazprom
Sberbank
Rosneft
Novatek
United Heavy Machinery
Lukoil
Nornivkel
Polyus
Surgutneftegas
Severstal
Which city is the startup hub of Russia?
Moscow is the startup hub of Russia. Most of the prominent startups are headquartered in Moscow, Russia.
Avantika Bhardwaj
