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Tag: E-commerce industry in India

  • The Future of Ecommerce Industry in India

    With growing internet penetration and disposable incomes, the people of India are experiencing a massive change in their shopping habits. People from all fronts are using their smartphones to buy products and items. With the big three — Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba, entering the Ecommerce sector of India, the market is slowly maturing and expanding its footprint to the most remote locations across the country. This market for Ecommerce in India is further estimated to witness another transformation with the spread of the all-new ONDC concept that is still new in its approach and promises to make ground-breaking changes.

    According to an analysis, the Ecommerce Industry in India grew from 4% of the total population in 2007 to around 40% in 2017, clearly indicating the rise of the internet era in the world’s fastest-growing economy. The growth of the Ecommerce market in India is expected to further be registered at around $188 billion by 2025. This industry would again rise to reach $350 billion by 2030, as per the latest statistical reports. This internet boom is directly proportional to the emergence of Ecommerce in India and other internet-based domains.

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    This post analyzes the current scenario and the future of Ecommerce in India.

    Ecommerce Industry In India
    Growth Of Amazon In India
    Growth Of Flipkart In India
    Other Ecommerce Players In India

    Ecommerce Industry In India

    Projected Ecommerce Revenue of India from 2017-2027
    Projected Ecommerce Revenue of India from 2017-2027

    This success story started in 2007 with the inception of India’s most successful startup, Flipkart. Initially, companies found it tough to encourage people to shop online but with advancing technology, logistics, and payment methods supported by various offers and sales, people slowly drifted to this convenient mode of online shopping. Internet penetration and easily available data, fuelled by the low costs were and continue to be the most prominent factors encouraging this trend.

    Ecommerce in India is expected to touch $200 billion by 2025 from the figure of around $40 billion in 2017. The internet economy, on the other hand, is expected to hit $1 trillion by 2030, majorly riding on the Ecommerce wave. Seeing this potential, Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba started heavily investing in India and building a strong presence. Various domestic players like Snapdeal, Shopclues, Infibeam, etc. are also a part of this organized and exponentially growing Ecommerce segment in India. Though some of them might not be standing tall enough at the present moment, they always have a chance to bounce back though. Also, as a result of the domain of Ecommerce being broad enough to nourish many other subdomains, the Indian ecosystem of Ecommerce has seen the growth of both men and successful women entrepreneurs, with many more opportunities ahead.      

    Growth Of Amazon In India

    Annual Net Sales Revenue Worldwide of Amazon from 2004 to 2021
    Annual Net Sales Revenue Worldwide of Amazon from 2004 to 2021

    Amazon expanded its footprints in India by promising to invest $5 billion, and until now it has pumped in more than $6.5 billion. These investments are being used for expanding its portfolio by bringing various sellers onto its platform, building and leasing warehouses for storage, improving logistics, offering heavy discounts to acquire new customers, and foraying into new verticals like grocery and payments wallet.

    In 2017, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos stated that Amazon’s app was the most downloaded shopping app in India. Moreover, the company’s loyalty program—Amazon prime—was adopted in India at a much faster rate than in any other country. Its international losses as of April 2018 were $622 million and the revenue was $14.08 billion, whereas a year back the figures were, $481 million and $11.06 billion respectively. Amazon.com had $469.80 billion in revenue in 2021. Amazon is also focusing on improving its smart AI-based speaker, Amazon Echo. Alexa, Amazon’s voice-controlled personal assistant, is being trained to understand and focus on the Indian dialect and vernacular languages.

    Amazon now has options for Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi on its website and app to conquer customers from tier-2, tier-3, and rural areas where English is not widely used or taught. With a growing focus on improving customer service through setting up various fulfillment centers and faster logistics, Amazon is working to counter its local competitor Flipkart which was bought by Walmart and Paytm Mall. It is going to provide drone-based delivery very soon. With its increasing investments despite heavy losses, Amazon strongly believes that today’s investment of Re 1 will yield returns of Rs 100 tomorrow.

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    Growth Of Flipkart In India

    Revenue of Flipkart Private Limited between Financial Years 2014 and 2022
    Revenue of Flipkart Private Limited between Financial Years 2014 and 2022

    On the other hand, Flipkart is a successful domestic Ecommerce player in India. Initially, it had its share of struggles in bringing sellers and buyers on its platform while dealing with the challenges of logistics and maintenance of warehouses. But with grit and hard work, Flipkart has been successful in bringing a revolution that changed the face of the startup ecosystem in India.

    It was the first Ecommerce company to introduce the system of cash on delivery, being mindful of the reluctance people faced while using their cards online. It also accomplished the task of setting up its own logistics unit, Ekart, along with various warehouses for storage and faster deliveries. Just like Amazon, Flipkart’s founders also started their startup by selling books online and slowly scaled their startup to various segments. It has also acquired various startups like Myntra and Jabong in the fashion segment, and PhonePe to delve into the mobile wallet industry. As of FY2017, it held around 45% of the total market in India, with losses of about Rs 8771 crores and revenue rising by 29% to Rs 19,854 crores. Though the market share figures changed slightly, Flipkart still maintained a lead over its counterpart Amazon in terms of market share, which was reported to hold 31.9% market share over the US-based Amazon, which held 31.2% of the market share in 2020.  

    Flipkart also launched its smartphone segment under the name ‘billion’, and also forayed into the electronics segment under the name MarQ. It is even venturing into the untapped potential behind the furniture segment. The basic reason behind launching an in-house brand is to attain profitability; many experts say that in-house brands will ultimately become the backbone of Ecommerce. Success was not easy for Flipkart. Ideas like trying to turn Flipkart into a mobile app completely didn’t go down with customers, and there were other failure stories as well.

    Flipkart was acquired by the American-based supermarket giant Walmart for $16 billion in 2018. This led to a growth in Flipkart’s valuation, which reached $21 billion. This deal was a win-win situation for both as Walmart got a 77% stake in expanding itself into the world’s new Ecommerce battleground, and Flipkart got ammunition in the form of investment and equity to counter Amazon. It eventually began to launch numerous programs like the loyalty program, and Flipkart Plus, where users are provided with free delivery and points. It also has a Flipkart affiliate program where you can become a partner and earn money. These points can be further used to redeem offers on platforms like Bookmyshow, Zomato, Hotstar, etc.

    Flipkart launched its refurbished marketplace, 2gud.com, after parting ways with eBay India. With the competition getting tougher every day accompanied by growing market size, it remains to be seen whether Flipkart will be able to maintain its supremacy. No matter what, Indians will always be proud of Flipkart as it changed the way for the average Indian shop.

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    Other Ecommerce Players In India

    The third dimension of Ecommerce in India is Paytm Mall and other small players. After the fall of Snapdeal, Paytm Mall (started in 2017) was quick enough to conquer the third spot in the industry. Focusing on its Online to Offline model (O2O model), which allowed consumers to avail of online discounts and offers in Offline partner stores, it established a niche in this particular segment.

    Alibaba and Soft Bank invested $356 million in the company. Alibaba took a stake of 28.34% and Soft Bank 19.86%. After this valuation of the company reached $2 billion. It reported annual gross sales worth around $3.5 billion in FY18 and earned operating revenues of $102.97 million in FY19. It reported $34.72 million in revenue from operations and a $17.48 million loss in FY22.

    Short-term visions, lack of experience, and strategic setbacks led to the fall of the company. Alibaba and Ant Financial sold their stake at just $5.17 million and backed out of the company. According to reports, its valuation dropped from $3 billion to $13 million in March 2022. Paytm Mall can make a comeback through ONDC.  

    Another small and promising player was Shopclues, which had been successful in attracting customers from Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns, clearly indicating its difference in thinking from Flipkart and Amazon. It consisted of various small sellers on its platform, selling quality goods at a cheaper price. This business model attracted people from various rural areas who had low disposable incomes compared to their urban counterparts. According to a ROC 2018 filing, it was revealed that Shopclues’ revenue increased by 60% to Rs 180.3 crores, and losses came down by a massive 40% to Rs 332.65 crores. It also hinted at profitability in the coming quarters. However, the promising unicorn, which turned the fourth Indian unicorn startup in January 2016, led by Radhika Ghai Aggarwal and Sandeep Aggarwal, headed only towards nothing.    

    Conclusion

    Many people from the industry feel that the current Ecommerce ecosystem in India (consisting of both the marketplace and inventory type) is less than 5% of its actual potential. With this industry growing exponentially, many small and big players feel that there are more horizontals and verticals which are yet to be explored and organized. Myntra, IndiaMart and Nykaa are among the fastest-growing Ecommerce players in India. The Ecommerce segment will be imperative in pumping up the Indian economy and boosting employment rates.

    FAQs

    What is the future of Ecommerce in India?

    As per predictions, the Indian Ecommerce market will increase by 21.5%, reaching $74.8 billion in 2022, and it will reach $350 billion by 2030.

    What is the present scenario of Ecommerce in India?

    Ecommerce has transformed the way business is done in India. The Indian Ecommerce market is expected to grow to US$ 200 billion by 2026 from US$ 38.5 billion as of 2017. Much of the growth for the industry has been triggered by an increase in internet and smartphone penetration.

    What is the market share of Ecommerce in India?

    Growing at an exponential rate, the market value of the Ecommerce industry in India is approximately $88 billion in 2022.

    Which is the biggest Ecommerce company in India?

    Amazon India is the biggest Ecommerce company in India.

    What are examples of the Ecommerce industry?

    • Amazon
    • Flipkart
    • Snapdeal
    • Myntra
    • Shopify
    • Nykaa
    • Alibaba Group

  • What is ONDC? How will ONDC Impact the Ecommerce Industry of India?

    Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was formed on 31st December 2021. However, the initial pilot phase of this program was launched on 29th April 2022. The target behind the introduction of this platform in India is to bring scalability and accessibility to the field of e-commerce.

    The initial idea of ONDC came from the Piyush Goyal-led Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

    The project is moving forward under the leadership of T Koshy (CEO), who was a former partner at the consulting firm EY, along with a 9-member advisory council that consists of names like Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of software powerhouse Infosys Ltd, National Health Authority’s RS Sharma and more.

    It is aimed to provide equal opportunity to the small retailers and merchants in the e-commerce market alongside big players like Amazon and Flipkart.

    Nilekani has also earlier helped the Indian government in developing Aadhar biometric ID system. As per him, ONDC is meant to democratize digital commerce in India.

    As per a survey, India in 2021 had around 289.1 million digital buyers. This number is expected to increase and reach around 377.6 million in 2025.

    Number of Digital Buyers in India
    Number of Digital Buyers in India

    To date, the maximum share of eCommerce in India is in the hands of a few big companies. However, the growing number of buyers invokes the need of including small sellers from remote places to become a part of this huge market.

    To help resolve this issue with the aim of bringing more retailers and sellers online government brought forward the concept of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

    What is ONDC?
    UPI and ONDC | What’s the Difference?
    Why is ONDC needed?
    How will ONDC impact the e-commerce industry in India?
    ONDC Funding
    Tracing the Growth of ONDC
    ONDC Challenges

    Impact of ONDC on the E-commerce Industry of India

    What is ONDC?

    ONDC Logo
    ONDC Logo

    Before understanding how the government will implement this and what are its benefits, let us first understand clearly what ONDC is.

    Until now, digital commerce across India is abiding by the platform-centric model. This means there are different platforms available online through which a seller can sell his product and a buyer can purchase them by registering on the same platform.

    This means that the buyer and seller have to be on the same platform for an online deal to occur.

    The idea behind ONDC is to bring e-commerce to the open network model instead of the platform-centric model. This will make e-commerce approachable for all types of buyers and sellers.

    The idea is to bring the buyers and sellers from different platforms into each other’s approach without any of them having to register on the platform on which the other exists.

    It will allow the buyers and sellers from different platforms to connect with each other, provided that both the platforms are linked to ONDC. This is similar to the role UPI plays in terms of transactions. UPI is a fitting example of the concept that ONDC is working on. This is because where UPI united the banking partners and the merchants/users, via a single unified platform connected through the mobile number, ONDC is pivoting on a similar concept that will unite the buyers, sellers, logistics providers aggregators, payment gateways, and more on a single platform, which will make buying and selling easier for everyone in the ecosystem.

    Therefore, the ONDC network allows the buyer to connect with the seller and make transactions to settle the deal irrespective of which applications they are using for buying or selling the products.

    UPI and ONDC | What’s the Difference?

    Often during the ideation and the development of the ONDC product, we have heard people, businesses, and media placing ONDC and UPI systems side by side. While both the systems are based on a similar idea, which is to link people and make things in the Indian market easier, they are poles apart really in terms of the functionality, complexity, magnitude, people, segments and markets involved, and more.

    For example, the UPI system was involved in the secure transfer of finances, the main objective of which was to facilitate the transfer of funds, and keep the same secure between banks, merchants and customers. However, when it comes to ONDC, the concept of ONDC does not involve a direct transfer of goods and services but is related to the same.

    Besides, ONDC also has a list of subjective variables, which the UPI doesn’t have. For instance, ONDC has to look after the quality of the products being sold, onboarding sellers and shops, making the communication between them easier, overlook the reliability of both the sellers and the buyers, looking after the speed of delivery and more.

    Also, when it comes to the UPI system, nothing was dependent on physical interaction, which stands in sharp contrast to the ONDC system, where the latter is significantly dependent on the offline steps after the matchmaking is done online.  

    Why is ONDC needed?

    Presently, if a retailer or merchant wishes to take his business online, there are only two options available for them.

    The first option is to create its own website. This might require some technical support. Further, this is a cost-intensive process as it involves a lot of extra charges such as website creation and management costs, logistic charges, etc.

    Also, even after the website is built and functional, the seller will have to invest a lot of money in advertising for his website in order to attract buyers.

    The second option is to sell the products on aggregator platforms or so-called online marketplaces. Although this system appears quite convenient in comparison to building a website, it has its own issues.

    The two top players in this field i.e. Amazon and Flipkart are both US-based companies. They keep a large share of profit in return for displaying and selling your products on their platform. In addition, sometimes, there have been complaints of brand preferences where these platforms are said to exhibit favoritism towards a few brands.

    Moreover, sometimes these marketplaces collect data from the sellers and depending on the market inclination, introduce their own products, to stay ahead of the curve.

    Another main concern associated with e-commerce is the lagging of small retailers, merchants, MSMEs, etc. Owing to the limited reach of e-commerce in small towns and villages, these small businessmen are deprived of the benefits associated with e-commerce.

    Most of them have not been able to begin their online journey on these digital selling platforms due to restricted technical knowledge and the small number of options available.

    To counter these problems and take digital commerce to a whole new level, ONDC has been formed. The aim is to make e-commerce reachable even for small retailers and merchants.

    The ONDC platform is an idea that is focused on increasing 3 major things that most buyers and sellers dream of:

    • Discoverability – The ONDC platform will help both the buyers and the sellers maximise their discoverability.
    • Transparency – ONDC will offer clear visibility and the benefits of comparing everyone and everything that is listed on it. This will make things transparent enough for everyone and everything related to eCommerce.  
    • Interoperability – The ONDC network will have the buyers, sellers, aggregators, delivery partners, logistics providers, and more, and all of them will be operating freely with each other, forming a stable and trustworthy network for maximum benefits.

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    How will ONDC impact the e-commerce industry in India?

    The introduction of ONDC will encourage small retailers to step foot into e-commerce. ONDC will result in bringing separate buyer-centric and seller-centric apps that will be beneficial for anyone who is invested in e-commerce.

    The new apps that may appear in the market can help resolve other issues for buyers as well as sellers. For example, it may help the sellers with logistics solutions while the buyers may be benefitted by shopping from the nearest available or cheapest store in town.

    The main benefits expected out of ONDC are as follows:

    • Formalization and democratization of e-commerce.
    • Large scope for discovering prices and comparing them.
    • Growth of local retail businesses especially MSMEs.
    • Increased number of choices for buyers.
    • Auxiliary support and services for both buyers and sellers.
    • Enhanced business opportunities owing to the open platform.
    • Option to outsource for both buyers and sellers.
    • Reducing the monopoly of big shots in e-commerce.
    • Rational process of business.

    Some of the areas/industries that ONDC is expected to disrupt are:

    • Cab services – Two major players driving the cab services in India are Ola and Uber. However, whether it is their drivers or the Indian customers, all are dissatisfied with the policies and the management of the companies. Here, the ONDC platform can come as a respite for the users, who can get the services they ask for at lower costs, while on the other hand, the cab drivers can freely sign in with ONDC to get a bigger and better reach.
    • Food delivery – The food delivery ecosystem of India has been largely controlled by Zomato and Swiggy, where both the customers and the restaurant providers are at the mercy of these two foodtech giants. Many restaurant partners have earlier thought of delivering directly, but they failed. The ONDC can now empower them better to bring in the change!  
    • Quick commerce – Quick commerce, which is looked up to as the next big thing in India, was earlier in the hands of the Kirana stores, who were the original quick commerce players. However, they seemed to have lost the battle against the able quick commerce players like Zepto, Dunzo, Instamart, Blinkit, and more. This new initiative of ONDC can, therefore, gear up the Kirana stores and their owners to serve their customers faster and better.  

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    ONDC Funding

    For the first couple of years, ONDC has set a budget of Rs 150-200 crore, mentioned by T Koshy, in a report dated July 2, 2022. CEO Koshy said that it has already raised 85% of its funding for the first phase of the operation. The platform had earlier chosen 20 institutions and asked them to put Rs 10 crore each from their funds. It has been earlier reported that the ONDC platform has raised over Rs 155 crore with the help of some of the largest banks of India – SBI, Axis, PNB, HDFC, Bank of Baroda, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, and some of the financial institutions like NSE, NPCI, NABARD, and SIDBI. T Koshy has further specified that ONDC has got 17 such investors to fund them with Rs 10 crore each by March 31, 2022, while the remaining organisations will extend their funds to ONDC by August 2022.

    Speaking about the ownership of ONDC, T Koshy mentioned that no investor would be allowed to hold more than 50% of the ONDC stakes.

    Tracing the Growth of ONDC

    The ONDC platform is on the brink of completion and pilot have already started in a selected list of Indian cities. A trial run of ONDC has been conducted in 6 cities in India including Bengaluru, Shillong, Lucknow, and Coimbatore.

    ONDC Onboarding Grows!

    With players like Walmart-owned Flipkart, Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo, Alibaba-backed Paytm, and more already joining the revolutionary platform, and Amazon willing to join it ahead, ONDC is already creating waves. Many other seller platforms, buyer platforms, logistics providers, and payment gateways are also signing up with the ONDC concept. As per the latest news, nearly 24 startups, like Meesho, and numerous other subsidiaries of Flipkart have joined ONDC. The ONDC platform is looking to onboard around 200 companies ahead, as per reports dated July 19, 2022. Snapdeal has already signed the agreement with ONDC earlier in July 2022, and will likely be integrating with the platform by the end of August 2022.

    After Dunzo, another Reliance Retail-owned startup Grab joined the ONDC platform, as per reports dated August 1, 2022. 80% of Grab shares are currently owned by Reliance Retail. Grab is a 9+ years old startup that offers a wide range of services including on-demand, reverse deliveries services, and first and last-mile logistics to clients including FedEx, Blinkit, Paytm, BigBasket, Myntra, Amazon, and Swiggy.

    Dunzo’s B2B logistics arm, Dunzo for Business (D4B) has collaborated with ONDC with an aim to provide last-mile delivery services to local enterprises on the ONDC network, as per reports dated August 5, 2022.

    Microsoft has become the first international company to join the ONDC platform. The American software giant will reportedly bring a social commerce platform or one that will allow a group buying feature for its Indian users. This association would enable Microsoft to connect with Indian users without depending on any e-commerce platforms. This partnership with Microsoft reveals the credibility attached to the ONDC platform of India, mentioned T Koshy.

    ONDC Inked MoU with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

    ONDC inked a Memorandum of Understanding with SIDBI to onboard small and medium-sized businesses on the ONDC platform, which would help ONDC improve ecommerce participation. Signed between the CMD of SIDBI Sivasubramanian Ramann, and the Managing Director and CEO of ONDC, T Koshy, this agreement would lead both the entities to encourage the MSMEs access the open network ecommerce platform.

    The ONDC platform is not here to challenge the big players like Flipkart and Amazon. The ONDC CBO Shireesh Joshi confirmed that the platform will stay essentially as “eCommerce enablers helping the small retailers leverage the digitisation of commerce through our network.”

    The penetration of the eCommerce industry has only been 4-5% so far, as per July 2022 reports. To boost the same by increasing the number of retailers is one of the main objectives of the ONDC network. Joshi further revealed that the bigger players like Flipkart and Amazon will reap major benefits if this objective is fulfilled.  

    The ONDC platform will be launched in 75-100 more cities in India by August-September and will be open to the public during the same time in 2022, mentioned T Koshy, the CEO of ONDC, as per the reports dated July 2, 2022.

    Koshy has added that the ONDC will be opened to be public whenever it will find that there are enough sellers in a pin code area. Launching the service in these cities ahead will help the initiative lay a foundation on which the network can grow in the times upcoming, organically. The ONDC platform is expected to see a “hockey stick-like growth”. The CEO of the platform also pointed out that if it gains the support of the CSC SPVs (common service centre – special purpose vehicles), which are designed to spread the government’s e-services to rural areas and remote places, then that can help ONDC reach at least half of the Indian villages.

    Marquee investors like Sequoia India and SoftBank have advised their portfolio companies to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), as per reports dated July 20, 2022.    

    ONDC Challenges

    ONDC has come up as a revolutionary product that will transform the Indian market in the times upcoming. However, due to the complex design of the product, it has already started to face numerous implementation challenges. In comparison to the UPI system, ONDC is way tougher to both design and implement.  

    Conclusion

    With the schemes like digital India, no doubt e-commerce is the future of the Indian market. This is also clear from the fact that the Indian e-commerce industry is expected to rise from $46.20 billion in 2020 to $200 billion in 2026. Here, the ONDC can easily be identified as a new-age idea that has a huge market ahead.

    At this stage, the e-commerce platforms, being totally captured by a few large companies can certainly impact the small businessmen from the remote areas of the country, who still are unable to utilize this amazing platform.

    This is sure to have an adverse effect on the economy with these small retailers losing their business to a few big players.

    The introduction of the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) at this point is certainly a great initiative by the government to help these small businessmen to maintain their position in the race.

    This will also give them the opportunity to escalate their businesses to a larger scale by making their products reach a larger audience.

    FAQs

    What is ONDC?

    Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a non-profit organisation in collaboration with the Government of India that brings e-commerce to the open network model instead of the platform-centric model. This will make e-commerce approachable for all types of buyers and sellers.

    Who owns ONDC?

    ONDC is owned by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

    Who is developing ONDC Project?

    T Koshy of EY is leading the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) project, supported by a 9-member advisory council consisting of names like Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys Ltd., and others.

  • Marketing Strategy of Droom: The Most Reliable Platform for Buying & Selling Automobiles

    Middle-class people are looking to buy the best car at the cheapest price. Well, rarely these two combinations can be found in new cars. Droom’s platform provided an opportunity for second-hand car or bike buyers to buy the vehicle that people wanted at in much cheaper price than new ones.

    Droom’s platform also became an opportunity for sellers because they are the ones posting images and pictures of their car and bikes so that they can find a buyer for them. Droom came into the market when there was already an existing application like OLX. But, how did they gain people’s attention and become one of the most reliable platforms when it came to buying and selling second- hand cars?

    It was all about the marketing strategy that the company adopted. The company focussed on efficient marketing and made sure to reach out to as many people as possible.

    About Droom
    Droom’s Marketing Strategy
    Droom’s Growth Over The Years
    Conclusion
    FAQs

    About Droom

    Droom is an e-commerce company that was founded in 2014 by Sandeep Aggarwal. Droom is an online application platform where people can either buy or sell second-hand cars and bikes with a fresh perspective. The company has its headquarters located in Gurugram.

    Droom’s business is primarily in creating a marketplace in India to help people buy and sell used cars (multi-category). Sellers on this platform are provided with useful tools to manage their listings. Droom became the 17th Indian startup to achieve the title of a unicorn as a high-profile investor.

    Droom’s services were appreciated by most users because a deal could be done between a buyer and a seller within five days. This was pretty amazing and a new way of bringing a service to the people.

    Droom’s Marketing Strategy

    Droom logo
    Droom logo

    Droom’s marketing strategy is quite simple yet effective one which is being able to attract new users to its website every day. There are four to five strategies that the company uses to market and brand its company. Some of them are as the following.

    Facebook (Meta) Community Advertising

    India’s most trusted motor place i.e. Droom created a community page on Facebook where the company is carrying on with its marketing. This is one of the simplest methods of marketing to attract a large number of customers at a single time.

    Impressions

    Also known as ‘ad view’ impressions means a metric system that is used to quantify digital views in a piece of content. To put it in simple words, impressions are all about online advertising.

    Targeted Mailers

    Also known as email marketing is what Droom uses as one of their marketing strategies. Once a user becomes a subscriber then the user receives emails from the company regarding deals and offers. A targeted mailing list is important for the profitability of the business. This is why Droom focussed on such marketing techniques.

    Banner advertisements again are one of the common methods of marketing not only for other businesses but for Droom too. It is the simplest way to reach out to the audience directly. Droom captured the attention of the audience through such advertisements.

    All in all, it can be said that the company uses the use of social media primarily for its advertisement. The advertisement methods might be common but they have proved to be effective ones.

    Droom, also recently rolled out their TV advertisement and started new campaigns. ‘Droom Hai, Toh Fir Test Drive Kyu?’ advertisement campaign created a buzz on several platforms. The ad campaign urged customers to buy used cars rather than testing them first.

    Droom Advertisement

    Droom’s Growth Over The Years

    With effective marketing techniques used by the company, it was obvious that Droom’s future was all about growth and flourishing in the market. Back in 2014, when the company was just stepping into the Indian market its inception took place in Singapore. It was in the same year that the company had raised its 1st and 2nd rounds of capital funding.

    By the year 2015, the company sold its first vehicle of Droom and in the same year, its several applications were launched like the mobile application, website, etc. By the time July came in 2015, the company had already raised its 3rd round of funding. By this time the company had already sold more than 100 orders.

    Droom received several awards for its contribution to the online automobile platform. Some of the prestigious awards were the Coolest start-ups award, Consumer Durable and Integrated advertising campaign awards, and more.

    Conclusion

    A company like Droom has proved that competition does not matter if marketing is done efficiently. Droom’s current growth rate is 100% every year which is quite surprising because it is something that does not happen with every business. Altogether, the company had 6 rounds of funding and by the end of its 6th round, Droom had already raised more than $125 million.

    FAQs

    When was Droom founded?

    Droom was founded in 2014 by Sandeep Aggarwal.

    What does Droom company do?

    Droom is India’s online marketplace for buying and selling new and used cars. Droom is India’s largest auto portal.

    How to contact a seller at Droom?

    There are support assistance provided to the customers who want to engage business with Droom. However, other than that there is also a Whatsapp number that people can use to contact them.

    Which vehicles can people buy and sell on Droom?

    Vehicles to buy and sell on Droom are:

    • Car
    • Bike
    • Scooter
    • Bus
    • Bicycle
    • Plane
    • Truck
    • Tractor

    Some of the popular brands of used cars on Droom are:

    • Maruti Suzuki
    • Honda
    • Hyundai
    • Toyota
    • Tata
    • Fords
    • Mahindra
    • Volkswagen
    • Audi
    • Jeep

  • Top 24 Leading D2C Brands in India to Watch Out for in 2022

    The pandemic has majorly affected startups around the globe. It has entirely changed the perspective of consumers towards brands and the marketplace. Consumers are widely preferring well-established brands and raising great concern towards hygiene, sanitation, convenience, quality and health.

    In these times, the Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands are gaining great profit and upraise in the market. On this note, tons of conventional brands such as LG, Havells, Ajanta-Orpat and Piaggio picked up the D2C model and applied it in their business.

    Brands across the globe are shifting towards the D2C business model, removing the middle source. These brands are launching their native stores so that consumers could directly contact them. In India, D2C startups are running to a great extent.

    However, in pandemics, these D2C brands suffered as well. As the D2C brand’s investment rate declined by 69% as compared to previous records. Meanwhile, the total funding was raised around $117.6 million throughout the year.

    The D2C brands from all sectors including home decor, fashion & cosmetics, FMCG and electronics experienced advancement in numerous aspects. In this article, we have listed the top 24 D2C brands in India. Let’s get started!

    What Is a D2C Business?
    How Does the D2C Business Model Work?
    Advantages of D2C Business
    Top D2C Brands in India

    What Is a D2C Business?

    D2C brands are companies that build their offering around direct digital marketing channels as opposed to selling through an online marketplace, retailer, or auction site. D2C business model in India eliminates middlemen to reach the end consumers and thus saves a lot of costs spent on distribution.

    How Does the D2C Business Model Work?

    In the D2C model, Any seller or manufacturer willing to sell his products directly to his customers can set up an online website or store and promote the products on various social media platforms. This business model completely eliminates the middleman.

    A study revealed that around 55% of consumers prefer to buy products directly from a brand or manufacturer’s website rather than retailers and distributors. This is a benefit for D2C brands in India and gives them an edge over conventional methods that involved middlemen.

    Advantages of D2C Business

    Increase in Sales

    As more and more consumers are finding it convenient and reliable to buy products from the manufacturer’s website, it assures a rapid increase in sales.

    Understanding Consumer’s Needs

    Establishing a direct relationship with consumers enables the companies to clearly understand their needs and in turn, personalise their experience so that they visit their store again.

    Cost Reduction

    When the company is self-sufficient in reaching its customers, it negates the role of any third-party distributors who earlier had to be paid.

    Diverse Catalog of Products

    Now that the companies do not require a physical area for selling their products, they can sell from a diverse catalogue of products, enabling them to offer extensive variety to attract customers.

    Top D2C Brands in India

    1. Bombay Shaving Company

    Bombay Shaving Company is a prominent men’s grooming brand based on the D2C model. This is one of the leading D2C brands in India. Bombay Shaving Company is the first-ever personal care brand that fulfils all the requirements of the consumers, globally. The Company was founded by Shantanu Deshpande in 2016 and is headquartered in Delhi NCR.

    Today, Bombay Shaving Company have over 2 million users and has around $3.4 billion market value.

    2. Mamaearth

    Mamaearth Website
    Mamaearth Website

    Mamaearth is a well-distinguished brand that received huge customer engagement and loyalty. As the consumers are putting generous efforts into fulfilling personal care needs, Mamaearth made its appearances over all the e-commerce websites such as Amazon, Flipkart, Firstcry and Nykaa, which resulted in the company with huge profitable deals.

    The users are widely preferring Mamaearth for their skincare and that’s why the company grew a huge consumer base. The revenue of Mamaearth has increased by around 3 times from the last 2019 records.

    3. The Moms Co.

    The Moms Co.
    The Moms Co.

    The very amazing personal healthcare brand for mothers. The Moms Co. sells personal care products, for all purposes like mom and baby care and postnatal, certified toxin-free by Australia. Its products are available on all e-commerce as well as physical shops. And its major source of revenue directly comes from its selling. The Moms Co. holds a market value of $6.5 billion.

    4. Plum

    Plum Website
    Plum Website

    Plum is an organic omnichannel clean beauty brand. Plum has experienced great profit since the consumer shift to the internet. The brand holds a value of around $23 billion by the year 2022.

    Plum’s team size has heightened twice that of actual and catering of over 250M+ consumers per month.

    5. Loom Solar

    LOOM SOLAR is a D2C startup, a manufacturer of Solar Panels and Lithium batteries in Renewal Energy space based out of Faridabad, Haryana. It is founded by two brothers Amol and Amod (Ex- Schneider, Airtel) in 2018.

    The Company helps Home Owners to reduce electricity bills in urban areas, while in small towns, it helps consumers to have 24X7 electricity by putting solar panels and Energy Storage Systems on the Rooftop

    Recently, it reached a milestone of powering 50,000 homes from Solar Power across India.

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    6. Wakefit

    Wakefit Website
    Wakefit Website

    During the pandemic, people have put immense concern and time into the style of their houses. And for this, the innovative sleep & Home Furniture Solutions Startup has experienced extensive growth. As of 2019, Wakefit had revenue of INR 80 crore and by the time of 2023, it has targeted up to INR 10,000 crore.

    7. Wow

    Wow Website
    Wow Website

    Wow is a widely famous skincare pharmaceutical D2C brand founded by Arvind Sokke and Ashwin Sokke; Manish Chowdhary and Karan Chowdhary. Wow is a total of $50 million worth of business.

    Wow has its products in over 5,000 stores and pharmacies across India.

    8. Sugar

    Sugar Cosmetics Website
    Sugar Cosmetics Website

    The immensely growing beauty and makeup startup, Sugar Cosmetics was founded in 2015 in India. Sugar Cosmetics mainly targets women between the age of 18 to 25. Today, it has more than 2500 retail locations in over 130 cities across India. Its products are easily available at Lifestyle, Health & Glow, Shoppers Stop and NewU.

    9. BoAt

    BoAt Website
    BoAt Website

    BoAt is a very famous and distinguished electronic lifestyle company that provides stylish and high-quality electronic devices, at reasonable prices. BoAt’s products are available on every e-commerce website including Amazon and Flipkart. The company sells over 10,000 products every day and has more than 20 million users in India.

    10. Noise

    Noise Website
    Noise Website

    Noise is a D2C startup with a duo partnership with Chinese manufacturers to develop smartphone cases and sell them in India. Noise has a total revenue of INR 430 crore.

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    Best D2C startups
    Top D2C brands in India

    11. Licious

    Licious Website
    Licious Website

    Licious is a distinct meat and seafood d2c brand that provides absolutely clean fish, eggs and meat.  The company runs on a farm-to-fork model and provides its customers with the highest quality and totally fresh meat and seafood.

    Licious has over 3500 employees and receives millions of orders every month. Its customer base is over 1 million.

    12. Sleepy Owl

    Sleepy Owl Website
    Sleepy Owl Website

    The cold-brew coffee brand, Sleepy Owl caters for the demands for brewed and epicurean coffee across India. Sleepy Owl has numerous outlets in different cities and also, many online channels for selling its amazingly flavorful brewed coffee.

    13. Country Delight

    Country Delight Website
    Country Delight Website

    Country Delight is a leading startup for supplying fresh and pure milk at the doorstep of customers. It runs on the D2C business model and refers to consumers immediately.

    Country Delight improves the wholesome practice of Indian farmers and pays the price before its date in order to beat the competitors.

    14. Pepperfry

    Pepperfry Website
    Pepperfry Website

    Pepperfry is known to be India’s biggest and very famous online furniture startup. It provides furniture, kitchen equipment, bath, housing and dining appliances. Today, the startup has over 3.5 million active users and more than 5 million visitors per month.

    Pepperfry holds over 20 studio locations across India and 500+ vehicles for delivering the furniture consumer’s houses.

    15. Healthkart

    Healthkart Website
    Healthkart Website

    Healthkart was founded by two IITians: Sameer Maheshwari and Prashant Tandon in 2011. This D2C brand offers great quality fitness products and assistance to help the consumer in attaining their fitness purpose.

    Healthkart offers customers to order fitness products online as well as from offline stores. Its products are available in over 110 offline stores in 40 cities across India.

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    16. Lenskart

    Lenskart Website
    Lenskart Website

    Lenskart is known as the biggest organised eyewear brand in India. The company offers over 5,000 designs of frames and around 45 different types of personality lenses. Lenskart has over 600 outlets in more than 66 cities across India. Its revenue as of 2020 is INR 967 crore.

    17. Melorra

    Melorra Website
    Melorra Website

    The first-ever lightweight jewellery startup, Melorra, was developed by Saroja Yeramilli. Melorra is a Bengaluru-based leading D2C company in India that offers jewellery in a wide range at affordable prices.

    Melorra is known as the biggest distributor of jewellery in India, which has delivered its jewellery in more than 1,700 towns.

    18. Flatheads

    Flatheads Website
    Flatheads Website

    Flathead is a prominent Indian footwear startup that offers very stylish as well as comfortable footwear, suitable for every occasion. Flathead was founded by Ganesh Balakrishnan and Utkarsh Biranda. It follows the D2C business model and has grown extensively.

    19. Bewakoof

    Bewakoof Website
    Bewakoof Website

    Bewakoof is a very popular clothing brand that widely targets the young generation in India. Bewakoof has over 10 million active users every month and has revenue worth INR 200 crores as of 2020.

    Bewakoof generates ML models to optimise their customer’s accession channels and enhance broad customers’ accession costs.

    20. Candes

    Candes Website
    Candes Website

    Candes is one of the top D2C brands in India that recently raised its funding up to $3 million. Candes is a Delhi-based startup founded by Sandeep Agarwal and Vipin Agarwal in 2015.

    The annual revenue of Candes is around INR 200 crore. And have sales worth INR 10 crore every month.

    21. MyGlamm

    MyGlamm has recently opted for the most intriguing way of reaching more consumers. It has adopted the lifestyle content platform POPxo, in order to enhance the digital reach and create the 3C funnel.

    Today, the company has over 2 million active users. MyGlamm generally targets women between the age of 16 to 25 and through this, it has witnessed a growth in its revenue up to INR 200 Crore.

    22. Zissto Sauces

    Zissto Website
    Zissto Website

    Zissto Sauces is a Mumbai-based company that offers a selection of convenient, tasty, and authentic sauces. Launched by Kanhai Porecha in 2017, the company aimed to save cooking time, especially for bachelors and working couples.

    Kanhai started Zissto after returning to India from the UK where he did his graduation. He said he wanted to introduce authentic and easy-to-go Indian cooking sauces.

    Today, the brand sells 50,000 sauces bottles across Mumbai, Chennai, and online portals like Amazon and Flipkart.

    23. Everpret

    Everpret Website
    Everpret Website

    Everpret is one of the top Indian D2C brands. It manufactures and sells designer bags for working women. The founder, Yashas Alur, worked in a Bengaluru-based company before starting his own business. There, he noticed many women employees carrying more than one bag which was highly inconvenient that didn’t suit their work attires.

    From there, the idea of redesigning workbags to fit all essentials seeded inside him. So he quit his job and raised funding of Rs 8 lakh for his idea from his former boss.

    Yashas launched the Everpret website in January 2018 and started selling designer bags for working women that had enough room to fit all their essentials and also complimented their work clothes.

    24. Super Smelly

    Super Smelly Website
    Super Smelly Website

    Super Smelly is India’s first and only certified zero toxins personal care brand that offers products specially formulated for teenage skin. The company was launched by Dipali Mathur and Milan Sharma in 2018.

    As the brand is still too young to have its own manufacturing setup, Super Smelly products are manufactured at third-party facilities located across other parts of India. However, R&D is done in-house. They only use fragrances that are completely free from any toxins and allergens. The product is effective and completely toxin-free as well.

    Super Smelly is available across all major e-commerce channels. The brand also serves US and UK customers through Amazon. It is now witnessing a month-on-month sales growth of 70 percent.

    Conclusion

    The internet has brought people closer than ever before. Today, with the internet not just being a luxury for a few, but turning into every household commodity, we have seen the emergence of direct to consumer (D2C) brands in India and as a commerce model in the consumer arena. D2C Model is the future of Indian trade and retail.

    FAQs

    What are D2C brands?

    Direct to consumer companies in India have created a new methodology for eCommerce success which is taking their products directly to their buyer. Direct to consumer is a term that means when brands sell directly to their end customers eliminating the role of retailer, distributor, wholesaler, or other outlets.

    What are some of the top D2C brands in India?

    MyGlamm, Wow, MamaEarth, BoAT, Bewakoof, Noise and Licious are some of the top D2C brands in India.

    Why are D2C brands successful?

    Most D2C brands are successful because they don’t have to share first-party data with retailers as they directly sell the products to consumers.

  • Overcoming Indian E-commerce Business Challenges

    Increasing at a generous rate of 10-15% every year, the Indian e-commerce sector has been upgrading and expanding its consumer base. With the world going digital day by day Indian E-commerce sectors are constantly trying to make shopping and services as smooth as possible. No doubt, this easiness takes countless efforts. However, to be conscious of all the upcoming challenges about your own business one has to understand the challenges overcome by Indian e-commerce businesses!

    The Indian e-commerce market is on constant lookout to know about their consumer preferences. Be it clothing, food, home décor etc., e-commerce organizations make sure they’ve got a cutthroat competition among themselves. After the United States, India holds the second-largest position in the e-commerce market globally.

    WIDGET: leadform | CAMPAIGN: undefined

    Considering the diverse and colossal population of India, it is beyond doubt a quality market ready to explore. Alright! So let’s jump into the challenges faced by e-commerce companies and how they are enhancing themselves as the day goes by.

    Understanding your Customers
    Website and Search Optimization
    Customer’s Buying Trends Awareness
    Efficient Return Methods
    Easy Multiple Payment Options
    Supply Network

    Understanding your Customers

    Customers love personalization! Provide them with the things they exactly need and they’ll stay loyal to your company and brand for a long time. However, there are thousands of customers, and personalizing things for each and every customer is a strenuous task which e-commerce companies overcome, flawlessly.

    From establishing algorithms to show similar items, to loading the website page in 1 second, are all parts of personalization. By loading the website much faster than others the chances of making more sales increase. Almost 70% consumers agree to the impact of page speed on making purchases, survey from Unbounce. The rest depends upon the quality and reviews of your product. It is quite simple, keep your customers happy!

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    Knowing your consumer’s buying trend and sending notifications about their favourite items is something customers absolutely adore. Indian e-commerce websites do this by unimpaired optimization of their website. They make sure they stand out from the crowd and bag more deals by personalizing as much a possible.

    Website and Search Optimization

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Digital Marketing, Social Media, Keyword Analysis, etc are a few skills that are extremely important for any e-commerce sector. Here, search results play a crucial role to convert your audience into customers. Suggesting a product of interest is still an incomplete sale but making it compelling for consumer to not have second thoughts is the deal.

    A few e-commerce websites make sure they add fantastic coupons and promo codes that keep their consumers glued to their company.
    Eg: Uber Eats sold Square Pizzas worth Rs.30 on their website and this became extremely popular among college students for their pockets and love for pizza, it was a major hit.

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    Different types of people make contrasting choices depending upon various factors like age, gender, experiences, interests, etc. Some of them are impulsive buyers waiting for the trigger. A business has to be aware of what the customer demands might be in the near future and prepare accordingly.

    Simply put, to convert leads into sales, e-commerce businesses have to be aware and prepare for upcoming demands. To execute this flawlessly, collected data plays an important role. It’s imperative for businesses to catch certain keywords by the customers as well so that they know what a potential customer might wish to buy in the near future.

    Through artificial intelligence, e-commerce businesses keep an eye on everything. One might say that companies sell data to make suggestions that pop up on your social media. The advancement in technology is bringing up closer and helping people live up to their business dreams.

    Efficient Return Methods

    Since customers are unable to hand touch the products they buy they often resort to considering reviews. However, at times customers are still unsatisfied with certain products and wish to return them. In such cases, having a simple and efficient exchanging method helps to reduce customer’s anxiety and irritation.

    E-commerce businesses have to make sure that they have an easy return policy. When the return policies are too tedious, customers tend to keep the product and resort to negative word of mouth publicity or a bad review. This holistically affects the website’s reputation. Therefore companies make sure, that they are absolutely secure on this end by helping the customer.

    This is a major challenge for small e-commerce businesses as they have to pay extra logistics fee for singular items. Established businesses can pull this off, but sometimes they don’t and this leads to a downfall in their reputation.

    Easy Multiple Payment Options

    We’re going digital. We hardly use our physical wallets anymore. G-pay, PayPal etc are our wallets today and e-commerce business have to make sure that they are available on all channels whether national or international. Though the COD (Cash On Delivery) option is still used, most often resort to prepaying through credit and debit cards.

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    Since the lockdown, most money transactions are taking place online therefore it is imperative for all kinds of businesses, small or big to have multiple payment options for a smooth-running business.

    Failing to do so, especially in online shopping, if the customer finds any sort of restriction on any product they absolutely wish to buy they will visit competitor site and convert them into sales. This is horrific for a business. Therefore, most e-commerce businesses create deals and options to have their buyers hooked onto them.

    Supply Network

    A transaction is not entirely complete unless the product reaches the customer’s hand. There are times when deliveries are not up to mark. Problems like late deliveries or damaged products are unactable by the customers. E-commerce businesses have to make sure their products are properly sealed and delivered to their customer’s addresses.

    Quality research is important for hassle-free and timely deliveries. E-commerce platforms partner up with reputed logistics companies to make sure the products are safe and sound and satisfy the customers. When talking about Indian e-commerce businesses, one has to take special care of unavailability and difficult access to areas.

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    Conclusion

    Indian E-commerce businesses have to overcome major challenges, every day. They beat all odds and make sure their business shine and are talked about all over the internet. With amazing advertising and marketing, Indian e-commerce platforms are soaring to new heights.

    FAQs

    What is cart abandonment?

    Customers generally add products to the cart and leave the website without making any purchase.