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An online e-commerce marketplace is a sort of e-commerce website where different external parties supply products or services. The most common sort of omnichannel e-commerce is online, which may help optimize the manufacturing process.
In online markets, consumer purchases are handled by the marketplace operator and then supplied and executed by partnering shops or wholesalers in the online marketplace. These websites let customers register and sell anything from a single item to a large number of goods for a “post-selling” charge. Because marketplaces consolidate items from a variety of vendors, the availability and selection are frequently greater than in vendor-specific online retail storefronts.
Quikr is an example of an online marketplace. Pranay Chulet and Jiby Thomas launched it in 2008 as a commercial advertising firm based in Bangalore, India. Quikr includes listings for household products, jobs, mobile phones, real estate, automobiles, and educational services in over 1000 Indian cities. Quikr is a free advertising and online marketplace in India that allows individuals to sell, buy, rent, and find anything and everything across the country.
Quikr – Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Quikr |
|---|---|
| Earlier Name | Kijiji |
| Headquarters | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
| Industry | Marketplace, Advertising, Internet, Rental property, E-commerce |
| Founders | Pranay Chulet, and Jiby Thomas |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Areas Served | Worldwide |
| Current CEO | Pranay Chulet |
| Website | www.quikr.com |
About Quikr and How it Works?
Quikr – Industry
Quikr – Founders
Quikr – Startup Story
Quikr – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Quikr – Vision, and Mission
Quikr – Business Model, and Revenue Model
Quikr – Funding, and Investors
Quikr – Acquisitions
Quikr – Brand Ambassadors
Quikr – Financials
Quikr – Competitors
Quikr – Challenges Faced
About Quikr and How it Works?
Quikr is a free classified ad company and online marketplace in India that allows users to sell, buy, rent, and find anything. People in the community can use their website to find a flat, sell their old music systems, automobiles, mobiles, laptops, or furniture, get an audience for a local event, advertise their small business, find a tuition class, join a salsa class, get a break as a model or actor, buy anything they want or have to offer, and make new friends while doing so.
The company’s goal is to keep incorporating turn-taking and noteworthy features into your Quikr experience, whether it’s QuikrNXT, which allows you to buy and sell without jeopardizing your privacy, or the missed call service, which allows Quikr to reach out to people who aren’t currently online but will be.
Quikr – Industry
In the year 2021, India’s internet penetration rate will surpass 830 million, accounting for more than 40% of the total population. Despite having the world’s second-largest customer base, behind only China, e-commerce penetration is low in comparison to markets such as the United States and France, but it is growing, with around 6 million new participants each month. The general perception in the sector is that growth is nearing an important milestone.
After a rough year due to the pandemic’s breakout, Indian industries have seen a v-shaped comeback in 2021. As a result, the Indian advertising sector saw a comeback in ad spending, resulting in a market value of INR 70,715 crore, up 18.6% from 2020. According to the latest study, the industry is predicted to reach INR 93,119 crore by the end of 2023, rising at a rate of 14.75 percent. Furthermore, the digital advertising sector grew by 35.3 percent from INR 15,782 crore in 2020 to INR 21,353 crore in 2021, owing to the faster corporate and consumer transition to digital.
Sushree Sangeeta Behera
Quikr – Founders
Quikr was founded by Pranay Chulet and Jiby Thomas in 2008.
Pranay Chulet
Since January 2008, Pranay Chulet has served as the founder and CEO of Quikr. Pranay was born and raised in India but relocated to New York after finishing his studies to work for Mitchell Madison Group, a strategy consulting business that advised clients in the media and banking industries. Pranay founded a company two years after arriving in the US, which he eventually merged with Walker Digital. Pranay received a Gold Medal from IIM Calcutta in 1996 during his post-graduation, and he did a BTech from IIT Delhi before that.
Jiby Thomas
He is a skilled expert with more than two decades of experience in marketing communications and online marketing. Jiby was a member of the founding teams of Baazee and Baazee Motors, as well as Kijiji India and Quikr. He is assisting in the development, expansion, and scaling of these firms. He enjoys advising motivated and skilled entrepreneurs on topics such as team building, processes, products, and strategy. He also went to IIM Calcutta for his postgraduate studies.
Quikr – Startup Story
Pranay’s most notable achievement in the world of digital media was the creation of Craigslist Media Company in California, which quickly became a huge success in the U.S. That’s when the concept of Quikr struck his mind. But Pranay did not wake up one day and decide to develop India’s leading classified site, “Craigslist.”
People in India want to experience goods and examine them before buying them, and he envisioned a platform that would connect buyers and sellers and allow them to complete their deals offline. This physical component distinguishes his proposal from e-commerce sites like Amazon or Flipkart, but it also puts it in the classifieds category. As a result, in July 2008, Pranay established Quikr.com as Kijiji.in.
Quikr – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Quikr was formerly a division of eBay. Kijiji, their brand name, is a “Swahili” term that means “community. They discovered that the trademark was hard to pronounce after it had been launched. As a result, Pranay Chulet and the other co-founder, Jiby Thomas, decided to form a new subsidiary and call it Quikr.
Similarly to his brand name, he provided a “quicker” manner for consumers to deal with than other market platforms.
Quikr’s tag line, “Aasan hai badalna,” matches today’s modern Indian spirit and quickly connects with young, aspirational Indians looking to improve their lives.
Ashwini
Quikr – Vision, and Mission
The mission statement of Quikr says, “Quikr aims to empower every person in the country to independently connect with buyers and sellers online.”
Quikr’s basic values are as follows:
- Flexibility
- Speed
- Innovation
- Transparency
- Frugality
Quikr – Business Model, and Revenue Model
Quikr’s high point was that company has a clear revenue model in order. Advertising, premium listings, and lead generation would be the three revenue streams for the organization.
Apart from many other things, one of the unusual techniques was that each city had its own Quikr. Punjab, for example, may have ploughs mounted to Royal Enfield motorcycles. Jeeps were quite popular in Udaipur; thus, they had open jeeps for sale, while Kolkata may have women entrepreneurs selling homemade panipuri, among other things.
Essentially, the target demographic was properly segmented through the site, and Pranay, as a marketing professional, was well aware that brand promotion is the most important aspect of advertising. He spent the majority of their money on advertising. As a result, he developed a really creative approach to P2P (person to person) sales.
Quikr – Funding, and Investors
Quikr has so far secured money in several stages. Trifecta Capital Advisors provided the most recent capital on April 19, 2019, in the amount of INR 200 million from a debt financing round. Prior to that, InnoVen Capital provided finance on December 7, 2018.
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 2019 | Debt Financing | $2.4 million | Trifecta Capital Advisors |
| Dec 7, 2018 | Debt Financing | $7.65 million | InnoVen Capital |
| Aug 18, 2016 | Debt Financing | $20 million | Brand Capital |
| Jul 23, 2015 | Secondary Market | $60 million | Kinnevik AB |
| Apr 7, 2015 | Series H | $150 million | Kinnevik AB, Tiger Global Management |
| Sep 17, 2014 | Series G | $60 million | Tiger Global Management |
| Mar 11, 2014 | Series F | $90 million | Kinnevik AB |
| May 22, 2012 | Series E | $32 million | Warburg Pincus |
| May 9, 2011 | Series D | $8 million | NGP Capital |
| Mar 31, 2010 | Series C | $6 million | Norwest Venture Partners |
Quikr – Acquisitions
| Acquiree Name | About Acquiree | Date | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| GoZefo | Startup working on a white space in the eCommerce industry. | Mar 11, 2019 | $28.5M |
| India Property Online | IndiaProperty.com provides in-depth information on buying, selling and renting out properties in India. | Dec 17, 2018 | – |
| HDFC Developers | HDFC Developers owns the HDFC RED platform for online real estate classifieds. | Dec 22, 2017 | – |
| HDFC Realty | HDFC Realty is an end-to-end real estate advisory company. | Dec 22, 2017 | – |
| Babajob | Babajob.com is job website and mobile portal dedicated to connecting informal sector workers. | May 26, 2017 | – |
| Zimmber | Zimmber -Trusted Home Service Provider. | May 5, 2017 | $10M |
| Grabhouse | A listing and transactional website for finding rental accommodations. | Nov 21, 2016 | – |
| Stayglad | Access Beauty Services Anywhere Anytime | Sep 13, 2016 | – |
| Stepni.com | A platform that facilitates vehicle owners to get serviced by garages, mechanics & service providers around them | Sep 7, 2016 | – |
| ZapLuk | Beauty. Wellness.Fitness. On-Demand | Aug 24, 2016 | – |
Quikr – Brand Ambassadors
Ranveer Singh and Suriya had been appointed as brand ambassadors for this online cross-category classifieds website. This strategy was in keeping with Quikr’s then new “Aasaan hai badalna” marketing viewpoint. Singh was featured in Quikr’s then-forthcoming commercial campaign. Suriya was shown in advertisements for the country’s southern market.
Quikr – Financials
| Quikr Financials | FY24 | FY23 |
|---|---|---|
| Operating Revenue | INR 45 crore | INR 51 crore |
| Total Expenses | INR 54 crore | INR 61 crore |
| Profit/Loss | INR +2 crore | INR -8 crore |
EBITDA
| Quikr Financials | FY24 | FY23 |
|---|---|---|
| EBITDA Margin | 5.36% | -3.77% |
| Expense/INR of ops revenue | INR 1.20 | INR 1.20 |
| ROCE | -3.91% | -3.91% |
Quikr – Competitors
Snapdeal, Glassdoor, Circa, Flipkart, LinkedIn Job Search, ZipRecruiter, Indeed Hiring Platform, Hired, NoBroker, and Maihaoche are among Quikr’s main rivals.
Quikr – Challenges Faced
Fierce Competition
Quikr began as a basic and original concept. A location where people may trade stuff with one another, but as you can see, the notion of categorizing also crossed paths with a lot of players, coming from different directions. As a result, it was in direct or indirect competition with a number of enterprises, but Pranay was unconcerned about this.
He understands that a market with a lot of competitors is not the same as a market with a lot of noise. Anyone may create a website, but not everybody can start a classified advertising firm. Quikr, he claimed, was simple and clean, and it was more powerful than the others since it showed more listings and raw experiences to its customers. Similarly to his brand name, he provided a faster or “quicker” approach for consumers to deal with than other marketplaces.
Mounting Losses
Quikr’s losses decreased by 90% to INR 55.48 crore in FY21 from INR 563.2 crore in FY20 due to cost management. Controlling losses also had an impact on the company’s financial outflows, which fell to INR 80 crore in FY21 from INR 142.2 crore in FY20. Quikr has invested INR 2.04 per unit to generate a rupee in operational revenue.
FAQs
What does Quikr do?
Quikr is a free classified ad company and online marketplace in India that allows users to sell, buy, rent, and find anything.
Who founded Quikr?
Quikr was founded by Pranay Chulet and Jiby Thomas in 2008.
How does Quikr make money?
Advertising, premium listings, and lead generation are the three revenue streams for the organization.
Which companies do Quikr compete with?
Snapdeal, Glassdoor, Circa, Flipkart, LinkedIn Job Search, ZipRecruiter, Indeed Hiring Platform, Hired, NoBroker, and Maihaoche are among Quikr’s main rivals.
