A success story of First Female Founder of a Billion Dollar Company

A success story of First Female Founder of a Billion Dollar Company | ShopClues

Shopclues.com is one of India’s largest online marketplace. ShopClues has become one of the most preferred sites for online shopping and online dealing. ShopClues is an online marketplace owned by Clues Network Pvt. Ltd. and is based in Gurgaon, India. It was established in July 2011 in Silicon Valley by Sanjay Sethi, Sandeep Aggarwal, and Radhika Aggarwal. The idea of starting ShopClues emerged in California when Sethi met Radhika Aggarwal and her husband Sandeep Aggarwal. They conceptualized the idea and business model to start an eCommerce business in India as there were already a dozen marketplaces in America.

ShopClues is slightly different from other big players in the eCommerce industry. There’s a big difference in what Amazon and Flipkart are doing and what ShopClues has achieved. Top eCommerce players are addressing the head categories, selling branded products. ShopClues, on the other hand, focuses on unstructured categories of home and kitchen, fashion, electronics, and daily utility items. Across various categories, the company highly promotes local as well as regional brands whose buyer are in small towns and rural areas. Basically, they focused on low priced products. It has received around 70% of its Gross Merchandising Value (GMV) from Tier – II and Tier – III cities.

Growth

In June 2015, ShopClues launched a financing platform Capital Wings to fund its merchants’ businesses.
In 2015, the e-commerce player launched its Android app for sellers, and later added Windows and iOS apps.
In May 2016, joined hands with GoDaddy to assist its small and medium entrepreneurs in starting their own e-commerce websites.
In June 2016, the online marketplace reached half a million sellers on its platform, claimed to be the highest in the Indian e-commerce industry.
In July 2016, launched an ad platform, AdZone wherein sellers may market their products with the help of native and custom advertising.
In July 2016, ShopClues collaborated with a hybrid e-commerce company, StoreKing to promote its products on the latter’s app. In the same year, the company acquired Momoe, a Bangalore-based mobile payments company.
In 2016 ShopClues acquired the IP of a SaaS platform from Squeakee Media which was founded by Abrar Shaikh in Mumbai, India.

When ShopClues came into eCommerce business there was nobody who represented the actual traders or Indian bazaars like Janpath and Lajpat Nagar in Delhi. This became the main reason for ShopClues success as targeting smaller brands covered large customer profile and that helped them acquire a mass market. Another secret of their success was their emphasis on the home and kitchen category which is not a homogeneous market in India. Going head ShopClues ventured into a wholesale business which is picking up quite fast. ShopClues is primarily built around small businesses. ShopClues has used its capital more effectively than others. Their model is mostly technology-oriented and is a self-service platform. This approach is probably the reason that it burns much less cash.

The company claims to have over 6 lakh merchants and 2.8 crore products on its platform, serving across the country. Valued at US$1.1 billion, ShopClues has raised a total of $130 million from Tiger Global, Helion Ventures, and Nexus Venture Partners who are the major investors. ShopClues made a profit of 350 crores in the merchandise business in 2013. ShopClues does 1.5 million transactions a month and claims to have 40 million monthly visitors. ShopClues is growing at a fast pace that accounts for its success and achievements.

The future of eCommerce industry in India is very promising. While profitability is still a concern for some players, in the near future, players who have a strong business model in place and are able to deliver true value to consumers will naturally be able to generate profits