B2B eCommerce Firm Wholesalebox Registers 10x Growth in FY 2017-18 with Annual Run Rate of Rs 60 Cr
Jaipur-based wholesale e-commerce venture Wholesalebox, a B2B platform for shopkeepers to buy apparel, fashion jewellery and home furnishing products directly at factory prices, has closed the last financial year with an annualized run rate of Rs 60 crores.
Chandan Agarwal, Co-Founder and COO, Wholesalebox, said, “We are growing at an average of 10x on a YoY basis. Rajasthan is one of the key sourcing hubs for Wholesalebox with close to 1000 manufacturers onboard our platform, whose products are sold to over 20,000 offline retailers in the country. Rajasthan is the 2nd largest sourcing hub for us. We are confident of our robust growth in the region and hope to add many more manufacturers and shopkeepers as we expand our offerings.”
After its success in the Rajasthan and Gujarat market, the company has big plans to expand its manufacturer base across the country.
Wholesalebox is a controlled marketplace for business transactions between potential buyers (offline retailers) and sellers (manufacturers). The company helps shop owners pick and choose products that sell well and move very fast in their outlets. Also, shopkeepers can buy products at 15-20% lesser cost on its portal.
Speaking on its offerings, Rohit Dangayach, Founder and CEO, Wholesalebox, said “We use data sciences to predict what is going to sell in the retailer’s area and hence, we cut down on his requirements of travel. Post associating with us, the retailer does not need to travel for cheaper sourcing or for variety/ trends in fashion. We have also started helping the retailers with making their inventory more discoverable. This will help the shopkeeper get more footfalls.”
He further added, “We are looking at expanding in other regions to build on our manufacturer base as well as enable offline retailers in other parts of the country to leverage our business model and save time and money.”
Wholesalebox has built in data science and machine learning capabilities that enable it to empower the unbranded shopkeepers with details on the what is the right product mix/designs that is fast moving in their area, basis the Product Hotness Index in a region. It also enables the small and medium manufacturers in the non-branded space to scale their business by providing them with a pan India sales channel. Wholesalebox also ensures payment terms with guaranteed payments for the manufacturers. The delivery and logistics are also taken care of by Wholesalebox, and hence, reducing the travel overhead costs/ time for the buyers.
Wholesalebox had raised pre-series A funding of $2 million from Orios Venture Partners, Contrarian and RVCF. Started in 2015, the founding team of Wholesalebox comprises of Rohit Dangayach, an IIT Roorkee and IIM Bangalore alumnus; Chandan Agarwal, an MBA graduate and investment banker, who had a backpacker’s hostel chain; Rakesh Shekhawat, who ran a software services company, and Madhur Bhaiya, an IIT Delhi graduate.
Other players in the B2B space are Bizongo, Moglix, Udaan, Wydr, IndustryBuying, Bizbilla, and ShopX among others. According to a Walmart report, B2B ecommerce in India is estimated to touch $700 billion by 2020.
