Mr. Samarth Agrawal, CEO of MaxWholesale on the e-commerce market of India

Founded in July 2016, MaxWholesale is a B2B e-commerce platform for Kirana stores to source inventory on-demand. It helps kirana stores discover prices and schemes on various FMCG products and get door-step delivery much faster than traditional methods. The platform ensures end-to-end solutions to the retailers Kirana stores including product supply, financial credit, payments, and digital storefronts. The company warehouses in 8 locations in Delhi NCR and Chandigarh tri-city and is operating with a network of delivery vehicles in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, and Ghaziabad to fulfill the demand of over 25,000 retailers in real-time.

How do you perceive the e-commerce scenario in India post COVID19?
The pandemic has propelled the rapid adoption of e-commerce in B2C retail and B2B distribution. The crisis sparked a revolution in the e-commerce segment, and as for the B2B market, it is projected to reach USD 21 trillion by 2027(Global market) growing at a CAGR of 17.5% between2020-2027. While retailers quickly adopted online channels for procurement and supply chain needs, online companies realized the value of leveraging the existing network of offline retailers. I think “omnichannel” will be the operative word for retailing in India post-COVID-19.  

What inspired you to develop MaxWholesale.com? What are the markets you are willing to reach apart from Kirana stores? 

Kirana stores are the backbone of food and grocery distribution in India with a 96% market share, but running a Kirana store was previously a complex and tough task. Retailers faced multiple challenges in running their stores, like shutting stores to visit wholesale markets, lower margins, offline payments, lack of technology, etc. There was a dire need for a digital platform for Kiranas where their problems are solves with a 360-degree offering.  

We started MaxWholesale to be an online supplier for Kirana stores and now we are providing them with end-to-end solutions like product delivery, higher margins, digital payments, and technology to do more with their resources. We are also looking at adding pharmacies and stationeries on the platform.   

What was your contribution as an Angel Investor in an agri-tech company named Agrix?  
MaxWholesale provides retailers access to good quality FMCG and Commodity products at great prices. The commodity supply chain is riddled with inefficiencies and to solve them we plan to connect Kirana Stores directly with farmers for better scale and increased efficiencies. Just like MaxWholesale offers a one-stop-shop for Kirana stores, Agrix is providing a one-stop-solution to farmers. Apart from providing capital as an angel investor, I also act as a mentor to the founders, to utilize our experience and market access for better execution and faster scaling without making avoidable mistakes. 

What was the conviction that inclined you to pursue a career in the e-commerce sector?  
E-commerce is a means to solving problems of supply-demand matching using multiple disciplines like computer science, mathematics, and finance. As a mathematics and computer science engineer with a master’s in financial engineering, I acquired the skill set needed to understand the market problems in depth and build a scalable solution. I coded the first two versions of the platform myself and enjoyed building that quite a bit. There are quite a few challenging algorithms to be built in a well-oiled e-commerce technology stack. e.g. there are several interesting optimization problems in warehousing and logistics, pricing algorithms. recommendation engines, scoring algorithms, etc., and watching them at play in the market is very interesting and satisfying. 

Can you tell us about the two newly launched products by MaxWholesale.com,  - MaxPe and Radius?  
MaxPe is a UPI based payment gateway that we have developed for retailers to be able to make cashless payments for the inventory they buy on our platform. MaxPe also doubles up as the technology rails on which our Credit solution works for disbursement and collections. It has been developed in-house by our technology team in collaboration with NPCI. Less than 30 companies in India have been successful in developing a UPI payment gateway that is 100% compliant with the RBI and NPCI norms. About 0.40% of supply chain costs go into managing cash. We are building a cashless supply chain to bring further convenience and efficiency to the Kirana stores.
 
Radius is a CRM tool for Kirana stores to connect with their customers and provide them a way to place online orders to their stores even at night when the store is closed. It is an automated and intelligent tool that doesn’t require the Kirana store to manage the catalog manually. Proprietary backend algorithms developed by MaxWholesale ensure that the Kirana stores’ latest catalog and pricing are always visible online. Kiranas can share a link to their stores on any platform like Whatsapp, FB messenger, Google Chat, SMS, and email. Radius even provides a unique QR code of the store for walk-in customers to make an online connection with the Kirana store for future buying. MaxWholesale provides this technology to its Kirana stores for free. 

How will MaxWholesale.com change the micro supply chain of India in the future ahead?
MaxWholesale will democratize the micro supply chain of India ensuring that even small stores are able to enjoy the price margins that were till now available only to larger stores. With MaxWholesale, small stores can provide more variety at their store, along with a modern feeling of a digital store right in your neighborhood. 

How was your experience as the Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking at the Algorithmic Trader? 
I did my undergrad in Mathematics and Computer Science from IIT Delhi and MS in Finance from Columbia University in New York. Post that I traded stocks in the NYSE and Nasdaq as index arbitrage. I wrote mathematical algorithms and computer programs that converted stock market data to buy and sell decisions to make profits while managing risk automatically. It was a lot of fun building these algorithms. In fact, a large chunk of our way of working at MaxWholesale is inspired by the inner workings of the stock market and the data-based automation algorithms used in the trading environment, which has enabled us to be the most financially efficient B2B e-commerce company in India. 

What are the two major milestones in your career that have made MaxWholesale.com the fastest growing digital distribution platform for Kirana stores?
I started my career as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers right out of IIT Delhi. Your first job first manager and initial peers always have a lasting impression on professional life. As a part of a global trading team based in New York, London, Tokyo, and Mumbai, I was in a salad bowl of international cultures and time-zones which was an invaluable experience. Learned early-on the importance of clear communication in the success of a distributed team in a fast-paced high-pressure environment. B2B e-commerce is an execution business where clear communication is key for error-free fulfillment. Our distributed apps framework enables us to scale our operations without making mistakes because of which our retailers get a dependable and highly repeatable experience. 

 

We crossed $50 Million ARR in 2020, ahead of our 2021 target. We are the first and only B2B e-commerce company in India to be able to achieve this growth with the least amount of capital deployed in the business, thanks to our algorithmic approach and tech-based execution.