Surpluss.in - A B2C eCommerce Venture for Buying Surplus Products
Surpluss.in was conceptualized in December 2013 and the beta launch happened in July 2014. It is a brain child of a group of professionals and entrepreneur mentors from elite brands like Accenture, Airtel, LG, Lava, Philips, Samsung, Sony, TATA, Videocon to name a few. Its founding team include Saurabh Rai, Amit Gupta, HS. Bhatia, Tarun Bhardwaj, S.N Rai and Ajay Goyal.
Sujata Sangwan Interacts With Saurabh Rai, CEO, Surpluss.in and Spoke to Him
How does your startup work?
Surpluss.in is India's leading e-retailer of overstocked, excess inventory, liquidation, unboxed, and refurbished products. We are the only true marketplace in India doing B2C, B2B and B2B2C in an integrated hybrid model. Add to that we are dealing in surplus and overstock material which is high margin in value chain thus eliminating the need for deep discounting. Innovation is one of our core values. For us Innovation is simply doing things different and better. One way of our innovation is to create enough ideas and inputs. Ideas come from our employees, partners and customers. Inputs come from our profound analytics.
Product categories
Surpluss.in started with mobiles, tablets and IT products. Next quarter we added Lifestyle category with Jeans, T-shirts and footwear. Now our product portfolio has many decent brands and we currently deals in categories like Mobiles, Tablets, IT Accessories, LED’s, Home Appliances, Consumer Electronics, Small Home Appliances and Lifestyle. We are adding more brands and growing as a marketplace. In our B2B arm we are adding retailers who are going in large numbers due to compelling proposition.
How did the idea came to start?
The founding members who were past acquaintances had discussed many times to start an innovative and a scalable new age business. After some serious brainstorming and multiple sessions we agreed that we should create value in eCommerce.
We had several rounds of discussions and deliberation when a co-founder made this statement “Can we solve inventory problems of brands and manufacturers”. This statement ended our search with an Innovative eCommerce Business Model.
What are the special key features of your startup?
At Surpluss.in we believe that any great innovation or idea must address at least 1 compelling market need. Surpluss.in addresses 2 direct market needs –
Access to Excess: All brands (lifestyle or electronics) struggle with end of life (EOL), slow moving SKUs. Electronics and mobile brands also face challenges in DOA. These are easily repairable. Reputed brands like Samsung, Apple etc have created their own refurbishment process and after refurbishing sell such products with brand warranty. Surpluss.in addresses such brand issues through a transparent and highly organized digital platform. The unifying factor is that it will not only provide branded products at cheapest prices to its customers (B2C) but will also solve the inventory problem of Manufacturers, retailers and distributors with its (B2B) platform.
Powering People’s aspirations: The 2nd need that Surpluss.in solves is the ‘aspirational’ needs of the Indian consumer. There is a huge market of branded products sold on deals. Through our marketplace partners Surpluss.in retails products (liquidation, aging, refurbished, EOL etc) on a deal and then passes on a cost advantage to the consumer. This cost advantage can be as high as 25% to 75% over corresponding Market Operating Price (MOP) of the same product.
How are you different from the existing ones?
The distinguishing factor is the deep domain knowledge, our team has including hands on category & retail experience. With the blend of technology, analytics and domain knowledge we have all the necessary elements to make our vision come true. Our other big differentiator is business ethics, best in class product & to top it all pricing that meets the aspirational needs. Our Direct to Retail model www.bizpluss.in is another business model innovation that ties to our proposition and augments its value.
How much amount of funding your startup raised till now?
Through internal investments and funding from family and friends, we bootstrapped the organization. It covered our pre-operative and growth related expenses. The fact that we have deep customer and supplier engagements, best Alexa scores and decent revenue goes to show that money is well spent. We are now looking for series A funding for growth. It will stimulate our tech differentiation, branding and marketing. The best part is that all members of our executive leadership team have invested in company and have skin in the game and thus high on passion and commitment.
How are you monetising?
We will become operating positive in next 12 month and probably be an Exception in the loss making eCommerce industry. The margins and growth will be the two fundamental drivers apart from operational efficiency. We intend to monetize our data too after reaching certain scale.
What are the challenges your startup faced while setting up the business?
Challenges are a dime a dozen when you have a startup. The key one’s being
Executing an innovative idea: The first was testing the innovative idea of selling surpluss products ethically. Our functional name Surpluss.in said it all. We took a risk that paid off for us as the customer liked our honest positioning and proposition.
Finding a good team: The second challenge was on-boarding and retaining talent. We needed people who were like-minded and who were passionate enough about what we were doing. Thankfully, we found a good team with right blend of digital and industry experience.
And lastly but very importantly, educating and creating awareness to the customer about the additional value proposition
What is the market size and market opportunity?
Total Indian Retail Market Size is USD 600 Billion while Mobile + Electronics + Lifestyle + Other Categories which is about USD 150 billion which accounts for ~25% of Total Retail. Of this at least 10% is surpluss at given point of time, this translates to $15 billion opportunity .
In a price-sensitive country like India, which generates a lot of overstocked refurbished products annually, cost is the reason why many people discount their desires and needs. Availability of Surplus, refurbished and unboxed products, at affordable prices, is a great option for customers to own branded products. As a brand, Surpluss.in has been toting up products and categories to make a better connect with the aspirational youth. Luxurious brand is the icing on the cake along with cost-effective option of Surplus, refurbished and unboxed goods.
What are the traction details?
Traction Matrix
- GMV exceeding Rs. 60 Cr (we are still bootstrapped)
- Over a million visitors per month
- Peak Alexa score crossed 900 last year
- Over 35% repeat visitors
- 3000+ retailers in our Surpluss Direct to Retail biz
- Over 100% YoY Growth
- Over 2 lacs Fb followers
- Over 50 Brands
Within a short span of time we had established our self as the undisputed leader in this segment from the perspectives of digital popularity, traffic, and revenue. Surpluss.in is a pure play online retailer and our online sales (GMV) are much ahead of the direct competitors.
What advice you want to give the new entrants in this space?
My advice to new entrants is that there is a large market opportunity but focus is important . It is equally important to collaborate apart from healthy competition only then small and medium e-commerce startups will be able to fight the onslaught of large and deep pocketed unicorns.
Any interesting quote about your venture?
“We provide access to excess thus powering people’s aspirations of owning branded products at value for money prices”
