 "Plans are afoot to launch a private label: Manoj Gupta")
We have been able to maintain a lean organisational structure and thus keep costs in check, Manoj Gupta tells Sangeeta Tanwar
Craftsvilla.com recently raised $34 million in series C funding. How do you plan to utilise these funds?
Our key focus area continues to be providing great consumer experience on the website as well as through the mobile app. A part of the fund will also be used to open up stitching centres across the country to ensure that our buyers do not face stitching issues. At present, we do a lot of intent mapping in terms of tracking what exactly customers coming to Craftsvilla.com are looking for. For example, a buyer could be looking for a matching lehenga while another could be more interested in a faster product dispatch. Going forward, we are looking at enhancing our data science and analytics capabilities to provide an improved and personalised buying experience to our customers.
We are also looking at opening experience centres across India where customers can visit to touch and feel the products available online. Plans are also afoot to launch our private label. In addition, we will foray into new categories such as antique furniture and herbal products including spices.
You have broken into the top 5 e-commerce companies in India in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV or the total value of goods sold through the site). What are the factors that helped a four-year-old company to break into the big league?
Currently, Craftsvilla.com is doing GMV of over of Rs 100 million. Next year, we are looking to touch Rs 400 million GMV. A few key differentiators for us have been the large breadth of suppliers that the platform offers. Next, the wide range of products in terms of design, pattern, colour and fabric is what makes us stand apart from others in the market. The third key differentiator is pricing. Owing to the presence of a large number of sellers on the platform, price discovery on Craftsvilla.com is a highly competitive affair. Sellers in their bid to move goods quickly offer buyers lower prices. Moreover, Craftsvilla.com has more niche categories when it comes to ethnic fashion which in itself is a fairly large segment.
What are the opportunities that Craftsvilla.com sees as it expands its presence in international markets?
We are already operational in Malaysia. We are planning to set foot in more international markets over the next 12 months. Craftsvilla is targeting Islamic fashion by getting into countries such as Indonesia. These are the countries where communities sport a lot of ethnic clothing. Look at countries such as Malayasia and Indonesia, their fashion resembles Indian popular attire including salwaar suit and lehenga. One could look at tapping these fashion markets by offering colourful products in a wide range of fabrics and designs. We will be looking at getting our products there and also explore the opportunity of importing products from these markets in India.
How is Craftsvilla.com leveraging technology to help improve website interface and the buying experience?
There is a lot of technology that is still being built. We have gone in for features such as image-based recommendation. For example, if a buyer is viewing a red bandhini saree, then search results will also highlight product options with similar colour and pattern choices in other fabrics such as banarsi etc. This feature helps Craftsvilla.com offer buyers wider product choices prompting them to add more items to their shopping cart.
What have been the key learnings from your journey over the last four years?
One of the key learnings for us has been that to run a business successfully cost efficiency has to be maintained across functions--be it customer servicing, logistics or marketing. Craftsvilla.com has ensured that it does not have any assets on its books-be it inventory, warehousing or logistics. Being an asset free company, we have been able to maintain a lean organisational structure with no additional costs involved. Ours is a sustainable business model in an ecosystem where other businesses are burning millions in building facilities such as warehousing and logistics. Over the next 12 months, our lean and mean organisational machinery is going to be the biggest differentiator as we scale up.
A lot of people told us that 20 per cent commission to our suppliers was not sustainable. But we went on to demonstrate that it's doable and increased it from 15 per cent to 20 per cent. The company also does not offer discount from its own pocket; it's the sellers who offer discounts directly to customers.
Craftsvilla.com recently raised $34 million in series C funding. How do you plan to utilise these funds?
Our key focus area continues to be providing great consumer experience on the website as well as through the mobile app. A part of the fund will also be used to open up stitching centres across the country to ensure that our buyers do not face stitching issues. At present, we do a lot of intent mapping in terms of tracking what exactly customers coming to Craftsvilla.com are looking for. For example, a buyer could be looking for a matching lehenga while another could be more interested in a faster product dispatch. Going forward, we are looking at enhancing our data science and analytics capabilities to provide an improved and personalised buying experience to our customers.
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We are also looking at opening experience centres across India where customers can visit to touch and feel the products available online. Plans are also afoot to launch our private label. In addition, we will foray into new categories such as antique furniture and herbal products including spices.
You have broken into the top 5 e-commerce companies in India in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV or the total value of goods sold through the site). What are the factors that helped a four-year-old company to break into the big league?
Currently, Craftsvilla.com is doing GMV of over of Rs 100 million. Next year, we are looking to touch Rs 400 million GMV. A few key differentiators for us have been the large breadth of suppliers that the platform offers. Next, the wide range of products in terms of design, pattern, colour and fabric is what makes us stand apart from others in the market. The third key differentiator is pricing. Owing to the presence of a large number of sellers on the platform, price discovery on Craftsvilla.com is a highly competitive affair. Sellers in their bid to move goods quickly offer buyers lower prices. Moreover, Craftsvilla.com has more niche categories when it comes to ethnic fashion which in itself is a fairly large segment.
What are the opportunities that Craftsvilla.com sees as it expands its presence in international markets?
We are already operational in Malaysia. We are planning to set foot in more international markets over the next 12 months. Craftsvilla is targeting Islamic fashion by getting into countries such as Indonesia. These are the countries where communities sport a lot of ethnic clothing. Look at countries such as Malayasia and Indonesia, their fashion resembles Indian popular attire including salwaar suit and lehenga. One could look at tapping these fashion markets by offering colourful products in a wide range of fabrics and designs. We will be looking at getting our products there and also explore the opportunity of importing products from these markets in India.
How is Craftsvilla.com leveraging technology to help improve website interface and the buying experience?
There is a lot of technology that is still being built. We have gone in for features such as image-based recommendation. For example, if a buyer is viewing a red bandhini saree, then search results will also highlight product options with similar colour and pattern choices in other fabrics such as banarsi etc. This feature helps Craftsvilla.com offer buyers wider product choices prompting them to add more items to their shopping cart.
What have been the key learnings from your journey over the last four years?
One of the key learnings for us has been that to run a business successfully cost efficiency has to be maintained across functions--be it customer servicing, logistics or marketing. Craftsvilla.com has ensured that it does not have any assets on its books-be it inventory, warehousing or logistics. Being an asset free company, we have been able to maintain a lean organisational structure with no additional costs involved. Ours is a sustainable business model in an ecosystem where other businesses are burning millions in building facilities such as warehousing and logistics. Over the next 12 months, our lean and mean organisational machinery is going to be the biggest differentiator as we scale up.
A lot of people told us that 20 per cent commission to our suppliers was not sustainable. But we went on to demonstrate that it's doable and increased it from 15 per cent to 20 per cent. The company also does not offer discount from its own pocket; it's the sellers who offer discounts directly to customers.