 "Megha Agarwal, CXO, Growth, Meesho")
SoftBank-backed e-commerce company Meesho has confirmed that it secured nearly 1 crore orders during four sale days, with 75 per cent of orders originating from tier 2 and beyond markets. Over these sales, Meesho attracted more than 50 lakh new customers.
The firm is now preparing for the forthcoming festive season, having witnessed significant success during the recently concluded sale events for Onam, Raksha Bandhan, and Ganesh Chaturthi. Meesho is launching its flagship 'Meesho Mega Blockbuster Sale' from October 6 to October 13. This will compete with Amazon's Great Indian Festival and Flipkart's The Big Billion Days events, both commencing on October 8.
"We've observed many new users from Tier-4 regions and rural parts of India. We're now readying for the 'Meesho Mega Blockbuster Sale' this festive season. Last year, we saw nearly 2x year-on-year growth during the festive period," said Megha Agarwal, CXO, Growth at Meesho, in an interview. "This year, we've introduced a customer loyalty programme where they can earn coins for redemption on future purchases. We've also launched 'Meesho Gold' on our app for a premium selection and unveiled 'Meesho Mall', offering branded products, which we're expanding significantly for the festive season."
Almost 75 per cent of the company's demand has come from tier 2 and beyond markets, including places like Amravati, Aurangabad, Dehradun, Nellore, Solapur, and Warangal. In preparation for the festive season, Meesho has added nearly 2 lakh new sellers in the past two months.
Meesho has guided its sellers to address selection gaps by proactively introducing new sub-categories and products based on emerging trends. These include festive decorations like jharokhas, diya thalis, rangoli stencils, torans, lanterns, and string lights. Notable trends during the pre-festive sale period include increasing demand for kitchen organisers, jars, and containers. The younger demographic prefers convenient ethnic wear, such as 'ready-to-wear sarees', 'skirt sarees', 'lehenga sarees', and '2-minute sarees'. In personal care and beauty, there's a preference for products containing natural ingredients.
The company boasts approximately 14 lakh sellers and around 12 crore product listings across 30 categories. The aim is to ensure a diverse and affordable range for customers this festive season.
Recently, Meesho announced its strategic expansion with 'Meesho Mall' for the festive season, focusing on branded products. This move also aims to digitise small merchants and regional brands. The expansion into branded products emphasises Meesho's dedication to enhancing the festive shopping experience. Since its inception last year, Meesho Mall has grown by about 30 per cent month-on-month, processing over 1 crore orders in the past six months. They've collaborated with over 400 national and regional brands, including Bajaj, Biotique, boAt, Decathlon, Bewakoof, and Himalaya, as well as Mamaearth, Milton, Paragon, Philips, Plum, Sirona, and Wow Skin Science.
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In response to the recent GST Council announcement allowing e-commerce platforms to onboard non-GST sellers with turnovers up to Rs 40 lakhs, Meesho has made its platform inclusive for such sellers. This strategy could potentially attract 15-20 million sellers in historically less penetrated states.
"These small sellers form the backbone of the country. We're keen on bringing more non-GST sellers on board," Agarwal added.
A recent report by Redseer Strategy Consultants highlights the growing adoption of e-commerce in Tier-2 cities and beyond. This, coupled with a rising base of 'mass' consumers and the expansion of 3PL serviceability, is driving shipment volumes. With the festive season approaching, a surge in eTailing activities is expected, putting 3PL into greater focus. The Redseer study anticipates a 6 to 8-fold growth in 3PL shipments from 2022 to 2030, soaring from 2 billion in 2022 to an estimated 13-17 billion in 2030.
From January to August 2023, Meesho emerged as the leading contributor to e-commerce 3PL shipments in India. Other major contributors included Flipkart, Ajio, and Amazon, with vertical e-commerce platforms, D2C brands, and smaller e-tailers making up the remaining shipments.
Last year in October, Meesho emerged as the second-largest player by order share in that year’s festive sales, surpassing Amazon, while Flipkart Group platforms topped the market in both orders and gross merchandise value (GMV), according to Redseer. It said Flipkart Group maintained its leadership position with a 62 per cent market share in terms of GMV during the first week of the festive season, followed by Amazon which had 26 per cent share, while the remaining 12 per cent was distributed among other e-commerce players. In terms of order volume, Flipkart Group again led the market with about 49 per cent share and Meesho ranked second with about 21 per cent order share, according to Redseer. It said Amazon was at the third spot in terms of order volume but didn’t reveal the percentage.
Last year in October, Meesho emerged as the second-largest player by order share in that year’s festive sales, surpassing Amazon, while Flipkart Group platforms topped the market in both orders and gross merchandise value (GMV), according to Redseer. It said Flipkart Group maintained its leadership position with a 62 per cent market share in terms of GMV during the first week of the festive season, followed by Amazon which had 26 per cent share, while the remaining 12 per cent was distributed among other e-commerce players. In terms of order volume, Flipkart Group again led the market with about 49 per cent share and Meesho ranked second with about 21 per cent order share, according to Redseer. It said Amazon was at the third spot in terms of order volume but didn’t reveal the percentage.
