Enterprise Market now being aimed at by e-Commerce Entrepreneurs
While the fund crunch and regulations have hampered the expansion of various new e-retail startup companies, a segment of e-commerce entrepreneurs are evading this issue by aiming at a different section altogether – Enterprise Market. Enterprise clients are the upcoming rewarding market online ventures in India such as Printvenue, 1click1call, OfficeYes, Printland ,DietKart and various others. The industry experts of the view that the advancement in the connectivity and infrastructure throughout India has played a key role in the expansion of this business model. Mr. Ashvin Vellody (partner in the management consulting at KPMG), said that “as business-to-business
contenders probably will not have the discernability in the broader consumer outlook, they have the discernability at the potential audience.� As a report from a Technopark, it has been estimated the ecommerce market in the country will touch $200 billion mark by 2020. As for now, there is no
dependable data on Indian market related to the services and supplies either offline or online. But, the industry is estimated at $15-20 billion now.
Unlike, every retail site catering to a need of the consumer, they are concentrating on the needs of the consumers. Mr. Sandeep Behl (Co founder of Printland) said that “ they are mainly concentrating solving a
pain point for the consumers.” The entrepreneurs also said that there are various benefits as well. Mr. Siddharth Nambiar (Cofounder of OfficeYes and an Oxford Graduate ) said there are not many B2C eCommerce companies those can boast of positive margins post deduction of the marketing expenses, while they enjoy margins of 15-20%. For this fiscal year, his company is eyeing at a target of 3 million dollars in revenue. OfficeYes, which started its functioning last year, deals in office stationery, furniture and cleaning supplies. The company is supported by Rocket Internet, a Germany based incubator, OfficeYes has more than 500 renowned corporate clients that comprise of HCL, Microsoft, and GE and there are approximately 6,000 SME clients as well. Mr. Behl, who has also worked as the international head of customer service and enterprise services at Bharti Airtel said that “huge transactions and repeat orders
have made this category potential.“ Printland also has more than 20,000 corporate clients and registered SMEs, it also has nearly 40% gross margins. This fiscal, the company is eyeing more than Rs. 4 crore in revenue and anticipates to
touch Rs. 100 crore in the next 3 years. Their clients usually order letter heads, printed merchandise, and visiting cards. OfficeYes’s witness nearly 50% of repeat orders and the percentage at which Printland witnesses regular consumers is estimated at 40%. The regular transaction size is calculated between Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 50,000 on most of the portals. These entrepreneurs have disproved the well-known belief that major companies don’t place an online order.
Mr. Praveen Choudhary (HR head of Kyocera) said that they are more comfortable with the online platform as they can place an order as and when they require and the best part is that there is less chances of human error. As Printland and OfficeYes are considered as size-agnostic, Power2sme is a well-known online group purchasing platform that is exclusively for SMEs. Earlier this month, the company, that is eyeing to touch revenue worth 12 crore in fiscal 2013, raised six million dollars from Accel Partners. Previously, the company had raised two million dollars from Kalaari Capital and Inventus Capital.
In the B2B segment, various entrepreneurs are planning beyond just the office supplies . Mr. Devendra Jain (a chartered accountant) who is (in fiscal year 2014) eyeing a revenue of Rs. 6 crore. Banks are facing problems in publicizing the details of these properties. The company has nearly 20,000 users and it has tied up with ten banks which comprise of NABARD, SBI and IDBI Bank. The entrepreneurs are positive about getting to the winning side. Mr. Behl, gave a statement that “ if the
utmost priority is given to unparalleled customer service and good products, then there are chances of coming out as a winner.“