JOIN USA new twist to shop online
When entrepreneur Vinamra Pandiya visited one of Bengaluru’s famous Sunday soul sante exhibition in 2015, he was fascinated. He says, “I found multiple stalls selling a wide variety of goods, ranging from artworks, homemade sauces and organic juices, soaps and other regular household items. People were not just mechanically buying the products, but trying to learn more about it. I found it far removed from the world of online retail, where one tends to search specific items and purchase them instantly.”
This experience got Pandiya wondering if an online platform for these products would be viable and that was when the idea of creating Qtrove, an online marketplace that offers handmade non-mass produced food, upcycled fashion, beauty, and bath items made from natural, organic and sustainable ingredients took shape.
In early 2016, Pandiya began talking to many of these small entrepreneurs and discovered that most of them relied on offline sales, based on word of mouth reviews. “A few of them did have online sales, mainly on big platforms such as Flipkart and Amazon. However, they were not very happy with the deep discounts that these platforms offered and felt that online sales were heavily tilted towards electronics. They were keen on an online platform that would help in selling their products.”
With this feedback and the help of a few friends and family, Pandiya began setting up Qtrove. It was launched in July 2016. Pandya says, “ We just had a few sellers on board. Over the last three years, we have expanded to network with more than 1000 local entrepreneurs across the country. We now have more than 10,000 products and 40 categories. With the recent round of funding, we plan to provide a new set of services to our customers and enhance our vendor network.”
The company was incubated at Growthstory that also provided an initial round of funding. In May this year, the company raised $51.57 million (Rs 350 crore) funding from Springboard Ventures.
Getting a personal touch
Qtrove offers curated products from select vendors across categories. According to Pandiya, “These products are non-mass produced sustainable products. We want to give customers the joy of shopping by showcasing the products on our website with personalised photoshoots, with the story of the seller and the product. We feel that it makes the customer engage more and creates a good recall value for the product.”
Being different
Pandiya is not a big fan of the deep discounts and offers that the big boys in the online retail space, Amazon, Flipkart and others rely on. Pandiya says, “We believe in a ‘no discount-no sale’ policy. It takes our sellers a lot of time and resources to create and curate these items. We do not hold any inventory and thus are not forced to go for clearance sales. “
On expansion plans, Vinamra is circumspect.
He explains, “We are currently serving a lakh customers and plan to hit the five million customers mark in the next three years. Bengaluru contributes 20-25% of our traffic and sales and the highest sellers on the platform. It remains our core focus. We plan to expand our categories and would like to enter in the personalised products space.”