“Great things in business are not done by one person” - Steve Jobs
Meesho has now become India’s fastest-growing reselling platform. With Meesho, women can comfortably start a reselling business from home, without owning any inventory and physical shops.
Meesho, a Bangalore-based social e-commerce startup, has now become India’s fastest-growing reselling platform, valued at $5 billion as of March 2022. The prominent reason behind its success is that it lets you start your business with zero investment i.e. reselling and anybody is eligible to do so. Here’s the story of its journey to success.
Growing businesses through e-commerce (online purchasing and trading) have become increasingly popular in recent years. Moreover, most importantly, the big reason behind this is that since the Covid-19 pandemic, more people are buying products online and everyone knows about this platform nowadays.
‘Farmiso’ was launched by Meesho in March 2020, a similar online grocery business in addition to its other verticals, fashion and beauty products. Its platform connects small businesses with resellers, mostly homemakers seeking additional income for their livelihood learning and less dependent on others in their families and finding customers within their respective social networks.
How did it start?
Two IIT Delhi graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal together founded the app “Meesho” in December 2015. In 2016, Y Combinator also chose “Meesho” as one of the 3 Indian companies for investing.
Small businesses and individuals start their online stores using social media channels and platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Linkedin etc. In 2019, Facebook invested in Meesho, making it the first Indian startup to receive investment from an American company. The company targeted housewives and students as their primary sellers because they are the target groups which prefer to be self-employed earlier.
The Bangalore-based startup aspires to build an environment where anybody can establish a business with no financial investment. Along with having over 2 million resellers, the company also indicates having more than 20,000 Meesho suppliers belonging from more than 500 towns to its name. Meesho works on a commission of about 10-15%, and sellers may earn money with Meesho by introducing their respective gross margin to every transaction.
Meesho's Business Strategy
Independent resellers can choose any product from these suppliers and sell it to customers using the social media sites like Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook etc. It's as simple as posting a photo of the item to be traded on Instagram or writing a Facebook post to sell it in the market through social media management. After the customer and the reseller have agreed mutually on the purchase, the Meesho items are delivered to the buyer's home. Buyers have the option of paying with a debit/credit card or cash on delivery or by UPI Apps through bank accounts for a secure and quick procedure of transaction. Meesho runs a Business-to-consumer marketing model strategy and uses a cost leadership strategy for its business. They target customers who look for quality from 2-tier or 3-tier cities across India. The App also shows a listing of products with suppliers and sellers which are then pushed by resellers, resulting in the sales going higher. As a Meesho reseller, an individual can find buyers for the sellers, while charging a good amount of income i.e. commission. Among the most common resellers are housewives, students, and fashion bloggers/influencers who use their social media networks to reach potential customers and increase the sales of the products in the app.
Meesho’s Tagline and Logo
Meesho means "Meri Shop" or "Apni Dukaan" in Hindi, which justifies the service it provides to which anybody can have access and also earn a commission for their livelihood. Meesho aspires to build an environment where anybody can establish a business with no financial investment.
Meesho's tagline says, "Not just a homemaker, a Meesho Entrepreneur."
Meesho Revenue and Investors
Meesho’s major sources of revenue are charges from the sellers/vendors. It runs a commission-based business just like Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Shopsy etc. However, resellers do not require to pay any commission, which makes it a great bargain for eager earners in India. Among the top investors of Meesho are Meta (Facebook), Softbank Vision Fund, Y-Combinator, Elevation Capital, Sequoia Capital, DST Partners, Proses & Naspers and Trifecta Capital Advisors raising a value of $1.1 billion in 11 rounds of financing.
Meesho: A Success Story
● The Bangalore-based startup, ranked 8th among the 25 fastest-growing startups in August 2016 according to Mattermark, a data platform tailored to investors. It was also selected as one of three Indian companies for Y Combinator in the same year.
● In July 2017, according to Deccan Chronicle Listing, Meesho was among the Top 5 social commercial apps.
● In February 2018, Forbes India listed Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal (Founders of Meesho) among its 30 Under 30 young achievers.
● According to Forbes Asia, Meesho was also one of the fastest-growing reselling Indian businesses in 2018.
● In April 2018, Google Launchpad chose Meesho for their ‘Solve For India’ campaign, which helps startups develop technology solutions for Indian business challenges.
● As of September 2018, Linkedin named Meesho as one of the Top 25 startups in India to work for because of its employee rate, jobseeker's interest, talent pull and professional engagement levels.
● Meesho was considered the first-ever startup in India to get Venture capital from Facebook in June 2019.
● Meesho is the first social commerce startup in India to join the Unicorn Club. The online market is booming year by the year and many offline retailers have used it to establish their presence on online social media platforms and apps.
DID YOU KNOW?
The company aims to help 100 million small companies prosper in the digital world. Meesho's mission statement says, "Democratize internet commerce for everyone."
BY:
Sakshi Chauhan
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