The COVID-19 pandemic was a boon for India’s ecommerce ecosystem. As they stayed home during the lockdown, customers turned toward ecommerce platforms to make their purchases.
More so than large ecommerce marketplaces, direct-to-consumer (D2C) startups saw increased traction because of better pricing, discounts, exclusive and authentic products, customer experience, etc.
Today, brands are looking for full-scale D2C solution providers to help them scale in this competitive market, especially with post-purchase operations. As customer expectations have skyrocketed for fast and reliable delivery with regular shipment updates, they want brands to be more proactive.
Here are a few startups enabling D2C bands take their businesses to the next level.
GreenHonchos
Founded in 2012 by Navin Joshua and Sumit Agarwal, Noida-based is a full-stack D2C enabler, which helps brands scale their businesses online by integrating technology, strategy, and consumer experience.
The one-stop platform offers end-to-end consulting, technology, and digitally-enabled commerce solutions, including e-retail consulting, growth marketing, ecommerce technology, social media management, and marketplace management.
The startup has worked across industry verticals, including fashion and lifestyle, beauty and personal care, home and homeware, food and beverages, consumer electronic goods, and more, with companies like Siyaram’s, Aqualite, Spencer’s, Aditya Birla, Alcis, W, Ahujasons, Sassafras, and Aurelia, among others.
Shipway
Gurugram-based —founded by Gaurav Gupta and Vikas Garg in 2015—provides end-to-end solutions for ecommerce brands and assists them to manage their business on various channels via advanced automation.
The startup helps brands with making their order fulfilment, non-deliverable returns (NDR), fraud detection, and return management tasks efficient and effective.
It enables business-to-consumer (B2C) brands to offer instant refunds, automatically schedule reverse pickups, smart exchanges, and a self-service portal for returns and exchanges.
Further, Shipway helps them automate NDR follow-ups and reattempt shipments by courier agents to help reduce RTO (return to origin) shipping charges, thereby the overall logistics costs.
It also sends branded tracking pages and proactive delivery alerts to customers, further reducing RTO charges and customer support queries.
Shoptimize
Pune-based , founded by Mangesh Panditrao and Vivek Phalak in 2012, is a one-stop D2C ecommerce platform that leverages AI to help brands drive predictable growth in their online business.
The startup began with a simple vision of enabling brands to reach their consumers in an increasingly digital world.
The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company has a verified ecosystem of technology providers, branding agencies, and logistics partners that enable businesses to sell online.
It offers features such as integrating payment gateways, creating online stores, gaining traction on social media, managing catalogues and content, API integration, operations management, and other features to improve conversion rates.
Shiprocket
Founded in 2017 by Saahil Goel, Gautam Kapoor, and Vishesh Khurana, New Delhi-based is an automated shipping software that aims to reduce ecommerce shipping to its bare bones.
The startup has tied up with multiple courier companies to provide a single platform where e-tailers can manage and ship multichannel orders easily.
Shiprocket has taken a step forward in simplifying ecommerce for Indian merchants and saving their precious time and money. The startup claims to allow D2C brands to focus on their core business rather than managing store orders and searching for reliable courier service.
The startup also offers negotiated freight rates with its shipping partners, including BlueDart, Aramax, FedEx, Ecom Express, and Aramex. These can be integrated with any ecommerce site on Amazon, Opencart, Magento, and others.
Unicommerce
Gurugram-based , founded by Kapil Makhija in 2012, is a supply chain SaaS startup, which provides ecommerce enablement software for multichannel selling, inventory management, warehouse management, and omnichannel solutions.
The startup claims its solution is designed to meet the business needs of ecommerce and e-tailers across sectors and has served over 15,000 registered customers across India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
The company manages over 1,500 stores and about 6,000 warehouses and processes over one million transactions every day, amounting to $5 billion GMV annually.
Fynd
Founded in 2012 by Harsh Shah, Sreeraman Mohan Girija, and Farooq Adam, Mumbai-based is an omnichannel platform and technology startup.
It offers business-to-business (B2B) and B2C brands solutions to improve their business management, sales, and overall growth. It offers growth management, store support, staff training, and tie-ups with partners and integrations to help brands scale up—from onboarding aggregation to last-mile delivery.
Fynd operates as an online-to-offline (O2O) model and aims to help businesses grow and expand their market influence in both online marketplaces and physical retails.
In 2019, Reliance acquired Fynd for Rs 295 crore for an 87.6 percent stake.
