Sumanth Donthi

Who exactly is losing market share in the hotly contest grocery commerce? I thought it must be the now-not-so modern retail, but I'm not so sure. Zepto raised $665 Mn at a valuation of $3.6 Bn, and is in talks to raise $250 Mn more. And their cofounder and CEO Aadit Palicha recently commented that they can beat DMart - Avenue Supermarts Ltd on GMV in the next 12-18 months. Swiggy Instamart also is growing, and Blinkit is likely to be more valuable than their owner Zomato itself - so they are all doing well, even if Dunzo isn't. Sure, no idea what JioMart Digital is doing, but deep pockets. Same with Tata Digital and their weird assortment forced to converge on Neu. bigbasket.com is trying to unlearn and relearn, and it just might. And Flipkart Grocery and Amazon Fresh are also upping their game - launching faster deliveries, discounts, improved fill rates, and selection. So I wonder if it is the modern-trade players? The likes of More Retail Private Limited, Spencer's Retail, STAR BAZAR, and SPAR Retail that are suffering? The nearest Spencer's to me is definitely a sore sight, now reduced to a shell of it's former glory - I think they aren't even replenishing inventory now. And we all know what happened to Big Bazaar - Future Retail. But Dmart itself isn't doing half bad - with pareto presence in just 23 cities, and no presence in UP (except NCR), Bihar, and West Bengal, they have considerable headroom, still. And they haven't yet quite solved for ecommerce, so while The Ken says that they are lost, they may find their way, eventually? I also don't think that the real consumption is growing, if at all, it may even shrink with the K-growth. Thus, some one _is_ losing share. And if it is not modern trade, then is it the regional chains? The single kiranas? The corner-store? The hand-cart? I'm not entirely sure because this data is hard to organize, and get. Would you know? Image created by AI in Microsoft Bing Copilot.

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LinkedIn has been buzzing about Zomato lately: Concerns over service levels, Frustration with fluctuating pricing, And recently, criticism of a 50-lakh package for #productteammembers on a "simple food delivery app." Before we jump to conclusions, consider watching Zwitago, now on Prime Video. This film offers a raw glimpse into the realities of delivery work, telling the story of Ravi, a #deliverypartner who navigates tight schedules and everyday struggles in the gig economy. Through his journey, we see how vital this work is for individuals and the ecosystem. In a country facing job scarcity, delivery roles aren’t always chosen freely—they’re necessary. Platforms like Zomato provide consistent work, enabling many to earn a livelihood, however modest, that ensures food, shelter, and dignity. Let us keep the bigger picture in mind. Until we create millions of diverse jobs aligned with the education and skills of the unemployed, these platforms bridge a crucial gap. They aren’t the ultimate solution but are undeniably impactful. Meanwhile, let us show empathy for these hardworking delivery partners. Each delivery brings them a step closer to stability and serves as a reminder to appreciate their efforts.

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🚨 EXCLUSIVE Aditi Shrivastava breaks down Meesho's numbers for the first half of FY25: 🛍️Annualised recurring revenue: > $1 billion 🛒 Net merchandise value: Rs 14,251 crore ⬆️ 29% (y-o-y) 📌 Revenue: Rs 4,405 crore 24% 📌 Loss: Rs 41 crore The Arc Analysis: https://lnkd.in/g9tGkCS4 We're ON IT.

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Zepto's strategic positioning in the quick-commerce sector is indeed impressive. Their revenue growth from ₹142.36 crore in FY22 to ₹2,024 crore in FY23, a 14-fold increase, demonstrates their effective execution and market understanding. ​​Achieving a 29% market share by January 2024, up from 15% in March 2022, highlights their rapid expansion and customer acquisition strategies. It will be interesting to see how Zepto sustains this momentum and continues to innovate in the competitive quick-commerce landscape.​​

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#SaaSeries2: Freshworks Q2 FY24 Results. Here are the key highlights: - Total customers in Q2 FY24 grew by 4% to 68.8K YOY. - Customers with ARR >USD 5K grew by 14% YOY, accounting for 90% of the ARR. - Customers with ARR > USD 50K grew by 30% YOY, making up 50% of the ARR. In terms of key metrics: - Revenue saw a 20% growth to 174 Mn in Q2 FY24, with the US market contributing 45%. The growth was also driven by acquisition of Device42 signaling the saturation in US market for key offerings. - Net Dollar Retention stands at 106%. - #ACV is at #USD10K, while the gross margin remains high at 85%. - #FCF USD 32.8 Mn in Q2 FY 24 Few observations: 1) The #Enterprise segment is the fastest-growing, maintaining its trend QoQ. 2) The #SMB segment, constituting ~10%, is critical for expansion despite being the least growing segment. Special focus areas include #GenAI solutions like #Freddycopilot and #Freshchat, with a 40% attachment rate, aimed at enhancing #agentproductivity. #SaaS #GenAI #Freshworks #SaaSUnicorn #AIagents #AIAssistants #conversationintelligence #venturecapital #privateequity #investments

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Country Delight is one of the fastest & fewest Indian D2C brands to >2x valuation every ~1-2 years. How? Country Delight (CD) in 2024 raised ~₹160 Cr in Series E. It initially had a successful PMF, growing bootstrapped for its first 4 years without funding • Valuation jump - Series C Nov'21 : ~$94 MM Series D Mar'22 : ~$428 MM Series E Jan'24 : ~$790 MM . How? » By turning into a Free #Cashflow Machine (-ve WC biz). Somewhat like the retail-tech behemoth Apple! • In the last 8 years - 1.) Average cash collection time from customers has fallen from ~66 days, to just <10 days (mostly pay in advance) 2.) How long do they pay suppliers in? From >10 days in 2017, to ~25-30 days today. 3.) Average cash conversion cycle has gone from >45 days in 2015, to less than ~1 day today. ✓Result? Operating Cashflows >>> Profits » Cash on the books explodes - From ~₹12 Lakhs in FY'17, To over ~₹484 Crores in FY'24! World's "Highest Customer Retention" within D2C? ✓ Dairy category. Almost ~70% of all CD customers acquired ~3-4 years ago give nearly the SAME revenue, EVERY month consistently even till today. New customers add on to these, as CDs marketing spends in last couple of years grew ~5x, simultaneously exploding the free cashflows flywheel. In addition, Cross sell & Up-sell of "high gross margin" newly added products (~60% success rate) like ghee, paneer, vegetables, essentials, etc. In this model "owning customers long-term" gives - ✓ Highest LTV, Lowest CAC, Highest ROCE. Amidst giant peer brands like Amul and Mother Dairy that handle close to ~45M litres / day.. • Country Delight carved its "premium niche" from scratch - Growing ~1.5-2x YoY - From ₹0 to ~₹1380 Crores revenue in last ~8-9 years! - More than 15M deliveries per month - Network of 10,000+ Indian farmers, lakhs of cattle. One of my favourite quote, by the Founder - » Animals are the best non-depreciable assets because they only multiply ;) #india #business #startups #technology #consumer

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Meituan Sells Over $200M Stake in Swiggy Ahead of IPO Chinese lifestyle e-commerce giant Meituan has sold over $200 million worth of its stake in Swiggy to a US-based investor through a secondary deal, according to sources. Meituan first invested in Swiggy in 2018, later increasing its stake in 2020. The recent sale, which occurred last week, valued Swiggy at around $10 billion, though the exact stake sold remains undisclosed. Currently, Meituan holds a 3.88% stake in Swiggy via Inspired Elite Investments, according to TheKredible. Other investors, including Elevation Capital and Norwest, are also offloading shares ahead of Swiggy’s anticipated IPO in the coming weeks. Swiggy plans to raise $450 million through a fresh issue of shares, alongside an undisclosed amount via an offer for sale. Swiggy reported a 36% revenue increase for FY24, reaching Rs 11,247 crore, while reducing net losses by 44% to Rs 2,350 crore. Its main competitor, Zomato, achieved profitability in FY24 and has seen its market capitalization nearly double to $27.3 billion since going public in 2021. #Leadership #Innovation #CareerGrowth #Entrepreneurship #BusinessInsights

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In a fascinating article, Pradip K. Saha from Morning Context explains why quick commerce (Zepto, Blinkit, Swiggy, Instamart, and soon Tata) is successful in India, whereas it has proven to be a challenge in developed markets. He notes that quick commerce has been a “game changer” for the leading FMCG players, like HUL, Dabur, ITC and Nestle. Saha also notes that Indian quick commerce works because the players have attained scale. This is underpinned and facilitated by a network of dark stores. Saha explains that “A typical dark store serves a 1-3 km radius. Blinkit, which dominates 40% of India’s quick-commerce market, added 152 such dark stores along with seven warehouses in the September quarter, taking the number of dark stores to 791. Zepto, with a market share of just under 30%, has around 400 stores, while Swiggy’s Instamart operates over 600 such stores. Together, the three companies account for nearly 90% of India’s quick-commerce segment. All three are raising funds to expand into newer cities and launch more dark stores.” Beyond scale, the business model allows for margins. “By eliminating distributors and wholesalers, these platforms can offer prices 10-15% below the maximum retail price (MRP) while maintaining 15% gross margins, according to a report by Goldman Sachs Equity Research. Some specialty direct-to-consumer brands offer commissions as high as 30-45% for listing on quick-commerce apps.” The quick-commerce players are also able to offer a broader range of products and SKUs. The quick-commerce players are also aggressively advertising. Finally, the quick-commerce companies “also benefit from the fact that a significant chunk of their offerings include perishables,” which capture higher margins. #india #quickcommerce #success #scale #margin #darkstores #distribution #reach #skus #fmcg #perishables #blinkit #zepto #instamart #zomato #swiggy Why quick commerce is working only in India From tea leaves to iPhones, the country’s quick-commerce platforms are reshaping urban retail while proving sceptics wrong about their viability.

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2021: Only grocery delivery app in India with 10 minutes delivery 2024: Competitor chasing the '10 minute' brand segment Zepto is the only player sticking to its original promise - and is clearly acing it Scaling up a grocery delivery business is particularly challenging in India. And adding up a unique attribute, as huge as this –  has clearly been game changing for Zepto. Success didn’t come easy to Zepto too, There was a time when all the Q-commerce players faced backlash & people questioned the safety of drivers. Some brands stopped claiming the delivery time altogether, from “groceries in 15-30 minutes”, they went to “groceries in minutes” But Zepto didn’t, it went on to install a myriad of dark stores across locations, and is already serving superfast deliveries in 10 cities. Top 3 factors that helped Zepto drive exceptional growth over a very short span of time: - Captivating Customer Experience: The platform served a deeply engaging user experience and the service promise was being consistently fulfilled – a powerful combo. - Outstanding Retention: All thanks to near-perfect buying journey, Zepto achieved a retention rate which was considered only to be a fantasy for the industry earlier. - Not slowing down: More dark stores and continuous geographical expansion at the same time helped the startup acquire customers in huge numbers. Zepto cracked the key to scale in the quick commerce space by constantly growing at the same pace, and not compromising customer satisfaction at the same time – simple yet not easy. A perfect example of go big, go fast – it is surely a fascinating study for the space creators. No matter the circumstances, the brand didn’t let go of its biggest differentiator, eliminating all the question marks experts had put to its launch. What do you think is going to be the future of grocery delivery space in India? #casestudy #growth #startup

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Founders focusing on category-specific Quick-Commerce (QC) should note: when Myntra/Nykaa launched, Flipkart/Amazon weren't operating in those categories. Also, e-commerce players are now venturing into quick commerce. They already know which individuals in which locations order what products and at what frequencies! I see no chance for category-specific QCs. I've noticed many VCs lamenting that 70% of new founders are pitching category-focused QC ventures. These founders seem inspired by broad-QC successes (Zepto/Blinkit/Instamart) and draw parallels to e-commerce, where broad players (Flipkart/Amazon) coexist with category specialists (Myntra/Nykaa). The VCs' concerns are valid, and many founders are missing the crucial point. When Myntra/Nykaa launched, they faced no competition from major e-commerce players. These category specialists captured significant market share before broader players entered. By then, they had built unique user experiences and strong brand recall. This helped them survive and thrive. Today, every broad QC (Zepto/Blinkit/Instamart) is raising crazy capital to expand. It's unlikely they'll leave room for category-focused players to establish themselves. Unless the broad QC players mess it up big time, I fail to see how category-focused QC players will make a dent. Additionally, the entry of established e-commerce players into quick commerce (like Flipkart with Minutes) complicates things. These players have years of data on which pincodes order what products, and at what frequencies. They are aware that you place an order for Vim liquid every month and a laptop every three years. You can also be confident that they will aggressively defend their key categories, such as electronics. New category-focused QC ventures will face significant challenges in competing with them. D2Cs (Mamaearth/Licious/Akshayakalpa) may succeed by targeting specific market segments that value unique attributes (organic, premium, etc.). However, they'll find it difficult to expand beyond their niche. Mass-market capture will remain a broad QC play. Thoughts?

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Interesting read on Kirana vs Qcommerce. Key summary points: 1. Short orders/smaller SKUs/loose items/local brands drive lot of grocery orders where Qcommerce is not effective 2. Qcommerce is eating more market share of super markets than Kiranas. So it is more a threat to Dmart than Kiranans 3. Qcommerce is costly and appeals to a certain (middle class+) persona of customer 4. Kiranas will continue to thrive despite Qcommerce (similar threat was cited wrt super markets vs Kiranas a decade back) https://lnkd.in/gEUaPBrP

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Recently, I read a news article highlighting that PhonePe and Google Pay together hold 85% of the UPI market share, while Amazon Pay India is in the fifth position. This got me thinking from a product management perspective, especially after our recent class on product life cycle and portfolio management. Considering the industry lifecycle of UPI, I believe it is in the growth phase (supported by a recent Amazon Kearney report predicting a $7 trillion market by 2030). In contrast, Amazon Pay seems to be in the introduction phase. Given its low market share amidst a high industry growth rate, it falls into the "Question Marks" category according to the BCG portfolio matrix. To address this, Amazon Pay should adopt a differentiation strategy. Here are three key areas to focus on: 1. Increase Market Awareness: Despite existing ad campaigns, the awareness isn't translating into market share. Remember the "You have it but you just didn't know it" advertisement? 📣 2. Emphasis on Product Design: Ensuring the product stands out in terms of usability and features can make a significant difference. 💡 3. New Segmentation/Targeting: Observing ads, it seems Amazon Pay is concentrating more on youth in urban/metropolitan setting. According to a Kearney report, the next growth wave is expected to come from small cities and towns. Therefore, it’s time to shift targeting accordingly. 🌍 My recommendation, is to focus on rural areas and even consider developing a separate app.📱 Excited to see how Amazon Pay evolves in this competitive landscape! 🚀 #ProductManagement #UPI #AmazonPay #GrowthStrategy #MarketSegmentation #Innovation #DigitalPayments Vikas Bansal Mahendra Nerurkar Anuradha Aggarwal #imthobserves

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Today, we are excited to share our biggest investment as Antler, in India so far. At Antler, incl. our Elevate continuty fund (Fady Abdel-Nour, CFA), we're thrilled to co-lead a $11M pre Ser A in Namma Yatri, alongside Blume Ventures Karthik B. Reddy and Google In this business, a few times in your career, you come across a truly disruptive business model that challenges the way things have been done, and extremely obsessed founders creating a culture that is so unique, you have never seen it before. When that happens, despite all the things not clear, it’s a joy to jump on board that potential rocketship. That’s what we have seen in the way Namma Yatri is being built by Magizhan Selvan and Shan M S with (a) a disruptive business model in urban mobility, rethinking how to make the life of a driver better and (b) Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) at its heart. 46 million trips have already been completed, with >7 million registered users. For us, this is also a continuation of our commitment to investing in a future on DPI / Beckn / ONDC, started in 2022. h/t Susmit Patodia. Rajiv Srivatsa Magnus Grimeland Martell Hardenberg Teddy Himler Keerat Singh Sethi Vimal Kumar Sheetal Lalwani T Koshy sujith nair Pramod Varma

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🚀Deep Dive into how The Souled Store perfected its marketing strategy! 🚀 Did you know? The average customer acquisition cost (CAC) for e-commerce in India across industries is around 1,200 to 1,500. But, The Souled Store boasts a CAC of Rs 100 - less than 1/10th of the average! How does it do that? In a sea of generic apparel, @TheSouledStore emerged as a beacon for pop culture enthusiasts in India. Here's how they nailed it: 👥 **Understanding Audience**: Recognizing a surge in pop culture passion among young Indians, they tailored their offerings to resonate with this vibrant community. 🎬 **Official Licensing**: Partnering with giants like Disney, Marvel, and Warner Bros., they ensured authenticity and quality in their designs, setting them apart in the market. 🤩 **Fan-First Mentality**: With a team of pop culture aficionados, they crafted products that customers love, fostering a deep connection with their fanbase. From humble beginnings to omnichannel expansion, their journey reflects resilience and innovation: 🔍 **Early Days**: Securing licenses swiftly, they offered iconic merchandise featuring beloved characters from Star Wars to DC Comics. 🌟 **Building Community**: Leveraging social media, they cultivated a loyal following, turning fans into brand ambassadors. 🚀 **Expanding Horizons**: Diversifying product offerings beyond apparel, they tapped into new markets and customer segments. 🌐 **Going Omni-Channel**: Balancing online presence with physical stores, they provided a seamless brand experience, enhancing customer loyalty. Meet The Souled Squad - tech-savvy, socially active, and deeply passionate about pop culture: 🎯 **Target Audience**: Urban millennials with a penchant for trendy merch and quirky designs, driving the brand's success. 📸 **Instagram Strategy**: With 1.4M followers, they captivate Gen Z with engaging content and strategic collaborations, further amplifying their reach. 💡 **Offline Expansion**: With 22 retail stores, they bridge the gap between digital and physical, offering an immersive brand experience. In summary, @TheSouledStore's journey exemplifies the power of innovative marketing and a deep understanding of their audience. Here's to more fandom-filled successes ahead! 🌟 thesouledstore test1 Below is a snippet from their Instagram page- which boasts 1.5 Million followers- you can see how there's a little something for everyone. #PopCulture #MarketingStrategy #Ecommerce #BrandBuilding #GenZ #Innovation #TheSouledStore

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Lenskart.com recently received a new round of funding from Temasek and Fidelity Investments. If I were to analyze the reasons behind this success from the lens (pun intended) of retail operations, it's no surprise why this brand is scaling so well.  . Here are the top 5 reasons why Lenskart is an exemplary D2C brand mastering retail 👇👇👇 . . . #retailinnovation #Lenskart #retailstoredesign #storeofthefuture #retailtrends #experientialretail #retailcollaboration #D2Cretail #Lenskart #Funding #RetailSuccess #D2C #CustomerExperience #TechInnovation #ProductFocus #ValueShopping #RetailStorytelling #IntuitiveDemos

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THE LARGEST FUND RAISE OF 2024 IS HERE $665 M raised in the latest round of #venturecapital valuing the #ecommerce company at $3.6 B This one’s the largest fundraisers this year abd clearly signaling the spiralling growth of #quickcommerce in the country and thd changing consumer preferences in terms of his regularly grocery needs Big shout out to Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya V. These two young guns are creating history in the country with Zepto What’s interesting is that the venture partners like Nexus Venture Partners who had been part of the Series A and now this latest massive round also reinforces the point that the investors who believe in a product #startup continue to invest in the same while it’s the Founder’s vision who they really support We can only see more competitive offers for consumers be it from Blinkit Swiggy and bigbasket.com https://lnkd.in/dZAeBFSd

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