Startup eShopBox manages brick-and-mortar businesses’ online operations

If you cannot beat them, join them. This has been particularly true in the case of traditional manufacturers and retailers trying to establish a Web presence. However, navigating the virtual world, for several traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, has turned out to be far more challenging than dealing with the real world bargain hunters. In solving Net issues of traditional businesses, Neeraj Choudhary, Ankush and Mayur Karwa (cousins) and Anant Bisht spotted an opportunity to start their own enterprise. They began by offering consultancy services to retailers on building an online presence and created Web portals for them. But traditional merchants were at sea when it came to implementing an online sales strategy. “Most of the merchants had a tough time handling their online operations—order and inventory management, curation, delivery logistics, customer relations, handling returns— even when they were advised on such matters,” says Choudhary, 33.

Brick-and-mortar businesses wanted a complete solution to help them compete online, so, in July 2014, Choudhary, Bhisht and the Karwas founded eShopBox. The team decided to focus only on the fashion retail segment as it held greater potential. “eShopBox’s end-to-end services allow clients to take care of all aspects of selling online, starting from listing, curating products, revenue generation, customer relationship management, among other things,” says Chaudhary, Director and Co-founder. The company charges an average sum of Rs 55 per item shipped on behalf of its clients and 4% of the gross merchandise volumes it helps generate.

Handling sellers, the various channels of selling and customers was all a huge task and it was made all the more difficult because of the lack of awareness among clients about the workings of the online channel, say the founders. “A major problem we faced was getting on board manufacturers, who had been into B2B sales and had not explored the retail option directly. It took some convincing before we bagged them as clients,” says Choudhary. Currently, eShopBox manages online operations of 150 businesses. Prominent clients include Duke, Renalove and TrendyVIVA.

Managing customer returns was also a major issue. “We were taking a major hit on revenues along with the merchants because of returns. To sort this out we formed our curation, merchandising and brand analyst team to assist clients in launching the right kind of products,” says Choudhary. This team provides merchants fashion trend analysis and design inputs along with advice on brand strategy. “Sales, of some of our clients, increased by more than 20%, and returns too fell sharply,” says Choudhary. The startup recently launched a retail business intelligence software, eShopBox insights, which allows its clients to monitor their products’ performance, optimise their marketing strategies and plan product boquet and stocks, based on the consumer behavioural analysis. “This proprietary technology answers clients’ queries related to their products’ performance, revenues, transactions, inventory, and a whole host of things at a click of a button,” says Choudhary.

Established with an investment of Rs 2 crore, put in by the founders, with a major chunk coming from Ankush and Mayur, eShopBox saw a revenue of Rs 13 crore in 2014-15. Its top line swelled to Rs 28 crore in 2015-16. Operations continue to be funded by internal accruals.

The startup, which won E-retail Solution Provider of The Year Award at the Indian Retail Congress 2016, is now focusing on clothing manufacturing hubs such as Ludhiana, Surat and Tirupur to fuel its growth. “These places have very good apparel manufacturers but, because they are far from the metros, they have a hard time launching their brands and products,” says Choudhary. eShopBox will be partnering with these small manufacturers and assist them to expand their reach and plan their future strategy.