Local Indian ecommerce companies giving tough fight to global masters (and winning too)

Have you heard of the term ‘First-Mover Advantage’? It refers to the lead gained by the first company that enters a certain market. The advantages include price-setting power, consumer base and ability to create industry barriers besides others.

But if you take Indian ecommerce industry into account, this theory isn’t proving to be completely right. Here, homegrown ventures are in a head-to-head battle with global giants and are succeeding in some cases or at least putting a tough fight. Based on the ET Retail report, second, third or last movers are grabbing the largest slice from the ecommerce pie as opposed to the first movers.

Take a look at Local Vs Global competitors on Indian ecommerce turf and their performance report.

Mydala and Groupon – Online coupons and deals website

Mydala founders owe their success to the masses that they targeted unlike Groupon, which focused on the niche market. Anisha Singh, Co-founder and CEO of Mydala said, “They [Groupon] don’t stand anywhere near us. It has failed in India because of its big daddy attitude.”

Mydala

• New Delhi – India based, launched in 2009
• 50 million unique users and 2 lakh merchants
• Rs 75 crore sales in 2013-14, with a profit after tax of Rs 40 lakh
• 6 million transactions per month
• Gross Merchandise Value – Rs 300 crore per month        

Groupon

• US based, launched in 2008, entered India in 2011
• 260 million subscribers globally
• 160 million unique visitors globally
• 5 million unique users and 25,000 merchants in India

CashKaro vs TopCashback – Cashback and coupons website

Clearly Cashkaro is way ahead than Top CashBack. When asked how did CashKaro raced ahead its competitor, founder of the cashback site Swati Bhargava said, “We didn’t have a Plan B. So our focus was to make it big in India.”

Cashkaro

• India based, launched in 2013
• 3500 transactions per day
• 600+ retailers
• 20 lakhs average page views per month
• 5 crore cashback earned by members

TopCashback

• UK based, launched in 2005, entered India in 2012
• 1000 -200- transactions per day
• 300+ retailers
• 5 lakhs average page views per month
• 5 crore cashback earned by members

MakeMyTrip Vs Expedia – Travel service providers

The competition here is too tight as Expedia is a big player. “We have earmarked $10 million for technology development only for India,” said Vikram Malhi, managing director Asia of Expedia on their future growth strategy.

MakeMyTrip

• Gurgaon –India based, established in 2000
• 47% online travel market share
• 3 million unique visitors per month
• 2 million mobile app downloads

Expedia

• US based, launched in 2001, entered India in 2008
• 45% business come through mobile app in India
• 60 million unique visitors per month globally

Quikr Vs OLX – Online classifieds

Quikr quickly surpassed OLX in spite of not having the first-mover advantage. CEO of Quikr, Pranay Chulet explains, “Entrepreneurs are hungry to succeed, are agile, nimble to adapt to changing situations and passionate. Great businesses are not built by hired guns.”

Quikr

• Mumbai –India based, launched in 2008
• 2 million unique visitors per month
• 365 million page views
• 7 million active listings

OLX

• US based, launched and entered India in 2006
• 3 million unique visitors per month
• 161 million page views
• 7 million active listings

Flipkart Vs Amazon – online marketplaces

This battle is neck-to-neck. In the last one year, Amazon India has emerged as a top runner and Flipkart has grown manifolds in spite of all the controversies. While Flipkart’s head of commerce platform Mukesh Bansal believes, “Competition is always a healthy thing that drives us to innovate and explore newer ideas.” Amazon India’s VP Amit Agarwal refuses to play second fiddle and declared, “We are India’s largest online store. All these [Indian] companies are owned by foreign investors.”

Flipkart

• Bangalore – India based, launched in 2007
• $ 11 million estimated valuation
• Acquired 5 companies and exclusive tie-ups with 30
• 40 million registered users
• 30,ooo seller

Amazon

US based, founded in 1994, entered India in 2011

• 22 million products available
• 2500 exclusive products
• 40 million registered users
• 100,ooo sellers between Junglee and Amazon India

This emphasizes the fact that a new country comes with a new set of challenges and setting up a base in a foreign country can be as good as starting new. International firms with huge capital may or may not be able to edge out local players based on their previous laurels. Nor can local players sit back and relax, because ecommerce segment of India is on every foreign players wish list now.