Hello! 👋

D2C Pulse is a newsletter written by the team at GlobalBees, curating happenings in the direct-to-consumer ecosystem of India.

The cold wave has stumped folks across the country. Mumbai expected to go down to 11 degrees(?), Delhi is colder than hill stations and Bangalore was not left behind too

What rather stumped us was that the Indian smartphone market growth may have fallen by a third in Oct-Dec. November saw the steepest monthly decline ever - 50% sequentially and 43% on-year - as low demand for the high-volume entry-level smartphone segment continued to take a hit, following up on a slower-than-usual festive season. Does that foretell the e-commerce sales in this year in any way?🤔

Or will the hot D2C scene set the pace for the year? Lotsa action there. Let’s dive in.

🗞️Marketplace Updates

• Live commerce platform Peepul Tree raised $6 million in funding. Peepul Tree aims to support 1,00,000 artisans and more than 500 crafts and onboard 1,000 content creators on its platform by the end of 2023. The company plans to utilise the fund to onboard content creators, digitise the artisan supply chain and build technology to bring together artisans, content creators and customers on a single platform.

• Government cracks on marketplace and retailers for playing with toys’ rules. The Centre has seized 18,600 toys across the country from retail stores across the country. The consumer protection regulator CCPA has also issued notices to three major e-commerce players, Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal for selling toys without BIS quality mark.

  • In 2020, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry had issued the Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020, which came into force on 1 January, 2021.

    As per Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020, all toy manufacturers in India are required to take a BIS license. It was done to prevent the sale of cheap-quality goods in the market.

• Marketplaces are increasingly banking on celebs. Over the past few months, celebs have been a key ingredient in campaigns and partnerships.

  • Myntra has recently signed-up Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma as its brand ambassador for the ‘Beauty’ category

  • Flipkart launched a campaign in July featuring Alia Bhatt as ‘FlipGirl’

  • Tata Cliq Luxury partnered with Gauri Khan to launch Gauri Khan Designs online. The luxury fashion and lifestyle platform will be the exclusive online retailer of the brand. 

  • Ajio launched a star-studded campaign to promote its all-stars sale. The celeb list included Shraddha Kapoor, Vaani Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, and Badshah

  • Nykaa Fashion onboarded Janhvi Kapoor as brand ambassador

🍕D2C Bites

• Money Makes you Sleep Well. D2C Sleep (and now Home) solutions Wakefit was the top fundraiser which scooped up $40 million as a part of the Series D round. The company will use the funds to improve its delivery operations and factory, and to make inroads into tier II and tier III cities. Including the current fundraising, the startup has raised a total of $105 Mn funding to date

• Show and Tell. Showroom B2B, an end-to-end supply chain platform in the fashion and apparel category raised $1.35 million in seed funding. The startup will use the funds to open new experience stores, strengthen its technology infrastructure, build a seamless customer experience, expand its network of retailers and manufacturers, and add new innovations for Bharat and export markets.

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• Femtech Startup, Salad Raises $270,000 In Pre-Seed Funding. Founded by Aruna Chawla and Karishma Rathaur last year, Salad offers a solution to manage hormonal health at the root throughout the month by providing access to personalised and bio-individual plans in line with personal health goals, underlying conditions and menstrual cycle data. 

• Quirky gets a home. G.O.A.T Brands Labs acquires lifestyle brand Chumbak. The home and lifestyle brand that had come to be known for its unique designs with strong Indian aesthetics. Co-founders Vivek Prabhakar and Shubhra Chadda started Chumbak in 2009 as a lifestyle brand that has grown to include a wide range of home decor items and fashion accessories. Chumbak has 54 retail stores across India and also sells online from its own website and via various ecommerce platforms.

• A case for bunk beds. D2C kids-focused furniture brand Boingg has raised INR 2 Cr in a Pre Series A round. Neha Indoria and Dhruvan Barar launched Boingg in December 2019 with an aim for full customization of furniture that is focused on children and all elements of their home life. Boingg offers customizations in real-time, helping parents design their kids’ rooms with furniture that is functional and completes the look.

• Automate and Grow. D2C Enabler, WebEngage’s revenue approaches Rs 100 Cr in FY22. Founded by Avlesh Singh and Ankit Utreja in 2011, WebEngage provides marketing automation services to consumer internet companies to make user engagement and retention simplified and effective.

📢Leader Speak

Get the latest on what D2C Founders and Leaders had to say this week!

Reads and Recommendations 📚

• A 4.7 star rating is better than a 5 star rating

• Farfetch: Future Of Its 3p Marketplace Business. Farfetch has seen a complete collapse in its stock price over the past year while the luxury brands continue to perform well, especially amidst a larger stock market rout.

• Amazon’s Indian Advertising Sandbox. Worldwide, Amazon—which earned $9.5 billion from ads in the September 2022 quarter—has been eating away at the digital advertising duopoly of Meta and Google. Now, Amazon India is slowly enriching the e-commerce major’s ad inventory through its video and live shopping experiments.

• Are influencer beauty brands falling out of fashion?

• Prediction Consensus: What the Experts See Coming in 2023

🚩Poll Call

Growth on Marketplaces.

⛄Need Help Keeping Warm This Winter?

Here’s some awesome stuff to get you through.

• Insulated Coffee Mugs, Insulated Tumblers and Flasks by The Better Home.

• Heaters and Geysers from Candes

• Peanut Butter and nuts from The Butternut Co.

That’s all for this week! Bye!

Stay tuned for more.

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