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

What’s sizzling hot? 🔥

Quick Commerce is a contentious topic. There are naysayers and champions every time the discussion comes up post 7 PM in the superbly refurbished ahaatas of Gurgaon. What’s clear is that Quick Commerce is a game for serious players only.

In 2021, quick commerce was one of the most-hyped sectors: It attracted $1.9 billion in funding. Come 2023, a handful of players are still fighting on.

• Zepto, still flush with cash from the funds it raised in 2021 and 2022

• Swiggy and Zomato, which run Instamart and Blinkit, respectively—aren’t rolling over any time soon

• BBNow, Tata-owned BigBasket’s speedy delivery service believes demand for their services is only set to grow

Check out the insights and nuances of running dark stores, product assortment challenges and how the players are looking to succeed in the quick commerce market that is expected to become a 5.5B USD market by 2025.

🗞️Marketplace Updates

• Indian exporters on Amazon Global Selling Program have surpassed $5 billion in cumulative exports, and in 2021, more than 1,000 exporters crossed Rs 1 crore in sales.

  • Bhupen Wakankar, director of global trade at Amazon India is also batting for simplifying returns- unsold inventory that can no longer be stored in warehouses or inventory that was shipped from India but is now being returned due to some issue should be exempt from paying import duties. Wakankar is (right in) looking for trade policy to be tweaked and said that “The FTP should consider these instances as ‘reimport without completion of sale’. For this purpose, documents required at the time of exporting should suffice to avail the exemption“

• India set to topple China as Flipkart-owner Walmart's biggest market outside the US. “Indian e-commerce marketplace is benefitting from investments in infrastructure made in the last three years and riding on India’s strong economic prospects.”, according to Walmart execs during an investor call earlier this week.

• Zepto plans to expand into instant food delivery (Wait! What?) to expand its reach and tap into the growing demand for quick delivery services. According to sources aware of the development, Zepto is exploring alternative forms of financing for expanding its ‘cloud cafe kitchens’, which could include venture capital funding and strategic partnerships. The company is also said to be hiring operational heads for the new vertical as it looks to build out its team and infrastructure.

• B2B e-commerce platform Udaan has more than doubled its staples business over the second half of 2022. Under the staples segment, the platform sells groceries and essentials such as oil, sugar, cereals, flour, grains, pulses, spices, and dry fruits. Udaan shipped more than 1.5 lakh tonnes of staple products during October–December quarter.

🍕D2C Bites

• Clean and Shine: RPSG Capital Ventures invested 2.5M USD in D2C brand Perfora. The brand is revolutionizing the oral care category with its’ innovative oral wellness products like Smart Electric Toothbrush, SLS Free Toothpaste in unique flavors and Enamel Safe Teeth Whitening Pen. Perfora had earlier raised $1 million in funding led by Sauce.vc

  Pledge your support

• Silver Lining: Jewellery Brand GIVA Secures $4.8 Mn Debt Funding From Alteria Capital. Since its inception in 2019, GIVA specializes in selling affordable fine silver jewellery to women. While other fine jewellery brands in India, such as CaratLane, Melorra, Tanishq, and BlueStone, typically sell jewellery starting from INR 20K-25K, GIVA offers more affordable options for day-to-day wear, offices, and other occasions.

• Women for the win: Over 50 % of D2C businesses on the Instamojo platform in 2022 are owned by women. According to D2C enabler, Instamojo, at least 5 new brands being launched on the platform on a daily basis are owned and operated by women. Tier-1 and tier-2 cities contribute to the largest share of women's D2C brands. Delhi, Hyderabad, and Pune, are the top three cities for women's D2C brands in India. They contribute 34 per cent, 18 per, and 17 per cent respectively to the total share of women-led D2C brands in India. as per a report by Instamojo.

• D2C Love:Emami plans D2C investments in personal care and healthcare. Last year, the company picked up a minority stake in Tru Native F&B which markets nutrition products under the TruNativ brand. It also acquired a 30% stake in pet-care startup Cannis Lupus Services India.

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📢Leader Speak

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

Reads and Recommendations 📚

• Office perks are being reined in

• Adidas reverses course on D2C strategy. Wholesale will play a “significant role” in Adidas 2023 strategy under new CEO Bjørn Gulden as the company attempts to put its failed Yeezy endeavour in the rear-view mirror and catch up to Nike.

• Data collated over 30 million posts to come up with the state of Instagram in 2023

• Shein is set to raise $2 billion in funding this month and is reportedly eyeing an IPO in the US later this year

• Women’s Day campaigns 2023: Brands look at gender from a different perspective.

Don’t screw the warranty!🍱

So you’ve got piped gas in your home recently (yay!), and most probably the technician has ‘fixed’ your gas stove so that your kitchen can seamlessly move from LNP to PNG (piped gas). What happens due to this fixing is that you lose all the goodness of the PNG (efficiency) and more importantly you lose the warranty on your gas stove.

The good folks at Surya Flame have got you covered with ISI certified gas stoves (they’ve installed millions of these across the country)

Check out their 4 burner PNG gas stove. The 3 burner gas stoves and 2 burners are awesome too.

That’s all for this week! Bye!

Stay tuned for more.

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