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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.

It's been 10 years since Amazon started its journey in India on June 2013. 10 years ago, Amazon in India was a start-up with 100 sellers. Today, it has more than 1.2 million sellers, directly employs 1+ lakh people and enables employment for another 1.1 million. It has enabled exports worth $5 billion and helped over 4 million small businesses to get digitized. Super growth on all fronts in a decade.

An interesting factoid shared by Manish Tiwary, Vice President and Country Manager of Amazon India’s consumer business, “In 2020, when Jeff visited, we made three pledges. We selected three areas where we could make a difference. One was digitisation. We would digitise 10 million small businesses by 2025. The second was employment. We said we would create 2 million incremental jobs directly or indirectly by 2025. And the third was to do $10 billion worth of export”

The result?

• The company claims that progress towards its digitisation target is great, with the current count nearing 4.1 million.

• Since the progress on exports was promising, the company doubled the initial target from $10 billion to $20 billion. Amazon helps Indian small businesses and manufacturers sell in close to 190 countries.

• The company has already achieved 1.1 million incremental jobs of the target of 2 million. Amazon is one of the largest private sector employers in India, employing around 110,000-115,000 individuals. 

All the best for the next decade!

🗞️Marketplace Updates

• Not a week goes by when we don’t hear an update on ONDC. This time around, ONDC is revising incentives and slashing discounts from June 1st hoping to reduce dependency on discounts for customer acquisition. While the discounts helped ONDC scale to a peak 25,000 orders on May 11 (still only a fraction of the daily orders on other ecommerce platforms) the network has decided to transition to a more measured approach beginning June 1. Buyers will now be eligible for incentives only on a maximum of five orders per month. Here’s a quick comparison.

• Shopsy Data Points: Ecommerce platform Shopsy said it delivered to 16 million customers in Jan-Mar 2023. It also expanded its last-mile delivery to 350 new pin codes in the country across Tier II and III regions. The company also witnessed a 3X growth in the number of SKUs, customers, and sellers in FY23, The Shopsy app has 175 million downloads on Google Play Store—up from 150 million in March this year, said the company. Over 60% of Shopsy’s product portfolio is below the price point of Rs 200.

• Myntra’s Maya Meets World: Maya joins Myntra's esteemed Style Squad, a curated group of stylish content creators, to enhance the end-to-end consumer experience and represent FWD, the platform's unique shopping journey tailored to the evolving needs of GenZ customers. The catch? Maya’s not real. She’s a virtual influencer.

  As Myntra's first virtual fashion influencer, Maya transcends physical and geographical limitations, offering flexibility and adaptability. Being a citizen of the virtual universe enables Myntra to own end-to-end creative narratives throughout campaigns.

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🍕D2C Bites

• New Entry in the Squad: Post Katrina Kaif, Indian cricketer KL Rahul has also recently made an investment in HyugaLife.com. The online platform focuses on offering personalized nutrition and wellness solutions to its customers. With his immense popularity and success on the cricket field, Rahul's involvement in HyugaLife.com is expected to attract attention and drive further growth for the startup.

• Grooming Revolution: Wipro’s consumer goods arm is investing in Letsshave, an emerging grooming startup. The Chandigarh-based firm offers shaving and personal care products, including razors, blades, and trimmers. In 2020, Wipro had invested close to $2.5 million in LetsShave. Letsshave is also looking to steadily expand its offline presence. In addition to the D2C business, LetsShave also supplies razors to hotels such as Marriott Group, St. Regis, and Ritz Carlton.

• Indian consumer electronics startup, Atomberg Technologies, has raised $ 86 Million in a Series C funding round. The company specializes in energy-efficient home appliances, particularly their popular Gorilla Fan. This funding will fuel Atomberg's expansion plans, allowing them to further innovate and solidify their position in the market. With the backing of renowned investors, Atomberg is poised to make a significant impact on the consumer electronics industry while providing eco-friendly solutions for consumers worldwide.

• Capillary Technologies, a loyalty management and customer engagement technology solutions, has announced the closure of its Series D funding round worth $45 million. Capillary is an end-to-end customer loyalty platform that offers a comprehensive view of consumers, and unified, cross-channel strategies that deliver a real-time omnichannel, personalized, and consistent experience for customers. The company works with more than 100 loyalty programs, and over 250 brands including the likes of Tata, PUMA, Shell, Al-Futtaim, Petron, Domino’s, Kanmo Group, and Marks & Spencer. 

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Reads and Recommendations 📚

• How many ads do you see in a day?

• Speaking of ads and paid content. WPP is building an AI-fueled ‘content engine’ with chipmaker Nvidia. The company said it will “enable creative teams to produce high-quality commercial content faster.”

• How to rank on Instagram? - get the deets from the folks at Instagram. Instagram posted an explainer on ranking across each part of the platform, from the feed to Stories to Reels. ( Note to self: stop typing Instagram)

• One brand has 5 Insta accounts. Yeah, the first question is, Why?

That’s all for this week! Bye!

Stay tuned for more.

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