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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.

Psst: We’ve started rewarding readers for spreading the word. Scroll to the last section.

The weather gods can’t seem to get their targeting right. Monsoon is delayed in southern India while Gurgaon feels like a hill station with the mist today. For D2C brands looking to train their cookies and pixels on GenZ, here’s something to get your week going.

Nearly a third of urban Indian Gen Z consumers access Instagram more than ten times a day, and largely rely on YouTube for their audio and video streaming needs, according to data released by data and analytics group YouGov. Some more Gen Z stats from the report:

• Ads: More than half (56%) of those surveyed said they like seeing real-looking people in advertisements. Interestingly 51% said they are most likely to buy a brand that expresses a view they agree with.

• Travel: When it comes to travel, GenZs ranked Goa as their most preferred domestic destination, followed by Himachal Pradesh, and Kerala

• Streaming: YouTube remains their preferred mode of watching videos and consuming audio content, followed by Netflix, Disney+Hotstar, Spotify and Amazon Prime.

• Shopping: Amazon remains the most preferred online marketplace, with 65% of them having shopped from Amazon in the last three months, followed by Myntra, Maybelline, MyGlamm and Purplle. (Where’s Flipkart in this list?)

🗞️Marketplace Updates

• Amazon has committed to invest an additional $15 billion in India over the next seven years. This will take the company's total India investment across all businesses to $26 billion. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United States and spoke about supporting Indian startups, creating jobs, enabling exports, digitisation, and empowering individuals and small businesses to compete globally.

• The full-page print ads were unmissable in the past weeks (if you still get your daily newspaper at home). Maersk took to the print medium to announce One Country, One Price - an eCommerce fulfilment solution in India with which all elements of an eCommerce fulfilment solution will be available through a single window at a flat rate of INR 80 per order.

  This solution has primarily been targeted at a typical small or medium eCommerce business in India that relies on multiple logistics partners for different activities.

• e-commerce enablement platform Shiprocket has announced the integration of the Shiprocket seller app with ONDC making way for merchants to get on board the ONDC train easily. With the help of Shiprocket’s seller app, the Shopify-powered stores of merchants will be instantly discoverable on the network. Shiprocket aims to provide a seamless onboarding and post-support experience to sellers on ONDC. This will enable an additional demand channel for sellers at a low cost. Shiprocket plans to enable 5 key categories on ONDC including Beauty and Personal care, Fashion, Electronics and Appliances, Health and Wellness and Home and Kitchen.

• Meanwhile abroad, after testing the option with selected US retailers over the last few months, TikTok is now expanding access to its new TikTok Shops eCommerce option, which provides streamlined product display, and in-stream conversion, simplifying the in-app shopping experience. TikTok’s updated in-stream shopping process includes a product overview, and a direct purchase flow, all within the app itself - as opposed to the regular TikTok shopping process, which reverts users back to the retailers’ website to convert.

• Shein is on a tight leash in India. Chinese-founded online fast-fashion giant Shein received permission to re-enter India only after agreeing to a strict licencing agreement with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). Specifically, all data generated by Shein's app and from its operations in India will be stored in India and will be inaccessible to the online retailer in accordance with strict requirements from the Indian government regarding data security concerns. Additionally, the company will receive a licence fee from the Indian entity as there is no equity involved, and payments will only come from any profits that the entity makes.

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🍕D2C Bites

• The Yarn Bazaar, a Bengaluru-based online marketplace for yarn sellers has raised Rs 15 crore in a pre-series A funding round. Founded in 2019 by Pratik Gadia, The Yarn Bazaar empowers users to access real-time yarn prices, valuable information, and crucial market trends. Since its inception in 2019, The Yarn Bazaar platform claims to have completed over Rs 370 crore worth of transactions, with an average order value of Rs 19 lakhs. 

• Fast-fashion brand French Crown raised ₹8.6 cr. The company was founded by the Ghevariya brothers in 2016 and has already established its presence in over 90 countries. French Crown launches more than 200 designs each week and will be utilizing the funds to expand its global reach.

• Pet food brand Drools raised $60 Mn in its maiden funding round. With a portfolio of dog and cat food brands such as Drools, Pure Pet, Meat Up, Canine Creek, and Kitty Yum, the company says that it is the largest seller in the segment on Amazon. The firm sells its product online through e-commerce websites, and offline via over 34,000 points of sale spanning speciality vet shops, veterinary clinics, and general trade stores. Drool’s revenue from operations surged 65.3% to Rs 355.8 crore during FY22 as compared to Rs 215.25 crore in FY21

• Australian homeware brand Anko is spreading its wings in India. After lunching on Amazon, the company recently announced its partnership with Flipkart to expand its reach in India.

  Anko, which entered the Indian market early this year claims to have witnessed strong growth from both metropolitan and tier 2, 3 cities. It expects this partnership to further fuel its growth in the Indian homeware category. Anko is one of the leading homeware brands down under with a presence in over 300 stores across Australia and New Zealand.

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Reads and Recommendations 📚

• Check out the web design museum. It showcases websites from the 1990s through the mid-2000s.

• Why do some see Walmart as an underdog to Amazon when it comes to e-commerce?

• FTC sues Amazon, claiming it duped customers into getting Prime. The lawsuit alleges that Amazon intentionally made it more difficult for users to cancel their Prime membership.

• Build a value ladder by upselling higher-end offers

• Take a Virtual Tour of the Doomsday Global Seed Vault on a Norwegian Island

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