Once an entrepreneur will always be an entrepreneur. This could perhaps sum up the fledging career in the online world of Manish Chopra, a former executive at global technology companies who already has the credit of successfully launching two e-commerce ventures. Given the burgeoning growth of e-commerce with
almost unlimited opportunities, the key to success is to find the right spot in this space where one can build a credible business. Chopra, who is also the co-founder of Zovi, an online fashion brand, found that the e-commerce world was offering newer opportunities. This let to the start of Little, an app-only consumer lifestyle deals marketplace.
Manish Chopra is now the CEO and co-founder of Little. He said, “We realised that increasing number of people were accessing the web through their phone and this has brought a change in the online marketplace from products to services.” The services marketplace is generally referred to as offline to online (O2O).
The start has been good for Little. It has raised $50 million from Paytm, Tiger Global and SAIF partners in July 2015. Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm and Alok Goel of SAIF partners have recently joined their board. It has also
acquired Trideal, a Chandigarh-based company operating in the similar space.
In the first three months of the launch, the focus of Little was on the merchants with the idea of scaling quickly and improve upon the user retention from the consumers. As of now, it has remained focused on 11 cities and in the later half of 2016 it will be looking at expanding the business. The Indian O2O market expected to be worth $64 billion by 2016. Little offers over 50,000 plus live deals.
According to Chopra, the key differentiating factor for Little has been the width of its offers, hyper local locations and ease of use for the customers. “Our goal on the app is the ease of use where one can buy the entire deal in one click,” he said.
Little has been interacting very closely with the merchant community as any transaction on this app means real business for them. “The fundamental opportunity exists and there is no free business. We get paid only when the actual transaction happens,” Chopra said.
As of now the biggest volume for Little has been from the food and beverages category, given the number of times people consume this on a daily basis. The other segments which will also be focus areas are entertainment, wellness, healthcare and hospitality industry. “We have 1,600 hotels on our platform and the real growth will come with last minute bookings,” he said.
From an expansion point of view, Little is completely focused around merchants with the aim that they want more volume of business. On acquiring and retaining the consumers, Chopra said that one has to give a choice, good quality of service and an appealing price.
Little’s service just does not end in making a successful transaction as it also follows up with customers seeking feedback. Chopra said, “Customers are our strongest brand and we are seeing explosive growth due to referrals.”
Little expects to hit a GMV run rate of $170 million, by March 2016. Though with rapid growth, the focus on this deals app will be on being cost and value efficient. “There is no need for expensive offices and we have invest in the right things. It is still early days, let us not become complacent,” Chopra said.