Singapore-based e-commerce platform Qoo10, the entity which owns beleaguered ecommerce platform ShopClues, will invest $20 million (approximately Rs 165 crore) in the next 12 months to enhance its cross-border ecommerce trade.
The company said that in the first phase, it will target Asian markets like Singapore, Korea and Japan, and sell products from the Indian market through the e-commerce route there.
“We are changing our positioning and rebranding ourselves as a cross-border ecommerce platform from a value-based domestic ecommerce player. We will be taking Indian products to the Asian markets,” Anuraag Gambhir, MD, ShopClues told FE.
In 2019, Qoo10, one of the world’s largest online marketplaces, acquired ShopClues with the aim of making Brand India available to consumers in Southeast Asia and also bringing their products to India. The company had then said that the acquisition aligned with its vision of connecting diverse buyers and sellers worldwide through its ecommerce platform.
Gambhir said that the pandemic had “put a break” on its expansion plans. The company now plans to refocus its business into the Asian market.
He said that the expansion will happen in phases. ShopClues also plans to bring international brands into India. “Our rebranding exercise will happen over the next 10 months,” Gambhir said, adding that ShopClues currently services around 1,000 cross-border orders a day. The orders are serviced through Qxpress, the logistic arm of Qoo10. He said that ShopClues plans to take this to about 12,000 orders by 2024.
Gambhir said that the company also earns from its enterprise business by engaging in strategic collaborations with various government bodies and corporate entities. It offers its expertise in digitization, technology implementation and operational enhancement.
Tiger Global-backed one-time unicorn ShopClues was sold to Qoo10 for close to $100 million in 2019. It was valued at $1.1 billion in its heyday.
Started in 2011, ShopClues was founded by Sanjay Sethi, Sandeep Aggarwal and Radhika Aggarwal. The company had a headstart as it launched operations in 2011, three years before Amazon started its operations in 2014.
It had several rounds of funding from players such as Nexus Venture Partner, Helion Ventures Partners and Tiger Global to become a unicorn, before going on a decline. The company reportedly had also posted a GMV of $400 million.
As per filings with Registrar of Companies, ShopClues had reported a revenue of Rs 59.9 crore in FY22, down from Rs 115.1 crore in FY21. Its loss stood at Rs 50 crore during FY22.