Bargain Bizz is poised to be a game changer in B2C marketplace
India’s e-commerce industry will grow 84 per cent to $111 billion by 2024 as it gains from demand created by the coronavirus pandemic’s impact.
eCommerce capability is no longer limited to just traditional websites, and physical retail has blended with the digital world. The shop floor is now in the palm of our hands and consumers expect the same hassle free and convenient shopping experience whether they are purchasing in app, through their social feeds or in the real world.
BargainBizz.Com LLP promoted www.bargainbizz.com is an innovative online B2C portal that enables the consumer to interactively bargain on products of choice in real time. Bargainbizz.com is based on AI and shall replicate the real life bargaining experience. The electronic marketplace, BargainBizz.Com, connects buyers (consumers of fashion accessories, ethnic products, handicrafts) and sellers (manufacturers of those items who are seeking innovative routes to the market) across geographic boundaries through a technology infrastructure and sophisticated process orchestration. The initial research suggest that bargainbizz.com is poised to be a game changer in B2C marketplace.
The global B2C ecommerce market today operates either on a fixed price basis (amazon.com model) or a highest bidder auction basis (eBay.com model). There are no known electronic marketplaces which allow the consumer to determine their own price, by bargaining and pushing the price downwards.
The consumer side benefits include an increased confidence in purchase price, reduction of information asymmetry, removal of bargaining inhibition, broadening of product access and convenient simulation of live market conditions. The seller side benefits include a much wider market reach without heavy marketing expenditure, and the ability to optimize the marketing mix over time.
A beta site which has been tested thoroughly and a version 2 is about to be completed with additional innovative features which is expected to be ready for test marketing by the end of September 2021. Efforts are being made to build a network of manufacturer suppliers which will be rapidly scaled up with width and depth through a professional merchandising capability and supplier management best practices. The software based business process has been granted a copyright by the Copyright Office, Government of India under the name “Bargain Plus” to it’s owner Mr. Atanu Kar.
In the test marketing phase, Bargainbizz.com envisages about 500 SKUs of textiles and handicrafts sourced from Bengal and Orissa. For the onward delivery chain, Bargainbizz.com has will use reputed courier services to test the system successfully
Bargainbizz.com has put in place an organizational model that will have focus on 4 key operational functions:
- A Technology Operation running the portal, enhancing and enriching features and functionality with evolving needs of all stakeholders, on a continuous basis to delight the consumer.
- A Merchandising, Vendor Management and Quality Assurance Operation
- A Brand Management Operation for popularizing the portal and the BargainBizz brand in India and abroad through a carefully optimized media plan spanning digital and physical
- A Delivery and Return management System
- A Strategic Think tank of advisors to keep the business, the functionality and the consumer proposition at the cutting edge of B2C retail
The core ‘product’ for Bargainbizz.com which will attract, sustain and grow traffic is a state of the art platform built on scalable technologies with key features critical to consumer experience. Over and above the basic ecommerce site with the bargaining facility, Bargainbizz.com has a roadmap of functional releases envisioned over 3 years
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- App to be released shortly.
- Real time chat and voice interaction facilities for consumers, especially for high value items
- A consumer loyalty scheme, and a consumer social network and referral module
- Real time rating engine for products, for a ‘perfectly competitive’ environment
- Contextual advertising by individuals or companies interested in the target audience
- A C2C division with it’s own portal
This project is focussed on empowerment and upliftment of the Indian weavers and artisan working on the fringe of the Society as well as creating value for the stakeholders.
The key risks in the business are new concept risk, third party reliance risk, internet fraud perception risk, risk of churn in employees. Bargainbizz.com’s business blueprint will address each risk through proper security measures, load balancing, proper marketing, intelligent and continuous value-addition, superior customer service and viral endorsements. Shall introduce an ESOP scheme for the–management team from year 1 itself.
The founders bring to bear a well balanced mix of skills and experience: technology appreciation, global business operations, IP protection, financial expertise, and supply chain management.
Bargainbizz.com anticipates 5th year GMV of approx Rs.9500 cr (US$ 1.25 bn approx. at today’s rate of conversion) with a 12% IRR and Rs. 4378 cr PAT in Year 5. Assumptions are based on a 15% margin on value throughput through the site and reasonable traffic and conversion estimates. These numbers do not include any potential advertising revenues, or platform license revenues based on white-labelling to other geographies. To kick-start the business Bargainbizz.com is looking for immediate funding of approx. $ 5.00 mn for next 18 months.By the end of year 2 (18 months) onwards, we plan to raise Rs.4100 cr in 5 rounds of funding from VCs or PE funds to meet the demands of expansion. The actual figure will depend on the market conditions and could be more.
As is evident from the recent news stories on e-commerce success stories, the valuation of e-commerce companies is soaring and it can be safely said that e-commerce is here to stay. Given the pandemic situation, e-commerce is providing the lifeline to the citizens of the nation as well as other parts of the world. We are confident, given the uniqueness of our value proposition, the valuation over the next 4-5 years could grow exponentially, provided the requisite inputs are in place at the appropriate time. The latest transaction of Flipkart being bought by Walmart is a testimony to it’s growing potential. It may be added that eCommerce as a business model has found a huge opportunity due to the sad invasion of a virus called Covid 19 which has played havoc with the economy all over the world. Online business is here to stay and expand exponentially. The new normal which has evolved as a fall out of Covid 19 based lockdowns the world over, has resulted in e-commerce consolidating it’s position and accelerating it’s growth in practically all spheres of life. We are in the right time at the right place.
The portal has been the brain child of Mr. Atanu Kar FCA, a Chartered Accountant with 51 years of experience in profession and industry including Information Technology and Electronic industry in India and abroad. Mr. Tarun Panda FCA, a Chartered Accountant of 17 years track record in Media industry as well as in profession has joined as a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer. He will be in charge of the Supply Chain Management. Mr. Soubhik Nandy MS Comp. Science (Liverpool) has joined as a co-founder and CTO to be inducted . The team will have the services of Diptendu Dutta MS CompScience (Saskatchewan, Canada), a very senior IT professional as an Advisor to guide the team in Portal management. Bargainbizz.com is being advised by Mr. K Dasaratharaman a well known Retail Management expert and an alumnus of IIT(M) and IIM(A) and a former CEO of Spencer Retail and his services will be available post launch as a part of the management. Dr. Sudip Bose Mtech PhD, a highly experienced Techie with established track record as a Corporate honcho and an entrepreneur in New age businesses – is another co-founder and our key person for Marketing and Operations. Services of Dr. Malobi Mukherjee, formerly of Said Business School, University of Oxford, a Singapore based Future Scenario and Retail Strategy Academic will also be available.