from rs 304 crore in 2017 we are currently looking for a merger or an acquisition to lower customer acquisition costs in order to become profitable and grow faster craftsvilla cofounder and ceo manoj gupta told etsujayath ali founder of voonik which recently pivoted to only selling private labels said maintaining quality and consistency in the marketplace model in apparel is difficult we have failed a number of times he said earlier this month et reported that voonik was looking to build a fullstack private label business as it believes this will lead to better quality control and margins voonik counts sequoia capital beenext and times internet among its investors times internet is a part of the times group which publishes etwhile ali declined to provide numbers two investors told et that voonik and craftsvilla were averaging 13000 16000 orders a day with an average value of rs 700 reseller platform wooplrs orders are estimated to have been close to 40006000 before it shutteredhaving started as an instagram account that showcased womens fashion wooplr evolved into an influencerled ecommerce platform before shutting a few weeks ago late last year tiger globalbacked roposo which started off as a fashionfocused social network offering curated apparel footwear and accessories pivoted to becoming a video entertainment platformwith users engagement growing on the app we realised that people were interested in different topics and felt restricted with content on fashion alone roposo ceo mayank bhangadia said in an emailinvestors had backed these businesses in the belief that smaller towns and cities would boast of at least a 100 millionstrong market where shoppers aspired for a wider selection and lower prices however with flipkart and amazon raising the standard for customer service and subsidising products for firsttime buyers customers have shifted to these marketplacesa wholesaler from surat who makes private label clothing for online sellers including voonik and craftsvilla told et he often gets requests to list sarees for rs 200600 with a rs 299399 saree which includes commission cost of manufacturing and logistics there is no margin to bring in high quality he pointed outankur pahwa partner and national leader ecommerce and consumer internet at ey india said that with high online customer acquisition costs the smaller players have limited offerings on their marketplaces which is a key reason why customers tend to incline toward amazon or flipkarta forrester research report said that snapdeal shopclues and paytm mall which focus on the lowprice category are finding it difficult to retain customers and increase average ticket size with the acquisition of flipkart by walmart and amazons focus on shifting beyond metropolitan areas and tier ii cities these players will find it difficult to grow in 2019 and to raise funds to subsidise that expansion the report stated by aditi shrivastava sanghamitra kar et bureau published on may 29 2019 at 0807 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post