Amazon acquires reseller platform Glowroad in social commerce push

Glowroad, an Amazon reseller platform, has been acquired as part of Amazon’s social commerce effort.

Amazon acquires reseller platform Glowroad in social commerce push

According to two people familiar with the situation, Amazon India has purchased Glowroad, a women-focused social commerce firm, in an attempt to get a foothold in this buzzy area where newer rivals have emerged in recent years. Glowroad was last valued at $75 million, according to reports. It is funded by venture capital firms Accel and Vertex Ventures.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Amazon paid complete cash for the business. This is Amazon’s first inorganic bet in the so-called social commerce industry, where retailers sell their items through networks like WhatsApp and Facebook.

“Amazon continues to appear for innovative ways that to digitally rework Bharat and satisfy customers, micro-entrepreneurs, and sellers, and having Glowroad on board may be an important step in this regard.” “Together with Glowroad, Amazon can facilitate legion creators, homemakers, students, and little merchants around the country drive entrepreneurship…,” associate Amazon interpreter same in associate emailed response.

Glowroad’s team of about 170 people will join Amazon following the acquisition, and the company will continue to operate as a separate business for the time being.

“As we are at the early stage,” said Kunal Sinha, cofounder of Glowroad, “we look forward to collaborating with Amazon to make the online shopping experience more convenient and trusted for new-to-e-commerce customers, as well as unlocking greater value for sellers and resellers.”

Glowroad’s team of about 170 people will join Amazon following the acquisition, and the company will continue to operate as a separate business for the time being.

It was founded by Sinha, Sonal Verma, Shekhar Sahu, Nitesh Pant, and Nilesh Padariya. The founders collectively own close to 50% of the company, with Verma and Sinha owning a larger share of the company than the other founders. According to Tracxn data, Accel is the company’s largest institutional investor, with a 19 percent interest.

The last time the company raised money was in 2020 when it received $7 million from current backers Accel and Vertex. It had raised $10 million a year prior when China’s CDH led its investment round.

Glowroad targets tier II and tier III markets via resellers who are generally housewives, casual workers, or even students. “The plan is to convince resellers that this is a work-at-home opportunity.” “They use WhatsApp groups to discuss, market, and sell things,” a source familiar with Glowroad’s business approach stated.

According to the company’s website, a reseller who sells 100 products per month can make roughly Rs 20,000 each month. Glowroad permits single purchases of items on the platform, however, most resellers prefer bulk orders. According to the company’s website, the startup is available in about 20,000 pin codes and has a presence in 2,000 cities with over six million distributors.

Amazon’s interest in Glowroad and social commerce comes at a time when etailers are attempting to expand their client base outside the top 10-12 cities. Fashion, home and kitchen, and other divisions create a substantial volume of overall sales through the reseller network on social commerce platforms.

Apart from Meesho, Flipkart’s Shopsy saw the debut of overseas e-commerce startups like Shopee last year in the social commerce market, which is mostly driven by price-concerned clients. The Singapore-based company abruptly opted to quit India after six months of rapid growth, as ETtech first reported on March 28.

Others, such as Poshmark, a social shopping site located in the United States, emerged last year with an eye on the Indian market. With meager margins and clients who aren’t sticky or loyal, the low-end, unbranded, and long-tail e-commerce sector where these enterprises operate is difficult to crack in India.

Source- https://bit.ly/3N139vQ