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June - 2011 - issue > 25 Promising E-Commerce Companies

Goodvalue.in : Great Value for buyers & seller alike

ST Team
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
ST Team
The Indian eCommerce market has reached the tipping point. With the broadband penetration increasing across Tier 2 and Tier 3 Cities, there has been a steady increase in usage of Internet and in turn towards consumers transacting online. The advent of 3G has only added a mileage to the existing consumerization and e-commerce players are leaving no stones unturned to lure this new segment of consumers. As per latest reports by IAMAI, Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow at 47 percent to over Rs. 46,520 crore by end of 2011. And making the most of this booming market are Mahesh Kumar Tallam and Robin Ramakrishna who cofounded goodvalue.in 2010.

Headquartered in Bangalore, goodvalue.in is an e-commerce company focusing on their first project in the series, online sales of books. Though at present in its beta stage of launch, the company in near future looks to move beyond books and start offerings with related products and accessories. “The next wave of online consumers are going to be from The Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities apart from the Tier 1’s, which is where we see a humungous growth for us in the coming years,” says Mahesh Kumar Tallam, Founder and CEO, Goodvalue.in. “The intent is to have consumers make a choice from the largest collection of books spread across several categories that would match the reading appetite of various age groups. From books to e-books, , magazines, journals and audio books to all kinds of electronic readers, we want to make them all available for purchase on our site shortly,” he adds.

Having a clear picture of the competition they see around in this segment, the founder duo understand that unless they have stark differentiating features, thriving in this market would be definitely tough. Thus, they have identified about 16 unique differentiators which they plan to launch over a period of time. These differentiators are focused on creating consumer experience and at addressing pain points of eCommerce service providers. “For example, currently the biggest challenges faced by eCommerce companies today are on the logistics side and one of the key areas we are working is Supply Chain Management with a specific focus of experience on last mile deliveries,” explains Robin Ramakrishna, Co-founder, Goodvalue.in.

But the hunger for this ever growing pie of e-commerce does not end just here. The company plans to launch a series of very niche portals that would address the pain points of consumers in several sectors. Using its core strength in eCommerce, from launching its first retail portal for selling books, the company now looks at addressing other consumer segments like toys, garments and merchandize, electronics and more through individual portals that will develop a brand of its own. With this the company also sees itself in a healthy turf since most e-commerce companies today focus on just one niche consumer segment. “Our approach is based on the motto of creating value for both the seller and the online buyer and we are working on new models that would create unique experience and pattern of buying products online. Our model aims to monetize the large untapped segments in the Indian SME segment,” explains Tallam. For instance, it is currently in talks with a gourmet chocolate maker to help sell his products online; working with a supply chain management company that wants us to develop eCommerce platform for B2B transactions and much more.

Though the company is moving quickly on the path of growth, it also has been facing several challenges and the biggest problem is regarding investments. “Initially we did find it challenging to find the right HNI / fund that could understand our model, but now this has become easier as we have chosen to approach specific individuals and fund companies that understand the sector. Another challenge was to convince on how different we are as every eCommerce company in the line of click-and-mortar are considered ‘Me Too’ types,” says Ramakrishna. The company is hopeful to see positive outcomes with key investors in the next 3 to 6 months time. If the investments don’t turn in the duo are committed to their passion of raising funds through bootstrapping to reach the next stage of growth.


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