- In 2022, there was a 25% increase in suppliers onboarded from the state
- More than 15,000 sellers from the state became lakhpatis last year
- Meesho recently became India’s fastest e-commerce company to cross the 1 million seller milestone, a feat it achieved in less than 8 years
- With an eye digital-savvy potential users across different regions, it has added eight regional languages, including Gujarati, on its platform
NE BUSINESS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, JUNE 16
Softbank-backed e-commerce marketplace Meesho on Wednesday announced that nearly 1.55 lakh small businesses from Gujarat were registered on the platform. Having seen an increase of 20 percent sales on its platform after adding Hindi, to target regional users it has added eight regional languages – Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia – with an eye digital-savvy potential users across different regions, said Utkarsh Garg, director, business, Meesho.
“To support the flourishing entrepreneurial spirit of our country, Meesho is building a robust platform to help small businesses grow and succeed online. With our industry-first initiatives such as zero commission, an increasing number of MSMEs have chosen to partner with us. We have observed a significant rise in the number of sellers on-boarded on our platform from Gujarat in the past year. Today, we are the only platform that does not differentiate sellers on the basis of tiers, nor do we have a private label or wholesale play,” said Utkarsh Garg.
” Meesho also recently became the fastest e-commerce company in India to cross the 1 million seller milestone, amassing this formidable seller base within just eight years of inception. Out of the total 1.1 million sellers on the platform, more than 80% of them are new-to-ecommerce and selling online for the first time. They have probably never transacted on such platforms before. In fact, nearly 50% of all Meesho sellers hail from tier 2+ cities such as Amritsar, Rajkot, Hubli, Kozhikode, Jamshedpur and Tiruppur. By introducing regional languages on the platform, Meesho aims to eliminate language barriers. With this, Meesho customers can select their preferred language for accessing the account and product information, placing and tracking orders, and making payments on android phones. With just 13.6 MB size, Meesho’s android app is the lightest e-commerce app in India on Play Store, which makes it compatible with low-end smartphones,” Utkarsh added.
Speaking with navjeevanexpress.com, Garg said, “We are mainly focussing on the consumers and sellers from tier- 2, 3 and 4 cities because our aim is to democratise e-commerce for underserved consumers and sellers. Unlike other e-commerce platforms which charge between 10-15% of the revenue as their commission, Meesho functions on 0% seller commissions. Because of this, there has been an increase of 79% in the number of sellers on the platform and the average seller revenue has witnessed a three-fold increase since 2021. We get revenue from the advertisement of product manufacturers on our platform.”
He further added, “Gujarat has the largest seller base among all other states for Meesho. With 155,000 sellers registered on the platform, around 35-40% of the orders are being processed from Gujarat. Significantly most of the buyers are from South India. In 2022, there has been 25% increase in the number of suppliers who have been onboarded with Meesho.”
“We have processed 91 crore orders in the year 2022, and have a user base of 120 million. With 220 million downloads in India and 500 million globally, our app is the largest downloaded e-commerce app globally. We have seen a 2.5x y-o-y growth in the number of users. Market research reports suggest that 54% of new online consumers in the coming years will be coming from tier-2, 3 and 4 cities and 80%of our orders are materialising from tier-2 and 3 cities only,” Garg added.
Ahmedabad-based Chartered Accountant Mohit Rathi, who sells imitation jewellery on Meesho, said, “We started selling online on Meesho in 2019. The platform has not only made online selling easier for us but also ensured that the intricate craftsmanship of our artisans is now acknowledged by customers from all corners of the country. The craftsmen we engage breathe life into our country’s dying art and heritage through beautifully hand-crafted jewellery pieces. Collectively, we’ve capitalised on our variances to create a unique jewellery business and accomplish a 4-5x increase in orders during sale seasons. As we move towards an upward shift in middle-class demand and purchasing power, this new year, we look for opportunities to experiment with our products to meet the evolving needs of our heterogenous customer base. ”
