ShopClues begins targeting consumers for bulk purchases

Its Bulk Factory scheme allows users to buy multiples of the same product under a dynamic pricing mechanism: larger the order, lower the cost per piece

Online marketplace ShopClues has begun targeting bulk purchases made by consumers on its platform with its monthly 'Bulk Factory' programme. The company had begun selling goods at wholesale prices to small and medium businesses in July last year.

While ShopClues is working on a wholesale offering, Bulk Factory now allows consumers to buy multiples of the same product in order to get a reduction in cost. The pricing is dynamic, meaning the larger the quantity bought, the bigger will be the saving in terms of cost per piece.

There are a lot of product needs of people that are recurring and for them to get a great deal is what our focus is right now," said Nitin Kochhar, vice president of categories at ShopClues, in a statement. "This is across all categories, but the categories that we do best is home and kitchen and electronic accessories."

The reduced cost of logistics in bulk shipping is key to providing price reductions on bulk purchases online. Moreover, sellers can also achieve better realisation on sales even though the margin per product might be lower than when sold individually.

"Our cost goes down when you buy in bulk because the shipment cost will not go up by a significant amount. To courier one product versus four products, the cost of shipment doesn't go up and you can pass on that value to the customer," added Kochhar.

ShopClues does not split revenue or sales numbers based on products sold in bulk through Bulk Factory, but says the category has seen significant traction in the past few months and has brought in new customers. Currently, the company is focusing on getting more products with better pricing on bulk quantities.