Shopclues expects to break even by Jan-Mar 2015

Online marketplace ShopClues expects positive operating margins by the first quarter of 2015 and is eyeing revenues to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore by the 2014-15 fiscal.

 

Launched in November 2011, ShopClues.Com clocked revenue of Rs 50 crore in April 2012-March 2013.

 

"Doing over 3 lakh transactions in a month, we will exit 2013-14 with a higher run rate versus the Rs 350 crore goal outlined one year back," ShopClues CEO and Co-founder Sanjay Sethi told PTI.

 

The site has grown 500% over last year in an industry that is clocking 150-200% year-on-year growth as per research firm ComScore, he added.

 

The firm is eyeing over a crore orders and more than 300 million visitors for 2015, Sethi said.

 

ShopClues attracts about 25,000 merchants. More than 10 million visitors access it every month to shop for over 2.8 million products across 1,475 categories with merchandise value in the range of Rs 30,000, ShopClues Corporate VP (Marketing & Merchandising) Radhika Aggarwal said.

 

"Because of our high return on investment-focused approach to marketing, we are likely to start generating positive operating margins much earlier than our competitors, possibly, as early as the first quarter of 2015," she added.

 

Having raised just about $15 million in venture funding since its launch less than 2 years ago, ShopClues has used funds cautiously to scale business, increase the product catalogue and expand reach of its fulfilment network, as well as strengthen the technology platform, Aggarwal said.

 

"We maintain a tight control on our operations and marketing costs. ShopClues is the only company to score at No 60 in Alexa ranking without investing in any mass-media," Sethi said.

 

Also an analysis of ShopClues's customer data every month reveals that about 60% are repeat buyers. Over 30% of first-time customers who shop on the site during deals and promotions return to purchase even non-deal items, he added.

 

Founded in July, 2011 in Silicon Valley in California in US, ShopClues has about 200 employees in India and is based out of Gurgaon, New Delhi, Mumbai and Vadodara.