ShopClues eyes USD 2-bn sales in 2017, to file for IPO next yr

Marketplace firm ShopClues is looking to garner sales worth around USD 2 billion on its platform in 2017 and plans to file for public share listing at Nasdaq by September next year.
"With last investment round in January, ShopClues is valued at around Rs 7,100 crore. We were earlier expecting gross merchandise volume of USD 2.3-2.5 billion in 2017 but due to demonetisation, we expect our topline to be around USD 2 billion," ShopClues CEO and co-founder Sanjay Sethi told reporters here.
On plans to go for public listing, Sethi said, "We expect to file our documents with Nasdaq for listing by September 2017 but the IPO will depend on market condition."

He further said the customer traffic on its platform has fallen 30 per cent after the scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes by the government on November 8.
"We were expecting the demonetisation impact to have gone by now. Business traffic is almost back to normal. There is still 5 per cent depression in traffic compared to one we see during this period," Sethi added.
The company launched a SMS-based payment service 'Reach' for merchants after the demonetisation drive to help facilitate cashless transactions at a monthly subscription fee of Rs 99.

"If merchants are on ShopClues platform, this means they are already on e-platform. We can help people in organised business to grow but can't help those who are in undocumented economy. 'Reach' will help merchants who are looking for growth by enabling them go for hassle-free cashless transaction in three steps," Sethi said.

Using this platform, merchants will feed the transaction amount and mobile number of the customer. After this, the customer will receive an SMS with a link of payment where he can pay using net banking or mobile wallet.
ShopClues has over 5 lakh sellers on its platform and ships products in over 30,000 pin codes across India.