DealShare 2.0: Betting on the middle India shopper with a new strategy

After layoffs and founder exits, Tiger Global-backed startup rebuilds its model around value, convenience, lower-middle-class households

After peaking at a $1.7 billion valuation in 2022, the troubled social e-commerce player DealShare — which was forced to scale back operations, exit its business-to-business vertical, lay off employees, and saw the resignation of three founders — is now trying to stage a comeback.

 

Now controlled by its marquee investors led by Tiger Global, WestBridge Capital, and Alpha Wave Global, the startup has completely revamped its strategy, focusing on catering to lower middle-income customers.

 

Says Kamaldeep Singh, chief executive officer (CEO) of DealShare and former CEO of Big Bazaar: “We are implementing our plan DealShare 2.0. Our focus is on serving the underserved ‘middle India’, with household incomes between ₹30,000 and ₹1.5 lakh a month — consumers who want both convenience and value.”

 

Singh points out that current quick commerce (qcom) players and hypermarkets mainly cater to upper-income consumers, while DMart and Reliance Smart Bazaar target the mass market through physical stores, but without offering home delivery.

 

“We are at the intersection of convenience and value for the masses,” Singh says.

 

DealShare has shifted to a low-cost delivery model, offering groceries, packaged food, general merchandise, and fruit and vegetables within two hours — not as fast as qcom players, but cheaper.

 

The company bundles two to three orders per trip to cut costs. Around 30 per cent of its stock-keeping units (SKUs) — excluding perishables — are private labels, a figure it plans to raise to 40–45 per cent, since they offer higher margins. For instance, its private-label salt brand already contributes half of category sales.

 

Singh says DealShare’s average prices are 15-25 per cent lower than those of other e-commerce players and are benchmarked against wholesale prices. The minimum order value is set at ₹199 — meant to draw consumers from the unorganised sector to the organised retail space.

 

The company has already invested ₹100 crore to build 50 dark stores across Lucknow, Jaipur, Kolkata, and the National Capital Region (excluding Delhi). Singh says the goal over the next six to nine months is to expand coverage so there’s one dark store every 5 kilometres, requiring another ₹50 crore in investment.

 

DealShare has also capped its SKU count at around 3,000, prioritising entry-level and essential items over premium products to suit its target consumers.

 

According to Singh, the household segment they’re addressing makes up 40–50 per cent of consumers in these cities, with potential to generate ₹1,500–2,000 crore in annual revenue.

 

So when will they break even? 

 

Singh says the company will do so in stages — first at the dark store level, which he expects to achieve once stores hit around 1,500 orders per day with an average order value of ₹800–900.

 

We expect to break even by May or June next year, he says, as it typically takes six to nine months per store. After that, DealShare will aim for profitability at the city and eventually the corporate level.

 

Act II: Small orders, big ambition

 

·         Focused on lower middle-income customers earning between ₹30,000 and ₹1.5 lakh a month

 

·         60% of target customers don’t use quick commerce; 90% don’t use high-end platforms like Myntra

 

·         Platform fee set at ₹6 per order — lower than competitors

 

·         Delivery costs reduced by bundling multiple orders

 

·         30% of SKUs are private labels, to rise to 40-45%

 

·         Expanding dark stores — one every 5 km in target cities

 

·         Aiming for store-level break-even within 6-9 months