In a bid to expand its suite of offerings, Gurgaon-based refurbished goods retailer Reverse Logistics owned online portal GreenDust.com, has launched a business-to-business (B2B) e-auction platform.
Founded in 2008 by Hitendra Chaturvedi, an IIT Roorkee graduate and a former employee of Microsoft, the company refurbishes damaged or defective electronic products and sells them on the portal as well as through offline stores.
With this not so easy move, company is aiming for a share of rising growth in the ecommerce sector, by handling returned electronics and appliances for leading online retailers.
The GreenDust decision to open an e-auction platform comes at a time when giant online marketplace Amazon has signalled its intention of launching a portal for wholesale merchants in India.
Also, Jack Ma, co-founder and chairman of Alibaba Group, has also indicated that the world’s biggest ecommerce company is ready for a bigger play in India’s online retail industry.
At the time launching Hitendra Chaturvedi, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, GreenDust said, “We have created an auction platform, where merchants looking to sell in bulk can connect with buyers looking to buy in bulk, and we offer a number of value-added services.”
“We will do the inspection of the goods, co-ordinate the payment and transport and store the goods, all for a fee, and if necessary, can attach a warranty, by certifying the products themselves,” he added.
At present, the company is auctioning off products of major consumer brands such as Lenovo, Philips, LG, Whirlpool, Samsung and Godrej, and also partners with the three major e-commerce companies operating in the country—Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon.
The company is also planning to offer auctions outside the country as well, including the US, Dubai, Hong Kong and Australia. It is expecting to at least one million buyers and sellers transacting on the platform over the next 12 months.
According to the recent media reports, GreenDust, is in talks with global hedge and wealth funds to raise about $125 Mn in another round of funding very soon.
