Meesho Bolsters Branded Products Play With Meesho Mall, Eyes Festive Sale Fervour

Meesho To Increase Size Of Next Funding Round To $500-$650 Mn

SUMMARY

Meesho will list an array of longtail and branded products on the in-app branded store and will focus on categories such as BPC, footwear, and electronics accessories

In the past six months, Meesho Mall has grown nearly 30% MoM, clocking nearly 1 Cr orders

With its offering, Meesho Mall, the company aims to double down on accessibility, affordability, selection, and experience for its diverse stakeholders

Gearing up for the festive season sales, ecommerce unicorn Meesho has expanded its presence in the branded products space.

As part of this, Meesho will list an array of longtail and branded products on the in-app branded store Meesho Mall, with a key focus on categories such as beauty and personal care, footwear, and electronics accessories.

“… Ahead of the festive season, this strategic expansion into branded products aligns with our goal of offering a diverse and affordable selection to our consumers while being an enabler for several emerging and regional brands looking to tap a larger audience across the country,” said Meesho’s chief financial officer (CFO) Dhiresh Bansal.

Meesho Mall aims to double down on accessibility, affordability, selection, and experience for its diverse stakeholders. Bansal also expects the in-app store to be a significant lever for monetisation in the future.

Launched in 2022, Meesho Mall currently partners with 400 brands , including Bajaj, Biotique, boAt, Decathlon, and Bewakoof, among others, and claims to witness more than 25 Lakh unique transacting users every month. In the past six months since its launch, Meesho claims that its in-app store has grown nearly 30% month-on-month (MoM), clocking nearly 1 Cr orders.

The expansion comes amid a string of positive news for the ecommerce platform. Just last month, the company claimed that it turned profitable as of July 2023. Right after that, asset management company Fidelity Investments also marked up the valuation of its stake in Meesho by 5.41% MoM to $43.24 Mn in July 2023.

Overall, Meesho logged losses to the tune of INR 3,247.8 in FY22, up 550% YoY.

Founded in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho operates an ecommerce platform that largely operates on a 0% commission model. The startup is backed by marquee names such as SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, Prosus & Naspers, and Meta. It has raised more than $1 Bn to date.

The ecommerce unicorn competes with the likes of Flipkart and Amazon, who have also deployed emerging technologies to attract users to their platforms. For instance, Flipkart has launched an AI-powered catalogue designer to help sellers build catalogues, while Amazon has implemented AI capabilities to help merchants create better product descriptions, titles and listing details.