Retail Tech Startup Arzooo To Launch B2C Platform To Help Offline Stores In Customer Acquisition

B2B retail tech startup Arzooo is all set to launch a new B2C digital platform for offline retail stores to help them with customer acquisition. The startup is planning to invest around $6 Mn-$8 Mn for the launch of the new product, a source aware of the development told Inc42.

A significant portion of the investment to build and scale the product will come from Arzooo’s recently raised $70 Mn in its Series B funding round, the source added. 

During its fundraising announcement in June, Arzooo said that it would deploy the fresh funds to develop its tech infrastructure and expand business.

Inc42 has reached out to Arzooo to enquire about the launch of the B2C platform. The story will be updated if the startup confirms the development.

“The existing retail stores on Arzooo’s new B2B platform will now have a separate digital platform to reach out to their customers and drive up sales,” said the source.“There are also some products coming up on the payment side in order to modernise offline retail stores with better and smart payment solutions.”

The B2C platform has been running on a pilot mode for over a month now, and Arzooo plans to officially launch it in the first week of August. The platform will be launched in the south Indian states in the first phase of launch.

Khushnud Khan, a former Flipkart executive, along with Rishi Raj Rathore, founded Arzooo in 2018. The startup currently has a retail technology platform which helps offline retailers, particularly in the consumer electronics segment, solve their sourcing problems and buy different products from a single platform. It facilitates retailers access to a wide variety of stock-keeping units (SKUs) across leading and emerging brands.

Besides, Arzooo also helps offline retail stores to scale their business by providing credit. The startup has introduced Arzooo Credit, a fintech model integrated with its commerce platform, which allows sellers to first sell the products and pay back a month later.  

The startup currently claims to have around 30,000 offline retail stores on its B2B platform, while about 35% of its users avail Arzooo Credit facility.

“Arzooo’s next product, the B2C platform, would give the offline retailers a digital presence, starting with a digital storefront for each of the stores. These will not be typical marketplace kind of listings. These are actual digital storefronts where the consumers can visualise, walk into the store sitting at home through the video capability that we are coming up with, choose products, and shop,” said the source.

In fact, in order to streamline the payments, the B2C platform would also have Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) solutions, credit card bank offerings, and more, just like the ecommerce platforms.

While the retailers on Arzooo’s platform compete with the likes of Amazon and Flipkart, the startup’s direct competitors include Dukaan, Bikayi, among others.

Japan-based SBI Investment, Trifecta Leaders Fund, Celesta Capital and 3 Lines VC are among the investors in Arzooo. Zoom app’s founder Eric Yuan and Silicon Valley’s venture capitalist Bill Tai also invested in the startup in 2020.

While the Indian retail market is largely unorganised, as per a recent report, the share of modern retail, including ecommerce, is set to increase to 30%-35%, with the share of traditional retail coming down to 65%-70%, over the next 3-5 years. The online shoppers in the country are also expected to reach about 500 Mn in 2030 from 150 Mn in 2020.

The overall Indian retail market is projected to reach about $2 Tn by 2032, as per the report.