ShopClues Revenue Up 46%, Trims Losses By 40% In FY18

Gurugram-based ecommerce marketplace ShopClues’ parent company Clues Networks Pvt. Ltd. announced the financial results for the fiscal year 2017-18, narrowing its net loss by 40% to $28.17 Mn (INR 208.14 Cr).

According to the filings accessed via Tofler, the business intelligence platform for India, the company reported a total income of $37.7 Mn (INR 273.3 Cr), an increase of 46% from $25.81 Mn (INR 187.1 Cr) in the previous year.

Here are a few highlights of Shopclues’ fiscal performance for FY18:

• The company reported revenue from operations of $37.42 Mn (INR 271.29 Cr), of which sale of services contributed 81.2% making it $30.39 Mn (INR 220.31 Cr) for the year
• Total expenses for the year were $66.41 Mn (INR 481.44 Cr), a fall of 9.89% from $73.69 Mn (INR 534.25 Cr) last year.
• Of the total expenses, employee benefit expenses fell 8% to $15.32 Mn (INR 111.12 Cr)
• At the same time, advertising promotional expenses were trimmed by 9.65% reaching $17.93 Mn (INR 130 Cr)

Sandeep Aggarwal, Radhika Aggarwal, and Sanjay Sethi launched ShopClues in 2011 as a managed marketplace that aims to provide a unique online shopping experience to its customers. However, in 2013, Sandeep got arrested by FBI in San Jose. Post his arrest, Sandeep had disassociated himself from the company and Sanjay Sethi took over the role of CEO.

The company raised a Series E funding round of $100 Mn at a $1.1 Bn valuation from GIC, Tiger Global Management, and Nexus Venture Partners in January 2016 and $100 Mn in a Series D round in January 2015.

Earlier this year, it also raised two rounds of venture financing. This includes $16 Mn in August 2018 and $1 Mn in February 2018.

Reports have been rife that ShopClues has held talks with multiple ecommerce players in recent months for a potential sale. Global online retailer eBay is said to be in talks with ShopClues to relaunch its platform in India.

In its Online Retail Forecast (2017-2022) Asia Pacific, Forrester Research found that Amazon India is now behind Flipkart by only 1% in terms of Gross Merchandise Volume for 2017,  compared to a 5% difference in 2016. Flipkart’s standalone market share was 31.9%, while Amazon’s was 31.1%, the report added.

In India’s explosive ecommerce market, Flipkart backed by new parent Walmart, Amazon with its $5 Bn commitment to India and Alibaba-backed unicorn Paytm Mall have found a stronghold and continue to dominate. At the same time, troubled marketplace Snapdeal is picking up its pieces and records strong results to dive back into the market.

Amid such sector-specific growth, if ShopClues continues to march ahead alone or with a larger player like eBay will be something to look forward to.