UAE-based Phygicart Invests $14.5 Mn To Enter The Indian Ecommerce Market

UAE-based ecommerce and direct marketing company, Phygicart has raised $14.5 Mn, as part of its first phase to enter the Indian ecommerce space. The investment has been made by Boby Chemmanur, Chairman and Managing Director of Boby Chemmanur International group.

Joy, the chief operating officer at Phygicart, said, “The investment would be used to make our own products for which we are planning to set up an assembling unit in Ahmedabad, build our brand and enter into tie-ups with other brands. We are also in various stages of discussions to take over certain other brands.”

With the investment, Phygicart aims to provide an opportunity to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who come up with innovative products. Also, through this model, the company will be making partners as well as consumers.

The company aims to expand operational footprint across seven countries by 2022, including other countries like the US and Nepal. Further, it aims to achieve a turnover of $1 Bn as well.

“The major drawback of ecommerce business is that it cannot establish a direct personal rapport with customers. We have rectified this adding that Phygicart.com will distribute about 60% of its total profits to partner store owners who join by logging in to phygicart.com,” Boby Chemmanur said.

Founded in 2016, Phygicart has over 5000 products belonging to sectors like electronics, cosmetics, food, wellness and dress materials. It connects both ecommerce and direct marketing on a single platform.

According to research company IBEF, the Indian ecommerce industry has been on an upward growth trajectory and is expected to surpass the US to become the second largest ecommerce market in the world by 2034. The ecommerce market is expected to reach $64 Bn by 2020 and $200 Bn by 2026 from $38.5 Bn as of 2017, added the report.

The Indian ecommerce ecosystem is currently going through one of its most volatile periods. With speculations circling the startup ecosystem, and confusion getting increased around the guidelines, there has been observed a slight shift in the strategies of the big players.

For instance, the Indian ecommerce unicorn Flipkart signed the acquisition agreement with the US retail giant Walmart, giving the entry to India’s local ecommerce zone. At the same time, we have players like Kishore Biyani, who are aggressively pushing in to bring the business models (like Retail 3.0) bridging both the online and the offline world.

All in all, with India’s ecommerce think tank brainstorming over ecommerce guidelines, digital payments on the rise and the Indian online shoppers going more maturer over time, Phygicart has certainly chosen an interesting time to enter into the Indian ecommerce ecosystem.