eDabba’s second fund raise and expansion to more cities with their hybrid brick-and-click model

We’ve heard multiple times that only online doesn’t work in India. Any effort on the internet when pushed via an offline channel tends to do better. eDabba ventured into eCommerce with this mindset and introduced a hybrid brick-and-click model. Founded by Manoj Kumar, a veteran from the retail field, eDabba collaborates ecommerce with actual brick and mortar retailing through franchisees called ‘eDabba trust points’.

eDabba earlier raised a funding round of $1 million from a group of investors including Satyendra Shukla, CEO, Four-S Services and have recently announced a second round of another $1 million from CCube Angels, a Singapore-based investor. CCube Angels will be buying a minority stake in the online retail portal.

eDabba is a 40 member team including top and middle management with offices in Delhi and Bombay. eDabba franchisees are spread across 150 cities and towns of India including Dehradun, Jaipur, Goa, Vizag, Vijaywada, Patna, Ranchi among others. “We will use the funds to accelerate the operations to 1000 trust points and widen the scope of assortment on the website apart from implementing a strategy led marketing in targeted markets,” says Manoj.eDabba’s trust points have shown some good results in building a confidence within customers. Examples like selling a Diamond Jewelry necklace worth INR 7 lacs through a trust point to customer located in Dehradun are becoming regular events. How this works is that there is a ‘Buy from a nearby store’ button on the website offering a choice to the customer to either buy online or visit the nearest trust point in their locality that will offer them both pre and post-sale services.

Within 22 months of operation, eDabba claims to have already touched approx 5 million potential customers in smaller towns who can ‘shop online’ through human interface (eDabba trust points) without use of credit card and technology knowledge. eDabba mainly focuses on electronics, diamond jewelry, apparel and other fashion categories and the vision is to fulfill the aspirations of consumers of ‘Bharat’ and enable them to shop online fearlessly.

Website: eDabba