Digital Diwali: Selling online during festive season is helping MSMEs recover, and other top stories of the week

This festive season is especially crucial for MSMEs that are looking to recover from the lockdown due to the pandemic and near-zero revenue.

As the country gears up for Diwali, will the festive season bring hope into the lives of the small business owners who have been striving with all their might to survive the impact of COVID-19?

SMBStory found that for MSMEs and brands that are selling online, sales have not taken a big hit, and are even increasing in some cases. However, the scenario doesn’t look so good for those selling exclusively offline.

Read our full take on the topic:

Will Diwali shopping help bailout MSMEs from the impact of COVID-19?

Deepak Gupta, owner of Deepak Store, a kirana store in Delhi’s IP Extension area, saw his grocery sales go up by large margins during the pandemic. However, the gifting vertical, which sells items during Diwali, has been hit hard. 

Until last year, about 100-150 customers would visit his shop every day during Diwali. This year, he has witnessed only about 50-60 customers in a day. “This year, the sales are down by 50 percent,” he complains. Gift boxes at Deepak’s shop majorly lay unattended. 

Manish Gupta, General Secretary of Market Welfare Association, Shahdara, clarifies that markets are crowded but people are mostly window shopping and the number of actual buyers is very few. 

While the mood among offline shopkeepers is dark and grim, the sentiments are exactly the opposite in the case of small business owners who are selling online. 

Ravi Saxena, Managing Director of Wonderchef, tells SMBStory that Wonderchef is betting on the online space. 

He says, “Our online sales have been quite encouraging. Our stores were closed during the lockdown but we received orders through our website and ecommerce platforms. Online sales have helped us sustain in this difficult phase.”

Last year, Wonderchef clocked Rs 80 crore worth sales during the festive season. This year, thanks to online channels, it is expecting sales to touch Rs 120 crore.

Marketplaces such as Amazon have also raised their banners when it comes to supporting MSMEs. According to data released by the ecommerce giant, this year saw a 142 percent increase in the number of MSMEs making an account on Amazon Business during the Great Indian Festival. In addition, the number of business purchases on Amazon Business saw a 61 percent spike — the largest ever.   

Read the full story here.

Startups helping SMBs with logistics and warehousing this festive season

To capitalise on the festive rush, SMBs need to handle demand and supply, use digital payments and managing end-to-end logistics in an efficient manner. While shipping traditionally required an army of workers to transport, label, and monitor shipments, there are startups providing tech solutions to SMBs to ease the process.

The first is MaxWholesale, founded in July 2016. MaxWholesale is a B2B e-commerce platform for kirana stores to source inventory on-demand.

It helps kirana stores discover price and scheme on various FMCG products and get door-step delivery much faster than traditional methods.

ANS Commerce is another important startup in this space. It is a full stack ecommerce enabler startup that helps other brands sell on the brand store (its own website) and marketplaces (Amazon, Flipkart,etc) by providing a platform that includes brand store tech, performance marketing, marketplace management, and warehousing.

Shiprocket is one of India’s most used ecommerce logistics and shipping solutions, and offers customers a premium e-commerce experience with automated shipping. The Delhi-based startup aggregates logistics partners and provides shipping solutions to more than 40,000 active D2C (Direct to Consumer) sellers.

Read the full story here.

This Diwali, light up your homes with these 5 Made in India brands and be #local4diwali

Diwali brings families together, with people jazzing up their homes — re-painting, decorating, and lighting. As the festive season raises our spirits, let’s make India #local4diwali. 

There are various Made in India electrical brands that offer a variety of indoor lightings, such as Syska, Crompton Greaves, Goldmedal Electricals, jaquar Lighting, Vinay Electricals, and more.

Syska Group has grown into a domestic leader and diversified into Syska LED, Syska personal care, Syska mobile accessories, and Syska Wires.

Backed by a 75-year legacy of quality, long-lasting durability and innovation at its core, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd (CGCEL) is one of India’s leading consumer electrical companies.

It manufactures and markets a wide spectrum of consumer products — ranging from fans, lamps and luminaires, pumps, and household appliances. 

The story of Goldmedal Electricals started when Kishan Jain’s grandfather Otmalji Goraji started the family business of making bangles in the City of Glass, Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh. 

Today, Goldmedal manufactures more than 5,000 SKUs and is thus, one of the leading brands in the wiring devices category in India. The company rakes in Rs 1,400 crore annual turnover. 

Read the full story here.