Top 5 Social E-Commerce Startups In India In 2022

Social e-commerce is a next-gen trend that is all set to play a pivotal role in reshaping e-commerce’s future. India has its share of social e-commerce start-ups too. Five of these are charting history. Read on to know more about these top social e-commerce start-ups in India.

Video Commerce Start-ups in India Scenario

Social commerce or video commerce, social e-commerce or social selling has originated as a means of selling products online through effective communication and social connectivity. It started with the help of simple textual content however now it has evolved into presentable visuals and transient content with social media platforms Tik Tok, WhatsApp, and Facebook, YouTube, SimSim, BulBul and more .

According to ibef.org, social commerce in India is forecasted to touch between USD 16-20 billion (Gross Merchandise Value) by 2025. An exceptional increase in the number of Indian online shoppers in 2020 and an equally impressive hike in e-commerce sales in India are key drivers behind the growth of social e-commerce in India. According to Indian brand equity foundation, the sales from e-commerce in India were registered at about 8% in 2020, while the number of online shoppers is expected to touch 250 million-plus by next year.

Moreover, the e-commerce industry is witnessing significant investment in domestic setups leading to the setting up of many social e-commerce start-ups in India. Facebook and Venture Capitalists like Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Korea Investment Partners, Go-Ventures are a few leading investors are leading the way in this niche. To add to it, due to Covid-19, many small and medium businesses shifted to e-commerce. And finally, the influence of social media in India, especially on Indian millennials, is spicing up the entire gamut of Indian social e-commerce.

Also read: how to use social commerce platform

Top Five Social E-Commerce Startups In India

Meesho

Meesho’s growth has become a case study in the Indian social commerce industry. The social e-commerce segment is still at its nascent stage in India, but Meesho is a premier social e-commerce start-up leading from the front in this segment. Meesho has a unique story. It was founded by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, IIT Delhi graduates, in 2015. The name comes from the Hindi word ‘Meri Shop.’ The Bangalore-headquartered online platform was started as a reseller network giving a viable platform to family-based businesses, SMBs (small and medium businesses), and individuals to sell their products and services online. With almost 13 million entrepreneurs, Meesho is a top social e-commerce start-up in India 2022 as the medium used for selling products are social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

As per data available, Meesho is being used in approximately 4,800 cities and towns in India, has over a lakh registered suppliers supplying almost 26,000 postal codes. The start-up has been funded by investors like Facebook, Venture Highway, Shunwei Capital, Prosus Ventures, and SoftBank up to USD 415million. In the recent past, Google has been in talks with the Meesho team to invest USD 50million plus in this start-up.

By December 2022, the company aims to reach approximately 100 million users and increase its product listings to a 50million. A noteworthy highlight of this social commerce start-up in India is that more than eighty percent of its sellers are women, and it is available in seven different vernacular languages.

Coutloot

Coutloot is another top social commerce start-ups in India 2022 set up on the lines of Chinese social e-commerce platform Taobao, owned by Alibaba. The platform was founded by co-founders Mahima Kaul and Jasmeet Thind. The platform offers buyers and sellers a unique opportunity to bargain online. Thus, the target sellers on the platform are mostly unbranded small-time sellers and companies from the local market. The sellers can list non-fixed MRPs for their products that range from electronics, garments, sports, home decor items, and many other items that compose about 75% of the retail market in India. Coutloot has a seller retention rate of 42% and a seller-success rate of 62%.

The company had about a lakh registered sellers before the pandemic. The latest figures released by the company point at 5.5 lakh sellers and 30 million listings. The company has already raised about USD 8million from venture capitalists like Venture Catalysts, Ameba Capital, 9Unicorns Astarc Ventures, and SOSV. The company proposes to touch a GMV of 1,000 crores by 2022.

BulBul

Co-founded by Ajit Jain and Sachin Bhatia, Gurgaon-based BulBul is a top video commerce start-up in India. The platform uses video streaming and interactive chat to help users discover new products. So far, the platform has registered almost 4 lakh transactions with about 15 million views of its short-form seller videos. The apps allow its sellers to showcase their products during a live stream. It is the country’s first live-streaming shopping app. Users can add their friends and family members to ‘Group Buy’.

Simsim

This is another video commerce start-up 2022 where customers and buyers make short videos to review products. When other people and buyers see the reviews, they can buy or reject a product. Registered sellers can use similar video content to market and sell their products through the platform. The app has been so popular that Google’s YouTube has bought it over. It is a new app founded in 2019 by Saurabh Vashishtha, Kunal Suri, and Amit Bagaria.

DealShare

The last on our list of e-commerce start-ups in India is DealShare. Set up in 2017, the Jaipur-headquartered company app is available in 25 Indian Tier II and III cities targeting middle and lower-income groups. Many sellers on the platform are local manufacturers catering to about 3 million customers. The product range is extensive, ranging from daily perishable goods to grocery items. The price of goods on this social e-commerce start-up in India 2022 is discounted.

Conclusion

These are the leading social e-commerce start-ups in India that are creating history. Inspirational, beyond words, these e-commerce start-ups are not just a case study but also helping India’s small-time and local sellers dream big and grow extraordinarily!