Cloud Hosting

Until a few years ago, an entrepreneur wanting to launch an e-commerce business without a storage chain would have raised eyebrows. But, that was before dropshipping stormed into the world. Launched in 2016, BaapStore was among the early entrants in the Indian dropshipping space and was quick to seize the opportunity.

Currently working with over three lakh businesses and 50,000 products, the startup is helping aspiring entrepreneurs succeed with a robust retail chain management system that takes care of all e-commerce needs, right from creating a catalogue to delivering the product at the customers doorstep.

However, the journey to the top had its share of hits and misses for BaapStores founder Karthic Gurnani. Born into a family of entrepreneurs, he opted to kick off his professional journey with an IT job before starting his own discount coupon business in 2009. However, he had to shut the business down due to operational issues with retail chains after two years, only to start once again. In his second stint as an entrepreneur, Karthic started offering internet marketing services while selling products on eBay.

I got to know about dropshipping services by providing marketing and assistance services to many clients in the internet marketing business. I was also learning about e-commerce directly via eBay sales, shares Karthic.

In 2013-14, he also started selling products on Amazon. Within a few transactions, I saw how difficult it was to sell on Amazon as they had a more standardised procedure, right from clicking photographs to creating a catalogue. It was different from eBay, which was too easy. As Amazon offers a standardised experience to its buyers, its rules were difficult to follow. eBay was more of an open marketplace where every seller had his/her own policy, own content format, etc, he explains. The difference got Karthic thinking about how tedious the process might be for small sellers, when he himself found the process to be convoluted despite coming from a tech background and having worked with international dropshipping companies.

My observation turned out to be correct when I saw how small traders in Gujarat struggled to sell their products online because of such complexities and thats when I decided to enter the dropshipping sector, says Karthic.

With BaapStore, entrepreneurs wouldn't have to maintain an inventory to start their venture, unlike traditional businesses. The startup would provide them a catalogue of products which will be priced at wholesale cost.

Once they subscribe for the startups services by paying a fee, entrepreneurs can sell the products at retail profit via their website, marketplace or any other medium. When they get an order, the request is forwarded to the BaapStore backend, which then packages the product, ships it and delivers it to the customer.

Talking about the USPs of the startup, Karthic says, We provide products at wholesale prices and take care of the backend ecosystem. Even if one goes to wholesale markets and buys products worth crores of rupees, they still will be paying the same or even a higher price than what we offer our clients.

Calling BaapStore the perfect dropshipping platform for small traders and new entrepreneurs, Karthic says that the top selling categories are mobile accessories, womens wear and kitchen accessories.

If you are wondering about how dropshipping simplifies the job of running a business, here are a few ways:

Going from strength to strength, the startup now has over 4,000 stocking units as part of its retail chain management system. Since the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, BaapStores sales have grown by 2.5x.

With its cutting-edge dropshipping solutions, BaapStore is helping several small time entrepreneurs like Siraj Kumar who owns Max Cart Solutions to grow by leaps and bounds. An engineer-turned-entrepreneur, Siraj decided to leave his IT job three years ago for a more financially rewarding opportunity like running a business.

The Mumbai resident started looking for prospective models, and felt an e-commerce platform suited his needs best. But, the heavy investment required to launch an e-commerce business held Siraj back, until he learnt about BaapStores dropshipping services.

After we built him a website, he understood its features and started marketing it. Using free marketing options like Facebook Groups, Whatsapp and Instagram, Siraj saw his business expanding. He leveraged tools like Google Analytics to understand where his clients were coming from and the most-viewed products on his website, says Karthic.

With such analysis and promotions, he was able to get significant traffic to his website. He also deployed the coupon generator tool to garner user interest on various groups. The users who earlier used to just window-shop were later turning into buyers and thats how he started getting more sales. Meanwhile, our backend team ensured that the orders were duly fulfilled. Now, even his wife and father have joined him in running his online business, adds Karthic.

Explaining BaapStores future plans, Karthic says, When someone thinks of starting an online business or expanding their existing e-commerce business, they should never be worried about the investment on inventory. We would like to create an ecosystem with opportunities where every small seller has access to goods at the same price as the biggest seller, without having to invest a penny.

The number of online shoppers in India is expected to cross 250 million by 2022, while the country's e-commerce market is projected to end up somewhere between $100 billion and $140 billion by 2025, according to a report. The numbers underscore the opportunity that awaits entrepreneurs interested in foraying into the e-commerce sector. While managing a business might not be a walk in the park, with BaapStore one could eliminate the usual challenges in launching a venture to boost their shot at success.

To know more about BaapStore's dropshipping services, head over to their website.

See more here:
How BaapStore is helping small businesses crack the e-commerce code with dropshipping formula - YourStory