Ecommerce rollup platform Globalbees, a subsidiary of SoftBank-backed etailer FirstCry, has started a new line of business under which it will get licences from top foreign brands across the consumer durables and appliances segment, with exclusive rights to sell them in India — both online and offline.
Nitin Agarwal, cofounder and CEO of Globalbees, told ET in an interaction that the firm has signed up around 10 such brands, including Australia’s K Mart, South Korea’s Kuvings and Coway, and US and China-based Anker, among others.
Besides selling these brands online, Globalbees is setting up offline stores named Frootal to sell these global products. As it holds licensing rights for India, these products, many of which are in the premium range, will be sold in traditional offline stores such as Croma and in other stores by Globalbees as well.
“We are among the largest third-party cross-category sellers and we have about 22 certified warehouses. Now, we are utilising all the infrastructure by bringing some of the major names to India by licensing. And we will also do after-sales services,” Agarwal said.
Alluding to the premium nature of certain products, Agarwal said that while a regular juicer may cost about Rs 10,000 the same for brands such as Kuvings would be around Rs 20,000.
Offline stores
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Globalbees, last valued at $1.1 billion in 2021, is buying inventory of certain SKUs from these brands and selling them in India along with exclusive rights. “All the licences are exclusive. We have opened one offline store in Bengaluru and the plan is to set up around 10 more stores this year,” Agarwal added.Instant Brands, Ecovacs, Xgimi, Ecoflow and Tineco are among the other brands for which Globalbees has the India licence. This is similar to how firms such as Aravind Fashions and Aditya Birla Fashion Retail have licensing rights for fashion brands in India.
This comes at a time when the so-called Thrasio model, which involves acquiring fast growing brands from online marketplaces and scaling them, has seen a slowdown both globally and in India and roll-up platforms such as Mensa Brands, Goat Brand Labs and others have slowed down on making aggressive new acquisitions amid softening valuations and a liquidity squeeze in the funding market.
Since inception, Globalbees has invested in about 26 companies and has over 55 brands in its portfolio.Typically, roll-up ecommerce players acquire a majority stake in a firm and then work with the founders of the respective brands to scale them further.
“Early on,we looked at the seller ecosystem and invested in having our infrastructure, which others do not have. This will help in scaling existing brands across online and offline as well as bringing new brands to consumers,” Agarwal said.
According to him, the company is clocking about Rs 140-150 crore of shipped gross sales, including returns, every month. Among the Thrasio-style ventures, Globalbees and Alpha Wave-backed Mensa Brands have raised more capital than others. ET has reported earlier that smaller players in the space have been looking at consolidation amid a funding crunch.
In-house labels
Globalbees, according to Agarwal, has also started building new brands from scratch in-house, especially for unorganised categories.
“We are working on three new organic brands, from scratch. These are in categories like car maintenance, small furniture and home decor. Essentially, these are unorganised sectors and we are finding the gaps and building our own brand from the start,” he said.
ET had reported last year that US-based Thrasio’s India arm was also looking to bring foreign brands from its US stable to India instead of making new acquisitions. This was also triggered by the turmoil in Thrasio’s US operations.
The Better Home, Reach, Andme and Yellow Chimes are among brands owned by Globalbees. Its investors include Premji Invest, Steadview Capital and SoftBank.
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