A lesser-known rival to Flipkart and Amazon is winning big by targeting small-town India

Small businesses are ShopClues’ ticket to success. Photo credit: Milaap.

When ShopClues launched in 2011, it was one of the many ecommerce companies trying to make it big in India. In six years, it has cracked into the unicorn club and is even planning an IPO by 2018.

This, while the company still has about half of the money it has raised when it got its billion-dollar valuation, still in the bank.

See: Meet Radhika Aggarwal, the first woman in India’s unicorn club

“About US$10 billion has been raised around us [by rivals in the ecommerce sector], and we did only US$250 million,” chief executive Sanjay Sethi told reporters on Wednesday.

“About US$80-100 million is still in the bank.”

That’s not a mean feat in an environment where discounts rule the roost, and behemoths like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal play the field. ShopClues neither has their deep pockets, nor the muscle that comes with having years of experience.

Radhika Aggrawal of ShopClues.

So instead of going toe-to-toe with the Goliaths, ShopClues decided to follow a different strategy. Where merchandise like mobile phones and branded clothes make up for the lion’s share of sales at its bigger rivals, ShopClues decided to focus more on the unbranded market – the one that caters to the small-town India.

Where Flipkart makes money selling smartphones, ShopClues sells US$4 towels and bedsheets and unbranded clothes. Where Myntra sells branded clothes, ShopClues sells utilitarian stuff, not caring for brands. Home furnishings are the company’s biggest sales drivers.

The company is also focusing on getting mom-and-pop stores on its platform. On Wednesday, it launched a new seller platform called AdZone, where the 500,000 listed merchants on its marketplace can engage in bidding wars and promote their products using native and custom ads.

Ecommerce companies are going all out to woo the Indian small-time seller to increase merchandise on their sites. Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal too have many initiatives that reach out to corner stores and educate vendors on the benefits of selling online.

See: Amazon makes ‘express’ push to woo vendors amid India regulations worry