Startup Circle: How Tradexa is helping ecommerce model to boost their business

Tradexa is an eCommerce technology company trusted by more than 70 international brands. It facilitates the linking and selling on numerous e-commerce marketplaces, including Amazon and Flipkart, and makes it easier for brands, manufacturers and distributors to introduce new products in the Indian Market and grow faster without worrying about setting up initial cost and performance of the distribution network. It provides predictive analytics for sales forecasting and distribution, and it allows the sales team to promote and communicate with customers about new products.

In addition to providing a platform for brands, Tradexa also allows retailers to sell directly through their marketplace with minimal or nominal margins. Tradexa fulfills all orders received on their marketplace through their retail partners.

Ramesh Jhajharia, Co- Founder & CEO at Tradexa, started Tradexa in 2019 with the sole vision to support D2C brands, retailers, and distributors to provide a technology platform that can enable them to sell online and offline without any hassle and a big investment. The vision is also aligned with the digital India initiative

Speaking to CIOL, Ramesh Jhajharia, Co- Founder & CEO at Tradexa, has shared his views on how How Tradexa is helping ecommerce model to boost their business. He talked about his startup journey and also he speaks about the growth plans he has for Tradexa.

Tell us about Tradexa and your offerings. Tell us about the team.

Tradexa is a full-stack commerce enabler that enables brands to sell through all channels by providing a technologically advanced commerce platform Hyperinventory, marketing and advertising services that use an in-house developed proprietary AI and machine learning-based decision support system, and other services like customer engagement, marketplace integration, product information management, inventory management, and fulfillment services. So, brands can focus on product innovation and selling while Tradexa takes care of everything needed to sell on any channel.

Emerging and fast-scaling brands face challenges in hiring, managing, and retaining staff with the diverse set of skills and experience required to run successful commerce across channels. For instance, monitoring the ROAS of brand ads running on multiple channels like Facebook, Google, and Amazon requires expertise in digital marketing and analytics. Understanding which channel is driving the right and maximum traffic at the lowest price also requires content creation and management skills. This becomes particularly difficult for new brands trying to establish their online presence.

At Tradexa, we prioritize innovation and experimentation to allow our partners to focus on selling while we handle the rest. We offer a team of experts who can provide a comprehensive store management service that includes digital marketing, digital advertising, product information management, social media management, SEO, graphic design, and customer engagement. Our services are priced at just Rs 20,000. Furthermore, we offer free access to our platform for two years to empower brands to build an online presence and achieve their desired growth.

Please take us through your journey with Tradexa and when you started Tradexa.

I realized that brands were struggling with omnichannel commerce and required technological assistance to sell both online and offline. My initial plan was to use blockchain to create a network of distributors, retailers, and brands. However, after conducting industry research, I realized that it was not necessary at the time. In May 2019, I founded Tradexa, a comprehensive commerce enabler that allows brands to sell across channels, including eCommerce marketplaces, making it easier for them to launch new products in the Indian market and achieve faster growth without worrying about upfront costs of technology and teams or performance. Tradexa is now trusted by over 70 international brands, and we can digitalize any brand in just an hour, enabling brands to scale three to five times in just three months.

Despite challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic and competition from big tech companies, we remained steadfast in our vision and strategy. We take pride in being a learning organization and ensure that employees who spend two years with Tradexa will have experience equivalent to six or more years of experience from any other company. Today, we work with many billion-dollar international brands, handling their entire eCommerce operations, and have many retailers and distributors using our platform. We also operate two industry-specific marketplaces, with almost 90% of the brands onboard. At Tradexa, we strive to provide a luxury experience at an affordable price.

Tell us about your geographic reach?

Our primary focus is the Indian market, however, some of our clients in the US, UK, Hong Kong, and China are using the platform and services.

What is your market positioning and brand USP?

Our company is primarily a full-stack Commerce enabler that offers a platform and services to sell across channels so brands can focus on building a brand and products while we take care of the rest. We work closely with major platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, TataCliq, and Bajaj. Along with that, we also run our marketplaces, which enables us to stay

Tell us about your target customers and what customer represents the majority of your customer base?

Most of our clients are emerging and fast-scaling brands with turnover between 5 Cr to 200 Cr yearly. Our goal is to support the fast growth of these brands through technology, domain expertise, and scalable resources so that they can expand their operations quickly and efficiently.

What technologies do you use to streamline the e-commerce experience for consumers?

Our platform offers three types of IT systems: transaction processing, decision support, and decision automation systems. We provide product information management, inventory management, accounting, webstore management, payment processing, shipping, and logistics management for operations. For marketing, we offer dynamic webstores, auto SEO, AI-enabled customer service, Facebook catalogs, Google shopping and advertising systems, and transaction and promotional communication systems via email, SMS, and WhatsApp. For decision support, we have an AI-based recommendation system that covers all aspects of business, such as products, inventory, pricing, marketing budget, sales, buyers, and promotions. Clients can implement all recommendations in a few clicks. Our platform makes it easy for D2C brands with less than Rs 100 crore in business or retailers/distributors doing business of around Rs 500 crore per annum to implement these systems.

How has your revenue grown with the brand evolving during the pandemic?

While Covid-19 had a significant impact on the economy and led to the closure of some sectors, it also resulted in the growth of eCommerce and digital transactions. It forced retailers, brands, and distributors to recognize the importance of digitizing their businesses and selling through all channels. This sped up digitalization, benefiting companies like ours. Challenging times like these have reaffirmed the validity of our vision and strategy.

What has changed for you in 2022? How are things now?

Currently, our company manages the entire commerce operations for several billion-dollar international brands. We operate two industry-specific marketplaces with an impressive 90% onboard rate for participating brands. Our annual revenue is currently Rs 10 crore, but we aim to leverage our marketplaces, platform, and additional services to increase revenue to Rs 800 crore over the next five years.

What are your growth priorities for 2023?

Like I said earlier, we are working on two dimensions. One is to support emerging brands and the other is to build industry-specific marketplaces. We plan to enable 500 brands for their commerce operations through our technology and services by the end of FY 2023. At the same time, we plan to scale our two marketplaces Imaginext and RUSWIC and enter into a third industry by the end of FY 2023.