IndiaMart extends into e-commerce through Tolexo.com

From a directory-based service IndiaMart, has now moved to offering a full-fledged e-commerce site for SMEs through a subsidiary Tolexo.com that has already touched a traffic of 1.4 million per month in May. With bulk of its business coming from smaller towns, the platform is planning to enhance its reach to about 1200 cities from a current 800, besides adding product categories.

Brijesh Agrawal, founder & CEO, Tolexo.com said that the beta version of the website was launched in December last year, and it has managed to touch a gross merchandise value (GMV) of around $1 million per month by now. "Bulk of the sellers, about 95 per cent, listed on our website are SMEs. It is an online shop where SMEs can showcase their products and find buyers. Over 3,000 are listed on website at the moment, who are selling products across 23 categories."

The website as of now is dealing with products under three major verticals, manufacturing and tooling industry, construction industry and laboratory devices. It plans to add more verticals like hospital supplies etc and have around 100 product categories on the site within a year. "We have 500,000 SKUs, which we plan to double within a year, as well as increase the traffic by ten times of the current traffic of 1.4 million per month," Agrawal said.

He also added that around 70 per cent of the orders come from tier II, III and IV towns at the moment, and hence Tolexo plans to expand its reach to touch 1200 towns across the country within the next one year.

"IndiaMart was a discovery platform, this is a logical extension of the platform where we want to give the customer a built-in e-commerce option. The investment so far has been by IndiaMart," Agrawal said without sharing details of the investment. He, however, added that it would take around three to three and a half years to break even.