It’s a tough act for a startup to take on a large incumbent. That’s one of the reasons why we haven’t seen too many e-commerce startups come up in the shadow of Amazon and Flipkart. Only a large giant like Reliance Jio would have the resources to take on such a task. But Meesho crumpled and tossed that memo. Bengaluru-based Meesho, for the last six years, has blazed the trail in a very competitive e-commerce market by winning customers in Tier-2 cities and beyond—with its unique reseller model. Think neighborhood aunties side-hustling to sell women’s apparel to their social circle. So much so, that a behemoth like Flipkart became wary and launched its own competitor to the SoftBank-funded company. But over the last year, the US$5 billion startup grew more ambitious, and more or less ditched its original reseller model to do what Amazon and Flipkart do—sell directly to users. To do this, it set on a path to be as different as its competitors. From taking a different approach to logistics, to onboarding brands, and the kind of fees it charges sellers. But there is a reason big brands do what they do, and it’s hard to make money the way Meesho is doing things. It’s now redrawing its course to do business more efficiently, but that puts Meesho on the collision path with its rivals again. In today's story, We at Mumbai Multimedia Studio look at the various knots that Meesho has tied for itself.
