If you’re looking for ways to start your own business with little to no investment in your hands, then Meesho can definitely help you out!
Meesho, short for ‘meri-shop’ (my shop), was founded in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, IIT Delhi graduates. The Indian-origin social commerce forum enables individuals to manage their business from home with zero investment.
Meesho’s Success Story
The fastest-growing reseller platform, Meesho, targets the tier 2 and tier 3 cities, and is now home to 17 million entrepreneurs, out of which nine million are women entrepreneurs.
In April 2021, Meesho entered the unicorn club after raising $300 million in its funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp, giving it a valuation of a whopping $2.1 billion! Interestingly, this number is a threefold jump from its previous funding round in 2019, where it was valued at $700 million.
In 2019, Meesho became the first Indian startup to receive an investment of $25 million from Facebook. It was, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic that consumers leaned towards purchasing essential items online.
Meesho launched Farmiso amidst the pandemic, allowing several small businesses to start their online grocery shop. It also emerged as Meesho’s fastest-growing business.
Vidit Aatrey, Founder & CEO of Meesho said, “We take pride in the rate of speed and the scale at which Meesho has grown, positively impacting millions of lives, and creating exponential learning along the way.”
According to Sequoia Capital India and Bain & Co., Meesho can balloon from $2.1 billion today to nearly $70 billion by 2030.
How Meesho Empowers Women Entrepreneurs?
Empowering Indian women has been one of Meesho’s biggest achievements to help them create their identity and run their home-based businesses.
In an interview, Aatrey said that 90% of the Meesho users are women. “This lady, who was saying that for the last 20 years, ‘I go to my husband every year and ask him, please give me money so I can start my boutique or I can start my store selling products.’ But she never got money,” Aatrey continued, saying that the lady, without requiring any investment, got all the support on day one, and she could finally fulfill her dream and aspiration of starting her own store.
As stated above, Meesho has more than nine million women entrepreneurs on the platform. In 2021, several ladies saw a 2.5x yearly growth in their order.
Meesho supports such entrepreneurs in their quest for financial independence and establishing an identity through their reselling business model.
For Beginners – How to Sell At Meesho?
Meesho helps connect small business owners with customers via WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. So, anyone using a smartphone can start their online business.
Understandably, everyone’s journey is different, and that’s why Meesho helps such entrepreneurs in each phase of their reselling journey.
Entrepreneurs can make product catalogs and sell with technological, logistics, and end-to-end customer support.
Here are some basic rules while starting or expanding your business:
- Create a Facebook page and share your catalog through WhatsApp.
- In the beginning, set a low margin.
- Expand your base with social media platforms
- Understand and follow the market trends
- Make sure you build a solid bond with your customers
- Ask for reviews
Some suppliers listing their products in Meesho are clothing, furniture, accessories, cosmetics, and culinary utensil producers.
The startups’ vision is to build a digital ecosystem for 100 million small businesses. This can be done by providing these business owners with the right tool and usage of AI and machine learning to overcome the challenges faced by small business owners.
Meesho also plans to expand its products to over 50 million goods. It is working towards becoming one of the most preferred platforms for entrepreneurs, sellers, and users in India.
Please comment on how amazing is Messho success story.
