Inventory-led model doesn't suit us; will deploy funds in building packaging centers & strategic marketing: Ambareesh Murty, CEO, Pepperfry
A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: file_get_contents(https://uat.techcircle.in/static_files/pe-top-investment-banks-article.html): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Filename: views/article.php
Line Number: 332
Backtrace:
File: /data/httpd_data/www.techcircle.in/htdocs/web/application/views/article.php
Line: 332
Function: file_get_contents
File: /data/httpd_data/www.techcircle.in/htdocs/web/application/controllers/Article.php
Line: 204
Function: view
File: /data/httpd_data/www.techcircle.in/htdocs/web/index.php
Line: 256
Function: require_once
Founded in 2011 by ex-eBay employees Ambareesh Murty (CEO) and Ashish Shah (COO), e-commerce portal Pepperfry.com is trying to tap the nearly $2 billion niche furniture and home decor space in India. The Mumbai-based company claimed to have crossed Rs 100 crore in gross merchandise value (GMV) in January this year, and was shipping 3,000 products a day with average order value of around Rs 2,000. Furniture and home furnishings were contributing to 40-45 per cent of the business, while jewellery contributed for 30 per cent.
The company had also raised $8 million from its existing investor Norwest Venture Partners in April this year, taking the total capital put into the company so far to about $13 million. In an exclusive chat with Techcircle.in, Murthy talks about the company's road to profitability, why inventory led e-commerce would not work for Pepperfry, its investment plan, and how furniture bulk sales could be a new business vertical for it. Watch the video for more.