Valyoo Technologies Not Stopping At Lenskart, Watchkart & Bagskart; Eyes New E-com Verticals

Three-year-old start-up Valyoo Technologies Pvt Ltd, which launched a string of e-commerce sites catering to separate verticals Lenskart (eyeglasses), Watchkart (watches) and Bagskart (bags) over the past one year, is now planning to foray into more fashion product portals by the end of 2012.

Talking to Techcircle.in, Peyush Bansal, founder and chief executive officer, Valyoo Technologies said, "As we are already in the fashion category, we just might get into some related segments like cosmetics or jewellery. We carry a motto of 'making people feel good'. This can definitely be done by creating good fashion for them."

He added that the firm wants to get the same set of customers to come back to it at least 4-5 times a year. Bansal feels eyewear, as a standalone portal, cannot do the trick so adding other categories with niche products, ensures bringing the same set of consumers again and again.

According to him, a niche e-commerce portal targets a specific product. "People know it from the very beginning, why they come to us.

And this doesn't lead to much of impulsive buying. Hence they have a very high recall," he adds.

Surely, the way Valyoo names its portals it doesn't leave much scope for confusion.

With a team of 110, the e-commerce firm caters to around 500 orders each day across its three sites Lenskart, Watchkart and Bagskart. The average size of Valyoo's order is around Rs 2,000 so as a firm it is clocking revenues of around Rs 10 lakh a day or around Rs 3 crore a month. Their next milestone is to register 3,000- 4,000 orders a day by the end of 2012.

Valyoo Technologies is also looking at a fresh round of funding. "Though we are in a passive mode now and not exactly approaching VCs. But yes, we would need more money to grow the business, if not immediately, but in the near future. We will be looking at raising 'significantly' more compared to what we raised last year," said Bansal.

Last October, Valyoo Technologies raised $4 million in first round of funding from IDG Ventures India, a $150 million technology venture capital fund. The next round of funding will be used to propel growth by expanding warehouse capacity, improving customer support, building a stronger team and going deep into the existing segments and increasing their product range."When one comes to our store, he/she must be convinced that we have the maximum range. That would be our marketing strategy. Our goal will be to constantly increase our range," said Bansal.

Talking about challenges Bansal says, "Getting the right set of people is the most difficult job. I spend more than 70 per cent of my time in recruiting people. Perhaps, the only differentiating factor for all e-commerce portals is the set of people you are working with."

While Valyoo has been betting on the strategy of opening separate sites for different e-com verticals, the company does not want to digress beyond the fashion business.

"We will not sell electronic products. Valyoo will be an affordable fashion luxury. We want to create a space for ourselves something in between a Louis Vuitton and street bags or cheap frames or an Armani or Ray Ban. Any segment which would allow us to do this, we will foray into," said Bansal.'