Shopo climbs the social ladder, adds features

Chennai-based Shopo Technologies Pvt Ltd, an online marketplace which connects buyers and sellers backed by a group of VCs and angel investors including Seeders and Sri Capital, is unleashing a slew of social media features as it moves to ramp up its business.

Shopo has introduced a Facebook connect feature that enables users to integrate their Facebook profile to their Shopo profile, share their own experiences and also see what products their  friends are liking or buying. For sellers, a feature called the seller dashboard, which allows the sellers to view analytics for their own stores, make changes to their shops, apply for new shops, access sales and payment reports and more features will be added soon.

Shopo was founded by Krithika Nelson and Theyagarajan S last year and as Krithika puts it, it was a "two-member team with an office in a friend's place". It is basically a marketplace which connects buyers with sellers. The unique thing about their product assortment is that it is from independent designers, labels and even artisans, who need a platform to showcase and sell their products. In January, it received its first round of institutional funding and is currently looking for Series A funding. The two-member team has now swelled to about 25 and more additions are on the cards as they scout for funds.

"We definitely want to increase that number so that we can have a broader reach across the country. Also, we are looking at adding many new features on our portal which is why we need some capital," Krithika said.

Shopo has grown from an initial of 1-2 orders per day to around 200-plus shipments a day. The company ships products to six countries including the US, UK, UAE and Australia. As an e-shop,  it competes with e-commerce players like Yebhi.com, Jabong.com, Indiaplaza, etc but within its product categories and range the key players are Afday.com, and Shopick.com.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)