Meet India’s first B2B online liquidation platform- Mr. Apoorv Bhatt, CEO & Co-founder, Eolstocks.com (Interview)

In addition to taking shelf space, surplus stock ties up capital and can keep one from re-investing in their business or buying things they actually need. That is why regularly paying attention to inventory data is so important. However, liquidating excess inventory is not an easy task, both because there are not enough platforms available and if one follows a traditional route to clear up surplus merchandise, they usually do not get a good return. These factors, all together, contributed to the birth of Eolstocks.com, India’s first B2B online liquidation platform for non-moving and slow moving inventory to free up cash or working capital.

Eolstocks.com bring together retailers, wholesalers, and OEM manufacturers. The company’s Android/ iPhone app enables faster liquidation of inventory and is powered by intelligent technology, robust infrastructure, and an intuitive design.

The B2B online liquidation platform currently caters to mobiles and other electronic devices like laptops, tablets etc. The plan is to expand the operations to other sectors by the end of this year.

The platform has a presence in 6+ cities of India with 200+ active customers and 2000 listed products. Its GMV stands at 50+ crores till date since inception. Every day, a total of 20-30 L worth of transactions happen on the platform and the company has reported a 50% increase in its revenue every quarter.

Founded in 2018 by Apoorv Bhatt and Gopal Panchal, Eolstocks.com is trusted by hundreds of retailers and wholesalers for their inventory liquidation and management. The online platform enables them to receive better business deals at low costs in unexplored territories. Additionally, it provides its customers access to a wider network across the country. With more than 5k products offered by various sellers, the platform supports trade in an unprecedented manner. The platform does not only facilitate liquidation but also ensures hassle free logistics management wherein a shipment is picked up and delivered safely to the buyer. Further, as per the company, online transactions on the platform meet the highest level of security and safeguards.

 

Whereas, if we talk about Mr. Apoorv, he is an experienced Technical Lead and according to him, consuming technology and creating technology are two different skills. As a Founder, he had to gain this expertise through strenuous hard work. Formerly he collaborated with a few techies to give a shape to his proposition but failed miserably. He succeeded in the second attempt with a trusted team of technology experts who are now driving the innovation of the firm and he also ensures that he understands every aspect of what is happening at the technological end.

His endeavours and his in depth knowledge of the liquidation industry led him to emanate a profitable startup that has a turnover of 50 crores now. With excellent unit economics of Eolstocks.com within 12 months, Apoorv has been exceptionally successful in sustaining his company through all kind of times.

However, to know further how company is doing and keep progressing since the Pandemic and what are its further near future goals; we recently have an interaction with Mr Apoorv, here are some bits of that…

 

 

What is EOL Stocks all about, could you please enlighten us with the idea behind it?

We are India’s 1st B2B Online Liquidation platform for “non-moving and slow-moving” inventory. We solely focus on slow-moving stocks and help SMEs control their working capital better. We bring together retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers on one single platform. Our Android/ iPhone app enables faster liquidation of inventory and is powered by intelligent technology, robust infrastructure, and an intuitive design.

Our years of experience in process optimization and user experience enable our customers to work in simpler and smarter ways. The easy-to-use application lets them discover buyers or sellers, connect directly, and do business on their terms.

How EOL stock stands itself out from the rest of the e-commerce platform selling products online?

Our app/ web service enables businesses to liquidate their stocks online in any part of the country. We are India’s 1st organized B2B liquidation platform for slow-moving stocks and do not have a direct competitor in India as yet. UDAAN is the closest to being a competitor, but then it is a pure-play B2B online distribution platform and caters to fast-moving stocks.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the Indian economy, how EOL technology helps in boosting their businesses?

Hundreds of retailers and wholesalers have trusted EOLStocks with their inventory liquidation. Our online platform enables them to receive better business deals at low costs in all major cities as well as Tier 2/3/4 cities and towns. We give them access to hundreds of buyers and 2k+ products listed by various sellers. We not only facilitate liquidation but also take care of the logistics associated with it. The shipments are picked up from the sellers and delivered safely to the buyer. Our platform meets the highest level of online security and all transactions are secure.

The pandemic has affected every sector while giving a boost to the e-commerce industry. What are the positive and negative effects of it you are facing?

The entire e-commerce industry is experiencing a boom amidst the pandemic, and we are doing good as well.  After a couple of weeks of lockdown, our business started picking up as businesses were compelled to conduct transactions online.  We are ramping up our technology as well as operations to be ready for the increased demand. Another important factor of our growth has been the mobile phones sector, which has a major contribution to our revenue. With the increased use of mobile phones due to most people staying at home, the demand has picked up.  Smartphones are transcending from an add-on to the lifestyle to a necessity, in even the tier 2 and tier 3 cities, all because of the pandemic.

What is your next 5-year road map?

We are pushing for pan India expansion of eolstocks.com and expecting to grow 2x in the next 6 months. We have already expanded into categories like electronics, groceries, and staples. We are now the official liquidation partners for a leading retail chain across the country and plan to sign up some more contracts by the end of the year. On the tech front, we plan to bring AI and ML to our platform to provide our customers a world-class experience and diffuse the lines between online and offline even more.

Being E-Commerce Tech-Startup, how will you evaluate the growth of the company since the inception?

We started EOLStocks in 2018, and we have 80+ Crores GMV to date. Every day 20-30 L worth of transactions happen on our platform. We have more than 1600+ active Customers and 2K+ products listed on our app.

We have a presence in 6 cities across the country- Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Mumbai, Chandigarh, and Bhopal. We have an extensive 3PL network of service providers as well to provide logistics and customer support across the country. We have shipped more than 90k+ units to 70+ cities or towns in India till now.

We recorded a 200% growth in 2019-2020. We are gearing up to scale our solution across multiple categories/ sectors.

As far as the market is concerned, the B2B market in India is predicted to be around $700 Bn in 2020 and B2B e-commerce is expected to have a CAGR of 10% over the next five years. There are 50-60 million SMEs in India alone. An average retailer has 15-20% of its inventory slow-moving with no formal platform for inventory liquidation available.

As EOL enables Retailers/Brands to trade their inventory with real-time prices, so what type of technology integration is there to make sure the deals would be transparent & secure without any discrepancies?

The pricing of the inventory on our platform is managed by the suppliers. However, we set the maximum and minimum limit of the price on every product so that the price is not skewed. Another measure that we take is we take advance payment from the buyer but only transfer the payment to the supplier upon goods delivery to tackle any post-sale issues. We perform stringent checks before onboarding anyone as a supplier to make sure our customers have a secure and trustworthy environment for their business.

What are the services that you provide?

We enable our customers to liquidate their stocks online across the country, and we even take care of logistics. All our transactions happen on a secure platform, and we strive to achieve the best customer experience.  We keep in touch with our customers via phone, email, SMS, and WhatsApp to ensure that the app adoption and usage are high.  As of now, we operate in mobile phones, electronics, and groceries sector.