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Pakistan is surrounded by booming economies of China and India. The two countries have experienced tremendous growth in their e-commerce sector which in turn has established their strong hold in the international market. Flipkart and Ali Baba are successful examples that are transforming the ecosystem of Asian e-commerce. Their ventures have attracted billions in investments, and have contributed to steady economic growth.
For a couple of years, the key players of the Pakistani e-commerce sector have been Daraz, Kaymu and Homeshopping. Clikky (www.clikky.com) is a new yet strong entrant to the local online marketplaces. From fashion to gadgets, Clikky is home to thousands of quality products under each category. Before dwelling into the local online market, the venture had already identified its competition and penned down a survival strategy to emerge as a successful online marketplace.
How Clikky taps the rapidly growing e-commerce market in Pakistan? The answer lies in the newly established yet constantly growing trustworthy relationship of customers with online stores. Our e-commerce market stands at $30 million of sales annually which is expected to reach over $600 million by 2017. Two factors that have contributed to the growth of local e-commerce sector are the increased penetration of mobile internet with smartphone usage and business opportunities for delivery startups and online payment initiatives. There are 30 million 3G/4G users in Pakistan, 2.2 million broadband users and 12.6 million monthly active users on social media. These numbers are expected to go triple by 2020 and hold a promise for new startups that are looking to explore the local e-commerce market.
The Startup
Clikky.com is an e-commerce site providing a wide array of products. Be it fashion, gifts or gadgets the site has a considerable number of SKUs (Stock Keeping Unit) in each category. This e-commerce venture is not re-inventing the wheel of online marketplaces in Pakistan; however it is set to transform the marketplaces through technology. While bringing in more retailers and consumers to the site, the founders are also making sure they are up scaling the technology they are using. The focus categories for the online market place is Men, Women and Kids Fashion, Toys & Gifts, and Mobiles & Tablets. Clikky is targeting to provide a smooth buying experience for the customers. You can track your orders once they have been dispatched and if you are disappointed by a Clikky product, you can also get your cash back and not a voucher. Clikky also offers various discounts and daily offers for its buyers.
At the moment, the only challenge they believe is how quickly they could scale? And how many merchants they can acquire? For this purpose, they are putting strong efforts towards merchant acquisition. They have recently partnered with online merchants for mobile gadgets. Their target at the moment is to have 50,000 SKUs across all categories to become one of the powerful e-commerce ventures of Pakistan. The founders are positive about their efforts and believe they can upscale by adding distinctive technology features on their site for a smooth user experience.
See Also: A conversation with, Adam Dawood, Country Head of Kaymu Pakistan
The Founders and Team
Muhammad Khalid and Shahzad Sherazi go a long way back. They had been college mates, went to Manchester Business School together and have known each other for fifteen years. While being associated with the telecom industry, they tried their hands on a couple of small ventures that failed to emerge successful in the market. Khalid developed a keen interest towards e-commerce and started observing the booming e-commerce market in India. The previous year in November, Khalid and Shehzad kickstarted the product development phase of their own e-commerce venture for Pakistan. Thus, Clikkky was born in April.
Clikky kickstarted with the funds of its co-founders and the support of family and friends. The core team consists of 5 people hailing from technology and business backgrounds working on a lean model.
The Numbers
Two factors that determine the success of an e-commerce site are the number of visitors and transactions the site is bringing in. The first month turned out to be very tough for Clikky with hardly 20-30 visitors per day. If there were 1000 visitors to the site, only 2% were buying. The third month was a turning point for the startup. There were more than 100 transactions being processed and the number of visitors escalated to 15,000 – 20,000. With only few months into the lucrative market, Clikky has a convergence rate of 1.5 and more than 30% are returning customers. The hottest selling categories are Men’s Fashion and Women Jewelry.
Clikky vs Daraz & Kaymu
According to the co-founder, Clikky is just another e-commerce site, however, it will soon establish itself distinctly through the technology and features they will be bringing in. For instance, a merchant can upload 5000 products on Clikky in a single go. They are also working on various features such as comparison of prices and quality of products and plan to revamp the site in six months. Clikky is not afraid to be eaten by the big fish of the sea such as Daraz and Kaymu. To be a part of the league of Daraz and Kaymu, their key focus at the moment is to build a strong marketplace with 50,000 SKUs across all categories. Right now, Clikky is not handling its own inventory and following the business model of Daraz. However, they are soon dwelling to also adopt the Kaymu model with their own logistics infrastructure. Clikky has also collaborated with Blue Ex for logistics support.
It is worth noting here that Clikky is not backed by a multinational e-commerce business. With just three months of online life, Clikky has started to establish an identity of its own. In order to survive the lucrative competition of the local e-commerce market, Clikky will have to incorporate more interactive features to add value to its user experience. As the new features were highlighted by the founders, we believe they can fuel the progress of the venture by leaps and bounds. If a local e-commerce venture can emerge as a strong competition for the already established online marketplaces, it will be a confidence boosters for many other ventures to follow suit.
