Failing To Succeed: The Story Behind India's 1st E-Commerce Company
This book provides anecdotes of early Internet days in India and that of predatory investors. It also has stories of how copy can confuse beginners, like when a winner of a book contest thought the prize was actual soup.
Rahul Mathur
Now: Building @Insurance_Dekho Earlier: Founder @VerakInsurance (YC W21; acquired) Hiring for Eng, Marketing, Sales & Ops roles
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Recently finished reading "Failing To Succeed" - the story behind India's 1st e-commerce company.
— Rahul Mathur (@Rahul_J_Mathur) March 26, 2023
It has some great anecdotes of early Internet days in India (which we take for granted today) and that of predatory investors (which we still have today)
Takeaways worth sharing: -
1. Copy can confuse beginners
— Rahul Mathur (@Rahul_J_Mathur) March 26, 2023
- Fabmart ran a contest where winners would get a "Chicken Soup Set" (cook book collection)
- Now, this well before 2010 - one of the winners emailed back saying "sir, pls give vegetarian option"😂
- Winner thought prize was actual soup & not a book -
2. Jugaad to launch online cassette sales
— Rahul Mathur (@Rahul_J_Mathur) March 26, 2023
- Fabmart wanted to list music cassettes on its website (they needed to take photos of the front & back cover)
- They were told to buy one copy of each music cassette
- But, they didn't have the money... the solution? -
The founders offered to buy just the cassette covers (the plastic ones with details printed) for a small token amount.
— Rahul Mathur (@Rahul_J_Mathur) March 26, 2023
This was accepted by a bewildered music company executive.
The result? Large catalogue listed on Day 0 with minimal capital outlay. Classic jugaad :) -
3. Selling online jewellery on dial up internet
— Rahul Mathur (@Rahul_J_Mathur) March 26, 2023
- Fabmart encouraged customers to print out the ring photos & cut the ring out to TEST the sizes!
- This was a pure genius move: Customers had more confidence in their purchase & RTO (returns) were lower due to testing! -
Personally, I was unaware of the Fabmart's (later, Indiaplaza) profitable e-commerce model until I read the book - breathtaking to see this effort done in the early 2000s.
— Rahul Mathur (@Rahul_J_Mathur) March 26, 2023
Also, as a founder, it was disheartening to read of the company's experience with venture investors -
One final note - Fabmart's founder @vaitheek is actually active on social media & open for conversations (he reached out after I posted about reading his book)
— Rahul Mathur (@Rahul_J_Mathur) March 26, 2023
He's a real legend - figured out e-commerce metrics like CRR, CRC, GMV from 1st principles while most of us were kids!