Refurbished goods unlocking the retail opportunities

With rapidly changing business dynamics, process of procuring or selling goods has undergone tremendous change, and the latest craze is refurbished factory seconds-products, majorly including electronics, IT products among others. With vast untapped potential and the refurbished market, India has a great potential for the coming years and decades, says Amit Gupta, Co-founder & Director, Surpluss.in during a conversation with Retailer media.

What is Surpluss all about and how do you aim to create difference in market with this portal?

Surpluss.in is a store for Unboxed, Refurbished, Surplus and New Product Deals. It is a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce Company, started by a group of likeminded entrepreneurs having decades of experience in sales, logistics and information technology. The Company is primarily engaged in the sales of overstocked, unboxed, refurbished products, ranging from high-end mobile phones and tablets and other general merchandise on the Internet. Our brand offer customers the smartest way to buy their dream product at reduced price with brand assurance.

What is its business model?

Surpluss.in is is working on inventory model and exclusively deals in overstocked, unboxed, refurbished products, ranging from high-end mobile phones and tablets to apparels and many more. We are already selling products from Samsung, LG, HTC and other brands in the mobile and tablet segments. In addition, Surpluss has gained a lot of popularity in its recently-introduced apparel category covering jeans, footwear, sarees and other summer wear like bikinis. In the apparel and lifestyle categories, the company has products from Levis, Benetton, CK, Guess, Zara, Armani, Gant, Ishimaya, and a host of other elite brands

How potential does the refurbished industry holds?

There is a huge market opportunity in this segment, which is mostly being handled in an unorganized manner currently. Internal estimates of Surpluss put this opportunity at around $20 billion, which is expected to grow to $50 bn by 2020. The 45 per cent Smartphone penetration along with the 3X increase in average household income by 2020 makes this industry the most promising sector. In addition, organized retail is rapidly shifting online among top 75 cities. 40% organized retail is through online channels catering to 400 million strong middle class.

Globally, US and Europe are very mature markets. The consumers understand what a refurbished product is. Factors such as rapidly increasing Smartphone penetration, improving average household income, and people want to upgrade their products very fast, are propelling the growth of these countries.

What are the challenges in refurbished industry?

 We don't foresee any such challenges as we are operating in a niche category where our target consumer is aware about the product or services he is getting from us. As per our vision, we cater to people's aspirations. Great brands at great prices with great user experience.

How do you plan to scale up your business and in how many years?

We intend to clock $50 million in 2 years time. In 3 years from now we want to see Surpluss occupy the top mindshare among the digital crowd. So before buying a mobile or jeans or laptop or sneaker, consumers should hunt it on Surpluss.

Lately, the company has started venturing into emerging online categories like home decor, home furnishing, health care, fashion jewellery, and lingerie. All new categories introduced are aligned with the company's vision of 'Powering People's Aspirations'. This basically means providing aspiration brands at a 'never before' price. Along with addition of new categories, Surpluss.in has also expanded its existing categories & sub-categories with more products.

In healthcare, for instance, Surpluss has added digital healthcare gadgets like glucose monitor, digital blood pressure monitors, leg and feet massager, infrared walkers etc. The brand is also developing a mobile app to further enhance the seamless shopping experience of its consumers.

Whom do you see as your competitor?

Greendust, and Overcart.

How do you source these products for refurbishing--from the companies or from the consumers?

Returns can happen from customers, retailers, or manufacturing process. A vast majority of these returns are not for reasons of defect. It could be because the buyer had a change of mind about the colour, or the packing box was open or slightly damaged on arrival, or maybe the operating manual or accessories were missing, or a demo piece, carton damage, obsolete, or even surplus stock.

In fact, a lot of items classified as refurbished aren't actually customer used products. And as the law goes, a return cannot be sold as new again. There where the role of Surpluss.in comes in.

We are buying from multiple sources – brands / national distributors directly. And another new source is e commerce stores like flipkart, snapdeal, amazon...etc. Import is not feasible as Indian government has not allowed due to stringent anti-dumping law in the country.