Jio Vs Zepto war, GIVA's ₹225 Cr. funding & PaisaBazaar's offline play ✨
This week’s top 3 business stories, simplified.
This is a special edition. Because we cover not 1 but 3 topics in one newsletter. This change is a result of feedback we got from some of you. So, here we are. Today, we discuss Reliance’s entry into quick commerce, PaisaBazaar going offline, and GIVA’s ₹225 crore Series B funding. Let’s dive…
JioMart vs. Zepto War Zone 🛵
First, quick context:
Reliance’s JioMart wants to offer quick delivery in the top 7-8 cities and eventually scale up the service to over 1,000 cities. But this is not Reliance's first attempt in the quick commerce category – took a 22% stake in Dunzo in 2022, which didn’t work out well. Plus, it even killed its 90-minute grocery delivery service, JioMart Express, a year ago.
So, why this quick delivery game again?
The answer lies in two things—FOMO and the right to win. Every large e-commerce player—including Flipkart, Amazon, and BigBasket—is trying to enter quick commerce. They don’t want to miss the bus, period. There is no unit economics logic there. Also, the bottom up city penetration plan can be game-changing.
Now, Jio Mart has 2 rights to win - retail space “offline” execution could give an unfair advantage in setting dark stores at the right spots using the data advantage, grabbing prime spots quickly at prime high-order density locations within tens of major Indian cities.
The second right to win– pricing & membership.
Reliance is notorious for playing pricing wars - they did so by launching Jio with free voice calls and making data super cheap. They could do something similar by allowing zero delivery & platform fees on every order and can also enable an interesting subscription play like Costco in the US.
For those who don’t know the Costco model, it’s simple. Costco, one of the largest commerce giants in the US, generates its core revenue from membership fees, which give members access to the warehouse and significant discounts. The same could happen with quick commerce giants, too.
PaisaBazaar's offline move 🏦
First, quick context:
PaisaBazaar has set up a field team of around 100 people in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, targeting secured credit products like home loans and loans against property. You might wonder why the first online platform launched something offline.
If you listen to what PaisaBazaar CEO said, “We had home loans in the past, too, but consumers would check on our platform and typically close the deal through their builders, bank branch, or property dealer. With a physical presence, we hope to fill that gap in our service delivery.”
He is hinting that it's hard to sell home loans online. The trust for such a large loan does not exist. This is true for most categories, such as a D2C company like Wakefit. After going online, they had to go offline to change that ₹100 Cr → ₹1,000 Cr journey, and it will keep happening in DTC as more omnichannel becomes a critical lever.
Fun fact: RBI’s new rules have tightened the unsecured credit game, so the company aggressively wants to take secured credit from 15% to 50% of the total business.
Most Indians trust brands that advertise via TV, newspapers or billboards.
The thought process is simple—“Yeh Company Nahi Doobega”→ they must have money to do all this→ and they will be around for a while.” In India, discovery happens via online, but trust is built offline.
GIVA's ₹225 Cr. fundraise 💎
First, quick context:
GIVA is a fine jewelry brand famous for its lab-grown diamonds. For context, lab-grown diamonds can cost only a fraction of mined natural diamonds. GIVA’s strategy over the years has been simple: start with silver → offer great affordable but modern designs → expand into gold and diamond → go more offline. In fact, this is where most of the funds would go.But GIVA’s isn’t alone. This space is catching the VC's heat.
Titan completed a 98% stake ownership in Caratlane last year.
Bluestone raised funds from Accel, Peak XV, Nikhil Kamath, and more.
So, what’s with the funding spree in jewelry brands?
Indians want affordable luxury. We are being more aspirational and these brands are doing a solid job here by giving the most top-notch designs at affordable prices. Fun fact: the $100B Indian jewelry market is so huge that Titan (the market leader) only has a 5 to 10% market share, so a big market is up for grabs.But, what’s the bigger picture?
In the long run, all new-age jewelry brands will focus heavily on building trust. In India, as you transition towards buying more expensive jewelry, a brand’s trust becomes critical. For ex: Caratlane benefitted a hell lot from the “Tanishq” branding. The real play for these brands will be on driving repeat purchases and upselling higher-end jewelry by building more trust.
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