UnWrapIndia

Prakash Ladia

I have been seeing the progress of UnWrapIndia right from their early days. And about 6 months from launch, they seem quite nicely placed. Looking at the traffic and the buzz among people I know, I think they are seeing good growth.

On the technology side, what impressed me is that they have built it from scratch, which gives them a lot of flexibility. They can change the look and feel overnight, add features at will that most open source based e-commerce sites can't. Although their UI was questionable at best about 4 months back, I think they have given it some serious consideration and now the website looks very clean and professional.

Their business side is their core competency. At least half of the products on their website are not available elsewhere, at least from what I have seen online. This adds a lot of value to their USP. One has to go to their website to get these unique products that have been manufactured by Indian artisans and NGOs. This also gives them a chance to pitch to corporates for CSR, which I am sure they are either doing or have just started. Their merchandising is by far the best when it comes to Indian handicrafts.

As for the revenues, I see a variety of venues that these guys can explore. Looking at what has been done right and done wrong in the handicraft industry and closely knowing a couple of people from the UnWrapIndia team, I am fairly confident that these guys will go the distance. They will grow and so will the artisans who have tied up with them. I wish them great success in the future.

Ritesh M Nayak

 1. Business: I think they are in the unique business of selling "100% Indian made items". This model of selling indigenous items has seen a huge upsurge in the US with Etsy and I think UWI is in a great place ready to do the same for the Indian market. It is also a great model because they provide e-commerce front ends to many independent vendors and manufacturers who do not have the necessary technical know how. Cash on Delivery and a good delivery/return policies should make the Indian consumer comfortable using and buying from UWI. 

 2. Technology Platform: Even though I do not have access to the code base or have done a full review of the code, the basics of web technology and the infrastructure seems to have been taken care when building UWI. The payment gateway integration and the shopping cart setup looks solid. I also liked how the items, sellers and the products are individually categorized which adds to the usability of the portal. 

 3. Revenue Streams: There is great potential especially in Urban cities and second and third tier towns where these is increasing adoption of online buying. The site also brings artifacts not easily found in department stores/malls which gives the added incentive for people to buy online. Let's just say there are no such offline stores that pose a threat to the online business. With the abundance of festivals and occassions, and corporate gifting, UWI can appeal to a niche audience who have penchant for handicrafts and unique indigenous  goods.