Astro-backed Getit ropes in 6K merchants for its online marketplace in beta launch

Local search platform Getit Infomedia (previously known as Getit Infoservices) has added another monetisation channel with the launch of its online marketplace Getit Bazaar. The firm has already roped in around 6,000 merchants on the marketplace which is currently in its beta state, according to Jaspreet Bindra, CEO, Getit Infomedia.

Talking to Techcircle.in, he said Getit's business model is to bring together SMEs and buyers and then the transaction is done offline. "But in Getit Bazaar we are also helping their transactions. Getit Bazaar has around 6,000 stores on it in its beta mode and we are adding about 1,000 stores a month," he said.

Bindra said the firm is aiming to take this to over 20,000 stores within a year. Getit offers the platform, payment gateway, logistics, etc in this product.

This makes it the second such classifieds cum local listings site to move to a marketplace model. Earlier Sulekha had pivoted from being a pure classifieds site to adding an aggregation platform where other e-tailers' products are listed on the site. But in Sulekha's case, it is just an aggregator (like Amazon's Junglee.com) and the actual product can be bought from the e-tailer's site. In Getit Bazaar, the product can be purchased on the site itself.

The marketplace looks like other such ventures with categories such as apparel, mobiles, computers, cameras, toys, furnishings, etc. What it also does is listing the full address of the store that is selling any particular product. It offers free shipping on all products.

Talking about news reports referring to regulatory approval for funding, Bindra said the firm has not struck any fresh funding deal and the approval relates to a long-term financing of the firm of which part of the money has already been deployed.

He said Malaysia's Astro has been a strategic investor in the firm for a couple of years and has a majority stake. The firm is to bring funding in tranches. "To give you an example, we acquired Infomedia recently. Money was needed for the acquisition and our strategic investor brought in more," Bindra said.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)