Akshaya Rath
March, 2014
A Case Study
BidNEMO is India's 1st transaction-enabled B2B e-Marketplace. A venture of Keyline IT Solutions, BidNEMO has countless categories and hundreds of latest active tenders for customers to browse and select from. In this e-marketplace, customers can close the deal much quicker than in other e-marketplaces.
Why Bidnemo Was Setup
The birth of BidNEMO was the culmination of a vision to create a platform where buyers and sellers can directly interact with each other and transactions can take place without the involvement of a third party. We wanted to create a platform where buyers will have the advantage, the final say. We have been successful in doing so.
Idea
BidNEMO is a free reverse bidding portal headquartered at Kolkata, West Bengal. The portal is dedicated to bring fairness into the process of buying and selling. The idea behind BidNEMO was to automate the buying needs of consumers and provide sellers the opportunity to approach real buyers who have serious buying intent.
Opportunity
There was not a single website of this type when we started. But there were plenty of buyers looking for the right price to buy a quality product. Also, there were hundreds of sellers eager to sell quality products. We realized that the time was perfect for launching a free bidding platform where buyers won't have to pay anything to reach vendors. And today, BidNEMO has over one lac unique vendors to cater to various needs of countless buyers.
Gap
In the traditional auction model, buyers have to buy at the price specified by the seller. But in BidNEMO, buyers can put forth a price proposition according to their budget and the sellers are the ones who have to provide the product at that price. It is up to the buyers to decide which seller they would go for depending on the seller's experience, reputation, business profile and the like. We believe we have bridged the gap between buyers and sellers by introducing a model where buyers have the power to close a deal on their terms, not the seller's terms.
How the Venture Was Setup
BidNEMO started out as an e-Tendering service provider. We began our journey with the aim to help everyone who is looking to buy goods at competitive prices. We had always believed in transparency and it is transparency that the concept of our portal is based on. There is transparency from the buyer's side as well as from the seller's side. It makes us extremely proud to state that we have successfully established transparency in our business model. Now buyers can choose from any product and/or service at a price that's suitable to their budget.
Funding
We were financed by the Rashmi Group, a Rs. 3000 crore company.
Location
BidNEMO is located in the Keyline IT Solutions Pvt. Ltd. office at Sector V, Salt Lake, the IT hub of Kolkata.
Target Customers
Our target customers are businesses looking for raw materials.
Pricing
We have just launched paid registration for vendors. Since it's a reverse auction portal, the pricing is very competitive for buyers. In fact, for bidders, the bidding fee could be as low as Rs. 50.
Time Period in Which It Was Done
All these things were completed in about 6 months.
Challenges Faced
When the reverse auction model came about, it was such a new thing that people were quite skeptical about it. They were not sure of the quality of products and we had to reiterate to them several times that apart from the model, everything else is like traditional bidding. We had to also train many vendors who were not computer-literate or familiar with doing business on the Internet.
Team
There are 6 teams in BidNEMO. The first team is the bid consultant team. Their job is to call suppliers, train them, and have them bid against the products on the portal. The second team is that of telecallers. They call suppliers and get them registered for paid services. Team 3 is the data team. Their job is to authenticate vendor details, help vendors register in the portal and help them to update their personal information and the items they have dealt in. Team no. 4 is the team of developers. They develop various modules for BidNEMO. Currently, we have e-tender and e-auction modules. Other modules that are under development include: indent model, contract management, and rate contract portal other than developing functionalities received from users. Currently, these are being developed in PHP and MySQL. The fifth team gets auction mandates from various customers and is responsible for executing reverse auctions to the satisfaction of clients. The typical deliverables of this team are getting new vendors, supplier adoption and/or boarding, price analysis, fixing start bid price, big decrement, conducting auction, assisting users during the auction event and preparing and submitting auction reports. Team 6 physically interacts with customers. Makes them familiar with the process and collects detailed requirements, co-ordinates with the operation team for agreed deliverables.
Business Model and USP
Option 1
BidNEMO is absolutely free for buyers. Bidders need to pay a tender fee which could be as low as Rs. 50 per enquiry.
Option 2
In this option, an annual registration fee of Rs. 5000 must be must be paid by the supplier. In return, he gets an online product catalogue to showcase his products and/or services along with credentials to ensure his visibility online. This option can also be used an additional website/selling platform for the vendor.
Reaction - the response to the business proposition, acceptance by customers, growth in sales, future plans
- 100,000+ domestic and international suppliers
- 750+ purchase officers
- 7,500+ enquiries processed
- 30,000+ bids processed
- 60+ categories
- 60+ subcategories
Conclusion
Simply put, BidNEMO has come a long way within a short time, beating many competitors who are still vying for customers' attention. We take our customers' needs very seriously. Our assistance is always available for those who wish to find a quality product from a reliable vendor at an affordable price.