Bangalore, August 7, 2023: Meesho, India’s only true e-commerce marketplace, today announced a historic achievement of becoming the first horizontal e-commerce company in India to turn profitable. This landmark moment not only solidifies its position as a trailblazer in the Indian e-commerce landscape but also serves as a strong validation of Meesho’s innovative business model. The company has attained profitability at a consolidated PAT level, encompassing all costs (including ESOP), across all its divisions and categories. Setting out on its ambitious path to profitability last year, Meesho accomplished this industry-first feat well ahead of the expected timeline, as of July’ 23.
In the last 12 months, Meesho has experienced remarkable growth, with order volumes soaring by 43%, culminating in over a billion orders. This success is further underscored by the fact that 85% of the orders have come from returning users, demonstrating robust user retention. Meesho's truly horizontal nature is evident as non-fashion categories have surged by over 120% in this period, demonstrating the platform's diverse appeal. Notably, Meesho's commitment to sustainable growth is apparent with every category being profitable on a standalone basis.
Contributing to this success, the revenue over the last 12 months surged by an impressive 54%, driven by substantial growth in order volumes and monetization rate.
Despite significant reductions in customer acquisition cost (CAC) and marketing spends by 80% (YoY), Meesho remains the most downloaded shopping app in India, underscoring the company's organic strength and strong word-of-mouth. Serving over 140 million unique transacting users in the last 12 months, Meesho continues to revolutionize the e-commerce landscape in India.
Meesho also celebrated significant wins in various operational metrics, with the company recording a 60% YoY reduction in tech costs, further bolstering its operational efficiency.
Meesho's remarkable journey continues to gain momentum, with its current run rate soaring to an impressive 3.5 million orders per day. What sets Meesho apart as a true industry leader is its unparalleled capital efficiency, attributed to the structural advantage of its innovative and asset-lite business model. This unique approach allows Meesho to maintain quality and scalability while ensuring inherently lower costs.
Vidit Aatrey, CEO and Founder at Meesho, said “Celebrating this momentous achievement, we are humbled and proud to witness Meesho's bold aspiration of becoming profitable come to fruition. Since our inception, we have been driven by a vision to empower millions of small businesses, entrepreneurs and customers, and today's milestone is a testament to the unwavering dedication of the entire Meesho family. As the first horizontal e-commerce platform to achieve profitability in India, we remain committed to driving sustainable growth, democratizing e-commerce for everyone and unlocking the true potential of India's heartland.”
Meesho operates on a 0% commission model, providing a lucrative proposition for its sellers who happen to be small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. By curating a diverse range of unique, high-quality products at competitive prices, Meesho effectively caters to the preferences of its diverse customer base. The company's unwavering commitment to inclusivity is evident in its strategic focus on servicing tier 3 and tier 4 cities, extending its reach to new-to-e-commerce users. By offering products at affordable prices, Meesho not only empowers sellers but also enables millions of customers across India's heartland to access a wide variety of goods at low costs, further democratizing e-commerce for all. Meesho’s asset light model with 80% utilization in third-party logistics providers also contributed to the creation of positive unit economics, providing a competitive advantage.
2023 has been an exciting and notable year for Meesho with back-to-back coveted wins such as world’s fastest shopping app to register 500 million downloads, India’s fastest e-commerce platform to cross 1 million seller base, and lastly, earning the recognition of TIME’s 100 most influential companies in 2023.
