At Eunimart we are on a mission to Eunify Global Commerce – 30+ ecommerce marketplaces across 100 countries, retail, distribution management, and B2B sales –  combined with an end to end supply chain management system to manage everything from sourcing, warehousing, 3PL management, 30+ shipping partners integrated and returns management, plus a suite of marketing solutions  through a single platform. 

Hold on. We have more. This is now open source, meaning you can build your own apps, customise the workflows and integrate any external software. You are receiving this Newsletter via email as we believe that you have an interest in the ecommerce market and would appreciate news and views on the latest developments therein. 

What’s New? 

Lots! We have been on a partnership spree recently, signing up US and India-based marketplaces, shipping and warehousing partners, and other collaborations. Look out for some of our recent PR releases around these partnerships.

Product:

The new platform is out and check out the technical documentation here. Also check out the POCs for IPAAS, Cataloguing AI, Marketplaces importing from international brands.

Updates about Eunimart

Today, Eunimart is helping larger companies build/manage their own suite for selling omnichannel and going global. Our latest release uses AI to solve some of the toughest ecommerce selling challenges. 

Want to get a sneak peek? Here is my calendar for your convenience. I will be happy to demo it to you. 

2022 has been a stellar year for us so far. Some of  our top achievements have been:

1. The launch of the new platform obviously takes the cake. This has been a phenomenal journey, from concept to realisation of a full-fledged working platform built in a very composable and open architecture to scale and manage the requirements from small businesses to multinational companies.
2. Our US launch has seen some success with some fairly large partnerships under process
3. We have kickstarted a referral sales and a channel partnerships program. Some of the solutions in Eunimart’s Enterprise Product Suite in addition to targeting large DTC brands and house of brands are:

1. Mall in Your Pocket: Targeting Mid and Large sized Malls looking to adopt eCommerce and create eMalls.

2. Marketplace Tech 2.0: House of brands, existing mid-size Marketplaces, or Retailers and Supermarkets looking to create, or upgrade, their ecommerce marketplaces.

3. Fulfilment / 3PL Tech: Mid-size Logistics (last mile) and warehousing providers who are looking for automation solutions.

I also want to talk about a rather sensitive subject that I hold dear to my heart – Crisis Leadership. In 2016, when I started Eunimart, the broad vision was to help small businesses overcome ecommerce challenges with the ultimate goal being to make ecommerce a more level playing field. Hence, the past 6 years have been nothing short of a thrilling roller-coaster ride to say the least.

The Covid 19 Pandemic determined the directional flow of my own personal journey and also of Eunimart’s growth story, not to mention almost everyone alive. However, the overtone is largely autobiographical and leans heavily into my own entrepreneurial experiences.

Pre-COVID, things were shaping up rather nicely as there was growth on the personal as well as the business front. We’d just moved into a nice apartment. Additionally, after two years of research and development and with the intention of simultaneously disrupting the three sub-domains of logistics/supply chain, e-commerce and retail – we had just launched our new software which enabled SMEs to make crossborder sales across multiple marketplaces. We were on the verge of raising another round of funds and had a few project commitments in the pipeline. 

However, the sudden lockdown stymied things as we came close to shutting shop due to paucity of funds and lack of business clients who themselves were hit hard. Consequently, we weren’t able to really test the efficacy of our platform while also having to somehow embrace the uncertainty and hopelessness that loomed large over the entire planet. Consequently, we moved into a humbler apartment as a cost cutting measure. Retaining the team became imperative for a variety of reasons but the lack of funds was tough to grapple with. 

So, we internally convinced the team to stay on board at half the pay as it was mutually beneficial, all things considered. Still, overall team morale was deflated across the board, despite the fact that it was a young and dynamic bunch. The silver lining was that owing to our streamlined process and operations management framework we were able to adopt the remote working model fairly easily. 

Regardless, the first half of 2021 was marked by a mass exodus of our Operations and Tech teams as they got job offers from bigger brands, with handsome remuneration as well as flexible working models.  Understandably, one was and is cognisant of the fact that this could objectively raise suspicions by pointing to gaps and lapses in the company culture. 

However, it is worth noting that from a leadership standpoint – maintaining a robust work culture and offering adequate perks along with a healthy work life balance can be incredibly difficult when one is functioning in survival mode just to keep the ship afloat as lives were literally on the line. People make personal choices that are best suited to their situation. 

Personally, I saved up on rent by putting up in the conference room at our office during the second half of 2021. This phase was also marked by a three month workation in Goa which helped alleviate my frustration. 

Meanwhile, we also managed to make a major sale in the Middle East by shifting focus onto the Middle East based enterprises instead of Indian SMEs as our target market and we were eventually able to raise some investment funds because of which all pending salaries were paid in full, with interest. 

Thereafter, I channelised my energy towards rebuilding our tech/supply chain platform while making it compliant for enterprise use cases in the Middle East. 

Thankfully, this period also saw us raising a decent round of funding for the very first time while also rebuilding the team. All this enabled me to relocate to the US and set up operations there, having joined Techstars in Los Angeles. We were making major strides. 

In 2022, things finally started to fall into place as some of the new team hires really took ownership. Sourav, CTO, and Angad, GM India, deserve special mention. 

When I now reflect retrospectively, on one hand I’m filled with a sense of relief, joy and fulfilment but I also realise that biting off more than one can chew and punching way above one’s weight can yield different outcomes for different people as circumstances and externalities have a huge role to play in this context – so following the beaten path or deviating from it are both personal choices which can and should be well thought out. However, persistence and perseverance typically always pays. 

In hindsight, I strongly believe that even when things got dark and depressing for me while support was scarce, I actually drew strength and reassurance from my own sense of judgement and discernment and took some seemingly risky leaps of faith treating them as opportunities for success which ultimately stood me in good stead. The long and short of it is, effective decision making stems from playing to one’s strengths but also being aware of one’s limitations. The old adage “Fortune favours the brave” seems to be right after all.

Best,

Shayak

At Eunimart, we have been asking questions and framing problems on behalf of brands, retailers and supply chain companies. Our vision is to help companies generate more revenue with a futuristic approach and growth trajectory. We have built a full stack of AI tools to bolster revenue, supply chain and omnichannel distribution combined with an incredibly flexible and advanced open source platform equipped with multiple tools to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs who dare to dream.

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