Notes from
the floor.
What we are learning operating Indian commerce, written for the people who have to make the call. No thought-leadership filler.
The First 90 Days of Launching a D2C Brand in India
The first 90 days of a D2C launch should buy evidence, not vanity revenue. One channel, one hero SKU, one repeatable loop, even as quick-commerce fees climb.
BrandBuilding a Brand System That Survives Marketplace and Quick-Commerce Listings
Your brand has to read on a 200-pixel Blinkit tile and a cluttered Amazon row, not just your homepage. Design identity for the listing, not the lookbook.
Quick CommerceWhy Your Blinkit Dark-Store Availability Score Matters More Than Your Ad Spend
On quick commerce, in-stock at the dark-store level is the real ranking and conversion lever. Out of stock, your ad budget just funds rivals.
GrowthBlended CAC Is Lying to You: The Case for Channel-Level Attribution
A healthy blended CAC hides one channel subsidising another's waste. With quick-commerce ROAS diverging from Meta, channel-level truth matters more than ever.
MarketplacesThe Amazon India Listing Suppression Recovery Playbook
A suppressed ASIN on Amazon India is an operations emergency, not a support ticket. Brands with a pre-built runbook lose hours, not weeks. Here is ours.
Operations LogisticsWorking Capital Is the Real Constraint on Marketplace Growth
Most marketplace brands in India do not stall on demand. They stall on cash. Payment cycles, rising fees and inventory quietly strangle proven growth.
Marketplace StrategyVernacular and Voice Search: How Real India Searches Marketplaces
Bharat shops in Hinglish, by voice, and now via AI assistants, so English-only keyword sets leave real buyer demand invisible to your listings.
Marketplace StrategyTapping Tier-2 and Tier-3 Demand on Indian Marketplaces
Tier-3 cities now drive 38% of ecommerce orders, but pricing, pack sizes and COD all need rebuilding before Bharat demand converts for your brand.
Brand LaunchTata CLiQ Onboarding for Premium and Lifestyle Brands
Tata CLiQ rewards brands that arrive with a story and premium imagery. Here is how to prep the assets the platform actually wants before you onboard.
Growth PerformanceThe Subscribe-and-Save Lever Most FMCG Brands Ignore on Amazon
Subscribe and Save locks in repeat revenue and steadies forecasting, and with quick-commerce ad costs eroding FMCG margins, it matters more than ever.
Data AnalyticsSKU Rationalization: Killing the Long Tail That Is Bleeding You
A bloated catalogue hides loss-making SKUs behind aggregate revenue. With quick-commerce fees rising, cut the long tail to fund the winners.
Data AnalyticsSettlement Reconciliation: Are Marketplaces Actually Paying You Right?
Indian marketplaces miscalculate fees and drop settlements more often than brands assume. Reconcile every payout or accept that you are quietly being shorted.
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