When everything is feasible with online from searching to shopping, why can’t babies have an online shopping store for themselves? FirstCry.com is one of the online shopping stores launched products for tiny tots from Baby clothes to B’day & Gifts everything is sectioned on their website.
Baby steps of FirstCry.com
“Big store for little ones.”
FirstCry.com is Asia’s largest online portal for Baby and Kids products. It offers a wide range of baby care products and toys. The company’s primary focus is to provide products for babies, mommies, and children through an online network. The online shopping is all about infant to child wear, maternity apparel, toys and baby gear, school supplies and skincare products.
FirstCry.com is based in Pune, India. It’s headquarters regions are in Asia-Pacific founded in 2010 by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha.
Supam Maheshwari, is a first generation entrepreneur, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and Engineer graduate from Delhi College of Engineering. Before launching Firstcry.com, Supam was the co-founder and CEO of Brainvisa Technologies, the largest e-learning company from 2000 to 2009.
Why FirstCry.com?
During association with Brainvisa, Supam just become a father, he used to travel abroad frequently as possibilities for baby products in India were quite limited eight years back. During his business trips, used to buy a lot of baby stuff to India. Henceforth, he found an incredible way and coined FirstCry.com. If we look into the company’s market today, it became the largest online shopping portal for kids and moms-to-be in Asia.
What can we find in FirstCry?
In Supam Maheshwari’s words “FirstCry.com has an inventory of more than 90,000 items on its online platform. There is an inventory of around 15,000 to 20,000 products in our offline stores.”
FirstCry.com provides over 700 top International and Indian brands like Mattel, Ben10, Funskool, Hotwheels, Pampers, Disney, Barbie, Chicco, BSA, Babyhug and many top brands. In simple words, it’s like a megastore for parents finding it difficult to select the right brand for the kids. They offer mind-blowing varieties of baby care products at the reasonable prices to make every shopping experience great with the FirstCry.com. They sell apparels from breastfeeding to bathing essentials, toys, prams, strollers, etc., for kids till the age of 9 providing hassle-free online shopping.
Opportunities and challenges in the business
Urban India is characterized by a nuclear family with double income, are willing to shell out extra money on their children. As an increase in the tremendous demand for baby products with better brand image and quality, has gained a significant boost. Even though the business market is massive with more than USD 10 billion, Supam says that still there are several challenges in selling kids products and clothes online. There is a need to follow different strategies to win the customers and make them happy with shopping online. Need to keep innovating, improving and keeping in mind that gaining trusts in the minds of customers is all-important.
The mega Funding and consolidation
FirstCry.com legally named as BrainBees Solutions Pvt Ltd. raises $34mn funding and consolidates with business tycoon Mahindra Retail to create a dominant appearance for themselves. Mahindra Group acquired BabyOye in February 2015. As a deal, Mahindra Retail sold its franchise business to FirstCry under a master franchise agreement. The merged business conducts its operation under the brand name called FIrstCry.com-A FirstCry Mahindra Venture.
Brainbees (FirstCry) has raised $70 million from IDG Ventures India, SAIF, Valiant Capital, Vertex Venture, and NEA and many other big industries. The company claims over 180 FirstCry franchise stores across more than 100 cities in the country.
Total funding amount of FirstCry.com $119M.
Business Model
FirstCry.com runs on a Hybrid business model.
Apart from the online portal, it has over 100 franchise stores across India. It runs a unique programme where the brand reaches over 70,000 parents by giving out a FirstCry Box each month. Gift boxes are given to new parents across 6000 hospitals in India as a expression of congratulating on the birth of their child.
The box contains products like lotions, diapers from brands like Mamy Poko and Libero.
FirstCry.com competitors
The top brand contenders:
- Snapdeal
- Kraftly
- Park Group
- Mothercare
FirstCry.com success mantra:
“FirstCry.com empathize with you as a mother who always aspires to bestow her newborn, infant, baby or kid with the best things even for their smallest needs.”
