ShopX acqui-hires GabbarDeals

Bengaluru based ShopX, a business to business e-commerce platform for small traders, has acqui-hired GabbarDeals, an omnichannel mobile phone retail brand.

The acquisition gives ShopX the assets, including stores and brand partnerships, of GabbarDeals, allowing it to expand its organized retail operations beyond Tier 1 cities in India. It will launch ShopX Edge, a chain of technology-powered mobile and electronic stores in Maharashtra, where GabbarDeals has a strong offline presence.

GabbarDeals sold phones of different brands online and offline as well. It had stores in Pune and Jalgaon with digitally enhanced features. The company claims to have achieved gross merchandise value (GMV) of Rs 1,000 crore across five years for its mobiles and electronics products.

Run by 10i Commerce Services Pvt. Ltd, ShopX was founded in 2014 by Sharma and Apoorva Jois, who had earlier founded Go Untucked, a startup in the fashion apparel segment. The B2B venture helps local kirana stores and small retailers conduct transactions on a single platform. ShopX primarily operates in three categories, food and groceries, digital and electronic services.

The company has more than 50,000 retailers on its network and currently is present in 300 towns and cities across India. It has three streams of revenue—a small, one-time fee whenever a retailer signs up, a transactional margin on sales from consumer brands on their network and revenues from marketing and brand building activities.