Sites including Amazon and manufacturers such as Foxconn are looking to “bet big” on the market.
Times of India reported on a growth in interest among Indian e-commerce businesses, including Amazon India and Shopclues, in the refurbished products market. The market consists of products “returned to the manufacturer because of some fault, repaired and put back on sale at discounted prices”, and while not necessarily including cartridges or printers, the growth of the market could be significant for remanufacturers and refillers.
With the retailers said to be ready to “bet big” on the growing sector, demand is “set to more than double” for the industry “over the next five years”, with Amazon India testing a “refurbished” section on its site. Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturer, is also getting into e-commerce, with an aim to “tap this hitherto unheralded e-commerce segment”. The mobile phone category, which is the most popular sector, grew by 50 percent last year from around $1.5 billion to $2 billion (€1.3 billion to €1.8 billion), and is expected to grow by 30 percent each year until 2020.
Companies already operating in the refurbished market include Overcart, GreenDust (who Foxconnn are working with), Reboot and Togofogo, while other product lines include “apparel, home appliances and shoes”, as well as tablets and laptops. Amazon’s pilot site has been developed with smartphone refurbisher Surpluss.in, and the news outlet pointed out that the marketplace site “is looking to add more such vendors”.
Tarun Bhardwaj, Executive Director of Surpluss.in, commented: “We get a six to eight percent profit margin, which comes down to three to four percent in [the] case of mobile phones, yet the model is hugely scalable,” adding that the company set a revenue target of Rs 250 crore ($38.3 million/€34.5 million) for the year, which is “double that” of 2014, “on the back of growing demand”.