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FirstCry – The Startup Story Behind India’s E-commerce Giant for Kids

Let's uncover the story behind FirstCry, an ecommerce platform for baby and kids products with a valuation of over $800 milli
Let’s uncover the story behind FirstCry, an ecommerce platform for baby and kids products with a valuation of over $800 million.

The Founder

FirstCry Founder - Supam Maheshwari
FirstCry Founder – Supam Maheshwari

Supam Maheshwari founded FirstCry in 2010. Supam got his engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering and is a pass out of IIM Ahmedabad. He is a first-generation entrepreneur, and he started FirstCry voyager with a hunger to do something of his own. He is a co-founder of one of the largest logistic platforms across the country; XpressBee.

What is FirstCry?

firstcry

FirstCry is an online e-commerce platform that is solely for baby and kids products. This platform offers over 2 lakh products in different categories like diapers, toys, clothes, accessories, and the like. Furthermore, this e-commerce giant also offers mother care products, including feeding, nursing, skin, and healthcare products.

Check out the platform here.

The idea and inspiration behind FirstCry

Supam always wanted to something of his own, and this passion of his led him to open the First Cry. The idea for FirstCry came into Supam mind when he realized that there were minimal choices for baby products available in e-commerce platforms across India.

He found this as an opportunity to create such a platform that is exclusively for babies and kids. It leads to the first conception of FirstCry. Upon further research, Supam reckons that there is an approximate 50,000 INR crore turnover in baby and kids industry in India. What is more interesting is that 95% of the turnover came from the offline market.

Challenges Faced Throughout the Commencement

The baby care e-tailing sector of India, FirstCry, was established in December 2010. Supam founded the company with a seed capital of about 25 million INR. He faced all the challenges in various areas like logistics, payment gateway. There was fierce competition in the market for new customers across the country.

Collaborations and the First Milestone for FirstCry

Priorly First Cry was following an inventory-based model. They were only handling the logistics of products in the country with their four warehouses located in Pune, Delhi, Banglore, and Kolkata. Later, they also started adding various retailers to the FirstCry portal with an opportunity to sell their products on its platform.

FirstCry recently also launched its brand named BabyHug for apparel and CuteWalk for footwear. They have gotten hold of Babyoye as well, which was a baby product platform of Mahindra in 2016.

The FirstCry collaborated with Masala baby, a New York-based brand for lifestyle, kids, and infants.

The Current Growth Status of FirstCry

Just recently, Supam Maheshwari (Co-Founder and Cheif Executive Officer) and Amitava Saha (Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer) jointly made SoftBank – Japanese internet and telecom giant, as one of its prime investors.

These new fundings are likely to expand the offline and online presence of FirstCry presence along with strengthening its technology portal. The total fundraising is going to push the valuation of the First Cry to 800 million dollars.

As of now, FirstCry is Asia’s largest online shopping giant for kids. They have over 300 franchised offline stores over 100 cities all over India.

There is massive turnover in the Indian baby and kids industry, as already mentioned at the beginning of the article. However, the country is now turning more urban with an increased number of nuclear families. Most parents these days got double-income; hence, they are more willing to spend the additional money on their children. Inevitably, there a boost in the children’s products that has the right brand image along with better quality.

Parents, especially mothers, are selecting trendy and casual wear for their little ones with a new party and occasional wear. Kids these days are getting the exposure of various media, and that being the case, they are now more mindful of their brands. In another way, children are actively making choices when it comes to their attire.

Hence, FirstCry got an inventory of various products from over a thousand Indian and international brands. It has some of the most popular brands for kids, including Barbie, Hotwheels, Disney, and Pampers.

Baby and Kids market – Niche or Crowded

The baby and kids’ product sector is still unrecognized. FirstCry, however, is looking for a scope to build an entrepreneurial environment for parents in this niche. The company is making sure that they offer the best quality and brands in the market.

FirstCry is working vigorously to ensure easy access for its customers in both online and offline stores. Further, they are continually working on their FirstCry Box program for substantial scale awareness to reach their customers promptly.

FirstCry – The Vision

The First Cry is hoping to get an aggressive approach to expand its offline market. FirstCry is planning on growing over 100% for many passing years.

The Ultimate destination of First Cry is to become a clear market leader for baby products in India

The main focus of FirstCry is currently on innovation, improvement, and efficacy for the better shopping experience of its customers. FirstCry believes that there is space for quality baby stores within 5 km of each city in India. Hence, they are working on expanding their stores to fill this gap.

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