Retail & eCommerce are in hyper-growth in India – the fastest growing consumption economy in the world:

The Indian retail sector is expected to reach $2Tn by 2032 from $836Bn in 2022. As per the India Retail and E-commerce Trends Report 2022, While the contribution of organized retail in India is comparatively lower (~18.5%) , the Indian e-commerce industry is growing at a CAGR of 23% and is expected to touch $350 Bn by 2030 making India the 3rd largest online retail market (trailing only the United States and China) with over 6 Mn MSME merchants. The continuous growth of online shopping along with need to provide convenience to end customer with easy returns has magnified the importance of reverse supply chain management in the e-commerce industry.

Complexities of Returns Management:

E-commerce firms are looking to build a sustainable business by driving internal efficiencies. In this context, efficient returns management has become indispensable for retailersnavigating the ever-evolving landscape of consumer preferences. It has been estimated that the return rate for online shopping in India is around 25-40%, which is higher than the global average. The report ‘India Reverse Logistics Market Report 2022-2027’ states that India’s Reverse logistics market is expected to reach $39.81 Bn by 2027 from $29.57 Bn in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 6.15%.

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Retail and eCommerce enterprises are now in a race to integrate circular economy principles into their core products, aiming for disassembly, waste accountability, and revenue activation through reuse. And most importantly unlocking the capital stuck in the reverse supply-chain in order to enhance efficiencies and profitability.

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However, the existing challenges of clunky IT infrastructure, complex logistics, and poor data hygiene make processing returns challenging at scale for most enterprises, leading to revenue leakage and a compromised customer experience.

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This is the very problem that Blubirch is pioneering in addressing. Blubirch’s ‘MARS’ platform (Managed & Automated Returns Solution) emerges as a true game-changer, leading the transformation of retail returns through its API-led connected platform. It’s an integrated suite spanning Returns Management and Liquidation to transform reverse asset flows into efficient and sustainable processes.

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Consider the journey of any shipment returned by a customer.  The MARS platform’s inspection and grading engine accurately assesses its condition while its policy engine validates eligibility of return and the decisioning recommends further course of action – all in real-time. With AI capabilities being developed in the platform, it has started helping choose the best actions such as resell as a fresh product, place for refurbishment, return to OEM, or send for disposition. Lastly, it’s disposition engine, enables the bundling of the unsold goods and runs a bidding engine to dispose the products to 3^rd party buyers (over 15,000 buyers),  via. Blubirch’s integrated secondary marketplace.

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Across its automation capabilities, Blubirch expedites working capital unlock and prevents any revenue leakage by eliminating human intervention and biases across the reverse supply-chain. Blubirch transforms returns from sunk costs to profit engines while also helping enterprise meet their sustainability and carbon neutrality goals with real action.

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Today Blubirch has demonstrated its significance with an annual unlock of INR 200+ crores for marquee Indian retailers, e-tailers and marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Reliance, Croma, among others. Blubirch has started entering new markets as well taking this disruption to global scale (including Middle East, US, South East Asia).  The platform is well on a path to building upwards of INR 1000+ crores in returns managed in the next 2-3 years!

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Why Blubirch Fits Our Thesis:

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Built for Global Scale:

Returns are projected to balloon as the retail sector grows at 25%+ yearly. Managing returns profitably and sustainably emerges as a competitive advantage for retailers. Blubirch brings together the key stakeholders that are an integral part of the value chain including retailers, OEMs, resellers, and warehousing partners to enable the circular processing capability needed to handle exponential scale. It’s MARS platform is a one-stop solution for any retailer to unlock value jammed in the reverse supply chain – a problem of global relevance!

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Unlocks Multiple Revenue Streams:

Blubirch moves far beyond conventional return-to-origin approaches. Its predictive engines accurately triage item condition while automated recommendation algorithms route stocks to optimal recovery channels like refurbishment, resale, and recycling. Blubirch unlocks entirely new revenue streams from returns through re-commerce, working capital recovery, and waste elimination - turning historically sunk costs into profit drivers. Over time, Blubirch  will be in a position to under-write returns for retailers, and take on the complete control of the reverse supply-chain, of course leading to unparalleled operating margins!

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End-to-End Unmatched Platform Capabilities:

It’s amongst the only end-to-end and one-stop solution platforms in the world! The product modules cover returns initiation, processing, disposition, and seamless integrations. The disposition engine efficiently manages downstream processes, recommending the most appropriate disposition process and channel through evolving AI capabilities.

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Visible Impact and a Massive Whitespace:

Blubirch enables the circular capabilities needed to optimize returns profitably while minimizing waste - alleviating key pressure points for margin-starved retailers. With the target market size expected to grow from $5 billion to $15 billion+ by 2030, Blubirch doesn't merely tap into the circular economy – it unleashes new revenue streams, reshaping the business landscape.

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Seasoned Leadership Team:

Blubirch, under the seasoned leadership of industry veterans Sapan, Jeby, and Amit, boast a collective 40+ years of domain expertise. Sapan, a former IBM global reverse logistics leader, and Amazon Category Manager brings over two decades of experience in collaborating with retailers on profitability and sustainability initiatives. Jeby, with 15 years of experience driving complex transformations and building high-performance teams at IBM’s global consulting arm, is instrumental in cultivating resilience within the organization. Leveraging enterprise leadership credentials from Infosys and CSC, Amit spearheads Blubirch’s commercial engine.

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Conclusion:

A massive global opportunity with an ever-expanding TAM, a highly sophisticated tech platform, and visionary leadership, to us, Blubirch is a great investment opportunity. We are excited to be part of this incredible growth journey and working alongside the founders to make this vision come true!

~ Kunal

Learn more about: CSVP Fund | CGES Index | Enterprise SaaS

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