Would Like To Disrupt Automotive Aftermarket Through Digital Medium: Boodmo.com

Boodmo.com, a unit of Smart Parts Online Pvt. Ltd is an online marketplace for auto components buyers.  Offering a common platform for parts sellers and buyers, it is aiming to organize the entire replacement parts market. Interacting with BW Businessworld, Yevgen Solonikov, CEO & Oleksandr Danylenko, Director of Operations &Finance, Boodmo.com maintained that it is taking rapid strides in disrupting the country’s automotive aftermarket through its platform.

Please tell us the genesis of this company.

Founded from scratch in the year 2015, the company has amassed a huge database of genuine and aftermarket replacement parts offered from over 400 suppliers nationwide of over 3,000 national and international brands. Being an unorganized sector in the country, sometimes it becomes very difficult for the car owners to find replacement parts. Our platform offers a channel for both car owners and auto parts dealers to come under one roof in order to reap the maximum benefits out of it. Customers can find the required automotive components using our online catalogue and can make their search through VIN, brand or part number. Unlike other startups, we didn’t start our sales for the first two years as we were doing the groundwork and commenced our business only late last year. Our ultimate aim is to organize the spare parts market in the country and Indian customers are our target group.

Why are you so upbeat about the Indian automotive aftermarket which is yet to gain eminence?

The overseas markets are already mature where there are quite a few powerful players. This market has a huge potential and is growing on a month-on-month basis. We decided to acquire our knowledge exactly here because we can bring value.

Do you think Indian customers are matured enough to take the online route to buy spare parts? Will an OEM be able to directly reach out to its end customers through your channel?

Not yet. And that is the exactly the reason we took this step (of entering India).  The automotive market is growing in double digits and that augurs well for the aftermarket. We have prepared easy-to-understand catalogues which will simplify the whole process. Since a manufacturer will not deal with end customers, we are talking with their distributors to sell their products through our medium.  We already have 80 distributors on our platform and are planning to have 200 by 2018-end.

Are you focused only on the PV segment or you also cater to bi-wheeler and CV segment?

We are into all kinds of parts, both imported and locally made, only for the PV segment.  It is up to the customers on what his needs and requirements are. We are not yet focussing on other segments.

How many transactions do you do and what is the GMV of that? Most importantly, when will you be able to earn profits?

Earlier, we used to get 60 orders per day and now we have 70 orders. Going forward, we are confident of achieving 300 orders per day by the end of this. The GMV is Rs. 2,000 (on a daily basis). The bottom line is that we have to satisfy our customers rather than just garnering orders. Our business would definitely be profitable in two years’ time.

Do you intend to keep an inventory of some spare parts at your warehouse? How many customers are actually registered on your website?

No way. We are a foreign-owned entity and will not keep any stock of spare parts. We will comply with all the rules and regulations of the country.  We will follow the ‘Flipkart’ model of selling auto components on our platform. Moreover, we want to provide information to the buyers. At present, we have 40,000 visitors logging on to our website and look forward to having 100,000 visitors by the end of this year.

Will you also be getting into aggressive pricing like other online players?

No, we will never burn cash by doling out huge discounts. Although the market is price-sensitive, we will look at other solutions to satisfy our customers. Unlike books and electronics, a spare part is a different ball game and has to be dealt with differently. To put it the other way, we would like to disrupt the domestic automotive aftermarket in a major way.

Would you also be interested in offering ‘online servicing’ as a logical progression?

As of now, we are offering only one point of solution for spare parts sourcing. We have not thought about car washing, etc.  Although there are a lot of start-ups dealing with workshops, we are yet to give it a thought. We have been contacted by several of them (workshop owners) directly. We would be more than happy to assist them in sourcing the appropriate spare parts. But we will not shift away our focus from our core business.

Are you planning to tap these workshops going forward?

Definitely, they will find value in our catalogues.  But we are not yet ready for this.

Does the company intend to reach out to vendors and customers in other countries like Thailand with which it has a Free Trade Agreement?

As of now, we are focussing on India. But if a vendor or a customer from other countries wants to come over to your platform, he is more than welcome. We already have several frequent customers from Sri Lanka.

What is your view on the Indian automotive aftermarket?

Actually, the aftermarket here is very different from Europe. They are several times stronger in the western world. I think we will help these aftermarket brands to be compared and purchased more freely. Nearly 80-90% of consumers prefer OEM’s brand of parts. We would like to enlighten Indian customers on the (quality of) aftermarket parts being similar to the ones sold by OEMs.