Launchpad: Helping D2C founders troubleshoot the startup life

SMBs that sell on Amazon Launchpad are seeing resounding success during the soon-to-conclude Amazon Great Indian Festival (AGIF). The Launchpad program has helped these emerging brands broaden their audience, drive awareness and carve a niche for themselves during AGIF 2022.

“Diwali is the busiest period for us. As the sentiment to upgrade homes run extremely high during the festive period, kitchen appliances do extremely well,” says Swetha Parvathaneni, Co-Founder, Solara, a Hyderabad-based premium home and kitchen DTC brand that started its operations on Amazon in March 2021. The brand has witnessed an exponential growth in the last 18 months.

Solara is registered on Amazon Launchpad, a flagship program by Amazon India, designed to offer startups a unique opportunity to reach new customers and expand the scale of their business. The platform helps emerging brands with dedicated support for discoverability, presentation, marketing tools & support and global expansion.

Solara launched an array of new products during AGIF, which includes an electric pressure cooker and a slow juicer. “This year, our air fryer is one of the top sellers, and our new products too have been gaining a lot of popularity,” highlights Swetha. Solara recorded 2.5X growth in sales during AGIF, exceeding its internal forecasts.

"Having been in the US, we saw the lack of options that are customised for Indian kitchens. So, we decided to launch a premium quality brand at affordable prices and customize the products for the Indian kitchen,” explains Swetha.

Solara started with shipping a few units a day. Today, they are shipping more than 1,000 units daily.

"We started our business during the peak COVID in India. It was both an opportunity and a challenge.”

During that period, there was huge demand for Solara’s products. But there were supply-side constraints too and that’s where the Launchpad team stepped in. “We couldn't operate our warehouse due to the lockdown. Despite all the constraints, our team was resilient and shipped every order on time. Launchpad account managers are very knowledgeable and helped us troubleshoot challenges,” shares Swetha.

Amazon Launchpad has enabled more than 2,500 brands scale at an accelerated rate since its inception in India in December 2016. There are currently more than two lakh unique products being offered by close to 1,000 emerging brands across more than product categories on Amazon Launchpad. The program has successfully fostered the growth of emerging brands like Wingreens farms, Yoga Bar, Kapiva Aryuveda, Chai point, and more. There are more than 230 million products from lakhs of retail sellers on Amazon.in and therefore visibility can be a challenge for small sellers with niche collections. Startups often lack the expertise and resources to amplify their marketing strategies. This is where Amazon Launchpad offers support to aspiring businesses.

"For the first few months, we received active hand holding from Amazon Launchpad, where a digital marketing team was assigned to us that looked after our brand's AdWords,” says Harshavardhan, Co-founder, and CEO, LiL'Goodness.

“The Launchpad team made the most out of the festive season, wherein they refined our campaigns to make us stand out,” he said.

Started with the mission of solving food and nutrition issues for children across India, LiL'Goodness went live on Amazon in May 2020. The brand’s Diwali gift boxes containing an assortment of premium chocolates is a particular hit among customers during the festive season.

“Amazon Launchpad also helped us get good slots, deals, and coupon placements. The exceptional support enabled us to kick-start our business and earn maximum visibility and recognition. Happy to highlight that in February 2021, we were among the top 14 chocolate brands," he shares.

Kraftinn is a startup that seeks to undo the harm caused by plastic pollution. The brand manufactures sustainable home décor products with eco-friendly materials such as bamboo, water hyacinth, cane, cotton and kauna. It was launched in 2015, and has been associated with Amazon Launchpad since 2020.

“Manufacturing handicraft products is challenging because the timeline is unpredictable, and you cannot predict when the products will be ready,” says Pramathesh Borkotoky, Director of IT Operations, Kraftinn Home Décor India. “This is where the Amazon Launchpad team helped us. They have a data-driven process that introduced predictability to our business. Their data reports also update us on probable sales in the coming three months, and now we efficiently get such products manufactured before deadlines," says Pramathesh.

The Launchpad team’s suggestions on product photography and description helped Kraftinn emerge as a contemporary home décor brand while enhancing the brand’s familiarity with the target audience. The program also provides feedback in the form of metrics and data, which significantly helps brands trace loopholes and improve product quality.

Data-driven feedback helps sellers execute quality checks for their products and that ensures product uniformity. "Being first-generation entrepreneurs, we had little idea about the supply chain mechanism. Amazon Launchpad helped us generate a strong supply chain. Now, our products can reach all major cities within two to three days," says Pramathesh.

Kraftinn is excited about the Great Indian Festival has shaped up as Diwali has always been a busy period for the brand. Its flagship products are lamps, which people don’t just buy just to decorate their home but also as gifting items for their family and friends.

“It’s a big shopping season for us, the deals and discounts during the Great Indian Festival increases the shopping sentiment among customers. We see 3X growth in sales of our products during this period,” Pramathesh concludes.