Aiming to represent an estimated Rs 32 lakh crore economy revolving around the animal wealth in the country, Gurugram-based Animpet Ecomm today launched a hybrid e-marketplace AnimStok after the successful trial runs mounting over 25,000 vendors offering 150,000 products and services.
Vendors number will be scaled up to one million offering 10 million products, AnimStok co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Karishma Dagar said in a statement adding that the platform is an attempt to give an organised marketplace, which hitherto is largely physical and unorganised, offering B2B, B2C and C2C services on a single platform.
“For this purpose, the company has set a target of creating a 12,000-strong workforce, the bulk of which would be for marketing and technology during the very first-year operations, while the platform would have 15 verticals ranging from livestock trading, dairy products, poultry, meat, animal feed, nutrients, medicines and veterinary services,” she said adding that “Animpet has been accorded a startup certificate under the animal husbandry and industry head by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.”
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“India is the global leader in milk production, number two in fisheries, number three in egg production, and number four in buffalo meat exports. Yet the irony is the entire animal economy is heavily segmented and largely unorganised. This caught our imagination and over four years of subject research along with technology deployment for the purpose has resulted in AnimStok,” she said.
Logistics and payment gateway for ease of trade and transactions have been arranged for the purpose, Dagar said adding that for the purpose of expansion, the company has already started tapping potential investors both in India and overseas who have generally welcomed the concept and soon presentations will be made for them.
“Our goal is to bring a moderate one per cent of the US$400 billion estimated at the last count on our platform in the very first year and for this purpose, we will have representatives in every region and districts in the country. In the initial phase, AnimStok will also be operational in the Gulf region and a few leads, essentially for animal feed, were generated from buyers in UAE who could tap suppliers through the platform,” she said.
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Animal trade and meat are sensitive subjects in a number of places including India, and the e-commerce platform will be customised in line with rules and regulations in each of the countries, she said adding that for the purpose of ease of trading, products and services would be put in 2000 categories, each detailing number of vendors, products, and prices.
“AnimStok is an ‘open for all’ platform where anybody, from an established brand to a local vendor, can register and sell their services and products with the advantage of a ‘zero’ joining fee and the company will follow the established good trade practices in the e-commerce sector,” Dagar said adding that one of the prominent features of AnimStok will be relating to the listing of available manpower and opportunities in the sector akin to employment exchanges.
Explaining the business model of AnimStok, she said, “As per the data of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), livestock contributes roughly about 40 per cent of total agricultural output globally in value terms and nearly 1.3 billion people depend on it for their livelihood and food and nutrition security. Livestock is also the primary source of income and food security for over 13 crore households in the country. Yet, the sector remains highly unorganised. “At AnimStok.com, our endeavour is to streamline several aspects of the animal economy and improve price discovery and quality standards,” Dagar added.
