From exclusive mobiles to laptops, apparels to toys; every category of item is available online. Discounts, Cash back and Easy Buy & return policy is driving the growth of e-commerce in India. Not to forget, exclusive tie-ups that brands have with e-tail companies which becomes a unique proposition of the e-commerce company.
However, when we think about e-commerce, only B2C companies like Flikpart, Snapdeal, Paytm, Amazon etc. comes to mind. Either you have Horizontal Players [as mentioned above] or Pure play vertical players like FirstCry, BabyOye etc. that cater to the ever expanding B2C segment.
Just imagine this random scenario – You as a Business owner want to buy a particular product in bulk but via the online route ? The options that come to your mind are very less & the resistance shown would be enormous since the capital required to buy in bulk would also be more !!! In a nutshell, in order to buy in bulk; you require higher capital, greater risk appetite & need to have faith on the seller/re-seller and the distribution model.
A typical B2B distribution model can encompass as many as half a dozen channels – distributors, resellers, retailers, in-house sales, dedicated agents and representatives, and independent agents. And, in many cases, can have as many layers – the publisher or manufacturer may distribute to a bevy of national and international distributors, who supply regional distributors, who provide product to independent sales agents, who service accounts that may have their own distribution systems to service the end buyer [Source – DigitalRiver]
However in the year 2014, IndiaMart – the undisputed leader in the B2B segment came up with the idea of Tolexo to solve this important problem for businesses. Tolexo is India’s online store for Business & Industry. It has the largest collection of products for offices, factories & businesses.
Tolexo is an IndiaMART Intermesh Ltd subsidiary that aims to leverage it’s expertise in the B2B segment by connecting buyers with sellers and providing supplementary services like Marketing, Brand Building, Product Fulfillment, Shipment etc.
Tolexo : Products Catalogue
Tolexo is the ultimate destination for Business Goods & Supplies, which transforms the way businesses buy these products. It offers consumer shopping experience for the largest collection of products needed by businesses, factories, offices and laboratories.
Tolexo has already served customers from more than 800 cities & towns across India. In order to maintain high level of customer satisfaction, Tolexo has rightly invested into it’s back-end infrastructure which has ensured friction-less e-commerce 🙂 E-commerce eco-system comprises of Buyers, Sellers [Merchants] & Products. Tolexo has more than 10,00,000+ essential products for business and industry, with more than 5000 sellers & 7500 brands.
Tolexo also provides Last-Mile delivery to it’s esteemed customers and has a very friendly ‘Cancellation & Refund Policy’.
Some of the prime categories on Tolexo are listed below:
[Source* – Tolexo]
Tolexo : Product Fulfillment
When we purchase any product online, one thing which we are concerned about is the timely product delivery. As mentioned above, risk becomes much higher in the B2B segment. Tolexo not only bridges the gap between the Buyer [Business Owner] & Seller [Merchant on Tolexo] but also provides supports to the merchant via Packaging, Logistics etc. which play an important role in customer retention [apart from quality product :)].
To achieve this, Tolexo does inspections, ensures quality packaging and it has partnered with most of the top courier and logistics partners and communicates shipping status to customer at each stage of shipment. It’s logistic partners are FedEx, Gati, Blue Dart and Delhivery.
When me & my wife started selling Home-Made chocolates online, we gave prime importance to product packaging since that plays a crucial role in the product life-cycle.
Tolexo : Customer Service
Like other e-commerce companies, once the order has been placed customer can track of the product online as the updated status of shipment at its each stage from order is placed to processes to ready to ship to dispatch to deliver.
For this review, we called up Tolexo Helpline Number – 91 8282 8282 82 & the response was immediate. We asked them queries about certain factory products and posed questions about bulk-buying etc. The customer-care department did not disappoint us 🙂 Similar queries were sent to Tolexo Customer Support email which were answered in less than 24 hours.
Tolexo : Cancellations & Refund
At numerous times, we place an order for a product but plan to return the product due to some un-solicited reason. This is where the “Cancellation & Refund Policy” plays a very important role in ‘Customer Retention’. As per Tolexo’s Cancellation & Refund policy, it guarantees 100% MoneyBack if the issue not resolved in maximum 30 days via same mode.
Tolexo allows return of products for 3 days from delivery in all the following cases:
- Product is used/worn or altered
- Physical damage to the box or to the product
- If sealed package of branded products is open
- The packet was empty / some item or accessory was missing
- The product was defective,
- Significantly different from the description given by the merchant [wrong size, colour, quality or material related issues]
- You changed your mind due to any other reason
Customer Testimonials section does indicate that they consider Customer Service, Last Mile Deliveries, Ease in Refund etc. core to their business !!
Tolexo : Design, Interface
Tolexo website has an simple & intuitive design. Searching for products across any category was very easy & we did not encounter any issue. The page-load time was also very less. It is also available on Play Store that ensures that it does not loose it’s customers and they can buy products in bulk even when they are on the go 🙂
The entire buying process was seamless which was a delight for us. They have a rigorous merchant selection process which ensures that they have the best merchants on their platform.
Closing Thoughts
Our overall experience on Tolexo was good. As mentioned by Sahil Barua, co-founder, Delhivery in this interview “B2B is an entire different ball-game and requires Logistics expertise”. Considering that the big-daddy of e-commerce – Amazon also ventured into B2B segment via AmazonBusiness [Source], Tolexo needs to pull up it’s sleeves & fill in the gaps where-ever required 🙂
If you are a business owner & have used Tolexo, please share them in the comments section !!