Glance to acquire Shop 101 to launch influencer led commerce platform

Glance, the world’s largest lock screen based content discovery platform and owner of video-platform Roposo, today announced that it is acquiring full stack e-commerce platform Shop101. The acquisition will provide Glance and Roposo end-to-end capability for launching celebrity and influencer-led LIVE commerce, as the company looks to transform mobile shopping experience for consumers globally.

With Shop101, Glance and Roposo will have access to a market-leading e-commerce technology platform, a comprehensive supply chain infrastructure and the talent base required to build the celebrity and influencer driven commerce platform. This will also immensely benefit Shop101’s suppliers who can leverage Glance’s 125 million+ daily active users to grow their businesses.  

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"As leaders in the mobile content space, both Glance and Roposo are disrupting the way users create, discover, and consume content, making them the preferred platforms for top celebrities and creators to connect with their audience. With the addition of Shop101, we aim to make these platforms the top shopping destinations for millions of users as well,” said Piyush Shah, Co-Founder, InMobi Group, and President & COO, Glance. “With Shop101’s technology, partners and hugely talented team, we are in a great position to create this new form of mobile commerce at a global scale,” added Shah.

Shop101, founded by Abhinav Jain, Aditya Gupta and Kalpak Chhajed in 2015, is a full stack e-commerce company that brings a network of 10 million resellers and 10,000 supplier partners together serving customers across over 2000 towns across the country. The company which employs around 300 professionals is backed by Vy Capital, Stellaris Venture Partners, Unilever Ventures and Kalaari Capital.

Said Abhinav Jain, Founder & CEO of Shop101, “We had started Shop101 as a social e-commerce platform with a vision to democratise entrepreneurship and commerce for the masses using a technology-first approach. With Glance and Roposo, Shop101 will now be part of a company that shares our goal of transforming the shopping experience for millions of consumers globally.”      

Celebrity and influencer-led LIVE commerce is touted as the future of e-commerce globally as shoppers look for the next level of buying experience. As opposed to traditional e-commerce which is focused on efficiency, wider choice and convenience, this new form of interactive and influencer-driven commerce integrates recommendation tool, community, and entertainment to bring in delightful elements of serendipity and discovery to the overall shopping experience. It also looks at replicating the fun of physical shopping on digital platforms, enabling the shoppers to interact with the brand endorsers and order products in real time.

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This model has seen huge success in China accounting for over 20% of the total e-commerce sales. Even though it is still in an early phase in India now, the total addressable market for LIVE and Interactive Commerce in the country is expected to surpass $40 billion by 2025. According to a recent report by leading management and strategy consulting firm Zinnov, Glance has the potential to be among India’s largest video-first, LIVE, social, and interactive commerce platforms. 

Within just two years of its inception, Glance which is backed by Google and Mithril Capital has positioned itself as the world’s largest LIVE lock screen platform. It has also emerged as one of the top-10 global consumer platforms with the Glance software finding place across 300 million devices, with over 125 million daily active users. Similarly, Roposo which has seen over 100 million downloads is used by close to 1.2 million content creators.