Business
Demand for contactless buying helps Droom record 80% growth in Q1 2021
Droom has registered 80% growth Y/Y in Q1 of 2021 thanks to the enormous demand for contactless buying in the automobile segment. For the first time, Droom, which is India’s largest online automobile marketplace, has crossed Rs 1,000 crores in monthly GMV in March 21.
Droom’s recent growth can be attributed to multiple factors, including accelerated shift of automobile buying and selling online, improved supply with supply chains opening post lockdown in the last quarter, lower prices of inventory, and an increased consumer preference towards vehicle ownership as opposed to ridesharing or using public transport due to safety reasons.
Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Droom, said the company is thrilled to shared that it has recorded 80% Y/Y growth in Q1 of 2021. “Droom’s growth trajectory from last year has been steadily rising after COVID led turbulence in the business. While automobiles is the largest retail category and least penetrated online, automobile buying and selling is now shifting online in a more rapid manner post COVID,” he said. “Almost all large decisions or large transactions of human life, for example, looking for life partner, taking admission in university or buying home or changing job are shifting online and automobile buying, and selling is no longer an exception.”
Aggarwal said the company has spent last seven years and hundreds of millions of dollars in building not only the world’s first pure online marketplace for automobile but also the entire ecosystem of first mile, mid mile, and last mile services to enable the shift of automobile buying and selling online. “We also plan to continue our expansion in Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa, once the ongoing second wave of the pandemic subsides.”
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Droom expects Q2-CY2021 to be up in three digits Y/Y due to the weak comparison of last year’s first wave of COVID-19, when the entire supply chain halted for four months from April to July. While the second wave of COVID-19 was significantly worse than first, the used automobile industry stayed robust and the entire ecosystem had many lessons from last year and remains strong and well prepared.
Prior to the pandemic, Droom had expanded its footprint to countries such as Thailand and Malaysia with its used vehicle pricing engine OBV (Orange Book Value) is now available in 38 countries. It is a tech and data science-driven online marketplace, which offers 21st century experience in buying and selling automobiles in India.
