ApnaKlub is an agent-led B2B wholesale platform for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). The startup’s mission is to encourage and empower people to set up their own hyper-local micro-distribution businesses by providing them with better profit margins, access to a large assortment of brands and SKUs, and supply consistency. The startup connects retailers, such as kirana and general stores, in India’s semi-urban and rural areas to a wide range of consumer goods and brands via its network of digitally-connected wholesale partners.
Kirana stores are small neighbourhood shops in India that stock everything from daily household necessities, snacks and edibles, sanitary products, and tobacco. In many rural areas, these stores are underserved – to buy from wholesalers, they often need to meet a minimum quantity or a purchase amount. Wholesalers are also constrained by the capital needed to deploy goods to these areas. This leaves many of these retailers with a limited assortment of goods to choose from to stock in their stores.
This is the gap that ApnaKlub fills – providing kirana stores with a wider range of SKUs, no minimum order quantity and at competitive prices. By working with a network of agents, through the ApnaKlub Partner Program, the company helps the supply of FMCG products reach these rural stores. These ApnaKlub partners collect demand from their surrounding kirana stores, aggregate them, and place an order on the app. ApnaKlub then delivers the goods to the partner, who then distributes them to the stores. Partners are also provided with personalised training and support to create sustainable wholesale businesses for themselves, while also earning a commission on each order they fulfil. The startup also has plans to layer other services onto its network, such as providing pricing and market intelligence data to small and large brands alike.
ApnaKlub was founded in July 2019 in Bangalore by Shruti and Manish Kumar. Shruti previously worked at Omidyar Network and Bain & Company. She is an IIT-Delhi gold medallist and a Harvard Business School graduate. Manish has over 20 years of experience in the FMCG distribution sector and has had leadership roles at Walmart India, Metro Cash & Carry, and Future Group.