Empowering Indian Manufacturing: The Bidso Journey Towards Global Leadership

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Vivek Singhal – Cofounder & CEO, Bidso

Q1.) How does the vision of Bidso cater both to the manufacturers and brands?/ What services does Bidso provide? What was the founding team’s vision while creating Bidso?

Bidso is a contract manufacturing platform for General Merchandise goods, specifically Toys. We make it easy and reliable for global brands to procure from India by enabling the sourcing journey from start to finish, beginning with product discovery, supplier selection and vetting, value discovery, and finally, QC and fulfilment.

Before Bidso, the founders were heading different categories and teams at companies like Flipkart, Amazon, Udaan, and ITC, where it was clear they realised that the brands were finding it difficult to source products from India. Even brands that were actively looking to source from India were finding it difficult to find reliable manufacturing partners who could provide quality products at great value.

Bidso was started to address this gap, with a vision to become an enabler and a catalyst for the Indian manufacturing ecosystem—for brands by making their sourcing journey seamless and for our manufacturing partners by enhancing their capabilities and capacities and unlocking new sources of demand.

Q2.) As the export demands are increasing, how does Bidso plan to catalyse its own growth through it?

The first step to cracking large export orders is to have a compelling, globally competitive value proposition. We are in discussions with a few international buyers and are building up our value proposition in terms of product range, pricing, and quality to match the requirements of International markets.

While the journey towards cracking international orders may be slower and more challenging, the rewards are outsized, and we expect international orders to be a big driver of growth for us in the future.

Q3.) As the manufacturing sector is experiencing a surge in growth, how is technology helping Bidso connect the right suppliers with the buyers/brands? Please elaborate.

Bidso is not only about connecting brands with the right suppliers. It is a full-stack sourcing platform, meaning we take end-to-end ownership over delivering the promised goods to the buyer. This also means diving deep into production and quality control.

Technology plays a huge role across Bidso’s operations & in the value that we add to the system. Our comprehensive software platform has multiple modules that enable different

aspects of the supply chain, including production tracking and quality control. All relevant information is visible to the buyer on their dashboards.

In addition, we are building new capabilities into the Bidso network, such as 3D scanning, product design, and additive manufacturing, that will enable us to rapidly bring new prototypes to production.

Q4.) Since Bidso is serving as the sourcing platform between two parties, which technological solutions do you use to ensure providing high quality products to the buyers/ brands?

We see the product sourcing journey as spanning four steps. The first is product discovery, followed by supplier discovery & vetting, value discovery, and finally QC and fulfilment.

We have identified that to become a truly valuable contract manufacturing or sourcing platform, we must enable all stages of the sourcing journey. We call this full-stack sourcing.

This means Bidso takes end-to-end ownership over delivering the promised goods to the buyer. We do this effectively by leveraging technology. Our software platform unlocks efficiencies at multiple stages in the user journey and supply chain, from product customisation to production and fulfilment.

For example, our QC modules allow for comprehensive QC testing and video reports, which are all readily available to the buyer on their dashboard. The production module tracks real-time production and helps us provide timely updates to the buyer.

In addition to software, we also utilise manufacturing technologies like 3D scanning and rapid prototyping, low-volume in-mould labelling, etc., to ensure that we delight our customers in terms of both product and service.

Q5.) Given the provisions for the manufacturing sector in Budget 2024, how has Bidso changed its strategies to capitalize on the opportunities?

While the 2024 Budget has not specifically prompted us to change our strategies, the government’s overall support for domestic manufacturing is encouraging. One significant regulatory tailwind we are experiencing is the government’s push for Made in India toys.

With an astute combination of tariffs and regulatory requirements like mandatory BIS certification, combined with the impetus to set up multiple toy manufacturing clusters across the country, the manufacturing of Toys in India has received a considerable boost.

At Bidso, we are well-placed to contribute to the mission by manufacturing Toys in India for India & the world, and we expect the Toys category to be a significant driver of growth for the company both from the domestic and international markets.

Q6.) What trends do you think will change the manufacturing and B2B sector in India, in the coming future? How do you think technology will enable navigating this landscape more smoothly? How feasible are these solutions for a B2B sourcing platform?

Over the last few years, the world has realised the importance of a resilient supply chain, leading to global companies actively seeking alternative manufacturing locations to China. “Make in India, Make for the world” will continue to be a dominant trend in the future, and India’s manufacturing story will be impacted by how quickly and effectively we are able to adapt and address the challenges that lie ahead of us.

Speaking from the perspective of SMEs and manufacturing of General Merchandise products, we must utilise technology to succeed. We must boldly invest in equipment, tooling, capacity and systems to deliver products that meet global standards. In addition, we need to leverage software to unlock efficiencies and improve reliability and transparency.

As a contract manufacturing platform, one of Bidso’s primary goals is to become an enabler and catalyst for the Indian manufacturing ecosystem, and we are doing our best to deliver on these fronts.

Q7.) What are some of the top performing product categories for Bidso? How do you plan on ensuring market expansion in the domain?

Toys have been our best-performing category over the past year. In last year’s online sales season, two out of the top three best-selling kids’ scooter brands on Amazon and Flipkart procured scooters from Bidso.

We look forward to repeating our early success this year and becoming a category leader in the products that we manufacture.

To this effect, over the next couple of months, we will be bringing multiple new models into production, dramatically increasing our product range.

We have also been expanding our sales efforts into new demand channels and, over the past few months, have been consistently acquiring new large customers, some of them well-known household names.

We expect rapid growth over the next six months as our existing customers continue to grow while newer customers scale up their volumes.

Q8.) Can you elaborate on how Bidso works differently from its competitors?

Bidso is a full-stack sourcing platform. We believe that to unlock value in the manufacturing and sourcing space, it is necessary to dive deep into the product and its manufacturing and supply chain. Bidso takes end-to-end ownership over manufacturing and delivering the products as promised.

By partnering with Bidso, brands and buyers get the advantage of tapping into a curated manufacturing network tuned to consistently and reliably deliver great value over a wide range of products.

Q9.) Elaborate on some of the goals Bidso is working towards in the next five years and the strategies you are employing to achieve those goals.

We have ambitious goals at Bidso. In the near future, Bidso will become a dominant player in the Indian toy manufacturing landscape. We will identify fast-growing product categories, develop deep manufacturing capabilities and capacities in the Bidso network, and deliver market-beating value.

In the longer term, we will gradually expand our category leadership to newer categories by following the same playbook.

Eventually, our vision is for Bidso to become the face of Indian manufacturing and a catalyst and enabler for the entire Indian manufacturing ecosystem.