A growing avenue for businesses to offload dead stock
Melltoo, a mobile-first application has been disrupting the classifieds sector, enabling consumers as well as businesses to liquidate their items.
What started as an answer to second-hand, pre-loved, vintage items that one finds in flea markets, has become an easy and smart platform for businesses to liquidate their excess inventory or dead stock instead of incurring the cost of storing them in warehouses, or worse, adding to landfills.
For 8-12 percent of the sale, Melltoo also handles pick-up and delivery, removing the need for sellers and buyers to meet for the sale to take place. Moreover, their secure in-app chat feature also removes the need for buyers and sellers to exchange contact details, thereby bringing in a level of safety and security to the platform.
“At Melltoo, our aim is to help people and companies sell their stuff in the most efficient and the easiest way possible."Morrad Irsane, co-founder of Melltoo
In addition, Melltoo has been becoming a go-to option for businesses to offload their excess inventory. They have a simple mechanism to put the item in the listings. A seller simply needs to take a picture, and then add in the amount they want for the product in the Melltoo calculator. The calculator adds in Melltoo's commission for the sale as well as the shipment amount to show you how much you need to charge to get the amount you desire. From there, you simply add in the amount and submit it.
The shipment and commissions are absorbed by the seller, however Melltoo transparently showcases the amount the seller will receive and allows changes to the price even later on so sellers can try to get their desired price; thereby providing a better experience for buyers as well as sellers.
Currently, it caters to consumers and businesses mainly in the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
“Since launching our liquidation service, we’ve grown transactions 300 per cent and are on track to quadruple our GMV [gross merchandise value] by the end of the year. We’ve increased the number of sellers 6x in the past six months and have on-boarded over 30 e-commerce and corporate clients who liquidate through the platform.”Sharene Lee, co-founder at Melltoo
The five-year old startup founded by Morrad Irsane and Sharene Lee recently closed their Pre-Series A, that was reportedly co-led by China’s Gobi Partners and Saudi-based Khwarizmi Ventures; other investors included UAE-based Shorooq Partners, as well as some angel investors including Dr. Khalid Al-Tawil. The total amount has not yet been disclosed. However, according to Crunchbase, they have previously raised $1.2 million as per disclosed numbers.
Melltoo will be using this funding to enter the KSA market and operate through Riyadh.
Melltoo has also been part of social initiatives, whereby it has supported refugees through the sale of laptops donated by companies. It is not only helping companies and people liquidate their unwanted assets, but also making an impact socially, environmentally as well as economically. This is a 10X startup to watch out for.
