By Jack Keough
Grainger is extending its e-commerce business globally by partnering with industrybuying.com, one of India’s fastest growing provider of industrial supplies.
“The positives of partnering with Grainger are multifold,” said industrybuying.com co-founder Rahul Gupta, according to a report by India newswire, IANS.
“We will have a bigger catalog and a lot of premium brands that are not available in India. From this partnership, we will be able to offer our customers the most premium products from around the world.”
Industrybuying.com is a registered reseller with Grainger for the Indian market. Most of the products will be sourced from Grainger’s warehouses in the US for sale in India.
Industrybuying.com will sell the products on its portal in Indian currency and fulfill them on a back-to-back basis. Conversely, Grainger will be responsible for getting the products to the warehouse of its India partner, which will be shipped to the customer location by industrybuying.com, according to the Indian News & Times.
Industrybuying, which already carries brands made by many manufacturers of electrical products, claims to have over 15,000 registered small and medium-size companies on its platform.
The company says it offers an online catalogue of over 300,000 products that are used in manufacturing, construction, maintenance, services and commercial operations. It counts companies in sectors such as FMCG, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, automotive, pharmaceuticals, services and others as clients.
Industrybuying’s customers include Honeywell, Siemens, Tata Power, and Havells. Venture capital fund SAIF Partners has invested $2 million in the firm.
Since its 2013 launch, Industrybuying.com has been gaining investments to finance network expansion, back-end operations, employee expansion, and establishment of bases in major India locations of Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, and Ahmedabad.
The move is the latest for Grainger to expand its online offerings and capabilities in other countries. Last July, it spent $482 million to acquire Cromwell, a U.K.-industrial distributor. The acquisition was designed to expand Grainger’s footprint into the U.K. and Germany using Grainger’s online model. Cromwell is the largest independent MRO distributor in the United Kingdom, serving more than 35,000 industrial and manufacturing customers.
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Keough was the editor of Industrial Distribution magazine for more than 26 years. He often speaks at industry events and seminars. He can be reached at john.keough@comcast.net or keoughbiz@gmail.com.
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