Yayvo.com, a TCS-backed e-commerce startup, is shutting down after eight years of contending with established companies and up-and-comers. Yayvo, a makeover of TCS Connect, an online shopping platform created in 2012, joined the Pakistani e-commerce business in 2014 with a lot of enthusiasm. However, companies such as Daraz, Alibaba, and Amazon infiltrated the market and pushed the company out of business for more than three years.
Fazal Dojki, the founder and CEO of Next Generation Innovations, who worked on the platform’s creation and launch, said on Linkedin that Yayvo had become a zombie after falling out of the top 10 in 2020.
Shehryar Hydri, a partner at Deosai Ventures, remarked on the news, calling Yayvo’s closure “long overdue” and “a lesson for Pakistani innovators.”
TCS E-Com (Pvt.) Limited managed Yayvo.com, an online store that offered a large range of top local and worldwide brands, electrical equipment, mobile phones, apparel for men and women, home décor, lifestyle goods, books, delicacies, and much more.
At its debut, Yayvo’s marketing effort included various adverts promoting its products. Nonetheless, they appeared to be more focused on appliances than the apparel, accessories, shoes, and other things that now dominate Pakistan’s e-commerce business. They could have started with these, but they opted to wait until it was too late.
Despite the fact that this was most likely a novice error, Yayvo was still having issues after nearly seven years. Yayvo, a startup formed in 2014, used to sell over 150,000 things on its website, ranging from detergent to televisions and cell phones.
The possibilities on the website have always been limited, which may be explained by the portal’s layout, which did not fully display the whole variety. Despite its best attempts, the website struggled to stand out due to the fact that so many of its aesthetics and features were outmoded.
Although it is still in its early stages in Pakistan, e-commerce is rapidly expanding. Despite the fact that Alibaba took the lead by buying Daraz, the agreement is now undoubtedly finished, owing to firms such as Airlift and Yayvo taking the risk. Yayvo possessed all of the required components to dominate the market before Alibaba entered Pakistan, owing to its significant logistical advantage.
Because business activities are now out of reach, as well as the country’s economic issues, it appears that the firm had no choice but to permanently close its doors.
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