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Name of the Company: Togofogo
Set up in: 2015
Based in: Delhi
Founder: Soumitra Gupta
Funding: Till now bootstrapped
What it does: Runs an online marketplace for buying and selling pre-owned phones, tablets, and laptops. Functions as a one-stop shop and provides an array of services, right from quality check and certification of products to an option to buy a one-year warranty on refurbished and pre-owned phones. Also provides post-purchase repair services and works on the philosophy of ‘Reuse’ keeping in mind the importance of minimising e-waste.
The ‘Reuse’ policy is carried out through two methods — Reconditioning and Refurbishing. While reconditioning involves erasing previously stored data and initiating factory reset, refurbishing involves repairing and correcting the device. All old and damaged products bought by the company are refurbished and repaired before selling to customers.
How it does it: Through state-of-the-art refurbishment centres in Delhi and Bengaluru where smartphones and laptops are given a makeover. Togofogo has a network of over 500 sellers that list mobiles of more than 20 brands on the company website. Through the online platform, sellers leverage the company’s integrated logistics support to open up a market across India, while buyers have a place to shop for bargains and be assured about the quality of the products they purchase.
Big moment: Achieving the milestone of recording three times growth in the number of refurbished devices sold on the platform in the month of July. With this, the company has sold over 3,50,000 refurbished and pre-owned phones in the domestic market.
Impact: Contributing to the environment and resource savings by reusing the precious metals and plastics in old cell phones, instead of making or mining new ones. Has also achieved a repeat customer percentage of 24 and captured 35 per cent of the online market for refurbished smartphones.
Vision: To organise and transform the offline grey market of refurbished devices. To continue to facilitate the buying and selling of refurbished phones and certification and repair of pre-owned phones. To introduce a ‘buy-back’ facility and expand the product line to include other consumer electronic devices, and provide similar service for them.
As shorter upgrade cycles of smartphones are fuelling a demand for used phones, offline expansion into tier-1 and tier-2 cities is on the cards. Expects a sharp growth trajectory, the roadmap includes over a 100 retail stores in the country by 2020.
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