There’s a brand new smartphone being launched nearly each month. It appears like the following iteration of your present cellphone hits the market inside a 12 months of your buy. Telephone firms and marketplaces tantalise you with engaging trade affords, tempting you to improve. However have you ever ever paused to think about what turns into of your previous telephones?

Many marketplaces and shops present the choice of buying a refurbished cellphone. Such a cellphone undergoes thorough inspection for defects, repairs, and alternative of defective components. In response to a report by Redseer Technique Consultants, the refurbished or used smartphone market in India is projected to soar to $10 billion by 2026.

In 2015, Avneet Singh got down to purchase an iPhone for his mom however discovered the brand new cellphone’s worth past his funds when he visited a retailer together with his buddy, Saket Saurav. Nevertheless, an enterprising salesman supplied them a second-hand cellphone at a considerably cheaper price, almost Rs 35,000 lower than a brand new one.

Regardless of the tempting supply, the cellphone lacked any checks and got here with out a guarantee. Opting towards the dangerous buy, Avneet was impressed by the expertise.

Working collectively at Shopclues, he and Saket recognised an issue price fixing. Subsequently, Shopclues launched a refurbished cellular class, ReNew, which rapidly generated multi-crore income inside its first month.

They did in depth analysis on the refurbished cellular market and recognizing an opportune time in Might 2017, they stop their jobs and launched ReFit International — a refurbished cellphone startup, on a mission to scale back e-waste by recycling and refurbishing second-hand devices.

ReFit is on observe to attain a income of Rs 240 crore this monetary 12 months and stop 55,000 to 65,000 telephones from changing into e-waste each month.

The 2 Delhiites met by means of frequent pals and their friendship solidified after two gross sales stints collectively at LG and Shopclues. The aforementioned incident and subsequent launch of the ReNew portfolio at Shopclues alerted the 2 MBA graduates concerning the potential of the refurbished market.

They carried out market analysis and, whereas overseeing the ReNew portfolio, gained sensible insights into the main points of the class. They discovered firsthand about sourcing stock, refurbishing telephones, and figuring out potential gross sales channels.

Coming from service-class backgrounds, the duo had long-held aspirations of changing into entrepreneurs. Recognising a promising enterprise alternative and observing a major market hole, they made the daring determination to pursue their goals. They left behind their steady company careers to dive headfirst into the world of entrepreneurship.

They invested all their financial savings and the then 28-year-olds took a private mortgage of Rs 15 lakh every and bootstrapped their enterprise. With a complete capital of Rs 55 lakh, they began ReFit International in Might 2017.

“The refurbished market was simply choosing up at the moment. Up till then, we solely had the choice to purchase new telephones or second-hand telephones. A second-hand cellphone didn’t have credibility. So we determined to supply high quality checked and examined refurbished telephones,” explains Saket (35), co-founder and CEO, ReFit International, to The Higher India.

The Delhi-based firm was began with a workforce of seven together with the 2 founders, and centered on the offline market. Initially, Saket and Avneet would load about 100 refurbished telephones of their automobiles, got down to the market, and persuade channel companions to purchase these telephones.

“We’d go to totally different markets and be on the highway for nearly 10 days at a time within the preliminary days. We defined the product to the channel companions and requested them to belief us with a small sum of money. Educating shoppers and companions was the primary, difficult step,” says Avneet (35), co-founder and COO, ReFit International.

They slowly discovered a number of channel companions who invested anyplace between Rs 2 to five lakh, which kicked off the enterprise of the enterprise.

The primary two years had been a whirlwind of sleepless nights for these entrepreneurs, absolutely dedicated to their enterprise. Saket remembers that at the beginning of their enterprise, his spouse was pregnant, whereas Avneet’s dad and mom had simply begun looking for a bride for him.

“We invested all our financial savings; it was ‘do or die’ for us. We had a powerful perception that it might work, and labored laborious. We took no days off and burnt the midnight oil. We centered on constructing offline base and educating our distributors whereas constructing partnerships with cellular manufacturers and marketplaces to purchase again previous telephones,” provides Saket.

Their efforts paid off as individuals began trusting their model and their gross sales grew. Within the first 12 months of operations, they earned a income of Rs 8 crore.

A 47-point high quality examine

ReFit sources previous telephones from three channels — marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart,  cellular producers like Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, and Apple, and huge format retailers like Sangeetha, Poorvika, and Croma.

As soon as the telephones attain their workplace, they’re examined utilizing ReFit’s in-house diagnostic utility which has 47 high quality examine parameters. Saket says that inside two and a half minutes, the appliance identifies what’s flawed with the cellphone. Their engineers then rectify and restore the telephones, conducting additional checks to see if the sensors and cameras are working correctly.

As soon as the faults are mounted, the appliance is run once more to examine if it passes all high quality checks. It’s then despatched both to offline companions or bought by means of their very own web site, which was launched in October 2023. In addition they supply a six-month guarantee on their telephones.

Their common promoting worth offline is Rs 6,000 and on-line is Rs 11,000. There’s extra demand for high-end telephones on-line, say the founders.

They additional share that they promote between 55,000 to 65,000 telephones each month and have bought over 1.75 million telephones to this point. They declare that they’ve been worthwhile from the outset and have achieved a constant 100% year-on-year development. Their income reached Rs 187 crore final 12 months and is projected to hit Rs 240 crore this 12 months. Working in over 100 cities, they’ve a community of greater than 50,000 retailers.

The key distinction between a second-hand and refurbished cellphone, explains Saket, is the standard and credibility. “There isn’t any high quality testing or checking finished on a second-hand cellphone. We make sure that there isn’t any drawback with the cellphone and provide you with a guaranty,” he says.

These telephones are additionally helpful for the surroundings as they lengthen the lifespan of devices and stop them from contributing to waste. In 2022, the Waste Electrical and Digital Gear (WEEE) discussion board reported that 5.3 billion cellphones would grow to be waste in that 12 months alone. As an alternative of recycling previous telephones, many individuals both maintain them at residence or discard them in bins.

Nevertheless, these units include worthwhile supplies like gold, copper, and silver, which, if recycled, can stop the necessity for extracting treasured minerals and assist cut back carbon emissions.

ReFit additionally appeared on Shark Tank India Season 3 and secured a deal for Rs 2 crore from three ‘Sharks’ — Anupam Mittal, Vineeta Singh, and Amit Jain. Put up their look on Shark Tank, they’ve obtained over 20,000 queries from retailers and distributors in simply 10 days, say the elated founders, including that they wish to improve their on-line presence within the coming years.

From initially protecting their enterprise a secret from their households to establishing an organization valued at Rs 200 crore, Avneet and Saket exemplify the facility of laborious work, seizing alternatives on the proper time, and embodying the hustle tradition.

“It is advisable to be sincere with your self and your clients, work laborious, and have the zeal to construct a enterprise. Don’t stick with a method; as an alternative, be keen to redo issues if one thing doesn’t work. We achieved our objectives as a result of our intent and fervour had been sturdy,” says Avneet.

Edited by Pranita Bhat

Sources

WEEE Discussion board