Amazon alone has thousands of product categories, each with its own catalog format. Now multiply that by every marketplace a brand wants to sell on.
Shayak Mazumder, co-founder and CEO of Eunimart, spent years building global e-commerce at Rocket Internet. He joined The Builders Club to explain how brands can approach selling globally online without reinventing the wheel.
How can a brand start selling globally online? Shayak Mazumder’s framework
Shayak’s view is that marketplaces such as Amazon give merchants a full ecosystem of marketing, shipping and operations partners, but nothing helps once a brand wants to sell across many channels at once. Eunimart is a platform built for that gap, pre-integrated with around 25 marketplaces.
He breaks the global-selling question into five parts he calls AEIOU: access, ecosystem, intelligence, operations and uniformity.
- Start with product and channel. Check demand, licences and which marketplaces fit, and why.
- Plan the ecosystem. Shipping, warehousing, marketing and payments partners must be in place.
- Dropship first, localise later. Move high-demand SKUs to local fulfilment.
- Keep pricing consistent. Different prices across channels hurt the brand.
What problem does Eunimart solve for sellers?
Shayak saw at Rocket Internet that every second brand needs the same ecosystem Amazon provides, but without being tied to a single marketplace. Cataloging alone is hard, because each Amazon category has its own format and valid values.
Eunimart lets sellers manage catalog, orders, inventory, pricing and payments across channels from one place. He says they should be around one crore in annual revenue, so their catalog and product-market fit are settled.
- Pre-integrated with about 25 marketplaces.
- Avoids hiring separate teams for each channel.
- Not a brand-building or logistics company.
What should brands check before selling internationally?
Product comes first. Some categories are restricted, and items like cosmetics or ayurvedic products can need licences in each country.
Next is picking channels on purpose. Selling in Australia is a fine goal, but a founder should also know whether eBay, Amazon or another marketplace there suits the product.
What is the AEIOU framework for global e-commerce?
Shayak uses the vowels as a memory aid for the five questions every cross-border seller must answer.
- Access: will the marketplace let you sell, or must you localise or hold stock there?
- Ecosystem: who handles shipping, warehousing, marketing and payments?
- Intelligence: who are your competitors, and what price point works?
- Operations: orders and inventory, simple at first and complex at scale.
- Uniformity: keep prices and branding consistent across channels in a market.
Should I use dropshipping or local fulfilment to scale?
He recommends dropshipping at the start because it needs little money and helps establish a supply chain. The catch is cost. Supply chain can reach roughly 30 percent of product price, and he has seen 40 to 45 percent.
Once you know the markets and your best sellers, local fulfilment from a warehouse in-country is more scalable. A mixed approach works: locally fulfil the high-demand items and dropship the rest.
How did the pandemic change global supply chains?
Shayak called it counterintuitive. Logistics firms saw more demand and raised prices, while large businesses learned the cost of running on spreadsheets.
The result was a push toward automation, transparency and resilience.
Why are Indian D2C brands behind China globally?
Shayak thinks Indian D2C is growing but not fast enough. He compared China’s cross-border e-commerce, which he put at around 139 billion dollars, with India’s overall e-commerce market, which he put at around 35 billion dollars.
In his view China benefited from government-backed cross-border zones and long-standing merchant communities. He expects Indian brands to take about four to five years to mature, with few international successes in the next two. For context on the category, see e-commerce on Wikipedia.
- India’s strengths are gems and jewellery, ethnic wear and handicrafts.
- Choose categories where you have a manufacturing edge, global demand and low regulation.
Further reading and sources
Frequently asked questions
How do I start selling my products internationally?
Shayak suggests checking product demand and any licences needed, then choosing specific marketplaces and countries with a reason. After that, plan shipping, warehousing, marketing and payments before you scale.
Is dropshipping or local fulfilment better for cross-border sales?
Dropshipping is a cheap way to start, but supply chain costs can climb to 30 percent or more of the price. Local fulfilment suits your proven, high-demand products once you know your markets.
What size business suits a multichannel platform like Eunimart?
Shayak says sellers above roughly one crore in annual revenue are a good fit, since their catalog and product maturity are settled by then.
Conclusion
Shayak’s message is to treat global selling as a system, not a listing exercise. Decide on the product, channels, partners and pricing rules before spending on growth.
Start lean with dropshipping, watch which products and countries pull, and then invest in local fulfilment.
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