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Neelkamal Biswas
Co-Founder, CircleStack.co - solving for sustainable commerce | ex-Uber
Neelkamal Biswas is the Co-Founder of CircleStack.co, a company focused on helping businesses build profitable branded resale operations.2 With a background in consumer technology, Biswas has held several leadership positions at the CXO+1 level before co-founding CircleStack.2
Professional Experience
Biswas brings a wealth of experience to his current role:
- He has worked in strategic leadership positions at prominent tech companies, including Deliveroo and Uber.4
- His expertise spans areas such as strategy, planning, operations, and team management.
Current Focus
At CircleStack.co, Biswas is dedicated to:
- Solving challenges related to sustainable commerce.5
- Assisting companies in establishing and growing profitable branded resale businesses.2
Expertise
Biswas is recognized for his insights on:
- The rising resale market and its implications for brands.3
- Strategic thinking in the context of recommerce and sustainability.3
Public Speaking
Biswas shares his expertise at industry events. He is scheduled to speak at the EPP Global Pricing and Revenue Management Forum 2024, where he will present on "Pricing second hand goods: How can brands build a profitable resale business?"1
Neelkamal Biswas is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and can be found on LinkedIn under the username neelkamalbiswas.4
Highlights
Picking up from my last post: Does branded resale help acquire new customers?
Short answer, yes! On average, ~40% of a brand’s resale customers are new to the brand. In fact it is the number one reason brands (89%) consider starting a resale program.
And the reason is simple. Resale attracts a different (& mostly younger) kind of customer.
Here's why: 💰 Value : With high inflation & a cost of living crisis, customers, especially Gen Z and younger Millennials, are seeking value. These groups are the most driven by deals which make good economic sense.
🕰 Vintage : Gen Z is embracing vintage fashion for self-expression. For instance, #vintageclotheshaul has over 2.1 billion views.
💎 Affordable luxury : Luxury goods are becoming more expensive. As per The Wall Street Journal, the average price of luxury goods sold online in the U.S. increased 64% between 2019 and 2024, pushing aspirational buyers to find more affordable options.
🗑 Instant Declutter & Gratification : The ability to declutter wardrobes instantly and get paid is appealing, especially compared to longer selling cycles on P2P/C2C marketplaces like Vinted.
🌏 Sustainable options : Buying second hand reduces carbon emissions by an average of 25%. 63% of Gen Z and Millennials believe they can reduce their individual footprint, compared to 55% overall.
These reasons also drive loyalty among existing users. By having a resale program, brands engage existing users to exchange old items for credit, which is then spent on new purchases. This ecosystem drives higher lifetime values and loyalty, with sellers spending 2-3X their store credits on their next purchase.
✔ Bottomline : Branded Resale can help acquire younger Gen Z and Millennial customers more effectively than traditional channels and drive loyalty with existing users by creating an ecosystem.
👉 Interested in knowing more? Or what this could mean for your brand? Feel free to drop me a line in the comments below.
#recommerce #brandedresale #circular #GenZ #Millennials
🚀𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑑 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙 & 𝑎𝑐𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝐺𝑒𝑛 𝑍? ❤️𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑦 & 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠? 🍀𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑒 3 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠? 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟!
Needless to say, this is a grossly simplified soundbite of the branded resale value proposition. The reality, as often, is a lot more nuanced.
So let’s dig in and see how much of this holds water
🙋𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬?
There is no doubt the overall secondhand market is growing manyfold faster than retail. However, the impact of a branded resale program on revenue depends on many factors.
(i) Awareness of the program. Depends on the Brand’s marketing efforts such as visibility on the main website. For instance, only 1 out 3 brands include content about their resale program on their homepage or promote their resale program through social media.
(ii) Supply of used products. Building inventory is hard as the inventory is sitting in people’s closets. It requires frictionless trade-in channels for customers to easily ship back (or physically return in stores) their used goods and get compensated fairly and quickly. It requires reverse logistics & operations capability to authenticate, check condition & refurbish. Which is where the different resale service providers come into play - Trove being the leading example and circlestack being the latest :)
(iii) Demand for used products. Products which are durable, high quality and with timeless designs retain value best. Such products have high latent demand in the resale market vs. low priced fast fashion products on the other end of the spectrum. For example, some of the hottest resale products as per ThredUp’s 2023 resale report are Fjällräven Backpacks, Patagonia Vests, Dr. Martens plc Boots.
(iv) Scale of the program. Whether your resale program is a single retail store accepting & retailing used goods vs. a fully integrated omni-channel experience across a brand’s online and offline footprint e.g. you can trade-in your used lululemon gear in 390 of its 446 US stores.
❓But what about some real growth numbers?
Surprisingly, I was unable to find reliable estimates. Some back of the envelope math based on listings vs. new product sales indicate an impact of ~1% for leading brands with resale programs. A more promising insight was of the New York brand, M.M.Lafluer which boosted annual revenue by 3% from their resale program.
✅ Bottomline: Will starting a resale program for your brand 2x your revenue? Probably not. But with the correct program design and execution, it has the potential to drive significant & meaningful revenue growth over the long term.
And acquiring GenZ, sustainability & all that other stuff? Well stay tuned for more.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
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Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
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Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
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User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.