InMobi’s Roposo Turns to Social Commerce to Solve Short Video Monetization Problem

ABSTRACT

Roposo senior vice president Mansi Jain said the platform is moving from a focus on creator- or influencer-led commerce to social commerce, where anyone can sell or resell products.

The new version of Roposo will try to replicate the social commerce model popularized by Meesho before the latter switched to a marketplace model

Roposo has stopped new user registrations and existing users cannot edit or publish content, although the app and website are still operational

InMobi-owned Roposo is in the process of transitioning to a social commerce model and expanding its short-form video business beyond the creator economy. In its new incarnation, Roposo will attempt to replicate the social commerce model popularized by Meesho before the latter transitioned to a marketplace model.

Roposo is currently in a transition phase. The company is no longer accepting new users, and current users cannot edit or publish content, although the Roposo app and website are still operational.

Mansi Jain, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Roposo, told Inc42 that the platform is moving away from a creator- or influencer-based commerce model to a social commerce model where anyone can sell or resell products within their circle of influence.

This is basically the proposition that Meesho and Limeroad used before at least Meesho switched to a marketplace model in 2022. Jain indicated that Roposo will allow users to set up their own stores and use the platform to expand their reach. She also claimed that product development for the new model is at an advanced stage and will be launched as early as November.

“Roposo in its current form was purely driven by influencer and brand collaborations, where users could consume content and make purchases directly from the app, while we took care of fulfilling the orders. But now we are making it more interactive, and users are using GenAI tools to sell products online,” Jain told Inc42.

Jain added that the full potential of artificial intelligence in commerce has not yet been tapped. WMobi aims to fill the gap by allowing users to leverage GenAI’s tools to publish content, videos, and sell or resell products.

In its previous format, Roposo allowed creators and influencers to use dropshipping to deliver products through Roposo Clout. Influencers could use Shop 101 (also acquired by InMobi) to buy products and sell them on the Roposo app, receiving a share of the profit from the transaction in return.

It is not clear at first whether users of the social commerce platform can also use Clout or Shop 101 products and services.

WMobi acquired Roposo in 2019 and was one of dozens of short-video apps that were supposed to fill the void left by TikTok in 2020 after it was banned in India. It was originally acquired to bolster InMobi’s Glance product, which displays ads and links on smartphone lock screens

Prior to the acquisition, Roposo had raised $38 million in funding from investors including Tiger Global and Bertelsmann India.

InMobi, meanwhile, plans to significantly expand its video commerce business by integrating GenAI tools into Glance and Roposo. Naveen Tiwari, CEO, InMobi he supposedly said Glance’s use of AI would uncover new consumption patterns by allowing smartphone users to make purchases directly from their lock screen rather than through individual apps.

Is video trading gaining popularity?

With Instagram and YouTube dominating in terms of users, Indian short video apps are struggling to monetize and are looking for different new streams to stay relevant. Josh from VerSe Innovation and ShareChat-backed Moj tested video commerce in the hope of attracting users and brands, but the result was not favorable in terms of revenue and drive.

In June this year, Flipkart he said The video commerce offering is gaining popularity – between January and June 2024, over 75 million users watched videos while shopping in the app in the specially selected video sections “Liveshop+” and “Vibes”.

“We understood that short-form content alone would be extremely difficult to monetize given the rising costs of streaming, server expenses, and influencer fees. The growth of the e-commerce industry, especially instant commerce platforms, has also led to many players developing strategies to engage their audiences/users, so video commerce will be key,” said VerSe CEO Umang Bedi Inc42 before.

InMobi’ is betting that features like product discoverability will set it apart from others in the space. Roposo’s Jain added that AI will unlock new commerce behaviors. “The world of Gen AI has the potential to change the way products are sold and purchased, which is something we are currently working on and will launch soon,” she said.

(Edited by Nikhil Subramanian)