Selling Worldwide: Karan J's E-Commerce Journey

Swarnim (Host)

Hello everyone, welcome to The True Trade Talks, powered by Gxpress. Today we're joined by the founder of a very exciting cosmetics brand. We'll talk about his journey — brand building, online selling, and how he grew his business globally. Let's get started! First, tell us a little about your brand — the name, the products, and how you started this journey.

Karan

Thank you for having me, Swarnim. I have multiple eCommerce brands across different domains — one in cosmetics, one silicone-based, and one in medical equipment. The way it primarily works: I start by giving samples to my customers via Amazon. I ship my goods to Amazon in various countries using Gxpress; the samples get dispatched locally to the leads, and we take it from there — I sell on Amazon myself, and I also supply my buyers in various countries.

Swarnim (Host)

So basically you're targeting your B2B buyers via Amazon?

Karan

The business works in two parts. The first part is what you said — I target B2B customers via my Amazon sales channel. And I also sell on Amazon myself. So it's both B2B as well as D2C.

Swarnim (Host)

As far as I know, the cosmetics industry is very competitive. Where did the inspiration come from?

Karan

It all started after COVID — actually during the second COVID wave in 2021. My existing business was in flax seeds, chia seeds and those superfoods, and it came to a stop. The next natural thing for me was cosmetics. During COVID I did my research — on Reddit, YouTube, Instagram — and eventually figured cosmetics was the line I wanted to go into. I went into men's intimate care. That's where it started.

Swarnim (Host)

Overall, if we talk about eCommerce marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart — what challenges did you face at the start?

Karan

Walmart has only just opened up for Indian sellers in the US. On Amazon, the problem at the start was understanding how to even begin. When you build a listing, you can't figure out how you actually get your money — what the commission is, what their charges are. They are very transparent about their charges, but there's no clarity about what each charge is for and how the money reaches you. The payment period in India is one week; in the US it's two weeks — payments release every two weeks. And when it comes to going international, compliance is a big headache in my industries — rubber and cosmetics. That was the primary issue I faced with international online selling.

Swarnim (Host)

And on logistics and international shipping — what difficulties did you run into?

Karan

Since I was very new to eCommerce — and international eCommerce — the first problem was understanding what the customer needs, and the customer needs quick delivery. For quick delivery you have to store your goods inside that country. If my customer is in the US, I need to deliver to them as soon as possible — ideally one-day delivery, but that isn't possible everywhere. Back in 2022 the benchmark was: if you're delivering in four days, it's fine. So shipping goods from India, storing them in the US, and getting them delivered on time — that was a big headache. The primary problem for me was how to get my goods safely by air to the USA and have them stored there.

Karan

This is where Gxpress came as a blessing for me. The system is very streamlined and the process is smooth. And the best part — my sales manager, Ashutosh, helped me a lot. He'd say: "Today is Tuesday. Hand the goods to me on Thursday and I'll have them flying to the US on Friday." And what he said mostly happened. If they gave a turnaround time of nine days, they usually delivered in eight to ten. I want to give kudos to the Gxpress team for that, because the usual problem with other shipping partners was promising eight days and delivering in twenty. Gxpress did what they said — and that was a big, big thing for me, because based on their commitment I could plan my shipments. I was in the trial phase at the time, and in a trial phase you don't yet know what will sell and what won't.

Swarnim (Host)

Let me ask this — what quantity did you start with, and where are you today?

Karan

Back in 2023 I came across Gxpress via the Amazon SPN listings. My first shipment was only 40 kg. Now I'm doing about two shipments to the USA every month, 300–400 kg each — so on average around 800 kg per month.

Swarnim (Host)

That's wonderful — we wish your shipment volumes keep growing like this!

Swarnim (Host)

And on a last note — if you could give new sellers one piece of advice, what would it be?

Karan

Try to go to the markets where others are not. One is the Netherlands market; another is Brazil. There's much less competition there — the sellers aren't there because the barrier to entry is too high. But once you cross that barrier, it becomes much easier to sell your goods at relatively higher margins compared to the USA or UK, where there's a big rush. So I'd suggest targeting countries like the Netherlands and Poland — and if you can manage it, Brazil and Mexico too. That's where I think we can really expand our businesses.

Swarnim (Host)

Thank you so much for joining us today!

Karan

Thank you so much.