Building a D2C Brand in India with Tabish Ahmed

About this episode

In this episode of The eCom Show, host Shan A Salam interviews Tabish Ahmed, a D2C growth builder with experience at InMobi and Mosaic Wellness brands such as Man Matters. Tabish shares his journey from schooling in Dubai and studying business at Delhi University to working at InMobi during the mobile app explosion. He explains how he transitioned into D2C brand strategy, operating profit and loss units, and driving business expansion. The discussion details the mechanics of identifying market white spaces, gathering deep consumer insights, and validating demand before manufacturing. Tabish breaks down key ecommerce metrics, specifically lifetime value to customer acquisition cost ratios and average order value optimisation. He also explores ad exchange dynamics, creative testing, the balance between performance marketing and organic brand distribution, and why retention ultimately determines long term profitability in modern ecommerce businesses.

Key takeaways

1. 1Identify market white spaces by analysing search trends on Google and ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon.
2. 2Validate consumer demand and willingness to pay with test ad campaigns before committing capital to manufacturing.
3. 3Direct to consumer brands should maintain an LTV to CAC ratio comfortably above one to scale profitably.
4. 4True profitability in ecommerce comes from repeat purchases and customer retention rather than initial acquisition orders.
5. 5Form factor innovation, such as turning supplements into gummies, can differentiate a brand in crowded categories.
6. 6Performance marketing functions like an on-off tap, whereas organic content builds an enduring distribution asset.
7. 7Understanding consumer pain points within the first few seconds of video ads is vital for algorithmic ad delivery.

Chapters

1. 00:00Highlights
2. 02:20Introduction
3. 02:55School and college life
4. 06:20First job journey
5. 09:22Ad exchange
6. 11:43Why he chose marketing
7. 17:13Experience at InMobi
8. 22:43Three years in the Strategy and Operations team
9. 26:38Identifying white space opportunities
10. 40:09Acquire, Convert, Retain framework
11. 43:47The flywheel effect
12. 48:06Two types of ads
13. 51:41Building organically V/s Performance Marketing
14. 1:00:01Apple’s marketing strategy & Shan's Story
15. 1:04:40Methord of Man Matters
16. 1:09:04Future plans and reasons for exit
17. 1:13:23- Conclusion