Tilebazzar: Selling Tiles and Ceramics Online

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Abstract

The case describes the challenges faced by two young entrepreneurs, Nikita Maheshwari and her brother Shikhar Maheshwari, who founded a company known as Tilebazzar. After trying for more than a year or so they were seriously considering closing the startup. Tilebazzar was an Online match-making platform for tile trading, that brought together buyers and sellers to interact and strike a deal. This platform was the first of its kind in this industry and was built with the intention of eliminating the middleman from the supply chain. The platform had been working for two years but ran into significant problems in terms of the choice of product, market and target audience. This case focuses on the challenges that a marketplace faces during its initial phases. Is the business suitable for a marketplace? How does a start-up bring behavioural changes in costumers, challenging or maintaining the status-quo?.

Additional Information

Product Type Case
Reference No. IS0148
Title Tilebazzar: Selling Tiles and Ceramics Online
Pages 23
Published on Mar 21, 2025
Year of Event 2016
Authors Verma, Sanjay ;
Area Information Systems (IS)
Discipline Innovation and Entrepreneurship, IT and Systems, Marketing
Sector Trade
Learning Objective This case focuses on the challenges that a startup faces. A two-sided marketplace must successfully bridge the gap between buyers and sellers. The first challenge is to get both sides on the platform. To overcome this challenge the platform should create value for both sides. The scale of the value created should exceed the switching cost to the customer. The second challenge is to capture the value that it creates for the members. A lot of products and services have the potential to become platforms, however, to spot a prospective platform opportunity is the third challenge. The case mainly focuses on the following: 1. The factors that are necessary for a platform to be successful. 2. Various kinds of ecosystems: transaction-based ecosystem vs. Solution based ecosystem. 3. B2C versus B2B platforms. 4. Value creation versus value capturing on the platforms.
Keywords Online Marketplace; Platforms
Country India
State Gujarat
City Ahmedabad
Organization Tilebazaar
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