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Chapter 01 free Real work · Real tools Insidemarketplaces - A playbook on the real P&Ls of Indian marketplaces | Product Hunt

Learn how ecommerce and quick commerce actually work. The practical way. ↗

Real P&Ls. Real tools. Real brand projects.

06 Six chapters, real P&Ls
% Interactive CM2 & cash calculators
23 Timed test, ranked certificate
₹ Written by an operator, not a guru

COVERS 10 PLATFORMS

Amazon Flipkart Myntra Blinkit Zepto Instamart BigBasket Flipkart Minutes Ajio FirstClub
↓ See what's inside

Who should get
this playbook?

Swipe for more →

MBA

Students & freshers

MBA, BBA, B.Com or engineering, about to interview. Guesstimates, unit economics and the operating language, so you sound like you have done the job before you have. Then a ranked certificate to show for it.

EDU

Colleges & placement cells

Give a whole batch one shared operating language before placement season. Every student sits the same timed test and earns a ranked certificate any recruiter can verify.

P&L

Category & growth managers

You already run these P&Ls. This ends the nodding: CM2, OSA and fill rate become numbers you own, not vocabulary you survive.

₹

Founders, agencies & consultants

Going into Qcom, or advising brands who are? Commission bands, dark-store math and the 78-day cash cycle, before they cost a quarter of runway.

What these skills are worth

Learn the first year of the job, before the job.

Today a bachelor's graduate starts at ₹3-4 LPA, and a tier 2 or tier 3 MBA fresher at ₹5-6 LPA.

Walk in already knowing the P&L, ads and Qcom work, and you can aim for ₹8-10 LPA from day one, and ₹15-20 LPA within two years.

Why this exists

Most of what you'll read about marketplaces is marketing. This is the arithmetic.

The expensive way to learn this is to take the hit on your own P&L. This is just an efficient way to avoid that :)

If you operate

Own the numbers in your own P&L instead of nodding through them.

If you’re a student

Get job-ready, then pitch on Demo Day to 20+ D2C brands.

What's inside

What you'll learn inside

Chapter 01 free · 02-06 and the test at ₹1,599 launch price

01 · Foundation

FREE

AFTER THIS CHAPTER YOU CAN

· Read GMV, NMV, take rate and bps without translating in your head

· Size a market with a guesstimate that survives an interview

· Compute volumetric weight before the courier does it for you

Read by top operators & students

Category and growth people already running these P&Ls, and the campuses about to send them more.

OPERATORS AT

Frido

Frido

Operators

NUUK

NUUK

Operators

dentsu

dentsu

Operators

iThrive

iThrive

Operators

Wakefit

Wakefit

Operators

Blue Tokai

Blue Tokai

Operators

CrepDog Crew

CrepDog Crew

Operators

STUDENTS AT

IIT Delhi

IIT Delhi

Students

IIT Bombay

IIT Bombay

Students

IIM Calcutta

IIM Calcutta

Students

BIMTECH

BIMTECH

Students

Mesa

Mesa

Students

Delhi University

Delhi University

Students

Your journey, start to hired

Read Chapter 01 free

Leave your email and WhatsApp number and chapter 01 opens instantly. No card, no spam.

Show, don't claim

Ten seconds is enough to see the difference

No pitch, no talking head. Then run the same numbers yourself, below.

Interactive · CM1 / CM2 calculator

What does one order really leave you?

Your numbers stay in your browser.

Your numbers, per order

Rough is fine. The defaults are the playbook’s worked example; change any field.

Every % is on GMV excluding GST, the base platforms charge on.

GMV ex-GST₹846.61
Net revenue₹745.02
CM1₹223.51
CM2 · per order₹151.5415.17% of GMV

The read

Workable. CM2 in the 10-20% band - watch TaCoS.

Flags

–Returns are eating margin (12%), worth checking by SKU
↗Healthy product margin (COGS 33%)
↗Platform fees in a normal band (28.6% commission + logistics)
–Ads at 8.5% TACoS: check which campaigns earn their spend

The playbook’s worked example, to the paisa. Chapter 02 shows where each line comes from.

How it works in the real world

The tools brands actually run on

Built from live marketplace work: the screens, reports and numbers a category or growth team opens every morning.

Eight tools you work in · drag to turn

01

Amazon Seller Central

Listings, fees, ads and payouts

Ecommerce
02

Vendor Central

POs, margins and first-party selling

Ecommerce
03

Blinkit Seller Portal

Orders, stock and payouts on Blinkit

Quick commerce
04

GobbleCube

Quick commerce shelf and share

Quick commerce
05

Dcluttr

Q-commerce availability and share of search

Quick commerce
06P

Pippo

Marketplace operations, hands on

Ops
07

Power BI

Dashboards the business reads

Analytics
08

Claude Code

AI that does the analysis work

AI

What the certificate opens

Climb the ranks, unlock more

New at this rank Carried up

Soldier75-80%
  • Verified certificate
  • Live brand projects
Knight81-85%
  • Everything in Soldier
  • Demo Day
  • Job assistance
  • Operator community
Commander86-95%
  • Everything in Knight
Kings96-100%
  • Everything in Commander
  • 100% placement assistance
  • Printed certificate, posted
  • Tumbler
  • Alumni T-shirt
  • Hoodie

Under 75% No certificate. The next sitting opens in 30 days.

The test

The certificate is earned, not issued

Twenty-three questions against a hard clock, in one sitting, no going back. Under 75% there is no certificate and a 30-day wait. Over it, your rank goes on the sheet.

23 questions52 marks23 minutes75% to pass

Inside the test

23:00

Three sections, in this order. Each one closes before the next opens, and there is no going back.

  1. 01

    Direct 3 min

    5 questions × 2 marks. Definitions and units.
    10marks
  2. 02

    Money math 4 min

    6 questions × 3 marks. Clean numbers, unforgiving clock.
    18marks
  3. 03

    Situational 16 min

    12 scenarios × 2 marks. Judgement, not recall.
    24marks

Try one · in the style of section 03

Festive week. Your hero SKU has missed its daily run rate three days running, and it is priced 18% above the market. What do you fix first?

Right. Price sits above everything: no bid has ever fixed a price problem. Chapter 05 has the full playbook.

Not quite. Price sits above everything: no bid has ever fixed a price problem. Chapter 05 has the full playbook.

The Kings box

Score 96% or more and this lands at your door

Kings get more than a certificate. We post you a box. Hover over it to see what's inside, then hover the hoodie or T-shirt to see the back.Tap it to see what's inside, then tap the hoodie or T-shirt to see the back.

100% placement assistance.

Kings don’t just get the box. We prioritise getting you placed.
  1. 01

    Printed certificate

    Your name, score and Kings rank, printed and posted.
  2. 02

    Alumni hoodie

    The back reads “Strategy is my sport.”
  3. 03

    Alumni T-shirt

    The back reads “Profitability is my language.”
  4. 04

    Tumbler

    Inside Marketplaces branded, for your desk.
Take the testKings is 96-100%. You pick the T-shirt and hoodie size when you claim the box.

The certificate, in full

Named, scored, ranked - and verifiable at a public URL, so it holds up when someone checks. Below 75% there is no certificate, and the next sitting is 30 days away.

Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator

Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator · Inside Marketplaces · Certified Marketplace Operator

No. IM-2026-T2XDPP
Inside Marketplaces

Certificate of Completion

is presented to

Your Name Here

for completing all six chapters of The Indian E-Commerce Playbook, from Foundation through Working Capital, and passing the timed assessment in a single sitting with 44 of 52 marks (85%). The holder is hereby recognised as a

Certified Marketplace Operator

Rank awarded · Knight

Covering ten platforms

Amazon Flipkart Myntra Ajio Blinkit Zepto Instamart BigBasket Flipkart Minutes FirstClub

Inside Marketplaces

Author, Inside Marketplaces

Issued

September 2026

Verify this credential

insidemarketplaces.com/verify

View it full size →

The Inside Marketplaces impact

What these operating moves did in practice - the same moves written down in chapters 03-06.

Swipe for more →

↑ ₹50 Cr

additional marketplace revenue in 1.5+ years across blinkit zepto Amazon & more

₹1,000 Cr+ D2C brand

↑ 1 → 2 digits

CM2 from single to double digits without touching price - the discount moved to the payments layer, and it held

₹1,000 Cr+ D2C brand · Amazon & Qcom

↓ 48 hrs

to onboard Slikk as a new channel - cold LinkedIn outreach, partnership framework the same week

₹1,000 Cr+ D2C brand · channel expansion

9 → 1

nine platform exports replaced by one live dashboard - CM2 per SKU, per platform, across blinkit zepto instamart

PIPPO.built & run in-house

↑ 2× revenue

revenue doubled across marketplace channels

₹50 Cr+ FMCG coffee brand
Launch price

₹1,599

then ₹1,999

One time, at the launch price. After that it is ₹1,999 and stays there. No subscription, no renewals.

Unlock chapters 02-06 →

Chapter 01 and the calculator above are free. Read first, then decide.

WHAT YOU UNLOCK

Chapters 02-06 - unit economics, models, Qcom ops, strategy, working capital

All interactive calculators - CM2, volumetric, cash cycle

The 23-minute timed test and ranked certificate

Live brand projects from 75%; Demo Day, job assistance and the operator community at Knight and above

Market data refreshed with the playbook - currently to March 2026

The community

Join the Marketplace Community

Category managers, founders and operators who run these P&Ls for a living. Commission bands, fee changes and what is actually working this quarter, compared by the people seeing it first-hand. One room, straight answers.

Exclusive to operators and category teams. Every request is read before it is let in.

01

The numbers people actually see

Commission bands, S&D creep and settlement quirks, compared across brands rather than guessed at.

02

Answers from people who ran it

Ask about a fee schedule, a Qcom PO or a cash cycle and get a reply from someone who has lived it.

03

Where certified operators land

Score Knight or above on the test and you are onboarded here automatically.

FAQ
Is this a course?

No. No lectures and no theory for its own sake. Real P&Ls, working calculators, hands-on time with the tools brands use, and a timed test. Clear it and you get live brand projects; score Knight or above and you get Demo Day and job assistance.

What exactly is free?

Chapter 01 in full, plus the CM2 calculator on this page. Chapters 02-06 and the test are behind the ₹1,599 unlock, or ₹1,999 once the launch seats are gone.

What if I fail the test?

You wait 30 days for the next sitting. That is deliberate - the certificate means something because it can be failed.

Are the numbers real?

Every statistic carries a source line - rate cards, Redseer, Bernstein, Datum Intelligence. Where a number is our own benchmark, it says so explicitly.

Who is this not for?

Anyone looking for motivation or a guaranteed outcome. Anyone selling only D2C with no marketplace plans. And anyone who wants videos - there are none.