8 successful ecommerce sellers share their secrets to success

Business

oi-Sunil

By Sunil Fernandes

| Updated: Saturday, September 5, 2015, 12:55 [IST]

Do you have a dream? A desire to create something of your own? Are you wondering if there's a way to get there easier and faster, minus the struggle?

Here are the stories of 8 Indians who believed that they had something unique to sell, something great to achieve, and someone inspiring to become - but never believed it would be this easy. So how did they crack Digital India? What were their secrets to success?

Aarti Goel

Armed with self-belief and the itch to do something great, Aarti Goel powered past societal opposition to follow her passion. She knew that she had the talent and desire to do more than taking care of her home and family. Starting small from the by lanes of Chandni Chowk, she is the owner of a thriving business today. An inspiration to every housewife, her mantra to success was never bowing down to anyone's expectations but her own. She made one bold decision after the next, never slowing down. On having created her own identity, she said, "I was somebody's mom, somebody's daughter, somebody's wife, now, I am what I am."

Result:

Aarti's now a multi-platform online seller and owner of a designer home furnishing brand offering products like cushions, cups, and laptop skins, with a run rate of over 800 per day.

Gaurav Goel

A testament to human ambition and innovation, Gaurav Goel wanted to take his successful, Kolkata based multi-branch electronics business online to give it new avenues of growth , but had no prior knowledge of the e-commerce space. With the help of Snapdeal's advisors, who helped him with the fundamentals and nuances alike, he found that not only was he able to easily navigate the online space, he could conquer it! Gaurav's advice for his fellow sellers is that people should be open minded to change and embrace online selling with open arms.

Result:

From being unsure about how exactly e-commerce works, Gaurav now confidently heads an entire team managing his online business. According to Gaurav, his online business has grown by 100% in one year!

Balaji

Hailing from a family of saree manufacturers, Balaji, a successful IT professional, knew that selling a saree online would be a mammoth task since women like to have a look at numerous options before picking their favourite. Snapdeal offered the perfect solution. Balaji was connected to professional photographers who helped him make the transition to the web seamless, create product catalogues and take attractive product shots that would tempt any woman to browse through pages of his products!Today, he credits his success not only to good cataloguing but also to the great support he got from Snapdeal's advisors along the way.

Result:

Balaji's operations have grown multi-fold and today he has a team of four aiding him in pushing online sales. Balaji comes out with a new catalogue every 3 months keeping in mind the upcoming trends. He has also extended his product line to include kids wear.
Darshan Rajpara

Rajkot's Golden Boy, Darshan always knew that the way to have an edge over the competition would be to innovate and create novel products from scratch. A school drop-out and self-taught Autocad / Design expert, he researched heavily and created new designs himself, inspired by upcoming trends. Snapdeal's seller rating system allowed his focus on quality and creativity to be rewarded by grateful customers who loved his product. He firmly believes that the only way to success is through constant innovation and ensuring highest quality.

Result:After joining Snapdeal, his turnover doubled within a year. He never faces any delays with payment cycles. He brings out 15 odd products every three months and has plans to increase that even more.

Pravidhi Lakhotia

While a lot of sellers experience unprecedented growth on e-commerce portals, they sometimes struggle to reach the next level due to the lack of capital required to invest and further grow the business.

Pravidhi Lakhotia was not one of those sellers. After the initial success, Pravidhi was able to grow her business multi-fold with the help of Snapdeal's Capital Assist program. Pravidhi Lakhotia sums it up in all of four words, "There is no limit!"

Result:

Since joining Snapdeal in 2012,Pravidhi has grown her business consistently year- on- year. She has also expanded her product line and included a wide range of offerings.Today, she aspires to take her business to unprecedented heights and is hopeful that Snapdeal's growing strength will help her achieve the same.

V S Chandira Kumar

V S Chandira Kumar was a pioneer when it came to exploring new technologies and channels. His secret to success wasthat he knew the pulse of online selling. He started adding products as rapidly as 10 new products in a week to ensure his customers get the best, first! He says, "It is critical to know what users are buying and what they aren't liking. This will help you differentiate yourself from the competition."

Result:

Today, Chandira has setup an independent 32-member team only dedicated towards online selling. He introduced processes (and necessary software interventions) to help online selling. He also adds products rapidly to keep himself differentiated from the competitors.

Ramanuja Chary

Ramanuja Chary advises sellers to remember that "Customer is King" and only deserve the best! He believes customers should always be given a wide range of high quality products at the right prices to choose from. Once his electronics business started picking up pace on Snapdeal, he invested money in more stocks and expanded his brand portfolio from 5 brands to 8 brands, all the while maintaining the highest possible level of quality.

Result:

His online business turnover doubled over one year and he is now working with far more brands than he initially was. The sheer quantum of customer orders forced Ramanuja to treble his warehousing space over a year of online operations.

Anshu Aggarwal

For Anshu Aggarwal of Ajmer, the dream of doing something of her own was always one worth pursuing. Anshu always focused on ensuring every one of her products was unique and one-of-a-kind. When she started selling on Snapdeal, she faced a lot of flak from numerous naysayers, but the almost overnight success she experienced and the confidence boost it gave her was enough to help her sail through, undeterred.

Result:

She joined Snapdeal in 2013, and currently has more than 100 designs on the site. She now owns her own warehousing space and is extremely encouraged by the response she has received from the customers.