Vaibhav says that his father was the only one to earn money at home and he ran a grocery store in Saharanpur under the name ‘Kamla Store’. After completing engineering in 2013, Vaibhav worked with his father for a few months at the store and after that he started working in a multinational company in Mysore through campus plates. The experience of the retail market of Mysore proved to be completely new for him. Vaibhav, who lives here in connection with work, found that there are smart stores here. These stores have very different product mix and chain systems.
Leaving multinational company and got a salary of 10 thousand rupees
After shopping at these stores, he got an idea how he can improve his father’s store. After learning about these stores for some years and after some thought, Vaibhav quit his job. In 2014, he became a sales manager in a retail company in Saharanpur at a salary of Rs 10,000. Vaibhav says that during this period, he understood from the logistics of the retail market to how his product mix varies with place and distance. They found that the product mix changes every 1 kilometer. Even the presentation and packaging vary. After seeing all this, many types of business ideas started coming in Vaibhav’s mind, but he was not in the mood to quit the job once again.Read also: Father’s paan shop, if there was no money for fees, then studied in free school, own automation company today
Learned retail store lessons from studies and work experience
The startup industry was booming in 2014-15, but they did not know anything about it. To understand the concept, he decided to do a Masters in Business Management in Delhi. Here, with the help of academics and faculty, he helped to shape his idea. He was able to know about many other matters related to the grocery retail market and unorganized sector. After completing his master’s degree in 2017, he started work in an FMCG company in Delhi. With this job, he got information about the retail market in 6 states including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh. He closely understood every little thing of the product flow and prepared the reports.
First the father’s store was rejuvenated
Vaibhav decided to leave this job within a year and bring change in his father’s grocery store. By 2018, he made several changes to this store. He changed the way of keeping products in this store, also designed software to gather information about the sale of the product and their inventory management. From the store, they removed the products which were incurring losses due to low sales and kept all the products in the store so that they would be noticed by the customers. Thus, their number of customers and their spending capacity increased.
Change of 100 stores in small towns
This change reached the people in his store through word-to-mouth. In this way, after seeing their store, a person requested to change their store in the same way. After putting a bit more emphasis through digital marketing, some more people asked them to change their store. This is how Vaibhav launched his startup. Vaibhav says that by January 2021, he has changed the picture of more than 100 stores in about 12 cities. Most of these are from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Telling about his experience, people are ready to make changes in the grocery business, but they do not get such services through which they can get guidance. Most grocery stores are from the era of grandfather or father. They have not changed with the times and the changing market.
This startup works to build a new store as well
Vaibhav’s startup not only works to change the old store, but also helps to build a new store from the very beginning. With the help of this startup, customers also have the facility to take some products. Apart from the fees, they charge Rs 1,000 per month from each store for software and analytics. The analytics report is issued every 15 days so that the shopkeeper can make necessary changes in his shop. This helps in boosting the business apart from managing inventory.
What is the biggest challenge of this startup
In the financial year 2019-20, this startup has generated a revenue of Rs 1 crore. It is expected to increase to Rs 5 crore by March 2020-21. Vaibhav further explains that the most difficult task of his business is how to prepare the customers that there is a need to make changes in their store. They have to give information about the profits from making this change. Apart from this, customers also have to explain the cost incurred on it. This startup has changed many stores between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 30 lakh. It takes them 6 months to 1 year.
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