Its Bihu time here. Wishing everyone a Happy Harvest season. May the music and food be great wherever you are
Monday, April 14, 2014
Friday, March 21, 2014
Conversion Optimization
I am not an expert and havent done split A/B testing and have had limited success but have tried a few things which seem to work for me :
1) Added a trust mark : This can be something a SSL Seal or a guarantee.
2) Highlighted the call to action button - Orange seems to work well as a color. Also de-highlighted other buttons like Add to Wishlist so that the main call to action stands out.
3) Remove extra information from the Conversion page - Minimize possible actions. Earlier I had Facebook buttons, pinterest, twitter etc - now I have just three - Buy (Main Conversion button), Add to Wishlist (De-highlighted but just in case you want to come back later), Facebook like. The sizes and colors are in that priority
4) Speed - Did some tweaking suggested by Google for making the page faster(lot to do still). The assumption is that faster pages convert better.
5) Conversion steps : Reduced conversion steps from 8 to 5. Made Guest checkout the default option(We are a niche site so dont expect a lot of repeat find something and buy)
Do let me know if you know of some low cost ideas to improve Conversion
1) Added a trust mark : This can be something a SSL Seal or a guarantee.
2) Highlighted the call to action button - Orange seems to work well as a color. Also de-highlighted other buttons like Add to Wishlist so that the main call to action stands out.
3) Remove extra information from the Conversion page - Minimize possible actions. Earlier I had Facebook buttons, pinterest, twitter etc - now I have just three - Buy (Main Conversion button), Add to Wishlist (De-highlighted but just in case you want to come back later), Facebook like. The sizes and colors are in that priority
4) Speed - Did some tweaking suggested by Google for making the page faster(lot to do still). The assumption is that faster pages convert better.
5) Conversion steps : Reduced conversion steps from 8 to 5. Made Guest checkout the default option(We are a niche site so dont expect a lot of repeat find something and buy)
Do let me know if you know of some low cost ideas to improve Conversion
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Online Market Places
We are a small handicrafts manufacturing company and we primarily sell online. A good part of our sales come through our own website - www.kraftinn.com but we soon realised that as a brand, looking at your website alone is sometime not the best strategy. This is basically because of the following :
1) Costs : Setting up an online store is not very difficult nowadays. However getting good traffic is indeed a continuous and difficult task. This is where marketing comes in and whichever channel you choose be it Google ads or Facebook, cost of marketing is significant. Apart from that there are other transaction costs like Payment Gateway costs that are significantly high at small scale.
2) Brand : Each brand is unique and people connect to it in different ways and even though customers may love your brand, many are more accustomed to online purchases through the very large established online players like Amazon - this is due to a lot of different reasons from trust to customer service to purchase guarantees to robust feedback mechanisms.
Because of the above, we made a conscious decision to make our products available in well known marketplaces like Amazon.in and Ebay.in.
Some of the great advantages of the market place model are :
- If you got a great product, you just need to list it. There is no additional expenditure for marketing and commissions are paid only when a product is sold. This frees up marketing expenses that can be put back in the business for expansion.
- Good marketplaces reward you for good performance. This means if you ship on time and customers are happy with the product, you get good reviews, your products get better rank and this converts into better sales.
- Marketplaces have great followup mechanisms and analytics tools that can give you excellent insight into what your customers are looking for.
- The commissions that are charged are usually in line with the industry one operates in.
The only model that works for us in the marketplace model right now are ones that just connect the buyer with us for a reasonable commission - the ones that take care of the logistics or ask us to ship to them or ask for very high commissions don't work because the Indian Ecommerce market is a value market - where the customer has to be happy, the vendors have to be sustainable and inefficiencies have to be minimised. Thats all for today. Thanks for reading.
1) Costs : Setting up an online store is not very difficult nowadays. However getting good traffic is indeed a continuous and difficult task. This is where marketing comes in and whichever channel you choose be it Google ads or Facebook, cost of marketing is significant. Apart from that there are other transaction costs like Payment Gateway costs that are significantly high at small scale.
2) Brand : Each brand is unique and people connect to it in different ways and even though customers may love your brand, many are more accustomed to online purchases through the very large established online players like Amazon - this is due to a lot of different reasons from trust to customer service to purchase guarantees to robust feedback mechanisms.
Because of the above, we made a conscious decision to make our products available in well known marketplaces like Amazon.in and Ebay.in.
Some of the great advantages of the market place model are :
- If you got a great product, you just need to list it. There is no additional expenditure for marketing and commissions are paid only when a product is sold. This frees up marketing expenses that can be put back in the business for expansion.
- Good marketplaces reward you for good performance. This means if you ship on time and customers are happy with the product, you get good reviews, your products get better rank and this converts into better sales.
- Marketplaces have great followup mechanisms and analytics tools that can give you excellent insight into what your customers are looking for.
- The commissions that are charged are usually in line with the industry one operates in.
The only model that works for us in the marketplace model right now are ones that just connect the buyer with us for a reasonable commission - the ones that take care of the logistics or ask us to ship to them or ask for very high commissions don't work because the Indian Ecommerce market is a value market - where the customer has to be happy, the vendors have to be sustainable and inefficiencies have to be minimised. Thats all for today. Thanks for reading.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Pricing Strategies
One of the finer things in our business is to decide on the price of a product. Since we manufacture our own products, there are various costs that one incurs in a product. Following are some of the key ones :
1) Labour Costs : Our products for the most part are handmade and we at KraftInn have artisans as employees who come from remote villages. Apart from monthly salaries, we also provide housing and food to our employees - which helps the artisans to send money home to sustain their families. Bamboo craft is an extremely skill intensive craft and finding the right artisan and retaining is one of our key goals.
2) Logistics Costs : Since we primarily sell online, one important aspect is the logistics costs that we incur - this includes packaging material and payments we make to our Courier partners and India Post.
3) Marketing Costs : Any business that seeks to sell products to its customers incurs marketing costs. In our case, these are related to branding and advertisements that we do to help take our products to customers
4) Operational Costs : These include costs related to production of items, rent, electricity, treatment, machines etc
5) Raw Material Costs : The raw material, which is primarily Bamboo and Water Hyacinth, in our case.
6) Commissions : Third party commissions, payment gateway transaction cost etc.
So the conventional wisdom for deriving the price of a product is to add a weighted average of the above to come with a price that leaves room for a minimum profit. This was our very first strategy when we started out but slowly we realised that it really does not matter if our costs are high or low for particular product but what is more important is if the customer finds value in our product. That is when we thought of what we call a minimum viable price. The idea is the following :
Value : Customers like to pay for the value they get. So, regardless of whether a product is big or small and incurs X cost for labour and Y cost, the customer should feel that there is enough value for what he or she pays. We get extensive feedback through channels like our Ebay page and have derived some insight into what is the right price at which customers see value. After that price is discovered, we slowly tune the cost parameters - example the size of product to make it viable. A good example is our set of laundry baskets - Putting two laundry baskets of slightly different sizes makes it possible for us to package it together in such a way that we save on logistics cost and pass the value to our customer.
Discounts : A friend of ours said in jest that she would buy the same product at Rs 250 with 50 percent discount rather than at Rs 100 because that is how strong the perception of discounts is in India. We however thought it wise to have a minimum viable price rather than pricing it higher and then offering discounts. This also helps us to keep our price uniform across all our channels be it our website or Ebay and KraftInn.
Economy of Scale : As a business grows, it is able to bring in more and more productivity and efficiency and this helps to bring down costs. As a small business, we know that over time, we will be able to optimise better on our costs. But, this does not mean that we need to pass all our costs to our customers. At this moment, we are looking at minimum viable price from a customer stand point and the idea is to focus on growth where over a period of time, the economies of scale will enable us to put the financial model that will help us sustain a large number of artisans while keeping the minimum viable price attractive for our customers.
That's all for today. Thanks for reading.
1) Labour Costs : Our products for the most part are handmade and we at KraftInn have artisans as employees who come from remote villages. Apart from monthly salaries, we also provide housing and food to our employees - which helps the artisans to send money home to sustain their families. Bamboo craft is an extremely skill intensive craft and finding the right artisan and retaining is one of our key goals.
2) Logistics Costs : Since we primarily sell online, one important aspect is the logistics costs that we incur - this includes packaging material and payments we make to our Courier partners and India Post.
3) Marketing Costs : Any business that seeks to sell products to its customers incurs marketing costs. In our case, these are related to branding and advertisements that we do to help take our products to customers
4) Operational Costs : These include costs related to production of items, rent, electricity, treatment, machines etc
5) Raw Material Costs : The raw material, which is primarily Bamboo and Water Hyacinth, in our case.
6) Commissions : Third party commissions, payment gateway transaction cost etc.
So the conventional wisdom for deriving the price of a product is to add a weighted average of the above to come with a price that leaves room for a minimum profit. This was our very first strategy when we started out but slowly we realised that it really does not matter if our costs are high or low for particular product but what is more important is if the customer finds value in our product. That is when we thought of what we call a minimum viable price. The idea is the following :
Value : Customers like to pay for the value they get. So, regardless of whether a product is big or small and incurs X cost for labour and Y cost, the customer should feel that there is enough value for what he or she pays. We get extensive feedback through channels like our Ebay page and have derived some insight into what is the right price at which customers see value. After that price is discovered, we slowly tune the cost parameters - example the size of product to make it viable. A good example is our set of laundry baskets - Putting two laundry baskets of slightly different sizes makes it possible for us to package it together in such a way that we save on logistics cost and pass the value to our customer.
Discounts : A friend of ours said in jest that she would buy the same product at Rs 250 with 50 percent discount rather than at Rs 100 because that is how strong the perception of discounts is in India. We however thought it wise to have a minimum viable price rather than pricing it higher and then offering discounts. This also helps us to keep our price uniform across all our channels be it our website or Ebay and KraftInn.
Economy of Scale : As a business grows, it is able to bring in more and more productivity and efficiency and this helps to bring down costs. As a small business, we know that over time, we will be able to optimise better on our costs. But, this does not mean that we need to pass all our costs to our customers. At this moment, we are looking at minimum viable price from a customer stand point and the idea is to focus on growth where over a period of time, the economies of scale will enable us to put the financial model that will help us sustain a large number of artisans while keeping the minimum viable price attractive for our customers.
That's all for today. Thanks for reading.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Artisans at Work
KraftInn Artisans at Work
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| We use Bamboo Nails only |
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| The Green India Lamp |
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| Different type of Bamboo is used for different parts of the lamp |
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| Sheets are immaculately glued together |
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| Its a bit cold and the sun sets early |
Monday, December 23, 2013
The Perfect Ecommerce Customer
We are a very customer oriented company and try to provide the absolute best service possible. Companies that have ECommerce as their primary channel cannot afford not to give their customers the very best service. It is well accepted that Ecommerce can bring great benefits to customers be it discounted or competitive prices, convenience of shopping from home, options like returns and refunds which are usually unavailable in traditional retail or commerce. As a small company with sustainability dependent on timely cash flows, we also have a perfect customer in our mind.
The perfect customer for us exhibits the two traits below :
1) Responsible : As Customers, many a times after we buy, we tend to think about a few questions after we buy it - do we really need it ? Will it fit my sense of style etc. Since Ecommerce is not touch and feel as traditional retail, it is important to look at product details, the size, shape etc and how it fits ones needs. This can minimize any chance of returns. A return is not a happy outcome for both the customer and the retailer, especially for the retailer, because there are multiple costs related to a product - marketing cost, operational costs, logistic cost, cost of capital etc. An ecommerce transaction is based on mutual trust and shared responsibility between a customer and the retailer. Here's where a responsible customer helps the whole ecosystem to be cost efficient and provide benefits both the customer and retailer.
2) Reasonable : There are multiple parts in processing an order e.g Payment, packaging, labeling, delivery, receipt etc. Though some of the bigger Ecommerce companies can sometimes provide all of this in a single day in some cities, most deliveries require a lead time between 2-5 days. The perfect customer understands this and provides the right information (e.g availability for receipt of goods to Courier person) to facilitate this. She also understands that everyone in every industry be the manufacturing industry or the logistic industry have holidays (e.g Sunday) and is respectful that business is conducted on business days. As a owner of a business that employs bottom of the pyramid artisans and painters, I consider it extremely important that my employees have reasonable work timings and work days.
As a company, we focus immensely on not just finding customers for our products but also the perfect customers. Thats why we have had great customers, some of whom have become great friends as well. We get to hear a lot from them, especially via Ebay and Mouthshut.
Ebay
http://feedback.ebay.in/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=kraftinn&ftab=AllFeedback&myworld=true
Mouthshut
http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Kraftinn-com-reviews-925660773
I know it is kind of difficult and maybe controversial to be picky about your customers but I need to make sure that we run a sustainable business so that I can pay my employees on time and that's the only way. Thank you to all KraftInn customers. You have been perfect.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Startup Funding India
Startup Funding India
When I decided to become an entrepreneur, I had zero capital - absolute zero, in fact I had quite a few bills to pay - Credit Card Bills, small loans from friends etc. I had already exhausted my limited amount of savings on traveling around a bit and looking for the right ideas. So, I did what most people would do - I reached out to friends and family and got the very initial funds to kick start my business. The place I would start my business at, had to have the absolute minimum cost for me in terms of personal expenses - what better than staying with Dad and Mom and So, I started at my home town in Assam.
India is a land of entrepreneurs if you look at the countless number of small businesses - the neighbourhood grocery stores and the thelas, but for reasons perhaps related to western influences or maybe demographic, the word 'startup' is often spoken in conjunction to a few select businesses - these are usually related to Electronic commerce, tech products, education and somewhat lately, with sectors like healthcare. Traditional Manufacturing and Services companies typically don't come to mind when you talk of startups. This being the case with KraftInn - because we started out basically with the idea of making ecofriendly home decor items that we could hopefully sell to the bigger retailers in bulk made us somewhat of an business rather than a startup. However, a year later, when we decided that we would primarily focus on selling online - we also started getting some attention as a small ECommence brand. This is when we figured out that it may not be such a bad idea to try approach for some angel or institutional funding. I reached out to a few angels and venture capitalists. I really had no idea how much money I exactly wanted but then, I gave it a shot and managed to meet a few.
Here are a few things that I found out (experienced) :
There are various types of investors available, two of the important ones include :
a) Angel Investors - They usually invest at an early stage and provide seed capital and usually is a high net worth individual or a group of them. They seem to invest primarily based on the strength of the business idea or the pedigree of the team
b) Venture Capitalists - They usually manage a fund which is pretty big (hundreds of millions) and invest in somewhat mature businesses (compared to angels - maybe some initial success story or prototype)
There are numerous other ways to get funded, but usually that is based on debt or more attuned to established businesses. Funding from Angel investors and VCs make a lot of sense because they are equity based instruments.
Based on my interactions, I have noticed a few things :
1) Team/Pedigree - This is something that matters a lot. Different people have different methods to gauge this - but good degrees from Ivy league colleges seem to help, previous startup experience seem to help, family background etc.
2) Scale - At this moment, In India, investors dont seem to care much about profits - a lot of the conversation usually is around revenue scaling - A business that can show the potential of growing by 500 percent a year in a large market is likely to get funded as opposed to a niche profitable business with more modest growth targets. VCs are probably looking at a business that can scale to 80-100 Million dollars in 4-5 years. This is probably the right thing to do from a investor standpoint because a business that goes from 0 to say 2 Million USD in 4-5 years is still very small from a investor return standpoint
3) Exit - Currently there are two possible exits for indian startups - first is an acquisition and the second is a IPO. For an angel investor, probably there is a third option - which is offloading stake to a bigger investor. So a business that looks likely to provide more exit options is likely to get funded - hence it is difficult for certain niche businesses like say a technology product company to get easily funded - because the exit is not clear or there isn't much precedence.
4) Market Size - Investors seem to love the idea that the addressable market is big - it is somewhat of a strange argument in itself - because every business can always expand with the right capital and success metrics and address a larger market - I mean a successful tea stall can probably become a restaurant and then a chain or restaurants and potentially the biggest chain of restaurants in the world. However, if at the outset the initial market looks very small, investors seem to lose interest.
From the above funding kind of scenario, our business is not really a favourite for such kind of investment probably at this point - our location is too remote, our business focus is too narrow and our addressable market is somewhat small. Maybe once I reach the first significant economic milestone that I have set for myself, I will give it a wider canvas.
Have you spoken to any investors or got funded ? What has been your experiences ?
When I decided to become an entrepreneur, I had zero capital - absolute zero, in fact I had quite a few bills to pay - Credit Card Bills, small loans from friends etc. I had already exhausted my limited amount of savings on traveling around a bit and looking for the right ideas. So, I did what most people would do - I reached out to friends and family and got the very initial funds to kick start my business. The place I would start my business at, had to have the absolute minimum cost for me in terms of personal expenses - what better than staying with Dad and Mom and So, I started at my home town in Assam.
India is a land of entrepreneurs if you look at the countless number of small businesses - the neighbourhood grocery stores and the thelas, but for reasons perhaps related to western influences or maybe demographic, the word 'startup' is often spoken in conjunction to a few select businesses - these are usually related to Electronic commerce, tech products, education and somewhat lately, with sectors like healthcare. Traditional Manufacturing and Services companies typically don't come to mind when you talk of startups. This being the case with KraftInn - because we started out basically with the idea of making ecofriendly home decor items that we could hopefully sell to the bigger retailers in bulk made us somewhat of an business rather than a startup. However, a year later, when we decided that we would primarily focus on selling online - we also started getting some attention as a small ECommence brand. This is when we figured out that it may not be such a bad idea to try approach for some angel or institutional funding. I reached out to a few angels and venture capitalists. I really had no idea how much money I exactly wanted but then, I gave it a shot and managed to meet a few.
Here are a few things that I found out (experienced) :
There are various types of investors available, two of the important ones include :
a) Angel Investors - They usually invest at an early stage and provide seed capital and usually is a high net worth individual or a group of them. They seem to invest primarily based on the strength of the business idea or the pedigree of the team
b) Venture Capitalists - They usually manage a fund which is pretty big (hundreds of millions) and invest in somewhat mature businesses (compared to angels - maybe some initial success story or prototype)
There are numerous other ways to get funded, but usually that is based on debt or more attuned to established businesses. Funding from Angel investors and VCs make a lot of sense because they are equity based instruments.
Based on my interactions, I have noticed a few things :
1) Team/Pedigree - This is something that matters a lot. Different people have different methods to gauge this - but good degrees from Ivy league colleges seem to help, previous startup experience seem to help, family background etc.
2) Scale - At this moment, In India, investors dont seem to care much about profits - a lot of the conversation usually is around revenue scaling - A business that can show the potential of growing by 500 percent a year in a large market is likely to get funded as opposed to a niche profitable business with more modest growth targets. VCs are probably looking at a business that can scale to 80-100 Million dollars in 4-5 years. This is probably the right thing to do from a investor standpoint because a business that goes from 0 to say 2 Million USD in 4-5 years is still very small from a investor return standpoint
3) Exit - Currently there are two possible exits for indian startups - first is an acquisition and the second is a IPO. For an angel investor, probably there is a third option - which is offloading stake to a bigger investor. So a business that looks likely to provide more exit options is likely to get funded - hence it is difficult for certain niche businesses like say a technology product company to get easily funded - because the exit is not clear or there isn't much precedence.
4) Market Size - Investors seem to love the idea that the addressable market is big - it is somewhat of a strange argument in itself - because every business can always expand with the right capital and success metrics and address a larger market - I mean a successful tea stall can probably become a restaurant and then a chain or restaurants and potentially the biggest chain of restaurants in the world. However, if at the outset the initial market looks very small, investors seem to lose interest.
From the above funding kind of scenario, our business is not really a favourite for such kind of investment probably at this point - our location is too remote, our business focus is too narrow and our addressable market is somewhat small. Maybe once I reach the first significant economic milestone that I have set for myself, I will give it a wider canvas.
Have you spoken to any investors or got funded ? What has been your experiences ?
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Offer Your Home the Natural Look with Bamboo Home Decor
Offer Your Home the Natural Look with Bamboo Home Decor
Guest Post by James Patrick
Thank You James for the wonderful Article
Guest Post by James Patrick
Thank You James for the wonderful Article
People usually look for innovative home decorating ideas. But, at the same time, they feel the urge of being a little closer to nature. With the pollution around us gradually increasing, it is obviously a better idea to stay as close to nature as possible. It is quite impossible to stay anywhere near a forest and attend your workplace. Therefore, you need to think smart in order to avail yourself a natural way of living.
How about customizing your home while giving it a natural look? Doesn’t it sound great? Bamboo can help you accomplish this task. With time, the demand for bamboo decor along with bamboo accessories is increasing rapidly. So, if you are interested in home renovation or add a fresh new look to the rooms, bamboo can be of great help to you.
The first thing that comes in mind after hearing the term bamboo home decoration is the traditional Asian houses with various accents of bamboo around it. Many people would think of it as an absurd idea but, with the rising rate in people craving for a piece of nature within their house, bamboo home decoration can add a great amount of elegance to your house.
Recently, the market has experienced a great demand for the traditional materials when it comes to the purpose of home decoration. Many people are opting for bamboo in order to create furniture, garnishes, window applications, flooring, and even curtains from it. There are many effective ways in which one can use bamboo to decorate their home for a natural yet elegant look.
Bamboo as a Wall Garnishing Option
Wall decoration will be nothing like before if you add bamboo to it. The wall sides can be easily covered with various kinds of bamboo applications that are available in the market. This is one of the smartest ideas to save a lot of your money without wasting them on various paints. Moreover, the guests will definitely have a reason to appreciate your rooms.
But, the room should have the appropriate size and accessories if you are planning for bamboo wall sides. Therefore, if you think that the walls would look better with paints on them, remove the idea of bamboo from your mind. Instead, go for various handicrafts manufactured from bamboo like wall hangings, curtains, photo frames – a few to be named.
Bamboo Furniture
This is a very popular option in most of the tropical as well as sub-tropical areas. Furniture made of bamboo is available in various designs and can probably meet the taste of almost any individual. Moreover, they can increase the beauty of your room like never before.
Bamboo Accessories
If you make a quick search online, you can find a local market filled with a wide range of bamboo accessories that go well with almost any kind of environment. From vases to show pieces, curtains to bowls, you can find almost anything to enhance your home beauty.
Therefore, choose bamboo as the main component of your home decor accessories and live as close to nature as possible.
Conclusion:
Decorating your home can be fun if you add some innovative ideas to the accessories. Bamboo has emerged as one of the greatest components for home decoration that can also provide your home with a natural look.
Author’s Bio: James Patrick is an absolutely proficient author. He loves to write on various Home Decoration topics and contributes them to Finelineconstruction.net in Charlotte, NC.
Summary: Many people want their room to have a natural and fresh look. At the same time, they want their room to be elegant. All these purposes can be served if bamboo home décor accessories are used.
For more do visit Finelineconstruction.net
Monday, November 25, 2013
End Violence Against Women
Today is International day for Elimination of Violence Against Women
We at KraftInn try to imbibe the sense of gender equality in our artisans and help them understand the need for complete elimination of violence against women. A significant amount of violence against women in the working class can be attributed to alcohol addiction and we try to positively influence our male employees towards alcohol de-addiction and the need for gender equality.
We at KraftInn try to imbibe the sense of gender equality in our artisans and help them understand the need for complete elimination of violence against women. A significant amount of violence against women in the working class can be attributed to alcohol addiction and we try to positively influence our male employees towards alcohol de-addiction and the need for gender equality.
Monday, November 18, 2013
A Message to our Customers
At KraftInn, our endeavour is to create great new products using ecofriendly material like Bamboo and Water Hyacinth. Each product we make is made by our employees at our factory and this is why we are able to provide factory prices directly to our customers leveraging the power of ecommerce. This means we are able to eliminate distribution costs, warehousing costs and real estate costs and are able to pass these benefits to the customers. Every sale that is made in KraftInn is able to provide for sustainable income for KraftInn artisans and makes a bottom of the pyramid social impact. We currently employ 7 full time artisans and hope to be 20 by the end of the year. Thank you for your support. We appreciate it.
Best regards,
Parikshit
Promoter, KraftInn
At KraftInn, our endeavour is to create great new products using ecofriendly material like Bamboo and Water Hyacinth. Each product we make is made by our employees at our factory and this is why we are able to provide factory prices directly to our customers leveraging the power of ecommerce. This means we are able to eliminate distribution costs, warehousing costs and real estate costs and are able to pass these benefits to the customers. Every sale that is made in KraftInn is able to provide for sustainable income for KraftInn artisans and makes a bottom of the pyramid social impact. We currently employ 7 full time artisans and hope to be 20 by the end of the year. Thank you for your support. We appreciate it.
Best regards,
Parikshit
Promoter, KraftInn
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Ecommerce Packages
Packaging is an important part of our job.
Anjan, our Packaging expert is among other things, 25 years old, father of three, has the toothiest smile in the world, a painter, collects water hyacinth leaves during the weekend, lives by the highway, chews betel nut all the time and has been integral to the KraftInn journey
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Top Advice for First Time Business Owners
1) Give it 5 years : I met a 50 year old man who had been in business for two decades. I have almost no idea about the kind of business he did, but he told me - 'It will take at least five years before you will know whether your business is successful or whether you should try something else'. In the beginning, I was a bit sceptical because five years seems a long time but I guess though there are outliers, most businesses are not instant successes and the first couple of years are tough.
2) Create a Brand - The first year, I concentrated on creating a lot of products but at the same time, we took a lot of orders where we basically served a lot of architects and designers. It was pretty good but we hardly had any visibility into orders and had no pricing power at all. One of my good friends suggested that it was important to create a brand and make it stand for something that people could identify with. That's when I seriously started building our brand which has been a great thing.
3) Experiment - A friend of ours told us to do something outrageous - it didnt have to make a lot of sense but it will help push you to do things that you wont otherwise try. That's when we created the Wisdom tree using bamboo strips - it took us more than a month to create and it was exquisite and beautiful. It never sold because the price became prohibitive and was too big to ship but it re-inforced in us what we could do - everything after that became easy
4) If it breaks, fix it again and again - We sent a item to a customer and it got slightly damaged. We replaced it but the second time around, it got bent a little. The customer, being a perfectionist, advised us to send it again - we could have refunded the money and practically it was a small item with no real profits. However, the customer was adamant and didn't want a refund. In the end, we sent the same item for the third time and finally got it right. It was not a very pleasant thing to do, but in the end, it helped us be extremely quality conscious and made our packaging foolproof.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Best Practices for Selling on Ebay
When we first started selling online, we didnt start with a online website of our own. This was because it takes a lot if effort to actually build a website from scratch - the hosting, the technology, the SEO, the advertisements, the works. Also, we had very little idea about the challenges of selling online - the supply chain, the logistics, the inventory management, the customer service aspect of it. Ebay as a platform made perfect sense for us to launch our products online - apart from the fact that it was the biggest marketplace in India, the tight feedback system and inherent rewarding of good performance was a big draw. We have had a fairly reasonable experience with Ebay and we learnt quite a few small but important things along the way. Here are some of the important ones in case you are looking to sell on Ebay (especially India)
1) Feedback is Key : Good feedback is extremely important. Take that extra leap to get good feedback. Sometimes you may be at fault and sometimes you may run into an unreasonable customer - whatever the reason, try to get good feedback even if it means you lose money on one or two transactions
2) Ship fast : Ship as early as possible which is usually 1-2 days - the quicker you send it, the better it is. If you cant ship early due to inventory issues, think of de-listing such items
3) Good Photos : This is obvious - put up good, reliable photos. Dont zoom too much or make things seem larger than it is - the customer may buy the item but give you a bad feedback which is worse than not buying at all.
4) Good Description : One liners or very small descriptions are not very helpful. Customers want as much information as possible - about the item, size, material etc, especially since they cant really touch the product.
5) Over Communicate - Ebay sends notifications when an order is placed or shipped. However, if you send an email or call a customer, it is at worst an irritant and at best a customer who is assured and may come back for repeat customers.
6) Dont try to deal outside Ebay - There is an implicit trust that is set in the platform while setting up buyers with sellers. If you or the buyer breaks the trust and does the transaction outside, there is a good chance that one of you may not be happy and there would not be a neutral authority to sort it out.
7) If you make a mistake, admit it and correct it - e.g if the item is broken, talk to the customer and resend or refund the money.
8) Free Shipping - People hate to pay for shipping. Its a psychological thing - somebody needs to pay for the shipping and it has to be part of the cost but dont make it explicit and differentiate customers based on location.
Thats all for today. Do visit our Ebay store : http://stores.ebay.in/kraftinn
1) Feedback is Key : Good feedback is extremely important. Take that extra leap to get good feedback. Sometimes you may be at fault and sometimes you may run into an unreasonable customer - whatever the reason, try to get good feedback even if it means you lose money on one or two transactions
2) Ship fast : Ship as early as possible which is usually 1-2 days - the quicker you send it, the better it is. If you cant ship early due to inventory issues, think of de-listing such items
3) Good Photos : This is obvious - put up good, reliable photos. Dont zoom too much or make things seem larger than it is - the customer may buy the item but give you a bad feedback which is worse than not buying at all.
4) Good Description : One liners or very small descriptions are not very helpful. Customers want as much information as possible - about the item, size, material etc, especially since they cant really touch the product.
5) Over Communicate - Ebay sends notifications when an order is placed or shipped. However, if you send an email or call a customer, it is at worst an irritant and at best a customer who is assured and may come back for repeat customers.
6) Dont try to deal outside Ebay - There is an implicit trust that is set in the platform while setting up buyers with sellers. If you or the buyer breaks the trust and does the transaction outside, there is a good chance that one of you may not be happy and there would not be a neutral authority to sort it out.
7) If you make a mistake, admit it and correct it - e.g if the item is broken, talk to the customer and resend or refund the money.
8) Free Shipping - People hate to pay for shipping. Its a psychological thing - somebody needs to pay for the shipping and it has to be part of the cost but dont make it explicit and differentiate customers based on location.
Thats all for today. Do visit our Ebay store : http://stores.ebay.in/kraftinn
Monday, September 23, 2013
Hiring for your startup
I started KraftInn with very little capital and with help from family and friends. It has been an incredible journey and though I still dont have any fixed salary or income for myself, I have been able to hire six incredible people - five of them artisans and one of them a painter, a man of great jugaad and a great smile. Hiring is a great responsibility in itself especially when you are looking for people who have families to take care of, have a limited education and are not as spoilt for choices as graduates or engineers. Regardless of the struggles of the company and with a little help from family and friends, I tried my best and has been successful in paying for their salaries on time and provide for their accommodation - Some of them have never been out of their villages.
Now, we are at a phase, where I have started looking for talent of a different sort - creative people like designers, for accounting and customer service. We are based in a very small town, so it works both ways - its difficult to find talent and at the same time, there are people who find it difficult to find jobs.
I have come up with a few notes to figure out how to hire the right people. Some of them are :
1) Integrity : I would rather prefer an employee with limited talent and exceptional integrity rather than the other way round.
2) Relatives : I am a bit confused on this one. When you are very small as a company, it is incredibly difficult to attract talent so one way is to find people who are relatives and looking for work and work out a mutual benefit thing. I just think it may get a bit complicated so I have skipped on this one.
3) Friends : When you start up, you have a host of friends who encourage you and some of them may just be bored with their jobs and looking for that opportunity. Since you know them for long, you know traits about them and hidden talents which most other companies may not have found. Once I am ready to offer something substantial - a reasonable package or equity, this is definitely something that I look at.
4) Interviewing : I look out for resumes and interview people but this one is time taking and sometimes it takes a while to find the right candidate and that works out for everyone.
Let me know if you faced any of these. It will be cool to know what other startups, especially with low capital and a techno-functional businesses are doing this.
Now, we are at a phase, where I have started looking for talent of a different sort - creative people like designers, for accounting and customer service. We are based in a very small town, so it works both ways - its difficult to find talent and at the same time, there are people who find it difficult to find jobs.
I have come up with a few notes to figure out how to hire the right people. Some of them are :
1) Integrity : I would rather prefer an employee with limited talent and exceptional integrity rather than the other way round.
2) Relatives : I am a bit confused on this one. When you are very small as a company, it is incredibly difficult to attract talent so one way is to find people who are relatives and looking for work and work out a mutual benefit thing. I just think it may get a bit complicated so I have skipped on this one.
3) Friends : When you start up, you have a host of friends who encourage you and some of them may just be bored with their jobs and looking for that opportunity. Since you know them for long, you know traits about them and hidden talents which most other companies may not have found. Once I am ready to offer something substantial - a reasonable package or equity, this is definitely something that I look at.
4) Interviewing : I look out for resumes and interview people but this one is time taking and sometimes it takes a while to find the right candidate and that works out for everyone.
Let me know if you faced any of these. It will be cool to know what other startups, especially with low capital and a techno-functional businesses are doing this.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Five mistakes as an Entrepreneur
I have been an entrepreneur for the last three years. It has been a roller coaster ride and I have made some very common mistakes. I sometimes wish I didnt make them or somebody could have advised me. So just sharing if it is useful for you.
Mistake No 1: Getting into something I had no clue about
It is difficult to know about a business without doing it. However starting something without any groundwork without any expertise is a mistake. My first shot at entrepreneurship was a HR Consultancy. It is a business built on reputation and though I and my partners were able to arrange meetings with top HR managers, they didn't really trust us due to our lack of experience or the right qualifications for the business
Mistake No 2 : Not starting earlier
I had an inclination and opportunity to become an entrepreneur but I didn't start till I lost my job after the company I worked in closed down. I probably should have started 5-6 years earlier
Mistake No 3: Doing it for money
This is a bit counter intuitive but I believe one must be passionate about the business and when I tried my first business, I just wanted to make money and was not really passionate about the idea - that does not really work. It starts making sense when you really do what you like to do - there are low margin businesses and high margin businesses but what drives you day after day is the passion behind the idea
Mistake No 4: Thinking that marketing is free
For a long time, I believed that if I made something good, it will market itself for free. It does not work like that - no matter how small the budget, it is important to take your business to the right audience and that costs money
Mistake No 5 : Doing everything
No matter how smart you are, you will always need to pass some of the things to others. You cant do all by yourself. It is important to understand your core competence and let other people do things that they are good at - it may be a colleague or outsourced or maybe it can just wait.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Comparison of Courier Companies in India
As a company with an ecommerce front end, we work with various partners and one important partner is the courier company. We have worked with various courier companies and just wanted to share some findings. Obviously, which courier company is the best is a subject of debate and may vary based on location, price flexibility, quality of service requirements and so on.
A quick snapshot based on our experience :
We send a lot of things to remote parts of the country and India Post has by far the best reach. The price is also reasonable. However, unlike other courier companies, they dont really do doorstep delivery - this may be because Postmen in India have cycles and the traditional idea was probably to delivery letters not packages. Whatever be the reason, this is kind of non-negotiable in Ecommerce. You cannot expect customers to come to the Post office to collect their packages, unless they are in really far flung areas.
We have had a good relationship with First Flight. They are extremely competitive in two areas - Accessible and ready to get your business. Every Ecommerce business is a customer who will give them consistent revenue - They seem to understand that. The price is pretty good too. However, the deliveries are not as consistent as we expected them to be- Even 5% non-deliveries or late deliveries can kill your ecommerce business and this is one area that needs to be improved.
Bluedart in our experience has been extremely consistent-yes, consistent is the word. When you do a ecommerce business, it is important for you to guarantee delivery at a particular date - it may be 3 days it may 7 days, but you should be able to set expectations to the customer and Blue dart is fairly consistent. If it has to go to location x, it will take Y days and most of the time, it works like that. Price is slightly on the higher side but then sometimes you are ready to pay a premium for a service well done.
We also worked a bit with Fedex. Though service quality is excellent, they still have a lot of differential pricing which is difficult to understand - Too much variable pricing or location based variables results it practical difficulties for ecommerce companies. You want to predict with good accuracy your logistics cost - it should not be a surprise.
Conclusion : Regardless of the type of business, I guess it makes sense to choose more than one and negotiate for price and flexibility over a period of time. Also, it will be great if the courier companies start thinking of Ecommerce companies as customers :) - Its a great revenue stream and we are ready to give consistent revenue to the ones who give us good value for our money. Help us when we are small and we will be loyal as we grow bigger, I guess. Afterall, Courier companies will probably be the biggest winners in Ecommerce
A quick snapshot based on our experience :
We send a lot of things to remote parts of the country and India Post has by far the best reach. The price is also reasonable. However, unlike other courier companies, they dont really do doorstep delivery - this may be because Postmen in India have cycles and the traditional idea was probably to delivery letters not packages. Whatever be the reason, this is kind of non-negotiable in Ecommerce. You cannot expect customers to come to the Post office to collect their packages, unless they are in really far flung areas.
We have had a good relationship with First Flight. They are extremely competitive in two areas - Accessible and ready to get your business. Every Ecommerce business is a customer who will give them consistent revenue - They seem to understand that. The price is pretty good too. However, the deliveries are not as consistent as we expected them to be- Even 5% non-deliveries or late deliveries can kill your ecommerce business and this is one area that needs to be improved.
Bluedart in our experience has been extremely consistent-yes, consistent is the word. When you do a ecommerce business, it is important for you to guarantee delivery at a particular date - it may be 3 days it may 7 days, but you should be able to set expectations to the customer and Blue dart is fairly consistent. If it has to go to location x, it will take Y days and most of the time, it works like that. Price is slightly on the higher side but then sometimes you are ready to pay a premium for a service well done.
We also worked a bit with Fedex. Though service quality is excellent, they still have a lot of differential pricing which is difficult to understand - Too much variable pricing or location based variables results it practical difficulties for ecommerce companies. You want to predict with good accuracy your logistics cost - it should not be a surprise.
Conclusion : Regardless of the type of business, I guess it makes sense to choose more than one and negotiate for price and flexibility over a period of time. Also, it will be great if the courier companies start thinking of Ecommerce companies as customers :) - Its a great revenue stream and we are ready to give consistent revenue to the ones who give us good value for our money. Help us when we are small and we will be loyal as we grow bigger, I guess. Afterall, Courier companies will probably be the biggest winners in Ecommerce
Friday, September 6, 2013
Packaging of Lamps
Packaging is an important part of our job.
Anjan, our Packaging expert is among other things, 25 years old, father of three, has the toothiest smile in the world, a painter, collects water hyacinth leaves during the weekend, lives by the highway, chews betel nut all the time and has been integral to the KraftInn journey
Anjan, our Packaging expert is among other things, 25 years old, father of three, has the toothiest smile in the world, a painter, collects water hyacinth leaves during the weekend, lives by the highway, chews betel nut all the time and has been integral to the KraftInn journey
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Places to buy great lamps and handicrafts in Bangalore
We are an online brand but have a keen eye on exquisite stuff that is available across various retail stores.
Here are a few in Bangalore that are very interesting :
1) The Purple Turtles
This is located in Domlur second stage and has some really high end stuff with exquisite colours.
2) The Ant Store
This is a crafts store showcasing North Eastern Handicraft. It also has a cafe on top. Located in Indiranagar, it is sometimes difficult to find it but once you are there, you dont want to leave.
3) IndyaKaleidoscope
This place in Koramangala has great things from all over India, like pottery from Manipur and exquisite art work from Rajasthan
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
KraftInn Showcase at NEDFI Guwahati
We recently attended the NEDFI exhibiition in Guwahati and showcased some of our products. Here are some pictures :
Fig 1: Contemporary Floor Lamp (Large) : http://www.kraftinn.com/contemporary-floor-lamp
Fig 2: Hofura Yellow Lamp : http://www.kraftinn.com/lamps/table-lamps/hofura-yellow-table-lamp
Fig 3: Zeng Lamp : http://www.kraftinn.com/lamps/table-lamps/zeng-lamp
Monday, August 12, 2013
Top Ecommerce Websites in India
A quick reckoner for top Ecommerce Websites in India (not in any particular order)
General
Flipkart.com
Yebhi.com
Myntra.com
Jabong.com
HomeShop18.com
Indiatimes.com
Rediff.com
FutureBazaar.com
FashionAndYou.com
Fetise.com
MarketPlaces
Ebay.in
Snapdeal.com
Amazon.in
ShopClues.com
CraftsVilla.com
Aggregators
Naaptol.com
Junglee.com
Apparel/Fashion
Zovi.com
Freecultr.com
DonebyNone.com
Yepme.com
Zivame.com
Cilory.com
BagsKart.com
StiffCollar.com
BasicsLife.in
Bewakoof.com
Bluegape.com
Jewellery
juvalia.in
Caratlane.com
Bluestone.com
JewelsKart.com
Accessories
Lenskart.com
WatchKart.com
Health
HealthKart.com
Goodlife.com
NaturalMantra.com
Grocery
Bigbasket.com
Zopnow.com
Sports Goods
Playgroundonline.com
Sports365.in
HomeDecor
Zansaar.com
Fabfurnish.com
Urbanladder.com
KraftInn.com
HeavenandHome.com
BedBathandMore.com
Niche
Engrave.in
Baby Products
FirstCry.com
Babyone.com
Hushbabies.com
Ecommerce/Payments
Zepo.in
Martjack.com
Ebs.in
CCAvenue.com
BuildaBazaar.com
PayU.in
A quick reckoner for top Ecommerce Websites in India (not in any particular order)
General
Flipkart.com
Yebhi.com
Myntra.com
Jabong.com
HomeShop18.com
Indiatimes.com
Rediff.com
FutureBazaar.com
FashionAndYou.com
Fetise.com
MarketPlaces
Ebay.in
Snapdeal.com
Amazon.in
ShopClues.com
CraftsVilla.com
Aggregators
Naaptol.com
Junglee.com
Apparel/Fashion
Zovi.com
Freecultr.com
DonebyNone.com
Yepme.com
Zivame.com
Cilory.com
BagsKart.com
StiffCollar.com
BasicsLife.in
Bewakoof.com
Bluegape.com
Jewellery
juvalia.in
Caratlane.com
Bluestone.com
JewelsKart.com
Accessories
Lenskart.com
WatchKart.com
Health
HealthKart.com
Goodlife.com
NaturalMantra.com
Grocery
Bigbasket.com
Zopnow.com
Sports Goods
Playgroundonline.com
Sports365.in
HomeDecor
Zansaar.com
Fabfurnish.com
Urbanladder.com
KraftInn.com
HeavenandHome.com
BedBathandMore.com
Niche
Engrave.in
Baby Products
FirstCry.com
Babyone.com
Hushbabies.com
Ecommerce/Payments
Zepo.in
Martjack.com
Ebs.in
CCAvenue.com
BuildaBazaar.com
PayU.in
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