Purba Kalita is the co-founder of Salebhai.com – an e-commerce marketplace which offers regional food specialities from across India at your doorstep. Their products range from sweets, biscuits, pickles, spices, chocolates, to prayer paraphernalia and handicrafts, etc -- you name it, you have it. All of these are sourced from the place of the origin and are available to Indian consumer as well as the Diaspora.
Excerpts from the interview:
How did Salebhai.com start-up?
Salebhai.com is the brainchild of my classmate, Vishwa Vijay Singh. In 2015, Vishwa, Pramod Rao, and I propagated the idea to join hands together to launch this unique e-commerce marketplace that enables people living away from home to order a range of authentic specialities from their hometowns. It is also a one-stop solution for those who want to discover regional products from across India. People can choose from a wide range of sweets, namkeen, chocolates, bakery, dry fruits, beverages, condiments, handicrafts, paintings, puja items, handloom goods, and herbal wellness products.
Starting up SaleBhai and working on regional products delivery... was it inspired from any personal space?
Growing up, studying, and working away from our homes, we got to visit our hometowns only during vacations. We missed specialities of our native places. This longing gave rise to SaleBhai.
WATCH: How Ecommerce is Changing Our Future
What market gaps are you trying to address through this enterprise?
We identified a market gap created by people migrating within India and abroad. Goods representing their cultures were mostly in short supply in the new cities.
Most people moved to fast-growing cities for employment opportunities, education, or marriage. The market gap demonstrated that migration created a void in people’s lives.
Therefore, driven by back-to-roots philosophy, we focused on requirements of over 17 diaspora communities living in big Indian cities and abroad. With over 8500 products sourced from more than 100 cities and 300 select vendors.
Becoming a digital entrepreneur, what inspired your way?
Never ever thought that I would be a digital entrepreneur, but the digital platform continues to be the only way with which we could bridge the distance between Malihabad and Mumbai. Our platform allows people to buy from across India sitting anywhere in the world and this is impossible without technology.
/shethepeople/media/post_attachments/o8wpeDG080LdeofHwFGw.png)
SaleBhai products
Internet consumption is surging, video is at the forefront: Rajan Anandan, Google
Explain why SaleBhai is so efficient in the modern market?
Our team is the main source of our efficiency. The team is great at multitasking so you will find a person who does both HR and business development job with equal ease or a marketing guy also handling logistics.
Our whole team is working towards making this company a great company. Women make up about 70% of our workforce.
Tell us about your future plans
SaleBhai achieved a GMV of Rs 2 crore in the last financial year with a revenue of Rs 43 lakhs and is currently averaging GMV of Rs 30 lakhs every month. The company plans to achieve Rs 7 crore GMV this financial year. We intend to take our customer base to over 100000 from current 40000 in this financial year.
What is your core passion and long-term vision behind the brainchild?
Content and communications is my core passion. My journalism background helps me in my approach to work with in-depth research, inquisitiveness, and holistic view. We plan to further deepen our offerings to customers by penetrating into smaller towns for sourcing and widen our product range by adding new categories that people miss.
Watch:Avantika Jalan, on Sustainable Management of her Family’s Tea Estate
What has been your most touching or amazing moment you've experienced in the business? Any achievements you want to share with our readers?
Salebhai.com was just a couple of months old when we received a call from a customer. And today we have 20 important and valuable SaleBhai customers, who are top executives in fields such as IT, investment banking, and marketing, as investors in the company.
How would you be differentiating these efforts from others?
We are the first to identify this un-serviced market. Our sales are more engagement driven rather than transaction driven. We want our customers to stay on with SaleBhai.com. Therefore, our products are priced exactly as displayed at the shops where they are available. The products listed on the online platform come with detailed description – popularity, benefits, facts, origin, usage, etc. Apart from these, all consumable products come with serving ideas from renowned chefs. Salebhai.com also lists complete information about vendors.
You May Also like: Five female founders, five early lessons: It’s a must read for startup owners
Any challenges? How did you overcome the challenges that tried to stop you throughout?
Initial challenges included getting sellers to understand the business model and its benefits. We had to convince them on the margin and how we were different from others. The other challenge was setting up logistics. Also, since online customers were used to a lot of features available on other websites, we faced quite a challenge in making all those features available from Day 1.
Women entrepreneurs need the conviction to stay the course. Have faith in yourself and your team. Last but not the least, be patient.
Also Read: Striking a chord with nature: Preeti Narula, Founder of Living Balconies
READ: Dr Priya Virmani’s Paint Our World Heals Trauma Of Abused Kids
Read More Stories By Ria Das
Join Us on https://www.facebook.com/SheThePeoplePage
Follow Us on https://twitter.com/SheThePeopleTV
/)
Follow Us/shethepeople/media/agency_attachments/iUYfaBbcMozaYLoGnoov.png)
