Flipkart, India’s homegrown marketplace, through their industry-first initiatives has consistently strived to help women business owners and entrepreneurs to flourish in the e-commerce industry. In tandem with its endeavor to help women entrepreneurs with their online businesses, the platform has introduced several programs that have led to many success stories of women across the country. As we celebrate Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, spearheaded by the International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization, Flipkart highlights a few inspiring stories of Indian women who have triumphed over all odds to succeed in their entrepreneurial journey.
Through Flipkart’s collaboration with Indian women entrepreneurs, it encourages their aspirations for professional advancement and supports their ascent to success. Recently, Flipkart introduced an array of industry-first marketplace policy changes and established new capabilities to build a more inclusive e-commerce ecosystem that contributes to the growth, prosperity and empowerment of women seller partners, spread across India.
Here are a few success stories of Flipkart’s women sellers across the country, that showcase the true potential digital transformation can bring to local businesses and the support it can provide to women aspiring to be successful entrepreneurs.
Name: Charu Gupta
Place: Delhi
Business: Saikara Collections
Charu Gupta, an aspiring and independent woman, has always believed that there is no shortcut to hard work. As the founder of Saikara Collections that deals in party supplies and home decor, the initial few years were tough to develop her business. She was working for different jobs before becoming a small business owner, but the initial step towards starting something of her own was owing to some crisis in the family. However, with an initial capital of INR 5,000 in hand she founded her own company. Guided by Flipkart’s insight and support from her loved ones, she transformed her small business into a thriving enterprise and within six months her business earned a gold tag on Flipkart.
Staying true to her mantra, courage and perseverance along with her undying wish to make it big for her family kept her going all along. Reminiscing about her journey, she says, “Securing a turnover of INR 5 crore today, I can’t help but look back at 2015 when everything changed for me. Every move I make, starts with highlighting my persistence to not only redefine my own limits, but those set by the society for me as a woman entrepreneur”, she added.
From doubting her skill sets as an entrepreneur by wholesalers to having to adapt to the e-commerce ecosystem, her journey has been a rollercoaster ride. Triumphing over all odds and becoming a Flipkart seller, changed the game for her business. Within no time, her small business became a national hit, the turnover crossed INR 1 crore, which was a significant milestone compared to the INR 5,000 initial capital she invested. Within a year after her launch on Flipkart, it grew by 400%.
Her journey is more than just being an entrepreneur, her company is more than just a business today and Flipkart has helped her dream come true. Her success is also a success to other women employed by her. With her story she will continue to inspire many women entrepreneurs and encourage them to take that first step.
Name: Chitra Vyas
Place: Hyderabad
Business: SoftArt
Chitra Vyas is an inspiration to many who are ambitious in the entrepreneurial space. Her story highlights the importance of not giving up amidst challenges that life throws at us. She started as an amateur and with her consistent efforts she went on to win the ‘Best Entrepreneur’ award on Flipkart.
Chitra who hails from Hyderabad started her journey as an entrepreneur selling electronics on her own website that she had owned earlier. Facing multiple logistics and distribution challenges, she turned to Flipkart in 2015 and under the guidance of her manager provided by Flipkart, her business and entrepreneurial journey took off well.
She started her website with a small investment from her uncle, but upon facing several challenges and lack of expert guidance to ensure product visibility in the market, she had to close down her company in 2015. During that time, Flipkart emerged as a ray of hope with which she aspired to see better results for her business.
Within a brief period of joining the platform, the sales surged. She received 100 orders within a week. “Flipkart gave us the guidance we needed to broaden our customer base. An account manager was assigned to help us with our business and based on his advice we started adding more categories to our listings. That’s when we decided to begin exploring our opportunities in the fashion category and started selling footwear,” she added.
Over the years, understanding the space better, most of her own extended family members who had never shopped online and were skeptical about the product quality have started buying essentials and other products on Flipkart.
Her growth on the platform has been encouraging and she wishes more business owners would take note of her journey and take the initial step in starting a business online. She says, “I never imagined I would become such a successful entrepreneur with a small business like mine. But coming so far and making it big is definitely satisfying and overwhelming at the same time. Considering my efforts and growth, I was awarded ‘Best Entrepreneur’ among Flipkart’s women sellers in 2018. It’s a nice feeling when you start with five orders and now you receive 700 every day on an average. We started small and now we have an entire office. We are still enjoying the journey and wish more women entrepreneurs to be a part of the online revolution.”
Name: Sristi Mishra
Place: Mumbai
Business: JBNFashionGallery
Sristi Mishra is a microbiology graduate from Dehradun who moved to Mumbai after getting married and found an interest in jewelry making while watching YouTube videos. Soon, she picked it up as a hobby and decided to earn from it. Her story is a true inspiration for anyone who wishes to turn their hobby into a successful business.
Sristi is a self-taught entrepreneur who started designing and making jewelry by watching YouTube videos. What started as a hobby is helping her earn and build a name for herself as an entrepreneur. She picked up the art fairly quickly by watching videos online and became quite efficient with it. While browsing through a few stores at a mall, she observed that customers were interested and were buying designs similar to hers. Encouraged to pursue her hobby and build a small business out of it, she decided to sell her handmade jewelry online. She founded a company named JBNFashionGallery and partnered with Flipkart in 2017.
Considering the wide customer base online marketplace provides, she was firm with her decision to make her business exclusive to the ecommerce platform. Sristi says, “If you’re selling online, the risk is relatively lower as compared to running a business offline. I am happy that I am getting to run a business at the comfort of my home. Today everyone has shifted to digital platforms and shopping therefore has become convenient with access to a wide array of products which earlier was next to impossible offline. For small business owners like us it’s a huge enabler to offer our products to national consumers. Another great aspect of running business online is access to consumer insights which helps in keeping up with the latest trends online”.
Recalling her journey, she shared what it was like to start a small business with just INR 5,000 and growing the business many folds over the years. She is happy to witness how proud her family members are today as she is the first member to start a business of her own. She is upbeat about the future and plans to add more categories in the women’s accessories segment, with products such as handbags, purses, wallets, etc. while continuing to expand her business nationally.
