Next time a middle-aged man stops you to say, ‘This generation is lucky,’ do not contest that. Accept and walk away because we are indeed the chosen ones. We thought we millennials were being treate
Next time a middle-aged man stops you to say, ‘This generation is lucky,’ do not contest that. Accept and walk away because we are indeed the chosen ones. We thought we millennials were being treated like the youngest child of the family by the internet, pampered and being spoilt for choices with surfeit of apps making our lives easy and happening. But here is Instagram treating us like single children, mollycoddling us enough that we don’t even have ricochet between one app and another to shop. Instashopping is the new fad and why not?
Shruti and Tanya, the jewellery junkie sisters from our pearl city Hyderabad chased, their dream of being the boss ladies. Their entrepreneurial drive help them germinate the idea of online business and the page – The Trinkaholic happened. A page catering to trinkets that will leave a lasting impression. “Our passion and love for accessories was the reason our little baby venture came into existence. Self shopping on Instagram gave us the idea of starting something of our own. While using Instagram, over the time, we realised that the platform has potiential audience/clients and that there is an acceptance of online businesses,” they share.
Is Instagram obliging? “It is a good business for any medium, but again depends on the type of business. For a retail business, where pictures are the main source of advertising, it is a great platform. For service-based business, it can help with reach,” they answer. Shruti and Tanya inform that they promote themselves via product pictures, genuine feedbacks and reviews from their clients and bloggers/celebrities. “Having a versatile catalog of products is an added advantage,” they add.
Say the Trinkaholic owners, “We are connected with manufacturers and dealers of a range of products. Some products are accepted well by the audience while sometimes it’s a task to sell a product. Our dealers send us whatever is selected by us and sometimes we get products made on order as well. We have been in business for about three years.”
The sisters receive nearly 50 orders a week. “New Stock is advertised via promotied posts/shoots and collaborations. We also send out Whatsapp alerts when new stock arrives. Attracting organic followers is a tough task. A new product, a new collaboration and ofcourse the word of mouth, all of these help us attract followers,” they share.
Driven by their dream to be fashion designers, freshmen from SNDT College Mumbai, Munira Presswala and Vanita Patel came up with an idea to start their brand. Both individuals who had secured jobs in reputed companies decided to come out of their comfort zone and take up a challenge to start their garment line in September 2010 with their own line.
The duo started their business in a workshop where they attended to people on one-on-one basis catering to clients individual needs. Hence Seventeen.Thirtyone came into existence from their birth dates. “Our team puts at least three posts per day that provides us good sales. As any other business we do have slack periods, during which we use Instagram paid promotions. We are the sole manufacturer of the brand Seventeen.Thirtyone. However, our fabrics are sourced from various vendors all over India as we like to promote our own Indian artisans,” the duo speak about their child.
“We would have to trim down our costs and adapt different and more efficient strategies to flag globally,” they say. They receive almost 25 orders a day. They feel winning the trust of the customers is vital and the rest falls in place. We do not try hard to gain attention during season time, but off-season time, we may have to attract customers with sales,” they notify about the key of their business.
Malika Wadhwa is into a business that she head over heels with and also makes other girls fall in love with her. Her page is a shopaholics paradise, where they can enjoy a western wear haul, guilt-free. It all started when she boredom was hovering around her during her two-month long college vacation. Since her passion was shopping and dressing up, she had a notion that she should start a fashion business of her own and their the carpets were rolled out for her journey. “I did not ask my parents to invest . I just created an Instagram page and started promoting it. I bought clothes worth `50,00 from a famous market and uploaded them. I attracted some genuine followers and received a brag-worthy response. This lifted my confidence. Today I get 30 orders a day.”
They have a three tier strategy. We hold contests, giveaways to engage our audience and ask them to tag their friends, share pictures to grab deals and get freebies. I myself shoot for them, wear them and style them to help people know how it will look. Then we upload and share it on Instagram and WhatsApp,” she shares about her entrepreneurial journey. #KhabarLive
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