The road to success is never crowded at the top. Some people are born to work hard for money, while some have the talent to make money out of money. It is rightly said that ‘Business lies in the blood of a Gujarati’. One such example is Simol Bhansali; an Engineer by qualification and a Gujpreneur by profession. He has successfully created his own brand “Saree.com” and has his roots successfully grounded with his brand ASOPALAV.
Coding, technology, and market- A peep into Simol Bhansali’s journey.
With a technical background and his graduation sorted in engineering in 2011, Simol has held strong in coding and marketing. Joining the breeze of e-commerce that zoned in 2012, Simol grabbed the opportunity and started looking for a team to step into the market. With his seeds sown in the soil of ethnic wear via ASOPALAV strong established ethnic apparel brand, Simol wished to take this to another level with the decision to step into this business.
In 2013, Simol started coding alone and was ready with the team by 2014, thereby receiving their first order in the same year. Truly business is in the blood.
“My work is to provide the best advice to the team. With this amazing team, I am just sitting on top of them and making sure everything is done well.” He says. With a good base that ASOPALAV has developed, maintaining its authenticity was a challenge itself for saree.com that Simol had accepted gracefully.
Internet is an Opportunity
It was never that hard to level up to something that already has a big name, organizing it is. But with the blessings of the internet, Saree.com has boosted the market of its apparel wear in comparison to what it was usually; seeing at least 30% growth each year in their online sales.
Even happiness comes at a cost they say. The road initially was not easy at all for Simol. Being a Newprenure in the world of all other entrepreneurs, Simol thought of venturing into Food and beverage business online, which according to him, was a disaster. Failures teach us where we go wrong. Simol here got to learn what not to do. As his family already had ASOPALAV all set up, he decided to take a dive into the same thing and make saree.com a brand.
You chose your market, or the market chooses you. There is always a phase here where the curve of productivity flattens. Something similar happened with saree.com! With the increase in competition, the business was also affected by demonetization. GST was just a cherry on top. Simon knew that in an E-Commerce business, stagnant growth is the beginning of the end. He pulled up the gears and later in 2017 before even someone had the idea of eating a bat leading to a pandemic, saree.com started giving video call appointments to its customer, thereby saving them time and money. Of course, this had to boost the production and its market as well.
Take rest to do your best!
Simol believes in the idea of quality over quantity. There are no time restrictions for the team. For them, productivity is their priority, not the hours you give in for that. According to him, discovering and brainstorming hold the most precious place in the market. “Don’t expect different results by doing the same thing” he says. The Gujpreneur loves his team and is very particular with his choice over whom to trust. He believes a good team can do wonders for a business that deals with today’s swing generation. Currently, around 35 people work for saree.com.
“My team is young and super passionate. They will keep doing great stuff.”
Simol
Likes, Dislikes, and the Future of the Industry
There are not many things that Mr. Simol dislikes about the work he is dedicated to. He loves to plan and ponder ideas with his developers to raise the peak of their sales. But though moments where their site crashes annoy him the most.
Where there is no sky to his limits, Simol still believes that there is yet a lot more to be achieved. The future of saree.com is amazingly empowered by his visions. The pandemic just added a vibe to it. This was the time when people just trusted brands; thereby leading to an increase in the sales of their websites in India as well as overseas. This year the sales were above 70% or even more. Where on one side the technical operations are smooth, the new schemes supporting the online market issued by the government are helping a lot to lead the ladder of success.
Simon believes that it is impossible to grow alone. One leads another and that’s how growth happens. Be it any market, or the real world, it is hard to sustain alone. You need to give back to nature what you take from it. The future of saree.com holds a lot of potential in taking measures that are environmentally friendly and will transform the face of success.
Ethics and tips. Com
Simon believes that planning is the key to success. The plan makes things happen. You should know what you are doing and where it can lead to. People today do not buy your product, they invest. They invest in the brand, and in the work that they see constantly happening.
It is a world where you deal with people you do not know. The relations you maintain, and you make describe you. Keep your family and the people who love you by your side. No matter what you do and wherever you reach, they are the ones that will always have your back. Simon dedicates all his achievements to his family. Saree.com is in the right hands who aspire to take it to the new branding arena.
Simol aspires saree.com to be the number 1 shopping destination online for Ethnic apparel in the next 10 years. We wish Simol all the luck with saree.com and Asopalav and expect it to see it to a whole new peak. As they say, with time, it will always get better!
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