The yr was 2010. Jyoti Wadhwa, a Delhi housewife and a mom of a two-yr-old girl, discovered herself in a “confused state” whilst her husband Anshul Bansal, the only income member of the family, came back home one day and stated he desired to stop his task as an investment banker and do some thing on his own. Jyoti realised that given the chance her husband was about to take, she had to begin contributing financially as well.
“I figured I have to do something but at the same time, I did not want to leave my daughter in a playschool. I was looking for options where I could work from home,” says Jyoti, who worked in the HR and Admin department of an MNC for three years before getting married in 2006.
She had heard from a few loved ones that one could earn from online businesses; they had additionally advised that promoting vintage sarees on-line might be a feasible option.
Since learning about the viable opportunity, Jyoti researched the market for 5 to 6 hours every day, seeking to apprehend what clients were shopping for and wherein they were. She was additionally seeking to zero in on the amount of investment needed.
“I only had Rs 50,000 so I had to be very selective and prudent,” she says.
During the course of her research, Jyoti discovered that printed pure silk fabric have been in demand and began out looking for them.
“I came across many handcrafted sarees. When I saw these products I got very excited. I thought I could definitely sell these. I was very impressed and I got the confidence to go ahead,” she says.
She explains, “What also helped set us stand out was the fact that nobody was really investing in products at that time. People would acquire old silk sarees, take photos and sell, earning a low margin. They’d buy at Rs 400 and sell for Rs 600. I realised that we can’t play the price game and thus decided to play the premium game. We picked out the most beautiful stuff, which was more expensive. invested in good photography, lights, and a DSLR camera at a time when other sellers were using 2-megapixel phone cameras.”
The first-time entrepreneur then decided on a few items and uploaded them on eBay. And Sanskriti Vintage was born. In the beginning, seeking to discern out how to list and describe merchandise online appeared challenging, however she soon got the cling of things.
Being in the export enterprise with none staff in the early days intended that Jyoti had to do the transport from the postal services herself, standing in queues together along with her younger daughter for three-4 hours.
While pure silk embroidered sarees were being offered online, no person else was promoting hand-crafted embroidered sarees at the time and that proved to be the differentiator, according to Jyoti.
When Amazon launched in India, Jyoti launched her fashion jewellery line called Zephyrr, which soon became a “best seller” on the platform.
