Utkarsh Gupta, Managing Director, Ramagya Mart in conversation with Prittle Prattle News
What is unique about your business?
Ramagya Mart’s uniqueness stems from the fact that we are the only brand exclusively dealing with the home appliances category in B2B segment. There is no other online marketing platform which enables Indian manufacturers to connect with the wholesale community. We are the only ones in the B2B e-commerce space for home appliances.
When we say Indian manufacturers, we are talking about 1000+ manufacturers who do not have this type of support system, and we are the ones who are bringing this value to them on their table.
Thus, we have built this platform to give them visibility so that they are able to brand themselves and connect effectively with wholesale customers, typically in the B2B business space.
Ramagya Mart’s evolution since its inception.
This has been a very interesting journey for us as Ramagya Mart started off just as a thought. We went ahead and evaluated 1000+ manufacturers who wanted support for their business and brand marketing. With thorough research and diagnosis of the problems they faced, we created this marketing platform Ramagya Mart that would meet their needs.
A simple thought translated into an idea, followed by identifying and listing of these 1000+ manufacturers and bringing them on board the platform. Out of these, 100+ manufacturers have been verified of their physical presence. This verification process was conducted via an external third party agency.
As a brand we are very clear that only verified manufacturers can do business on our platform. We want to be authentic and give authentic products and services.
As a part of the evolution we have tied up with financial institutions, to give these businesses the funding they may require to expand further and we have been getting good traction on this.
Ramagya Mart: 4 Business-to-Business success factors.
Firstly, we have been able to on-board 1000+ manufacturers as mentioned earlier.
Secondly, we have 100+ manufacturers paying us to get them verified. This is really important because it shows their interest in doing business via the platform.
Thirdly, we have got 250+ wholesale dealers on board, who have come and enquired from us.
Fourthly, we have invested a lot in branding and creating the right kind of visibility. We got Randeep Hooda- a well-recognized and respected Bollywood star to be our brand ambassador.
These are the four key milestones that we have been able to achieve and some of the contributing factors, which have created success for Ramagya Mart.
How did you raise the funding?
Fortunately, for us we stem from Ramagya Group. Ramagya Group has been in existence since last 30 years. We have our own in-house businesses that generate revenue, and we have also been able to raise funds internally within the group to invest in this particular venture. Irrespective of Covid or no Covid, we are a business that has been invested well by the group and have never fallen short of funds.
But as any large evolving brand moving forward, we are definitely looking forward to external investors to join us because we have huge expansion plans for the future.
Explain your B2B wholesale commerce trading outlook, post Covid-19 scenario and by 2030.
By 2030, we presume that everything will go digital. Today the traditional B2B business that happens via dealers, resellers and stockists would completely go online. We have been an extremely proactive platform that have asked our manufacturers to move their dealer network to our platform, so that they get used to an online business model. Through this they will be able to track all the data, get all the market intelligence for their business and also have a platform that is a one stop solution for all their business needs.
Summarizing, they have a platform that sells for them; a platform that gathers intelligence for them; a platform that has immense value to predict what their next sale could be or from whom. These are primarily the three salient features which we are offering our B2B customers coming on board to buy from the Indian home appliance manufacturers.
Though 2030 is quite far away, we are trying to bring 2030 to happen by 2025. In the next two or three years we expect that the entire home appliance market would come online and Ramagya Mart will be the catalyst of this change.
Why did you choose the home appliances category over any other space?
There is a long story behind this. We hired a company called Newton Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. It is a renowned US-based international business consulting firm. They were the ones commissioned with the task to tell us which category of business we should get into.
Professional help is normally not taken by Indian businesses to make such decisions, but we did. There was a complete market research done on the basis of different business opportunities that were available. We did know for sure that we wanted to come into online business, but segmentation of the idea of this particular category of home appliances came from them.
This was reinforced with data of 1000+ manufacturers who stated that they don’t have a platform to transact and give them business. They have platforms that gave leads, but conversion of those leads costs them a lot of money; and if they were able to use the same money to get business, they would love to associate with Ramagya Mart, and the rest is history.
How does it feel about participating in CSR initiatives, and what motivates you?
CSR has been very close to my heart and even as a group entity we have a focused approach towards CSR. From education programs for the under privileged to animal welfare, we have been actively involved.
We started an NGO called ‘Save Nishabd’ many years back, which takes care of the veterinary needs of dogs on the streets. We have a health ambulance for dogs and street animals as well as a dog shelter to take care of the street animals who have been abandoned or mis-treated. We also have a system for daily meal distribution for the street dogs which the members of this NGO execute.
I love dogs, so I make sure that I put my funds into something that gives me happiness. Animal welfare is a big part of my life personally too and it gives me peace of mind and satisfaction that I can take care of these animals on the streets who are often neglected and left to die.
Elaborate on the challenges you encountered while establishing Ramagya Mart.
When it comes to challenges, except for sleepless nights as an entrepreneur, apprehensions and questions that I didn’t have answers to at that point of time, everything was well-planned and well-executed.
Executing any good plan needs a lot of precision. Luckily, I am blessed with a team of great people- I have got my business team in place, my operations head and an organization that is supporting me in this transition, to enable my way through all of these challenges.
Somewhere down the line, I don’t have a lot of challenges, except of course, the stress and a little bit of that pressure; when you have invested so much on something, the concern about the outcome is there. Irrespective of whether it is my money or the investors’ money I am very focused on getting the results for the business. To attain measurable results calls for a lot of hard work and sleepless nights.
An inspiring quote for aspiring entrepreneurs.
I am a big follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his principles. His quote, “Be the change that you want to see”, is something that I relate to and strongly believe in myself.
This is an inspiring quote for any entrepreneur, that if he wants to bring in any change he should be the example. I follow it religiously in my business, and I am sure any entrepreneur would also do the same thing.
Utkarsh Gupta, Managing Director, Ramagya Mart was interviewed by Prittle Prattle News.
Must read- An exclusive interview
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