New Delhi. It is said that time keeps changing and with time, many changes have to be made in oneself as well. Sanjay Agarwal and his son, who live in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, have followed this to the fullest. About 14 years ago in 2006, Sanjay Agarwal decided to expand his 10X20 square feet grocery store to 1,500 square feet. But, even after this upgrade, there was no significant growth in his business. Sanjay’s son Vaibhav Agarwal saw that despite so much hard work, his father was neither able to make enough profit nor take the business further. Losses, lack of capital and low investment continuously weakened his business. Seeing his father’s struggle, 31-year-old Vaibhav helped him. Apart from this, Vaibhav has transformed more than 100 grocery stores in a dozen cities today. Thus he started his startup – The Grocery Store Company. In the last two years, he has generated a revenue of around Rs 5 crore from this startup.
Vaibhav tells that his father was the only earning member of the family and he used to run a grocery store named ‘Kamla Store’ in Saharanpur. After completing engineering in 2013, Vaibhav worked with his father in the store for a few months and after that he started working in a multinational company in Mysore through campus placement. The experience of Mysore’s retail market proved to be completely new for him. Vaibhav, who lived here for work, found that there are smart stores here. The product mix and chain system of these stores is very different.
I left a multinational company and got a job with a salary of Rs 10,000
After shopping at these stores, he got an idea of how he could improve his father’s store. After learning about these stores for about a year and thinking about it, Vaibhav left his job. In 2014, he became a sales manager at a retail company in Saharanpur at a salary of Rs 10,000. Vaibhav says that during this time he understood everything from the logistics of the retail market to how their product mix changes with place and distance. He found that the product mix changes every 1 kilometer. Even the presentation and packaging are different. After seeing all this, many business ideas started coming to Vaibhav’s mind, but he was not in the mood to leave his job once again.
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Learned the intricacies of retail store from studies and work experience
In the period of 2014-15, the startup industry was booming but he did not have much knowledge about it. To understand the concept, he decided to do Masters in Business Management in Delhi. Here, with the help of academics and faculty, he was able to give shape to his idea. He was able to know about the grocery retail market and many other matters due to being associated with the unorganized sector. After completing his masters degree, in 2017, he started working in an FMCG company in Delhi. Through this job, he got information about the retail market in 6 states including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh. He understood every small thing of the product flow in detail and prepared reports.
First of all, he rejuvenated his father’s store
Vaibhav left this job within a year and decided to bring about a change in his father’s grocery store. By 2018, he made many changes in this store. He changed the way of keeping the products in this store, also developed software to collect information about the sale of products and their inventory management. He removed those products from the store which were causing losses due to low sales and kept all the products in the store in such a way that customers’ attention was drawn to them. Thus, the number of customers and their spending capacity increased.
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100 stores in small towns changed their fortunes
This change in his store reached people through word-of-mouth. Thus, after seeing his store, a person requested to change his store in the same way. After putting in a little more effort through digital marketing, some more people asked him to change their stores. Thus Vaibhav launched his startup. Vaibhav says that till January 2021, he has changed the picture of more than 100 stores in about 12 cities. Most of these are from tier-II and tier-III cities. Regarding his experience, he says that people are ready to make changes in the grocery business, but they do not get such services through which they can get guidance. Most grocery stores have been running since the era of grandfather or father. They have not changed with time and the changing market.
This startup also works on setting up new stores
Vaibhav’s startup not only revamps old stores, but also helps in setting up a new store from scratch. With the help of this startup, customers also get the facility to buy some products. Apart from the fees, they charge Rs 1,000 per month from each store for software and analytics. The analytics report is released every 15 days so that shopkeepers can make necessary changes in their shops. Apart from managing inventory, this also helps in boosting business.
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What is the biggest challenge of this startup?
In the financial year 2019-20, this startup has generated a revenue of Rs 1 crore. It is estimated to increase to Rs 5 crore by March 2020-21. Vaibhav further explains that the most difficult task of his business is how to convince customers that there is a need to make changes in their store. They have to give information about the profit from making this change. Apart from this, customers also have to be explained about the expenses incurred on this. This startup has made changes in many stores between Rs 7 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. It takes them 6 months to 1 year.
Tags: Indian Startups, Startup Idea, Success Story
FIRST PUBLISHED : February 10, 2021, 09:54 IST