Raghava
Saahihain, a social commerce platform, as the founders like to call it, is a shopping platform where both sellers and consumers can get in direct touch with each other and communicate effectively about the product. This startup is created so thoughtfully to cater to the needs of the customers who look for a trustworthy platform to shop online.
Saahihain was founded by Rajanya Guha, Arijit Mukherjee, and Arnab Roy. All of them have pursued the B. Tech degree from the West Bengal University of Technology and were placed in respected Multi-National Companies.
Despite being placed in an MNC and having a secured job, there was something extraordinary and independent that they wanted to do. After working for some time in MNC, soon they realized that this is not their cup of tea. They wanted to execute the idea that would prove to be fruitful not just to them but to society. And that is when the idea of Saahihain popped up.
The concept of going into e-commerce arrived because of the prior knowledge of the garment business that the founders already have. Later now they gained all the knowledge about the market that is available through research and went on their journey with the foundation of Saahihain.
Apart from this, the founders also did a deep elaborative study on the behavior of consumers, about what they want, and what they look for in a shopping platform. They take their pride in calling Saahihain a social-commerce platform instead of just an e-commerce platform and that is what makes them different from any other business.
In their own words, it is not exactly a marketplace model. It is a platform where consumers and sellers could chat and communicate effectively about the product and also do the payment transaction.
With the help of this startup, they are also looking forward to promoting ‘Shop from Local’ so that the customers can shop from the local shops after browsing for them and chat with them on WhatsApp to chat after their shopping list and the products that they want to buy and can also pay them via UPI. This setting also provides a scope for the consumers to bargain with the retailers and shop owners to get a reasonable price for their desired product.
In an interview, we also found out that their company works on a ‘No Commission Model’ meaning that there is no charge of being intermediate for the sellers as well as the consumers.
They also shared the thoughtful idea behind this concept where they talked about sellers wanting to sell their products online but unfortunately due to trapping of huge capital, maintaining complicated dashboards, massive commission rates repelled them from venturing into the online world.
In the future, Saahihain also looks forward to expanding its platform with the help of the latest AI technologies after evaluating the suggestions of AI and Analytics teams.
So far they have partnered with 15 shops already considering they have only started just a month ago and 50 more shops are on the waiting list. They will also look for drawing investments as soon as their plan takes off.
Saahihain founders consider Coutloot as their direct competition as it is also an e-commerce platform where people could communicate and probably bargain for their products and then shop. Apart from this, their indirect competitors are Shop101, Bulbul, SimSim and likes.
On talking about the impact of the pandemic on their business, they discussed how the occurrence of COVID-19 had an onerous influence on all operations. And in order to maintain social distancing how staying home has become the need of an hour.
They also shared that as soon as the final step of their business plan sets up, 90% of the work will be done online and the people can do it from the comfort of their home and pandemic will no longer come in a way of their working.
Saahihain explained with the decline of COVID-19 cases and businesses starting to get momentum, they will be able to scale themselves in rapid place. And that sums up their plan in the near future.
Their long term plan includes Saahihain being an industry leader for hyper-local shopping from local markets and exhibitions in Tier I and Tier-II cities.
On being asked about the suggestions for the aspiring entrepreneurs who see themselves as successful businessmen in the future, they said, the true entrepreneurial organization has one thing in common, the entrepreneur’s dream of audacious aspirations with limited resources. And though that may seem like quite a struggle but the true spirit is not to give up, because that’s how you gain success.
The founders also had a pretty interesting take on StartupsIndia where they said that StartupsIndia is going a great job in recognizing the startup. And they also believe that with the ever-increasing power of social media, the people can reach to maximum audience.
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