Emergence of GiftaLove.com – A Bumpy Ride with Undying Zeal for the Way to Success

We are publishing an interviewe of Mr. Deelip Kumar, Founder, GiftaLove.com.

About the founders 
Mr. Deelip Kumar completed education with Bachelors in Computer Application and MBA in marketing degrees. Being an avid learner by heart, he believes in thoughtful and sensible innovations as the keys for success.

A passionate leader with proven track record, having more than 12 years of experience in the related industry. At Giftalove.com, he takes care of the new innovations as well as analyzes trends and business process improvements. During his professional expertise he has worked for several ecommerce websites, CMS and many others.

Give us a brief background of what founders were doing before starting the venture. 
Before emerging as the Founder & Managing Director of GiftaLove.com, Mr. Deelip Kumar developed a better understanding about the e-commerce business. Primarily, ran a Digital Marketing Company ‘iSearch Solution Pvt Ltd’ that aims to help growing businesses by boosting their brand visibility in the web world. Subsequently the innovative thought of simplifying gift sharing in India has led to the creation of his current gifting website that enable people to share gifts within few clicks.

List all the names of the core team members, along with their skill-sets, specific domain expertise & designated roles. How do you see them evolving over time? 
The dedicated team of Giftalove can be broadly classified in 4 major departments:

The Operations and Warehouse Departments: This department is managed and operated by Mr. Mritunjay Kumar; He has completed Master in Computer Applications and has more than 10 years of experience.

Online Marketing Department: This team is headed by the Mukesh Kumar who holds an expertise in integrated core promotional campaigns. After persuading MCA, he holds a working experience of 5 years as SEO analyst and Marketing Innovator. He is currently responsible for SEO management and operations in the company.

Web Designing and Development: The broad team of Website designers is being leaded by Shivangi Mani who has persuaded MBA in Human Resource and further persuaded Animation and Web designing courses. With her versatile career and expertise in website designing, she is the name for the current face of the online gift store. The department of website development is responsibly headed by Himanshu Singh who has got degree in Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology.

Content Development: The extensive department of Content developers at Giftalove is headed by Ria Mukherjee who holds Bachelor’s in Journalism and Masters in Journalism degrees. With her enormous knowledge and passionate writing skills, she holds the charge of the content published by the company.

Customer Care and Support Team: This team is headed by Sonia Kulshrestha who holds a good expertise in handling complete Customer Care and Support Team. She is pursuing B.Com and her dedicated work approach is helping the company in efficient customer care and support.

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem? 
Understanding gifting as one of the prime ways of spreading happiness and conveying hearty wishes with anyone, has led to the creation of this online gift store that basically simplifies how people have been buying gifts and sharing it with loved ones. The ease to buy gifts and sending it anywhere across the globe in just few clicks is the aspect on which we are working hard, making it easy for people to convey hearty wishes with loved ones who are miles apart but are close to heart. This way we are actually eradicating the issues of time, efforts and distance that had been acting as barriers in promoting gifting as the key of sharing joviality.

What challenges did you face when you were starting out? 
One of the biggest hurdles in starting the venture was the arrangement of required capital. It was a great challenge to commence everything with very limited source. Gradually, continuous efforts and dedication has led the company to overcome the situation efficiently. Another stumbling block was discovering vendors with qualitative range of products and services from the market. However, sensible efforts and enormous research helped us in combating this unwanted hitch as well.

How did you get the initial capital? What returns does it have? Tell us about the investors (if any) 
It was a great challenge to give a start to the company with little capital arrangement from the revenues earned by initial venture ‘iSearch Solution’ and some from own deposits. I had to anyhow make continuous efforts to stand tall on the road full of obstacles. With undying dedication and zeal, I learned to cope up every unwanted situation with a better alternative. This is how we came a long way from starting with limited funds and products to a website full of enormous gifting products that offers uncountable reasons of experiencing the joviality that comes with gifting.

Please tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process. 
Giftalove.com is enabling users to send gifts in few clicks not only in India but across the world. It has a wide range of products, one can find a normal range gifts to premium gifts.

What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have? 
Well, in this regards it was my assumption of boom in the e-commerce business in the near future and enormous knowledge about the sector that gave me the initiative of plotting the establishment of the company. It had never been an easy path to overcome inevitable hurdles that were expected to arise with lack of funds, unavailability of vendors with qualitative services and standing tall in such a competitive business. From the company’s inception in 2013 to the present state, I have learned not to let the zeal of overcoming the hurdles die. Rather, dealing the inevitable situations with better and sensible approach.

What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup. 
After developing a better understanding of e-commerce business and with a very positive approach, I started my venture. Unique was the idea of connecting people with gifts that works on the ideology of the web world.

What is the strength of the startup and the scale of operations? Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? 
The ways that leads to success are some rational decisions and dedicated approach. Understanding these facts, we strived hard to amplify our range of products. This helped in creating myriad gifting solutions before the consumers that were unique, thoughtful and relevant. On top of that we left no stone unturned in widening our reach to the customers based round the globe with efficient delivery service nationwide and worldwide. Creating the choice for date and time of gifts delivery for the customers was an additional bonus for us to give a happy shopping experience to the customers.

What is the revenue model? Explain your thought process. 
In developing nation like India, majority of people belong to the middle class section. Targeting the major mass of the country, we have developed our revenue model of offering gifts, cakes and flowers of moderate price range. It is the way we are making the ease of online gift shopping a possible thing to experience for everyone. In addition to this, we leave no stone unturned to bring forth premium gifts collection, gifts that are in trend and some amazing low budget gift options as well for the customers.
Understanding every aspect and needs of the customers and fulfilling it with best alternatives is our revenue model. This is the way we target every type of consumers and generate revenue by offering extensive range of products to the customers.

Who are the consumers that you are targeting? How is this going to affect them? 
Gifting share happiness among people from every walk of life and this is despite any specific kind or budgetary constraint. Thus, we target consumers with distinctive needs, preferences and budget. However, we aim to share the joviality of gifting for people of every kind and budget constraints. This is how we created extensive gift ranges that can target people of every budget from low to high and preference from trendy to traditional ones.

How did you get your first customer? 
Oh, getting first customer was as exciting as remembering the exact date of our first sale which was 21st July 2013. It was one of our Rakhi gift products which were chosen by our first customer. It was a little celebration at office that made the day memorable for everyone.

What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product leading to something bigger? If so, how? 
The time when we launched our online gift shopping platform forth the consumers with little number of sales and till today we are constantly mounting every year with the number of sales and revenue both. In fact, the company has successfully served 1,00,000 plus customers till date and striving hard to take the growth prospects higher every year. Talking about the previous financial year then GiftaLove has secured 40 million revenue from around 50,000 active users on the website at present. The rate of more than 3000 regular visitors on the website also doubles during the festive time of the year.

In fact, the specific categories of Mother’s Day gifts, Raksha Bandhan gifts and Valentine’s Day gifts generate 40% of the entire year revenue. Additionally, the usual categories of Birthday Gifts and Anniversary Gifts majorly contribute to annual revenue generation for the portal.

Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture.
The time when we launched our online gift shopping platform forth the consumers with little number of sales and till today we are constantly mounting every year with the number of sales and revenue both. In fact, the company has successfully served 1,00,000 plus customers till date and striving hard to take the growth prospects higher every year. Talking about the previous financial year then GiftaLove has secured 40 million revenue from around 50,000 active users on the website at present. The rate of more than 3000 regular visitors on the website also goes ten times during the festive time of the year.

What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months? 
Pacing with the industry needs and trends, we actually need to double the daily average order for increasing the number of sales, generating revenues and earning profit simultaneously. Another factor on which we are working hard is on increasing the average ticket generation.

What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs? 
Undying faith, zeal, patience and sustainability are the key factors that every entrepreneur needs to follow for attaining success in this amazingly competitive industry. So, Dream big and Let it Happen for you with your continuous efforts and undying passion.

Thanks Deelip. Best of luck!