Business Etiquette is important for a professional as it creates mutual respect at the workplace and builds better work relations. While good communication skills and intellect can land you a job, etiquette and mannerwould help you build stronger professional relationships. For growth in any field, you must be well behaved along with the required technical skills. Businesses are based on trust so maintaining a healthy relationship with colleagues and potential business partners is very important.
Handshakes are highly significant in the business profession. A strong and confident handshake is a symbol of interest and is evident in future possibilities. Handshakes improve the interaction between the individuals and creates mutual respect. You must always take care of the amount of time you hold someone’s hand and professional sphere you must no longer hold it for more than 3 seconds or else it creates a sense of awkwardness.
Putting the other hand above while shaking hands is an act of dominance law. Thus, one can also get a bit of an idea of the intentions of the individual by the way they shake hands with you. Therefore, a handshake is an important aspect of businesses etiquettes.
Use Professional Language
Language is considered as the most important aspect both in personal and professional life. It helps a person to build good work relations and perform well in a team. Inappropriate language in the workplace can cause damage to your company/personal reputation, Undermine your argument and also be fired from your job. In the business world using professional language can project you as a confident, well-mannered and intelligent person. It is very important to effectively communicate to achieve the goals. Using words like thank you, please or greetings like good morning, good evening whenever necessary makes you friendly and helps you in adjusting to your office work environment quickly and easily.
Also in case of any problem or doubt, you should try asking for help instead of figuring out everything on your own. A person who never hesitates to ask for help. are considered to be smart and are likely to succeed since they are modest and ready to learn from others.
Avoid Interrupting
No person likes to be interrupted while they are delivering their speech, putting up a presentation or just presenting their idea. You must always remember never to interrupt someone until they’ve finished talking. Any modifications, enhancements icons or opinions you want to give, wait and give them at the end of the speech. Even if you think you’re interrupting for a good reason – to ask a relevant question, offer your solution to a problem, or show that you understand, it’s rude and it almost always negatively affects the interaction. Interrupting tells the person speaking that you don’t care what they have to say. If you strongly agree or disagree with any point or subject you should try to keep it with yourself and hold it inside your mouth no matter how much you feel like giving it off at the same moment. This is also evidence law that you have self-control and are not driven by strong emotions in business etiquette.
Avoid Interrupting
Staying Away From Gossips, Eavesdropping
Always avoid indulging in gossip in the office. This creates a shady environment and an unreliable personality of yours in the eyes of your colleagues. Gossip in the office results in less productivity, wasting time and hinders teamwork. Even if you get to know any kind of secret talk or rumour, It is advised to keep it to yourself and never pass it on further. Gossip fuels hatred and ends up in situations where you have to take sides. Getting into gossiping will also lead you to unwanted problems which can put you in danger and may cost your job too. To build a trustworthy image you have to become a trustworthy person at work. Always try to keep your private and professional life separate.
Always Be Kind
Business Relations is all about making acquaintances and that is only possible if you are kind enough to your potential business partners groups, bosses or any other colleagues. It is always advised to introduce each other at the first meeting. This is necessary to have work relations and increase contacts. Unless any two individuals already know each other, this step can be ignored. No person should be avoided in the workplace since anyone can help you in any possible way. Therefore, try to be as friendly as possible. Talk to people to make yourself visible in the workplace. Be an assertive yet never arrogant person. To be able to fit into the office environment quickly follow these simple etiquettes. It will take time to learn all of it but to ensure a safe, growing workplace it is advised to adapt to the surroundings system as soon as you could.
Dress Formally
Dressing professionally helps you create a positive environment, it shows how much you are invested in the role and it is also considered as the professional image of your organization to others. Even if you are not dressed professionally make sure you look well-groomed. Dressing well in a professional environment boots your confidence and commands respect. Always try to be modest in your professional attire and also ensure that you are comfortable with what you are wearing.
Dress Formally
Conclusion
Business Etiquettes are the most important secret to a successful career. They make an everlasting impression of you to the other which creates mutual respect. Effective Communication is considered the best strategy to express your views at the workplace and helps you in teamwork. Good business etiquette is a valuable skill-set that will make you stand out from others, helps you succeed at work and help you land that dream job.
Gig employment has revolutionized the Indian economy in recent years, providing a large number of jobs for the population and adding to the country’s GDP in the long run. It is getting so popular that people are actively choosing gig work over regular work due to the convenience and flexibility of the job. Companies that recruit gig workers save money on office space, equipment, and other expenses, while workers enjoy flexible work schedules and the opportunity to do something they like and also earn more by doing multiple gigs.
Gig jobs were already popular before the pandemic, but since the COVID outbreak, many individuals who lost their normal employment have turned to gigs, which are very easy to find and offer an excellent opportunity to make money. More businesses are turning to gig workers in place of full-time staff, and their operational methods are shifting as a result. This allows them to hire more talent but at a lower cost.
Companies that provide gig jobs are expanding in India, and they are assisting a large number of people who are looking for work. We’ll take a look at a few of these businesses in this article.
About Gig Economy and Benefits and Challenges of Gig Workers
Flipkart
Flipkart – Gig Economy Company
Most of the gig workers working at Flipkart are delivery service people. Founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the e-commerce giant connects sellers to the consumers and delivers the products to the customers. Flipkart also provides training to its supply chain employees and provides them with all the gear necessary for the job.
Urban Company
Urban Company – Gig Economy Company
Urban Company is an on-demand home service platform that allows consumers to access a variety of services from the comfort of their own homes. Urban Company currently has 35,000+ skilled professionals providing 7,50,000+ services each month, as well as having a worldwide presence in four countries.
Bigbasket
Bigbasket – Gig Economy Company
Founded in 2011, Bigbasket is an online grocery delivery service that brings goods to your home once you place an order. The company employs roughly 35,000 people across 30 Indian cities, a large percentage of which are delivery drivers.
Swiggy is an online food delivery service that brings food right to your door. Founded in 2014, Bangalore-based company that operates in 500+ cities. Swiggy is also known as one of the fastest-growing unicorn companies in India. This delivery business, which employs over 1,30,000 people, makes around 1 million deliveries every day.
Zomato
Zomato – Gig Economy Company
Zomato was launched in 2008 as Foodiebay, and in 2010 it was renamed Zomato Media Pvt Ltd. Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah were the founders of the Zomato. The business joined India’s Unicorn club in 2018. It is available in a variety of countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Amazon
Amazon – Gig Economy Company
Amazon first entered the Indian market in 2013, and it has since grown to become one of the country’s largest online retail platforms. Amazon has created Flex, which provides part-time delivery work and other Amazon gig jobs in India for workers who want to make extra money. Those who have their own vehicles are eligible to apply for the delivery job, and can earn around Rs.140 per hour.
Dunzo
Dunzo – Gig Economy Company
Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suli, and Mukund Jha established Dunzo in 2014. It’s an online service that delivers necessities and groceries to customers’ homes. The company is headquartered in Bangalore. Jaipur, Gurgaon, Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Hyderabad are among the eight major cities in India where Dunzo is now active.
PharmEasy
PharmEasy – Gig Economy Company
PharmEasy is an online drug and healthcare supplies delivery service based in Mumbai. The application also provides online doctor consultations and telehealth. PharmEasy app works by taking the customer’s prescription, verifying it at the store, and then delivering the medications as needed. During the pandemic, the company also launched the gift a mask campaign, in which customers were encouraged to donate a mask to frontline employees, with the company matching each donation.
Ola Cabs
Ola – Gig Economy Company
Ola cabs, often known as Ola, is an online taxi and rideshare service that offers consumers rides that can be simply booked online. The company, which is based in Bangalore, provides services in practically all of the country’s main cities. Despite its many issues, Ola continues to have a large user base in the country.
Porter
Porter – Gig Economy Company
The company was founded in 2014 and is active in over 13 cities and has served over 50 lakh customers. The Porter provides transportation aids to the customers, which also helps the owner-drivers with employment and provides them with a consistent source of income. For now, the company has around 2 lakh owner-drivers.
Uber
Uber – Gig Economy Company
Uber began operations in India in 2013, and it has since served over 95 million riders and drivers. It is an online taxi and rideshare company that accepts online reservations for rides. Uber India has supplied gig jobs to a large number of drivers, however the Uber structure in India is very different from that in other developed countries.
Mr. Right is a home service business that offers a variety of services such as appliance repair, deep cleaning, and more. The company accepts orders online and will send a professional with a good track record to the customer’s home to complete the work. The organization employs over 60,000 freelancers and offers a variety of home services.
Blinkit
Blinkit – Gig Economy Company
Blinkit, formerly Grofers, is an online platform for ordering groceries and other necessities. Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar founded the company in 2013. The company began operations in Delhi and has since expanded to other cities. The company’s goal is to alleviate the problems and inconveniences that customers and merchants face as a result of the market’s disorganized setup.
Conclusion
Gig jobs are slowly but steadily gaining popularity in India. Because of the pandemic, there has been an increase in gig workers, and some individuals are enjoying it and do not want to return to their former jobs. Gig jobs offer convenience and flexibility. Gig workers make up a major portion of the country’s workforce and contribute significantly to its GDP. It is something that the authorities must address, and actions to protect gig workers and provide them with fair working conditions must still be taken.
FAQs
What is gig work?
Gig workers work as short-term, temporary, or independent contractors for one or more companies, rather than a regular, in-office, full-time position with a single corporation.
How much do gig workers earn in India?
The average salary for gig workers in India is around Rs 12,000 to Rs 16,000.
What is the most popular gig job?
Delivery driver is the most popular gig job.
What is called Gig economy?
Gig economy is a workforce environment for short-term employment, contractual jobs, and independent contractors who do not get monthly wage, isntead they get paid for completing a Gig.
We earn a degree, develop our skills and start looking for jobs. All we do is make our resume, send it to a company and wait for their response.
This is all the work that a person does as a potential employee. But it is not only about a single person. There are tons of people out there who are doing the same.
The companies hire HR employees to deal with the recruitment processes. There are huge companies that have many existing employees and receive tons of applications from new candidates.
Did you ever wonder how these big companies are able to manage this process? Thanks to technology now they have applicant tracking software. These help them in organizing various hiring needs electronically.
It refers to a software application that enables the computerized conduct of hiring needs. It is like a database for the candidates for a job. This helps the employers to keep track of the entire hiring process of many candidates.
It makes the process electronic and more effective. With this system, a job is created and then posted on the job page. Here the interested candidates apply. After receiving the applications, these get screened and ranked as per the company’s requirements. The selected candidates are then interviewed. At last, the best talent gets hired. Hence, this computerized process makes hiring simple and efficient for employers.
This system is applicable for both big and small businesses. They can install it according to their needs. This software is of an extensive range. It can provide simple functionality of the database. Also, it has the capability to provide tools for the entire hiring process.
This enables businesses to manage and analyze the applicants according to their company size and needs.
How Applicant Tracking System works?
Top Applicant Tracking Systems in 2022
The hiring process holds great importance for any company. Every company does have an HR team to handle this. But in these fast-paced times, it gets quite difficult for recruiters to handle the entire process manually. So, now we have applicant tracking systems to solve this issue.
Here are some top names of applicant tracking systems in 2022:
Talent Recruit
Talent Recruit – Best Applicant Tracking System
This system was born in India. It provides an end-to-end platform, where the organizations can hire candidates with an automated system.
Talent Recruit is a cloud-based system that works on machine learning and artificial intelligence. This platform adds intelligence, analytics, and automation to the hiring process. Thus, makes the process easy and efficient for the companies.
It offers many features. For example- application management, resume database, interview management, and many more.
Some of its popular customers are Monster India, SHRM, Ness Digital Engineering, etc.
Workable
Workable – Best Applicant Tracking System
It started in Greece. This is an amazing recruiting software that ensures great talent for an organization. Many of the best companies in the world have relied on it for hiring their employees. Being reliable, and up-to-date it is a popular system in 2022.
The system enables you to post a job on more than 200 sites in one click. It helps to forward the right candidates. This ensures the best applicant gets hired. All this removes the manual work of interview scheduling, getting approvals, and more. The whole process is automated and thus, makes it time-saving and cost-effective.
It offers various features for organizations. For example- application management, background checks, interview management, employee management, etc.
SAP SuccessFactors – Best Applicant Tracking System
It is an American software company. It is a cloud-based talent management system. This offers data-driven tools and strategies for the entire employee lifecycle. This lifecycle involves a complete process from hiring to retiring.
Its tools enable the companies to track the process of recruiting, onboarding, and also employee performance. It is powered by automation and embedded intelligence. This helps to make a shift from a manual hiring process to an automated process.
The system provides many features. For example- sourcing, scheduling, screening, onboarding, performance and compensation management, sales performance management, etc.
Many big companies have invested their trust in this system. These include Sephora, Whirlpool, and more.
Zoho Recruit
Zoho Recruit – Best Applicant Tracking System
Zoho Recruit is considered one of the most economical systems, based in India. It provides automated recruiting solutions for the companies. With its cloud-based technology, it makes the hiring process better and effortless.
It helps to source the best talent, check their backgrounds, schedule interviews, also helps in sending offer letters. This makes the end-to-end hiring process automated.
Zoho Recruit offers various features for the recruiting process. For example- applicant tracking, background screening, approval process control, contact database, customizable templates, etc.
Some its customers are Eventful Inc., Tutor Doctor Inc., etc.
It is an American ATS startup that offers hiring software as a service. It provides the companies with technology for their recruiting process. It enables them to optimize every aspect of hiring. It builds an ideal hiring tech stack to make the process easy and effective.
It automates all the tasks involved in the tracking of an applicant. These include sourcing candidates, application review, screening, interview scheduling, etc.
They offer various services for recruiting. For example- application review, interview planning, analytics and reporting, onboarding module, candidate experience, etc.
It has many big names as its customers. These include Airbnb, HubSpot, Casper, and more.
This is another popular applicant tracking system. It came into existence a long time ago. But its progress and inclusion of the latest features make it one of the most desirable systems.
It has so many features that it’s considered the most dynamic HR and payroll software in the world. It simplifies and automates the full process of hiring that is from hire to retirement.
This is a tried-and-true system that continues to hold a good place in 2022. It comes with around 160 features. For example- HR and Payroll, document management, bonus and loans management, audit trail, exit management, and more.
Some of its customers are Palsons Derma, SoftwareSuggest, etc.
Conclusion
Every organization whether big or small needs an HR team for the hiring process. HRs play an important role in sourcing, screening, and hiring candidates. With fast-paced times, handling this entire process manually is becoming quite tough and time-consuming. So, many companies are now adopting applicant tracking systems for it. These systems bring technology into the hiring process. It makes the process automated, easy, time-saving, data-driven, and efficient.
At present, there is various ATS software available in the market. Greenhouse, Workable, Talent Recruit, Zoho Recruit, etc. are some of the popular choices. These systems make recruitment better and more powerful for the organizations.
FAQs
What is Application Tracking System?
The Application Tracking system is a software application that enables the computerized conduct of hiring needs like – Collecting information about candidates, organising applications, and tracking their application.
What is the best Application Tracking System?
Some of the best Application Tracking Systems are:
Talent Recruit
Workable
SAP SuccessFactors
Zoho Recruit
Greenhouse
HRMantra
Why do companies use ATS?
An applicant tracking system (ATS) helps to manage and automate hiring and recruitment practices for an organization.
Attributed to Mr. Gautam Saraf, CHRO at Ferns N Petals
The command over the domain, sense of unflinching responsibility, diligence and brilliance are among the prominent skills that every person aspires to acquire to succeed at the workplace. There is no denial of the fact that they play a crucial role in shaping one’s career and become the measure to know how swiftly the person would scale the corporate ladder. But over the course of the evolution of the work culture across the globe, some interpersonal abilities have emerged as dominant forces leading the path of progress of a person. Among these aptitudes, internal networking capability has become a major quality having the power to take the person to the zenith.
Internal networking, a process of reaching out to and building relationships with co-workers within the company, has emerged as an inevitable skill for employees to grab prominent positions in the organisation. It acts as a crucial factor behind perception developed among colleagues that goes a long way when it comes to promotion and team building. Managers are unlikely to develop a good team and get the required support as leaders if they don’t have a camaraderie with team members. On the other hand, communication with team members can do wonders. Employees who invest time in knowing and communicating with their colleagues understand what talent they possess and what their co-workers. This very understanding ultimately helps in distributing tasks and accomplishing personal and organizational goals.
The work environment turns into an enjoyable one if employees are connected with one another. The networking among workers from different departments makes them understand the business better that ultimately results in enhanced satisfaction and performance. Such employees come into notice of the senior management that with further assessment tries to comprehend their potential to handle a role with higher responsibilities. Upon proving further eligibility and winning the trust of the management, they get easy promotions as companies perpetually look for personnel who can fill a more critical position. And most of the time, they become successful in the role.
Networking in Team by Communicating
Communication skill that is closely connected to the growth of an individual within an organization can be improved significantly by giving attention to internal networking. This is an obvious fact. A better communication ability for an employee is inevitable to give a swift push to the career and successfully execute the responsibilities given by the management. Connected employees make the internal communication of the organisation more efficacious and productive. It facilitates in finding the solutions to the most complex and tiring issues related to business, assisting the realisation of the collective goals. Overall, frequent employee communication boosts the company culture and encourage employees to ensure optimum output.
For companies, it’s a cumbersome task to keep the employees excited throughout the day, but it’s an absolute necessity in order to ensure quality products and services to the consumers. On the other hand, motivation helps the employees in finding the best and easiest way to attain the targets without compromising on the quality of work. A good rapport with co-workers helps employees in collaborating and drawing out the best while acting on a particular task. One can imagine the reduction in challenges after working together with experienced and talented team members. Here, the credit goes to internal networking skills. Internal networking promotes development of great ideas to gathering insights into other function, understand industry interface better and be more open to learning functional roles. Collaboration in between departments, mentoring and career development is what we seek out of this.
Owing to an ever-increasing competition in the market, companies today require to perpetually innovate with products and services being provided to the consumers. At the same time, it is extremely important for employees to remain innovative and try making difference throughout their careers to create ample opportunities in the organization. Regular communication with co-workers not only builds a tenacious bond among them but also promotes the exchange of ideas and knowledge that ultimately enhances the creative abilities of the personnel involved. Hence, having internal networks can work as a prominent factor of growth within the organization.
With enhanced internal networks, the workplace becomes a home that eventually results in happiness, satisfaction, and prosperity. It subtly develops the abilities required to thrive in the organization. Employees utilize all their capabilities to ensure a steady expansion of the company as well as their personal progress. This very pursuit encourages employee advocacy that is harnessing the potentials of the external associations of the staffers. It is not only advantageous for the company but for the employees as well; it assists in making the existing bonds firm while checking the opportunities. It further stimulates the creation of an efficient network of people.
At a time when hybrid work model, which is a mix of onsite and offsite working is flourishing, the networking skill has become even more important. In the work model, many employees work from remote stations, thus coordination with them is vital to get the work done. For coordination, it is important to have a good rapport among co-workers so that they can make concerted effort to accomplish a task. Apart from that, on the personal level, it proves one’s ability to take up leadership role in getting the task completed while developing confidence in colleagues who are not present in person.
In developing a robust internal networking skill among employees, employers can play a key role. They can adopt a lot of encouraging practices to help employees develop the skill. Creating a supportive work environment, planning fun activities, planning for outings and fostering inter-departmental relations are some of the measures employers can adopt to enhance internal skills of the workforce. On the other hand, employees must take part in every activity or meeting of the company.
A good internal connection increases the likelihood of an employee staying longer with the company that cultivates trust among senior leadership making them look for an elevated profile for the person. On the other hand, staying with a company for a longer period makes the employee understand every detail of the business, enabling him to contribute to the evolution of the organization efficiently while generating more opportunities for career advancement. This very sense of involvement makes them feel empowered; they aspire to grab a certain level of decision-making autonomy in the company to achieve massive objectives. Apart from that, it helps them to be free from worries associated with jobs such as insecurity. Instead of losing employees, HR leaders can use the power of cross company social connections to help employees develop passion and purpose in their workplace to maintain a stronger rapport with the colleagues.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, connections and relationships with co-workers within the organisation is the fundamental element of attainment and growth. To establish such connections that sustain for a long time, employees need to work with assiduousness on their communication and internal networking aptitudes. It’s a time tested fact that employees are good at communicating their opinion to others and listening to their feedback make strong relations with colleagues of all ranks. Everyone appreciates people who are mature, skillful and open to positive and negative responses. The human resources departments of companies today come up with ideas and team-building exercises that aid every employee significantly to establish a friendship with others. It is quintessential today, and every employee must involve in activities and office atmosphere to build alliances to reach the apex in the organisation.
This article is contributed by Anshul Agarwal, Co-founder of XR Central.
Most people we know, when they need to buy supplies, will take a few hours or more in order to: a) go to the shops, b) search for the desired shop, c) go to the relevant section in the desired shop, and so on and so forth, you get the picture. The internet has made e-commerce faster and more convenient than ever before, but there are still things that we hesitate to buy online. We want to try on glasses, try on clothes, see how everything fits before we click that button. And for that, you have to take a few hours to go to the shops.
The advent of the metaverse, and technology like 5G, will make e-commerce even more intuitive and convenient for customers. Now, you can scan your body or enter your measurements and try on all sorts of clothes and accessories on your virtual avatar. With the level of precise detail made possible in the metaverse, this will be as close to the real experience as possible and will take a fraction of the time. And if you think, well, this is an activity that I’d like to do with friends, then the social component – that gets missed from a lot of e-commerce experiences at the moment – will also be there for you. Your friends will have the opportunity to create their own avatars and accompany you on virtual shopping trips from the convenience of their own homes.
Indeed, XR-powered platforms power the collaborative and social aspect of retail via omnichannel messaging and real-time avatar interaction. You and your friends will be able to stroll in a fully immersive experience through the shops in your local neighbourhood – or even thousands of miles away. And shop owners will have a chance to showcase their goods effectively while maintaining their customers’ level of trust. There is also a rise in AR apps you can use to project makeup and accessories onto your face. Snapchat, for example, is debuting a version of Shopping Lens that will enable users to swipe through different kinds of makeup and cosmetics and virtually try them on their faces. Attached to the AR overlay will be detailed on prices, colours, and sizes. Major brands have already signed on to this new way of shopping and there are predictions of more and more brands jumping on the bandwagon soon.
Last year, Gucci made a big splash selling NFTs of digital clothes and accessories for millions of dollars. As we transition to a predominantly digital presence, we can expect to see a big uptick in our Direct-to-Avatar (D2A) purchases. For an appearance-conscious generation, digital avatars will need to exhibit personal flourishes via clothes and accessories. We know what makes us unique in real-life, but what will that be in the metaverse?
Like we’ve seen with H&M’s new virtual store, it will be possible to have cross-platform flexibility and access to major brands in a virtual setting. Users will be able to access retail stores on their tablets, smartphones, laptops, or by using VR-enabled headsets or glasses. Having stores at a ‘virtual’ address will offer brands a chance to be hyper-local in a truly global setting, and to gain access to a wider audience and secure cutting-edge brand equity.
For brands that don’t want to go all out on digital products, there is an opportunity to have hybrid showcases – where real-world creations are matched with virtual accessories to be sold as NFT collectibles. NFT collectibles are custom digitized tokens that, by definition, are truly exclusive. They cannot be exchanged with each other. And it’s low-cost, without raw materials, fittings, export duties, and comparable workers’ fees. Users can have their NFTs digitally rendered into Instagram or Snapchat filters, Zoom filters, QR codes, and seamlessly project an extension of their personality into the digital realm. In fact, the highly scalable and highly custom nature of virtual retail will make it so that retailers will create less waste and be able to recruit new customer bases with relative ease.
A case in point for retail’s future in the metaverse is the participation of FMCG companies. You could think that FMCG doesn’t really fit in the metaverse, but we have innovative branding strategies being implemented by the likes of Hellmann’s mayo – who created a campaign on Animal Crossing regarding food waste – and Proctor and Gamble – who created lifelike skin for avatars to advertise their Venus razors. A unique, multi-faceted campaign can result in a hundred-fold increase in social media mentions and make creaky brands seem slick and savvy.
And lastly, home shopping will become easier. We now have interior designers and decorators visualising furniture and all manner of home accessories in a rendering of your flat. And using AR shopping apps – like Amazon’s Room Decorator – you can see how that new bed you’re thinking of buying will look in your room, or how that painting or that rug, or that vase will look in your home. The tools powering the metaverse will provide an unprecedented ability to visualise 3D objects accurately, so you can be confident of your purchase.
So, in summary, retail and e-commerce have a bright future in the metaverse on a number of different fronts. Some of them are already here and some will continue to evolve and mutate far into the future. It will be interesting to see where we land.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved byUpnourish.
Due to the increasing pressure of modern life and despite the adverse effects it has on our health, people tend to get less sleep and work more. Poor work-life balance leads to chronic stress and impacts mental health and physical health equally. The industry of Health and Wellness is growing as per the demands of health needs in the current busy lifestyle. The global wellness market is valued at $1.5 trillion. It is growing with annual growth of 5 to 10%. Health and wellness market value is estimated to grow by USD 1300 billion by 2024 and Nutritional supplements market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.2%.
People aim to enjoy the busy lifestyle and aspires to stay equally healthy. Upnourish has brought the solution to this need. Founded by Nutritionist, the startup provides a range of nutrition products as meal replacement.
Know about Upnourish company, founders, business model, and its startup story.
Upnourish is India’s digital first D2C focused meal replacement product venture enabling people to eat healthy with all the nutrition yet low on calories while they lead their busy lives. Upnourish aims to be a part of every individual’s life who leads on-the-go lifestyle yet aspires to be healthy. Upnourish aims to be market disruptor and category leader when it comes to healthy on-the-go snacking/meals category.
Upnourish – Founders
Upnourish Founders
Kuonal Lakhapati and Aayushi Lakhapati are co-founder at Upnourish. Kuonal Lakhapati is the CEO at UpNourish. Ayushi is a certified Nutritionist.
It was their mutual decision to embark on this journey to build Upnourish and 23BMI. Kuonal handles all the operations and business functions whereas Aayushi heads product R&D and client management.
Upnourish – Startup Idea
Kuonal Lakhapati was leading a very hectic life while being the founding member India’s leading company in Logistics tech space. Building a startup was demanding. His days were extended and hardly had a fixed schedule since he was traveling extensively. Moreover, he had no knowledge or awareness about healthy food, importance of timing etc. Had many misconceptions too. Unfortunately, he gained quite a bit of weight making me very uncomfortable. However, he had known Aayushi (Co Founder, 23BMI) and knew she came from the world of nutrition and wellness. He told her that he wanted to lose weight but could not hit the gym due to lack of time. He asked her to guide as he had no nutrition knowledge.
Aayushi was experimenting with her idea of Meal Replacement Products and she decided to make some samples and try them on me. He tried them and lost 10 Kgs in 28 days! That is when he realised this is revolutionary and if he was facing this issue of not able to hit gym, prepare healthy food that can be carried easily, there are millions out there like me. And, they could solve this problem offering convenience. That’s when they decided to start manufacturing Meal Replacement Products.
They made some samples and tried them with friends and family. They tested it thoroughly, did pre-post medical check ups and once they were absolutely through, they finally launched them. They did speak to some medical and health experts, marketing experts, branding experts, before they thought of jumping into the world of meal replacements. Most of them were in agreement of the problem statement, market need and the proposed solution. However, they had to get the product formulation right and had to conduct trials before finalising the formulation.
Upnourish – Mission and Vision
As people get aspirational, busier, competitive, their health will take a backseat. Hence, Upnourish is working to make health and nutritional food convenient to all such people so they do not have to compromise on their health goals. Upnourish also targets weight watchers who would want to maintain to keep their underlying conditions like diabetes, cholesterol, thyroid, PCOD/PCOS, etc concerns under control.
Upnourish – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Upnourish Logo
The core idea behind choosing Upnourish as our brand name was simple as they wanted people to up their nutrition game.
Upnourish – Business Model
Upnourish’s business model is very simple and just like any other e-commerce company. Upnourish’s major revenues come from it’s own website which is about 70%. The rest of the revenue streams are online market places like Amazon, Healthkart, Wellversed, etc.
Upnourish – Products & Services
Upnourish Products
Meal Replacement products are packed with all the essential nutrition in terms of protein, fiber, carbs, multivitamins, etc in 60% lesser the calories that a body requires from one meal which is usually very difficult to achieve via natural meal by any individual with basic nutritional knowledge. Hence, on regular consumption of the meal replacement products, one experiences increased energy levels, fat loss, better health, etc.
They are making it very convenient to carry your own on-the-go nutritious meal which provides all the vital nutrition for fitness/health focused individuals.
They did go through couple of iterations before they could find the perfect formulation of the product. Basis on the extensive feedback, they realized they could make the product even better and hence, had to work through a couple of iterations.
Upnourish is the D2C focused, ecommerce arm where as 23BMI is our consultancy arm for people who need dedicated health coach services.
Upnourish team majorly focused on performance marketing to acquire customers via social media platforms. They acquired first 100 customers in less than 10 days.
Branding, communication, product innovation and most importantly listening to our customers has been the key to understand the growth path for the company. They are currently focusing on increasing our product visibility via online marketplaces and some selected offline modern stores. A couple of ad campaigns of our products did really well specially in the Tier – 2/3 markets which essentially focused on explaining how one could replace one/two unhealthy eating options with meal replacement products. They are currently spending 50% of revenues on marketing.
Upnourish is just few months old. It is headquartered in Mumbai. Upnourish has clocked about INR 15lacs revenue with 55% gross profit. Upnourish has more than 1200+ subscriber. Upnourish’s clients are some notable HNI’s, politicians, sportsmen, celebrities, etc along with fitness focused individuals across India.
Upnourish – Challenges Faced
Amongst many, one of the major challenges they faced were getting the MOQs for products, packaging since to get high MOQ was not feasible. They had to really get into the sourcing to be able to achieve feasible MOQs. They did some experiments with low MOQ packaging, printing until they could get the desired MOQs.
This article is contributed by Sumit Gupta, Founder – Whizard API (Whatsapp Business Solutions).
The meager mention of social media marketing rings the bell of the names of our preferred apps. However, in this era of instant messaging, what often goes unnoticed is that WhatsApp can be an equally beneficial marketing platform. As per Statista, with a global monthly user base of 2 billion, WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant messaging apps outranking Facebook, Instagram, and WeChat. This is one of the major reasons why WhatsApp marketing is gradually gaining prominence amongst businesses as an innovative route to reach their customers!
WhatsApp Marketing: The new fad
Customers across age groups prefer chatting over voice calls especially for connecting with businesses and their query resolution. According to a joint study conducted by Nielsen with a leading conversation media marketing platform, young Indian customers specifically prefer chatting over audio and video calling. Half of the respondents (50%) surveyed shared that chatting over messaging apps is easy and fun to communicate. As per Outgrow’s survey, 69% of consumers at the global level prefer chatbots because they provide quick and simple responses to their queries. 56% of users prefer chatbots for query resolution rather than calling customer support.
As per industry estimates, the engagement rate of WhatsApp is over 70% and an open rate of approximately 97-99%. These stats are indicative of the fact that WhatsApp is the most widely used and preferred messaging platform amongst customers. They trust brands with chat apps and chatbots all the more and would be inclined towards purchasing from the brands that reach them via chats. Businesses are thus considering WhatsApp Marketing via the assistance of WhatsApp chatbots as the new-age marketing strategy for promoting their offerings as well as for seamless and effective communication with their customer base.
Benefits of WhatsApp Marketing for businesses
Tapping customers across geographies
Whatsapp Marketing for Tapping Customers Across Geographies
The concept of WhatsApp Marketing works with a chat marketing principle and a customer-centric strategy. It helps businesses to scale their venture and have a robust digital presence thereby empowering them to connect seamlessly with their customers spread across urban as well as rural areas. To ensure this, they are adopting multilingual WhatsApp chatbots that enable ease of communication and allow businesses to reach linguistically and culturally diverse target audiences effectively.
Customer-centric approach
For businesses, ‘the customer is the king’. WhatsApp Marketing works with a customer-centric approach and helps businesses take decisions and operate keeping their preferences, demands, and behaviors into consideration. Contrary to the notion that WhatsApp Marketing is intrusive, it is in fact one of the best permission-based marketing channels where customers possess the power to share the contact number or refuse the offer!
Personalized experiences
The messaging app provides a plethora of opportunities for the personalization of messaging experiences. The WhatsApp chatbots offer personalized experiences to the customers by capturing data and offering smooth automated conversations. This ensures that the customers are satisfied, happy and engaged. This also allows businesses to expand their customer reach and enjoy a competitive edge in the market.
Fostering valuable relationships with customers
Leveraging the power of WhatsApp chatbots, WhatsApp Marketing helps build deeper connections with the customer base. The valuable connections with the customers eventually help reduce operational costs for businesses since customer retention is perceived to be financially feasible as compared to acquisition.
A diverse set of features
The app comes with a diverse set of features. WhatsApp broadcast and group allowing businesses to share a variety of content including brochures, catalogs, and videos to 256 people at once, status sharing along with audio and video calling; all of these features can be leveraged to reach out to the existing customer base as well as tap the potential customers. WhatsApp Business API’s integration with chatbots is also being used for facilitating effective customer interaction with their automation, speech recognition, and image recognition features.
The bots manage multiple customer queries in real-time and allow live interaction experiences to the customers helping in instant resolution of their queries. They allow seamless online payments as well by facilitating integrations with third-party payment gateways.
The transition from notification-based to conversation-based model
WhatsApp will soon be transitioning from a notification-based model to a conversation-based pricing model and will also be introducing new features. These innovations will further help in fostering meaningful conversations between businesses and customers.
On the whole, it would be appropriate to say that WhatsApp Marketing allows businesses to offer superior customer experiences. This further paves the way for customer satisfaction and loyalty. Once the customers are engaged and happy, they tend to stick around for long. This customer satisfaction and retention eventually carve the path for greater conversions and boosted sales.
Businesses, in order to have a competitive edge, need to adopt new-age marketing strategies. WhatsApp is popular amongst the customers and is preferred for communication with brands and query resolution. With the right tools in place, the marketing capabilities of the most popular instant messaging app can be enhanced significantly. Due to the growing prominence of the messaging app, WhatsApp Marketing is thus emerging to be the ideal solution for businesses to connect and engage with their customers!
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by WhiteCub.
Veganism is the way of living with a practice of declining the use of animal productsin diet. It focusses on loving and saving animals and species. Veganism also has the potential to save natural resources like water, forests, grains, and more.
Practicing veganism, one can show love to nature and stay equally healthy as plant-based food items can provide all the required nutrients. Whitecub is a startup in FMCG industry to provide dairy free products. Their intention is to create a harmonious environment where people, animals and nature co-exists.
Read to know about Whitecub, founder, business model, products, and its startup story.
Whitecub is a D2C vegan brand with an Omni channel presence. It is a vegan, dairy free brand and our product offerings includes vegan ice cream, butter, curd, fruit yogurt, cookies, and Hazelnut-Cashew Spread.
Our mission is to make dairy free products accessible across India and take it to the masses. Whitecub want to be the brand of choice for people looking for a dairy free products. Our mission is to make dairy free, plant based products affordable and accessible in India so that everybody can enjoy it. We started with vegan ice-cream back in 2013 and we operate in a niche category currently and want to expand our offering and products to serve all consumers in India. We want to be the vegan brand people trust and opt for. We are also looking at expanding our footprint globally in different markets apart from India. We hope very soon we will be present in other countries via export of our products.
Our long term vision is to create a planet where people, animals and nature co-exists harmoniously. We want to contribute our bit to create a world devoid of exploitation of animals for food. Animal derived food are not only high on carbon footprint but are also often the cause of health complications as well. We are in the middle of a climate crisis and environmentalist are making us aware that we need to act now. White Cub by promoting and making plant based foods accessible to the masses is doing its bit to reduce carbon footprint and contribute towards a better environment. Our vision is to create a future where eating healthy, plant based foods becomes a norm in India and a future where we give animals the respect they deserve and their own space of freedom.
WhiteCub – Industry
We are a D2C brand in the vegan, dairy alternatives industry. We cater to all people who are looking for dairy free or dairy alternative, plant based, healthy products.
Since our inception back in 2013, we have come a long way. In next 5 years we want to be the leader in the vegan, dairy alternatives market by expanding our product portfolio and coming up with more dairy free products like milk, cheese etc. We also plan to expand our offline presence and increase our parlours in cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and other metropolitan cities. We want to take our products to every corner of India through retail chains and parlours. We are also planning to expand our footprints in other markets globally via exports.
WhiteCub – Founder
Sonal – WhiteCub Founder
A health enthusiast, a dedicated vegan, a fierce activist, and an entrepreneur at heart, Sonal is the founder and CEO of WhiteCub – an up-and-coming brand in the F&B industry dedicated to serving vegan alternatives for dairy products.
She holds an MSc in Anthropology and has been working in the vegan industry for more than 10 years. She enjoys cooking, practicing yoga, and reading classics in her free time. She also enjoys gardening and interacting with people. She is an expert cook and possesses wizard-like marketing skills, that have contributed to the growth of her brainchild – WhiteCub.
Sonal and her twins became vegans while they were living in London. She had observed the presence of several dairy and meat alternatives in London’s supermarkets and correspondingly a higher number of vegans there. She could infer that the presence of vegan products encouraged the Londoners to go vegan.
They often used to indulge in the Swedish Glace brand of vegan ice creams while they lived there. On her return to India, though, she found the complete absence of vegan products quite glaring. After all, it was India – a land bathed in dairy milk. As destiny would have it, she took it upon herself to take up the cause of veganism in India by starting a vegan ice cream parlor.
Two factors contributed to it. Firstly, she started indulging in vegan activism in the form of lectures at colleges, presentation of the concept of ‘veganism ‘ at different forums and even volunteering as a vegan coach to assist the few doctors back then who had already started incorporating plant-based diets in the prescription that they gave to their patients.
During this phase, she observed a certain degree of willingness on the part of the masses to adopt a plant-based diet. She noticed that they were willing to give up dairy and meat but only under the conditions of being offered dairy and meat alternatives. The addiction to the taste is biochemical in nature after all and so can’t go away easily.
At this juncture, she started brainstorming with some fellow vegans to start some type of vegan food business. They were willing to donate money to vegetarianism or veganism spreading Not for profit or to an animal shelter but did not consider it wise to invest in a business based on these principles.
Indians were too obsessed with dairy to consider switching to compassionate mylk choices. While Sonal accepted their stance, she remained uncomfortable in this acceptance. She knew she would have to address this issue of a total absence of vegan yummies in the market herself. But ‘how‘ remained a question mark until she got that moment of inspiration.
The family was in Goa on a vacation. They were able to have some vegan ice creams there locally made at a café. They did not have the typical dairy replacements. They were great at a local level but couldn’t have got taken up as a brand. However, this certainly didn’t stop the family from fully enjoying the experience. While they stepped out of the café, Sonal’s eight-year-old son asked whether they can get it in Delhi. This proved to be the spark of sorts for Sonal. What had already been brewing in the background couldn’t be contained any longer. Already, she had encountered hundreds of Indians by then willing to make a switch in the presence of suitable alternatives and now her own little son was questioning her on similar lines.
Before long, she started a vegan ice cream parlor in her city. Ingredient procurements, recipe trials, smaller machines, and then bigger plant purchase – everything followed over a period of a year or so. Then the first parlor opened in 2013.
WhiteCub – Startup Story
Sonal – Founder of WhiteCub
The inspiration for this company has always been the compassion for animals and the care for the environment. Sonal was already a vegan at that point and did some vegan advocacy in terms of lectures, seminars and my association with various organisation.
Her first exposure to vegan products in the form of ice-creams came in my visit to London. Back in India, when she was travelling to Goa with her kids, her son tried vegan ice-cream for the first time and loved it. Her son loved it so much that he asked why can’t they get it in Delhi? It was then that it hit me that India doesn’t’ have a vegan ice-cream brand and she decided to do something about it and decided to start a vegan ice-cream brand.
Sonal did some research on market trends, the ingredients required to make the products and different methods and recipes to make the products. Sonal got her idea validated from her friends and fellow vegans and people who are into healthy eating who became my first customers too. She came up with her own recipe, started experimenting with ingredients at home until she came up with a product that people were delighted with.
Initially, she opened her own parlour with minimal packaging and started delivering to customers directly. Her friends and fellow vegans and neighbours became the first customers and they loved the product. Ingredient procurements, recipe trials, smaller machines, and then bigger plant purchase – everything followed over a period of a year.
WhiteCub – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Whitecub Logo
Whitcub is named for the love and protection of White Lions and their Cubs, as an extension of support for the initiative of Linda Tucker. She has been involved in the protection of white cubs and their families, from the cruel practices of ‘canned hunting’, in East Africa. Thus, all the products carry an emblem of White Cub on Whitecub’s logo.
Whitecub’s Tagline is: ‘Proud to be Dairy Free’ which communicates our USP effectively and how we are proudly marking our footsteps in the industry.
WhiteCub – Products
Whitecub Products
Whitecub products are a vegan, dairy alternatives brand. Its products are completely dairy free. Their products are healthier option for people who are looking for a vegan, dairy alternative products in the market.
WhiteCub – USP
Whitecub Products
All the Whitecub products are dairy Free, Vegan, Trans Fats Free, Palm Oil Free and a healthier choice for people. They started when veganism and plant based products were still relatively a new concept in India. Thus over a period of almost a decade they grew, and today we understand the vegan market in India like no other.
WhiteCub – Business and Revenue Model
We are a D2C brand with an Omni channel presence. We operate through both E-Commerce and Retail chains. We receive the bulk of our order through our official website and have our own delivery network for delivery across Delhi NCR. We are present across major e-commerce channels like Big Basket, Godrej Nature Basket and our retail products are available in major metropolitan cities like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and other metropolitan cities. We also have Zomato and Swiggy as our delivery partner. We also cater for institutional needs like in hotels, marriages, birthday celebration and events.
WhiteCub – Customer Acquisition
We faced a lot of hurdles and challenges in the beginning and it taught us a lot. Initially, I reached out to my friends, community and fellow vegans during potlucks and other activism events. We used to talk about our shared passion for plant based foods, recipes and I used to share samples of our products with them. Once they loved the product, they talked about it to their friend and before long through word of mouth, the demand of our products grew.
Since I was already active in the community, advocating for veganism, White Cub became an extension of that association and helped me to spread the message of the brand through my various association in the initial phase.
WhiteCub – Challenges Faced
Their initial challenge when they were starting the brand was to make people aware and shift to dairy free ice-creams and products. India being a milk loving nation, the idea of dairy free ice-cream or products was relatively new in the Indian market.
With time, the Whitecub team overcame that road block. The biggest challenge was to differentiate themselves in the market:, to find their footing and differentiate their brand from others emerging players and keep the products unique, healthy and delightful that would be loved by the customers.
Another challenge that they faced while developing their Ice Cream was to give it a similar texture and feel in the mouth just as the dairy based products. Instead of dairy we use coconut, soy, and almond milk and so it was initially difficult to give it the same feel as dairy.
Whitecub’s motto is to delight the customer with delicious and healthy vegan offering. So they didn’t use any unhealthy ingredients in their products to give the same feel as dairy which was a challenge. It raised the cost of manufacturing but they didn’t want to compromise on their ethics.
The team conducted local survey in Delhi NCR and Gurgaon and with their customers to rate the products which worked for them. It helped the startup to gather feedback and a lot of data points which eventually helped them to improve the product offerings.
WhiteCub – Competitors
Some of our competitors includes:
Nomou
Vegan Heart
The Vegan Bowl
Papacream
WhiteCub – Recognition and Achievements
Some of the Whitecub achievements are:
White Cub has been awarded with the PETA Vegan Food Awards in 2013 and 2014, two years in a row.
They have been by awarded by the Government of India’s Department of Science & Tech’s Award of excellence.
As a business, they are a proud alumni of Nexus, an Innovation Hub and Business Incubator powered by the US Embassy, ACIR.
They have also appeared in news channels like ‘India Ahead News’ and in various webinars on the topic of entrepreneurship in the vegan foods industry.
Whitecub was featured in ‘Conde Nast’, a French Magazine.
WhiteCub – Future Plans
We plan to keep our present momentum of growth, keep increasing our reach and sales every month and expand our footprints to new markets. Our future plan is to expand our product portfolio to fill the void in the market of dairy-free products. We are working to come up with a dairy free cheese. We are working to come up with dairy free milk that we are confident will revolutionize the market. We are already experimenting with new flavours and will launch soon. The launch of sprinkler parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and milk are on the anvil.
We also working to open our delivery operations in major metro cities like Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata soon. In the future, we want to expand our presence globally and export our products to international markets as well. Our vision is to spread awareness about veganism so that increasingly more number of people opt for vegan dairy alternatives.
FAQs
When was Whitecub founded?
Whitecub was founded in 2013 at Gurugram.
Who is the founder of Whitecub?
Sonal is the founder and CEO of Whitecub.
Are WhiteCub Ice Cream dairy free?
Yes, Whitecub is a dairy free brand. Whitecub ice cream are dairy free.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Eggoz Nutrition.
Health conscious lifestyle is the new trend. People are adopting healthier lifestyles and nutritious diets. They have become good customers of health focussed brands. Eggs are nutritionally rich, that supplies almost every nutrient needed for a healthy body. They are useful sources of some of the hard to get nutrients like vitamins D, B12, and the mineral iodine.
Eggoz Nutrition is a startup creating awareness about consuming healthier eggs. It delivers fresh and chemical-free eggs from lay to the table within 24 hours. They are produced in tech-enabled & nutrition-engineered deep integration partnerships with farmers. They have introduced new enriched variants of eggs.
Know the startup story of Eggoz, its founders, funding details, business model, competitors, and more.
Listen to Abhishek Negi telling the story of Eggoz in an Interview with StartupTalky
Eggoz Nutrition was incepted with a vision of helping society with free from anti-biotic, farm-fresh eggs at the doorsteps of consumers across the country. Also, Eggoz is committed to increasing farmers’ profitability by providing them technological, strategic, and business consulting support. Their strategic collaborations with both urban and rural farms helped them overcome many operational challenges and achieving the company’s vision.
Since all the operations mainly depend on state-of-art technology to ensure the collection of reliable data and real-time monitoring of the egg farms, Eggoz successfully deals with issues such as low production, inadequate storage capacity and disorganized distribution channel.
Backed by visionary leadership and a proficient team, Eggoz is setting new quality standards in the industry and enjoying a good market share. And, with the motto of ‘Happy Hens, Healthier Eggs’, Eggoz is winning the hearts of health-conscious consumers. Recently, the company received Series-A funding of $3.5 million, led by NABVENTURES, a VC fund anchored by NABARD. Other funding participants include top names like Avaana Capital, Rebright Partners and Bellerive Capital along with angel investors Sanjiv Rangrass and Indresh Saluja.
Eggoz Nutrition – Industry
There is an upward trend in people adopting healthier lifestyles and nutritious diets in the Tier-I and Tier-II cities. Moreover, these cities are also advancing into bigger markets leading to opening up humongous business opportunities, and Eggoz is doing its best to tap these opportunities.
Eggoz aims to eventually expand its network to different parts of India to reach millions of buyers. The company also intends to streamline its onboarding experience for farmers, where they will get access to tech information, veterinarian advisory support, and other resources to improve productivity. Eggoz is determined to have a significant Pan India presence in the next 2 years with brand development and market expansion.
Eggoz is investing in building the category and spreading awareness about fresh and healthier eggs. Company plans to expand the technology and platform offerings to its partner farmers and support with more aspects of farming lifecycle.
In the last five years, Eggoz has emerged as the first egg brand in India that focuses on freshness, nutrient-profile, and quality of egg produce. And, Mr. Negi’s vision to ensure profitability for rural farmers and expand the network of Eggoz to various cities and towns, is witnessing a palpable realization.
Eggoz Nutrition – Founders and Team
Abhishek Negi – Co-founder of Eggoz
Abhishek Negi, Uttam Kumar, Aditya Singh, and Pankaj Pandey are founders of EggoZ Nutrition.
Abhishek Negi is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. After getting his engineering degree, Mr. Negi started his journey with Vodafone and was involved in stints spanning across sales, retail, technology, finance & supply chain. With an eye on developing a home-grown and unique brand, he co-founded Roder in Delhi. Roder was an outstation transport service, which changed the overall customers’ approach to booking single-sided intercity journeys. Inspired by many other ambitious & futuristic entrepreneurs, Mr. Negi started Eggoz with his partners – Uttam Kumar, Aditya Singh, and Pankaj Pandey in 2017. Eggoz has emerged as the first egg brand in India that focuses on freshness, nutrient-profile, and quality of egg produce. Mr. Negi’s vision is to ensure profitability for rural farmers and expand the network of Eggoz to various cities and towns, including Tier-II and Tier-III cities.
In the future, Mr. Negi hopes to develop Eggoz into a brand that customers can rely on, not merely for the quality of product but also for the brand’s practices. Eggoz will eventually allow consumers to express their solidarity with rural farmers, who have been struggling with effective distribution of egg produce for years now. Apart from his current ventures, Mr. Negi also hopes to nurture and support other entrepreneurs and startups in exploring the Indian market through his expertise.
Eggoz Nutrition – Startup Story
Growing up, Abhishek has always been fond of eating eggs on a daily basis. After departing from his first start up, keeping fit and eating healthy became his primary goals and it was during this phase that he realized the impact of protein rich diet. He could not my get hands on freshly sourced and good quality eggs. The ones that he obtained in Gurgaon were either stale or exposed to chemicals, making them detrimental for health. These facts are bewildering for a nation, where the consumption of eggs is exponentially rising with the current figures standing tall at 86 eggs per person each year. However, a mighty chunk of these eggs do not qualify quality checks, are sold in unpackaged form and are stripped off 50 to 60 per cent of the minimum nutritional value. Eggoz, he along with other founders collated this data after extensive analysis, which was conducted by experts by studying egg samples sourced from all across India. It was also found that other factors such as delay in harvesting of eggs, failure in implementation of cold chain and regular use of antibiotics, growth hormones and detrimental chemicals, also contribute in making of eggs that lack freshness and quality.
After perceiving the changing consumer preferences and the inevitable market shift towards packaged goods, it was only prudent to invest in this untapped market. Although they had their prior market research and figures in place, members of the founding team had to toil hard in the farms in order to gain on-ground insights and experience. Working with a company that owned a 12,000 bird farm initially gave them the appropriate acumen to comprehend the nitty-gritty of poultry farming such as setting up the farm, deployment of day old chicks, vaccination procedure, feed formulation, egg sales, diagnosis etc. This gave business plan the impetus to gradually migrate to a robust and technology backed farming installations at any poultry farm to get standardized output. By the end of 2019, business operations of Eggoz rose exponentially asthey joined forces with 6 farms and had amassed a bird capacity of 80,000. Amidst pandemic, because of high level quality checks including UV-sanitization treatments and omni-channel distribution networks, Eggoz continued to acquire more market share by expanding into 6 cities across 5 North Indian states.
Eggoz brings to the table finest quality eggs, which are freshly sourced, treated with UV- sanitization after procurement, rich with bio-available protein and vitamins, and are free from avoidable hormones, antibiotics, and chemicals. The robust integrated model of Eggoz allows to collaborate with farmers and deploy IoT & technology backed applications, reducing the gap in the procurement and supply of eggs in just 24 hours.
Another glaring concern that Eggoz has tried to address is the unavailability of effective backward market linkages for poultry farmers, and lack of hygienic and packaged format of eggs sale. Transparency and ability to incorporate technology oriented solutions have led to an efficient supply chain management and this is what makes the startup stand out in the egg farming industry. Maintenance of top level quality checks, real time monitoring of birds coupled regular doctor visits and audits of the farm and widespread omnichannel distribution channel is inextricably linked to satisfaction of customers, income amelioration of farmers and credibility of Eggoz company.
Eggoz Nutrition – Business Model
Eggoz is a vertically integrated farm-to-consumer startup, which had adopted an asset-light business model in order to unite with small and mid-scale farmers. By virtue of this collaboration, the farmers are on-boarded to a streamlined program where they receive technological support, and other auxiliary aid such as veterinarian visits and audits. With this structure the goal is to bring superior quality eggs sourced from farms under the brand of Eggoz and cater it to the urban and semi-urban consumers. With an omnichannel distribution model in place, the company can ensure widespread presence through D2C, Online MTs, Offline MTs and General trade.
Eggoz Nutrition – Customer Acquisition
When Eggoz was started, the plan was clear that getting hold of the first 100 customers will be toilsome, but if done smartly these 100 customers would prove to be the most paramount. Within 2.5 years of establishing the company, their farming integration model had witnessed two major launches amassing a bird capacity of 1,00,000 and 10 farms. Their visions and operations at Eggoz was backed by angel investment worth INR 1.2 crore during its inception in 2017 and seed funding of INR 2.2 crore in 2019. The company’s stable and ever increasing return on investment and improving farm performance was the reason behind Eggoz’s brand expansion to six cities across five north Indian states in the year 2021. By delivering consistent fresh quality, they started to gain significant traction among consumers.
Eggoz soon rose to fame because of its prompt delivery of fresh and packaged eggs straight from farm under a time frame of 24 hours of laying. Moreover, growing health consciousness and significant upsurge in demand for hygienic and packaged eggs has worked in favor of Eggoz’s business goals. With the aim of accomplishing first nationwide farm-to-consumer brand that is centered around superior quality, high bioavailable nutrition and freshness, Eggoz has struck a chord with the Indian demographic.
Eggoz Nutrition – Funding
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
2021
Series A
$3.5 Million
NABVENTURES
2019
Seed Funding
$2.2 Million
2017
Angel Funding
$1.2 Million
Eggoz was started in 2017, the strategic and tactical business plan was found worthy enough to secure an angel funding of $1.2 million by Sanjiv Rangrass and Indresh Saluja. The financial succor provided by angel investors helped lay the foundation of the company and aided the running of its operations on earliest of their farms. In 2017-2018, Eggoz had begun its foremost expansion plans in the state of Madhya Pradesh and had acquired a total of 60,000 birds resulting in a major return on investment. In 2019 as its popularity grew, they procured a massive seed funding amounting to $2.2 Million. The funds were extremely valuable for a budding company like Eggoz, not only did they envisage to work closely with the farmers and improve their egg productivity by introducing technology backed solution, but they also had to enhance farmer profitability through innovative and extensive market linkages. Ever since they have contemplated for diversifying Eggoz product portfolio, there has been an upswing in its demand. This has made the startup raise a series-A funding of $3.5 Million, led by NABVENTURES. With this funding, Eggoz intends to increase its brand footprint, launch egg-based value-added products, and enter new geographies.
Eggoz Nutrition – Advisors
The company kick started with the four business enthusiasts coming together and ever since that it has remained like that. With a highly proficient team, the company has become competent to abreast any uncertainty ranging from on-field problems, technology support, appraisal of business plans or even social media marketing.
Eggoz Nutrition – Challenges Faced
When founders set up Eggoz, the founding team did not have requisite knowledge and expertise in poultry farming. This certainly was one of the setbacks when they started which they had to address so as to deploy high yielding farm. Working on ground helped them gain the required knowledge and made Eggoz team competent to determine how to upgrade the farms with technology oriented solutions. As soon as they acquired this intelligence, Eggoz was prepared to scale-up its production facilities and extend its supply chains.
In its early days, Eggoz founders were experimenting with various kinds of feed ingredients which were natural, protein rich as well as better for the hens. However, scaling the production of such ingredients was a major challenge due to the nature of its production. This is why, they decided to shelf this plan for later.
Eggoz Nutrition – Marketing Campaign
Eggoz Marketing Campaign – Extra in the Ordinary
Recently Eggoz has launched a campaign “Extra in the Ordinary” which aims at uplifting the spirit of Indian diaspora enabling them to recognize their true potential. There is an increasing demand for hygienic and decontaminated perishable eatables. This is why with “Extra in the Ordinary” campaign is important to emphasize the fact how a daily dose of Eggoz nutrition helps make people Extra In The Ordinary. This campaign was instrumental in enlarging the consumer base, increase the brand’s credibility, acquire new consumers, and raise awareness about how essential it is to consume superior quality and standard quality eggs.
The crux of Eggoz was always adaptation of technology oriented solutions in poultry for high yielding egg farms. And they stuck to their plan ensuring real time monitoring of farms to identify and assess the deviations that may influence the quality and productivity of eggs and farm respectively. Data played an important role in optimizing the bird performance and making business forecasts. As a start-up they were aware that they needed a solid customer relationship management plan in place in order to centralize all business activities and keep them customer-centric. Investing in an influential and relevant marketing strategy helped them create its extensive omni-channel distribution network. Moving forward, they are planning for a pervasive digital marketing campaign which will play a key role in enlarging its customer base and also stay engaged with the current customer base.
Eggoz Nutrition – Recognition and Achievements
Eggoz has been fortunate to have been recognized for its excellence so early in its journey. They were proclaimed the winner of ET Leaders of Tomorrow (Winner) in the year 2020 and the finalist of Aegis Graham Bell Award (Agri-Tech) (Finalist) in 2021. Such accomplishments are testaments of the dedicated efforts of quality service and customer satisfaction.
Eggoz Nutrition – Future Plans
In 2022, Eggoz will be climbing up the ladders by deepening it penetration amongst the Indian demographic. With aggressive and well thought of plans on table, Eggoz intends to enter new markets and transform the egg supply chains. Being one of the proponents in the agri-tech sector, they are aiming to extend the technology integrated solutions and applications to partner farmers, and provide consistent support to ensure an even more productive farming lifecycle. They have strategized and conducted prior market research as they look forward to entering markets down south and west of India.
FAQs
Who is the founder of Eggoz?
Abhishek Negi, Uttam Kumar, Aditya Singh, and Pankaj Pandey are founders of EggoZ Nutrition.
When was Eggoz founded?
Eggoz was founded in 2017 at Gurugram.
What does Eggoz do?
Eggoz provides farm-fresh, UV- sanitized, antibiotics-free, and chemical-free packaged eggs within 24 hours.
What are the products of Eggoz?
Eggoz products includes finest quality of eggs, which are freshly sourced, treated with UV- sanitization, rich with bio-available protein and vitamins, and are free from avoidable hormones, antibiotics, and chemicals.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by EKOSTAY.
The hospitality sector has been hit hard during Covid. Despite the negative impacts, Indian tourism and hospitality are expected to earn US$ 50.9 billion by 2028. The demands for good service hotels are high and their charges are equally sky touching. People in India wants good service quality at an affordable rate. Value for money is highly important for citizens in India. In hospitality industry, quality service and customer satisfaction play irreplaceable roles. Ekostay is a vacation homestay venture based out of Mumbai. It offers the widest range of Homestay options and provides an extravagant yet affordable experience across India.
Read to know the success story of Ekostay, its founders, the startup idea, business model, and growth.
EKOSTAY provides the best alternate homestay accommodation service to their cliental pan India.
Their mission is to empower guests through the provision of luxurious quality homes at an affordable price. Ekostay aims to achieve this by providing a customer-centric approach in design and marketing of properties. They are committed to achieving excellence in all that they do and continue to go beyond the expectations of stakeholders and work with homeowners to take away the hassle of hosting, improve the management of their property, and give an additional source of revenue and give the best experience to their clients.
The team hopes to make Ekostay, the dominant firm in the alternative housing industry by changing the way homes are hosted in India. To provide guests the finest of local experiences to compliment vast variety of services and make their stay in India genuinely unforgettable. The team continues to focus on creating a large and devoted homeowner consumer base and providing them with an experience that is far superior to a standard homestay.
Ekostay – Industry
EKOSTAY belongs to the Alternative Accommodation Industry and Ekostay cater to mass economical market. With dynamic strategy they target Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities studying the demographics and purchase behaviour of the consumers. By analysing the predicted trends against the historic data compiled by analysts, consumer preferences, and choices they provide a range of Homestay experiences, from premium designer villas to affordable luxury properties. They provide homestay experiences that are personalised to the needs of the customers, and they work with the homestay providers to redesign their properties with a customer-centric approach. The alternative accommodation industry is booming. This means that there are more homestays available than ever before, providing a cost-effective and unique holiday experience. But finding the right homestay can be a challenge. There are so many choices, each with their own unique style, theme, offering, and EKOSTAY strives to provide the very best to every individual customer by handpicking properties in the best locations.
Ekostay – Founders and Team
Founded in 2018 by the Entrepreneurial Fantastic Four- Varun Arora , Husain Khatumdi, Sohail Mirchandani & Zishan Khan, with a vision to tailor the needs of the holiday goers on experiencing a cozy & private stay of a home away from home.
Varun Arora – Co-founder of Ekostay
Varun Arora the Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder thrives on exploring new avenues that can help elevate his organisation to the next level. A graduate in Mass Media from Mumbai University, he started his career in the marketing field, where he learnt the skills of strategizing and implementing online & offline creative marketing strategies as he leads the Social media and Business Development team at EKOSTAY.
Husain Khatumdi – Co-founder of Ekostay
Husain Khatumdi the Managing Director & Co-Founder, A graduate from Cass Business School, London with an entrepreneurship diploma from Queensland University of Technology, Australia, Designing, crunching numbers, strategizing, and putting plans into action are some of skills that define him. As the leader of EKOSTAY’s sales team, Husain’s experience rests in defining, measuring, and delivering key performance indicators (KPIs) across all verticals.
Sohail Mirchandani – Co-founder of Ekostay
Sohail Mirchandani the Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder while heading the Finance department at EKOSTAY defines and manages the brand’s vision, ensuring that the company sticks to its core of having a great backend strategy and team, mastering the art of budgeting and analytical competence, and acing interpersonal relations to ensure that every client at Ekostay receives a personal touch and has the best homestay experience possible.
Zishan Khan the Chief Acquisition Officer & Co-Founder A pharmacy graduate with a strong desire to remodel and transform run-down properties. Staying loyal to the brand’s goal, he takes a genuine interest in exploring new places, seeking and acquiring holiday properties.
Ekostay – Idea and Startup Story
Founded in 2018 by Husain Khatumdi, Sohail Mirchandani, Varun Arora, and Zishan Khan, the Entrepreneurial Fantastic Four, with a mission to cater the needs of vacation seekers on experiencing a pleasant and private stay of a vacation home. EKOSTAY currently has over 125+ properties spread over 15 cities to choose from. There is a lack of inexpensive hotel rooms in India, according to surveys. While the demand for such hotels is growing, developing hotels requires a large upfront investment that most consumers cannot afford. Homestays allow people to become micro-entrepreneurs by utilising already-existing houses. This enables local residents to generate revenue in rural regions and new locations with little or no investment. It also aids in the development of local communities and their financial independence.
When you start your search for a vacation home on your computer, their sales and marketing staff is already working hard to ensure that EKOSTAY appears as one of your top search possibilities. After you’ve chosen Ekostay, they make the decision to make your stay as restorative and engaging as the location. Their city managers offer a smooth and quick check-in so you can bond and make memories in a delightful domicile. Their trained caretakers will be on hand to assist you throughout the day while you relax on the private lawns or relax in the private pools.
Ekostay – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Ekostay Logo
Ekostay represents economical stay. In the uncertain time of the Covid 19 pandemic and sudden lockdowns in different parts of India they aim to provide comfortable and premium and isolated stays at an affordable price to all the guests that maintains a level of sanitation and hygiene at all properties throughout India. Their tagline “Think of a staycation, Think EKOSTAY” is because they try their best to personalise every staycation to cater to the needs of guests and provide them with utmost luxury and comfort which amalgamates into an unforgettable experience and whenever guests think of a staycation they immediately think of EKOSTAY.
Ekostay – USP
One of the strongest USPs of a homestay is the customised services it can offer to its guests. Their USP is that they cater to the masses and work towards making the homestay experience perfect and flexible according to the needs and demands of every individual guest. The first step to providing a Homestay experience is to redesign the properties to accommodate Homestay guests. Furthermore, keep in mind that your guests’ experiences are made up of numerous little, detailed moments, none of which should be overlooked. One can gain loyalty and favourable reviews by capturing those moments and feedback and reflecting those in their properties and hospitality. They have renovated properties, made pools for homestays, which is a great opportunity for homestay owners to renovate their properties to accommodate the guests. This not only provides homestay owners with a new revenue stream, but also gives the guests an opportunity to experience the best of the best in EKOSTAY properties.
Ekostay – Business Model & Revenue Model
The business revenue model at EKOSTAY is flexible and accommodates the needs/demands of the homeowners. Over 75% of Ekostay company is based on a fixed rental model, in which they lease a home and then sublease it to visitors for short trips. The remaining 20% operates on a revenue-sharing model, in which they form an exclusive partnership with a homeowner and divide earnings with them in a mutually agreed-upon set ratio. They don’t take on properties over which they don’t have complete control, thus all of the properties listed under EKOSTAY’s name are handled solely by us. They have been profitable since the beginning, and they intend to stay that way.
Ekostay – Customer Acquisition
As the case is with any startup, they started getting customers through networking and word of mouth. The customers gave Ekostay positive feedback and revisited the properties along with recommending the properties to their friends and family. Along with that EKOSTAY started advertising the properties on social media platforms which also attracted a lot of enquiries which got converted in loyal customers.
At EKOSTAY, team has implemented various strategies that helped to attract and retain customers. EKOSTAY Annual Membership as well as various offers on festive occasions has helped them retain quite a few loyal customers. Targeted ads on various social media platforms along with positive feedback by happy and satisfied guests also attracts potential new customers. They are also rigorous with social media advertisements and posts about the newly launched properties in exciting new locations India which also gets them feedback and traction from guests who have stayed at EKOSTAY properties in the past as well as potential new customers.
Ekostay – Challenges Faced
The most challenging part was the pandemic of Covid 19 and various lockdowns that followed after uncertain intervals. Ekostay had a lot of rental properties in inventory and no guests as all domestic travel were at a halt to stop the pandemic from getting worse. As and when the restrictions got lifted, encouraging customers to visit their isolated villas and properties by reducing base price was a strategy they implemented to get the business up and running. Their top priority since then has been the safety of the guests visiting the property and for that EKOSTAY has implemented and maintained a code of sanitation and hygiene at every individual property. To prevent any further losses they introduced force majeure clauses in the contracts so that they do not lose capital due to events like the pandemic which are unforeseeable and out of control. Since the pandemic has eventually subsided, they hope situations like this never arise and the alternative accommodation industry can serve their guests with a comfortable stay.
Ekostay – Marketing
In these difficult times, social media has become one of the most efficient way to advertise. To effectively promote its property, the hospitality industry has to have a strong and active presence on social media. In these changing times, social media is not only a powerful but also an excellent marketing approach. Using social media to spread the word is the most Successful marketing campaign. Collaborating with influencers and providing them free stays in their villas was one of the strategies they adopted which got them quite a fair share of enquiries from viewers who then visited their properties for a getaway. As the word suggests influencers have a lot of engagement on their media platforms and people do obtain heavy amount of information from such presence and they used that platform in a positive way to socialise the brand EKOSTAY. With everyone moving online, now is the opportunity for them to embrace digital and increase the visibility of the property and brand. The simplest method to accomplish this is to partner with a Ekostay that will renovate your house, take several photos of the place, the view, and the facilities, post it on the internet, and handle your visitors and provide isolated, luxurious and affordable stays at premium properties with their own pools and lawns to the guests.
Ekostay – Growth
The company has had exponential growth over the span of the last three years despite of the effects of pandemic on the economy. Their clientele has responded positively regarding hygiene and their quality staycation at their properties. They are working towards acquiring and launching new properties at exciting new locations for a premium and affordable getaway for guests. They soon aim to expand business internationally to serve guests with extravagant getaways.
The alternative accommodation sector is a major disruptor in the hotel industry, and it is becoming increasingly institutionalised, with sophisticated revenue management but like every other industry they also have a fair share of competition to look out as well to learn from. Their competitors, to name a couple, Vista rooms and Saffron stays are also quite well known in the alternative accommodation industry which is noteworthy. Furthermore, in any sector, competition is always escalating, and having been in the game longer than the newcomers provide them an advantage over them since Ekostay have built a brand with a comparatively elevated recall value over the years, which they still require.
Ekostay – Recognition and Achievements
EKOSTAY received the ‘Iconic Most Premium Staycation Getaway” in October 2021 by one of India’s most esteemed print brand Mid-day. Receiving a prestigious award has made their efforts in the last few years’ worth it. Ekostay getting recognised at a renowned platform gave them an opportunity to gain more visibility and establish trust among potential customers which boosts them to do better every day and provide a premium stay at an affordable price to all their valuable guests.
Ekostay – Future Plans
They have quite a few new avenues and ventures to look forward to but considering the looming threat of the pandemic and the fragile state of the economy the workflow is comparatively slow. They are continuously expanding inventory for their guests in new territories pan India in beautiful and scenic locations by handpicking the most luxurious and premium properties and renovating them according to their aesthetics to ensure the best experience to the guests. Their aim is to expand business internationally in the coming years to host and serve guests on a multinational platform at Ekostay.
They are committed to providing the best of Homestay experience by creating a personalised experience for each and every home-stay guest, regardless of their preference. They collaborate with their hosts to remove the hassle of hosting, to better manage their property and in turn provide them with an alternate source of income.
FAQs
Who are the founders of Ekostay?
Varun Arora, Husain Khatumdi, Sohail Mirchandani, and Zishan Khan are the founders of Ekostay.
