Ecommerce, environment, education: Test your business creativity with Edition 127 of our weekly quiz!

Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 127th edition of the quiz, we present issues tackled by real-life entrepreneurs in their startup journeys.

What would you do if you were in their shoes? At the end of the quiz, you will find out what the entrepreneurs and innovators themselves actually did. Would you do things differently?

Check out YourStory’s Book Review section as well, with takeaways from over 355 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.

Also Read

Cracking the code: These Indian women aced the game of technology in 2023

Q1: D2C food brands

For D2C brands looking to scale in the food business, there should be a path to achieving high volumes, building a trustworthy brand, and ensuring product quality. What else is a key success factor here?

Q2: Coconut waste

Coco peat, a by-product left behind after extracting coir fibre from coconut husks, is often considered as waste. How can this be reused for business revenue as well as environmental sustainability?

Q3: The culture of success

Flipkart is regarded as the largest ecommerce player in India with a gross merchandise value market share of 48%. Its success has been credited to a mindset of audacity and bias to action. What else drives its growth?

Also Read

Top 10 books of 2023 for entrepreneurs

Q4: Reducing RTO rates

Return-to-origin (RTO) poses the greatest challenge in delivery operations for ecommerce players and D2C brands. How can this be reduced so that prospects for margins and profitability can increase?

Q5: Edtech strategy

This edtech startup launched in the test-preparation segment and later expanded into the skilling space. What’s another segment it can expand into for future leverage of test-prep offerings?

Answers!

Congratulations on having come this far! But there’s more to come—answers to these five questions (below), as well as links to articles with more details on the entrepreneurs’ solutions. Happy reading, happy learning—and happy creating!

A1: D2C food brands

IIT alums Akash Sharma and Abhishek Agarwal established D2C brand Farmley in 2017, specialsing in dry fruits and nuts. It sources its products straight from farms and has invested in building deep back-end linkages with various farms.

“We established manufacturing and processing units as well as supply chain procurement networks directly with farmers,” Sharma explains. Read more here about how it ensures quality and trust by procuring straight from farmers in Purnia (makhana), Udup (cashews), and Sangli (raisins).

A2: Coconut waste

Started by Anees Ahmed, Chennai-based Global Green Coir upcycles coco peat from coconut husk. This is used to make various B2C and B2B products like pots, bricks, blocks, and bags for domestic use and export markets.

“Repurposing is crucial in today’s world as it not only involves giving back to nature, but also creates a closed-loop system where all products are utilised efficiently,” Ahmed explains. Read more here about how its customers include makers of rope and mattresses as well as consumers looking for gardening products or organic farming materials.

Also Read

Helping HIV patients to decolonising therapy: 10 social stories of change and impact

A3: The culture of success

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group, explains that Flipkart’s approach is driven by the ‘ABCD’ factors of audacity, bias to action, customer-first focus and diversity. Integrity is another core principle at Flipkart.

Krishnamurthy says that collaborative decision-making has helped keep the ecommerce major reach the top as well. Read more here about how Flipkart invites ideas from all employees on what to build next, and picks 40-50 ideas from around 140-150 submissions.

A4: Reducing RTO rates

A number of strategies for reducing RTO costs and rates were discussed at YourStory’s TechSparks Mumbai conference. For example, Arush Chopra, CEO and Co-founder, Just Herbs, explained that minimising COD (cash-on-delivery) transactions can alleviate the burden of handling returns.

Plum Goodness incentivises customers to opt for prepaid orders. The Better Shop offers exceptional customer experiences to increase brand trust and eventually move customers away from COD. Read more here about how timely delivery by Delhivery has also reduced RTO rates.

Also Read

From FinTechs to EVs: 15 trailblazing Indian startups of 2023

A5: Edtech strategy

Founded by Alakh Pandey, edtech player PhysicsWallah (PW) has now started establishing ‘physical’ schools to get closer to students and influence them at a much earlier stage. Getting into the lifecycle of learners earlier can have a much larger impact, according to Imran Rashid, Chief Business Officer of PW.

“Early association with students will give access to a captive audience for its main line of business which is tech-prep,” observes Anil Joshi, Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures. Read more here about how the company is leveraging the goodwill that it has built and expanded to adjacent segments.

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).