Bulbtiger Strikes a ‘Light’ning on the Indian Ecommerce Sector!
There is another problem of dominance of imported products which branded products store cannot match both in terms of prices and variety. During last few years, the organized sector has been getting a leg up, thanks mainly to the spectacular rise in the incomes of people who can afford to spend on life style products. One of the sectors that have gained most due to robust economic growth in last decade is real estate sector which has also resulted in strong growth in lifestyle and home décor product categories. Today, decorative lights are not just limited to task lighting; they are widely considered as lifestyle products and are used to further highlight one’s fashion taste. The foray of international big names such as EGLO, Elite Bohemia, Hunter etc into India indicates that a promising market, especially in the mid to high-end segment, exists in the country.
Lighting as a category stands out as lighting products are virtually present everywhere around us in abundance and surprisingly, there is no dedicated online player in this category. Moreover, there was no notable organized retailer even in offline market till date. Bulbtiger is attempting to tap this large, niche and untapped category in which the consumer seeks a very wide variety of choice, way more than a retailer can possibly offer and thus ideal for online commerce. Bulbtiger is India’s first and the only online shopping destination till date for lighting and electrical products.
“While the desire to start an enterprise was present even during our college days, it took us almost a decade to finally take the plunge. We chose entrepreneurship as it steepens our learning curve which is otherwise very slow and uncertain in regular corporate environment,” says Vikas Agarwal, Co-Founder, Bulbtiger.
The venture has been set up by Vikas Agarwal and Shashank Jain, alumnus of IIT-D and IIM-A, started Bulbtiger in January 2012.Vikas was earlier employed as an analyst at Ivanhoe Cambridge, one of the largest property fund in the world and LSE-AIM listed Trinity Capital wherein he invested and managed US$ 600 million across 30 real estate projects in India. Shashank has over 8 years of professional experience at leading technology firms. Prior to co-founding Bulbtiger.com, he was heading analytics team at eBay.com.
Currently, supply chain is the most challenging part. Right from getting information for catalogues to procuring, packaging and shipping the product is a big challenge. Being import driven category, these products have short shelf life and have limited readymade information, thus it’s difficult to create product profile and ensure assured item supply which is must for online retailing. The goods are fragile and hence are packed in 3-5 layers of packaging material to ensure maximum safety during shipping. They have also taken insurance for the products to further de-risk the transfers from shipping related issues. From consumer perspective, there is zero shipping risk as they offer 100% refund or quick replacement against any manufacturing defect or any damage during transit.Bulbtiger is targeting individuals in middle age and high income group as they have a high propensity to spend on home decor. The customers come from diverse background with equal mix of tier I and other cities. Also, just like other Indian ecommerce portals, the preferred payment mechanism is cash on delivery.
Do check out the collection of lighting products on Bulbtiger!
