This man built an empire that does business in crores with just Rs 2k

Tuesday February 20, 2018 , 3 min Read

In 1967, Nanu Gupta started a television showroom in Mumbai's Mahim. At that time, he had no experience in being an entrepreneur, no money to invest in the store and, most importantly, television was still unheard of in most parts of India.

That, however, did not stop Nanu from opening the showroom and he named it after his younger brother - Vijay Sales. In the forty years since, the shop has grown into an empire that sells electronics with more than 70 branches across north India.

Nanu came to Mumbai to work for Usha Interntional distributor where he learned all about dealing with customers and their demands. A few years later, he decided to start his own business in Mahim - Vijay Sales, which was initially a showroom selling televisions.

Nanu did not have the money to start his business so the initial sum of Rs 2,000 was borrowed from friends and family. The room that he rented was mere 200 sq ft .However, what made it a success was that Nanu was good at understanding customer needs and responding accordingly.

For instance, he found a way to sell products at a lower price than other brands while profiting at the same time. Whenever a customer faces a problem with the product he or she bought, Nanu made it a habit to visit the customer's place personally to solve the problem. This earned him respect and more and more people started coming to his store just by word of mouth. In an interview with DNA about his principles, Nanu said,

I started it with four things: best products, service, price and honesty.

The first branch of Vijay Sales has now expanded to be 40,000 sq ft and is also one of the landmarks in the city. Nilesh Gupta, Nanu Gupta's son is now the managing partner of Vijay Sales. In an interview with The Hindu Business Line, he said,

It was not easy to get customers as there was strong competition even in those days. We kept all the TV sets on at our stores unlike rivals, who switched them off. This was a way to attract shoppers to our stores.

Talking about keeping up with current trends, he further added,

Today, we try to beat the competition by bringing in branded flat panel and plasma TVs even before companies start advertising the new models,

Nanu Gupta believed in expanding business only after gaining a steady ground to stand on. So, though they were successful, it took more than twenty years to start the second branch of Vijay Sales.