THE PROMISE OF 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈
By GRACE SEGRAN
From INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge.insead.edu)
The day before she was to launch her new company, Maya 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 found that she was expecting her first baby. She decided to put the launch on hold. Two years later, in August 2008, Stylkist was set up, but this came just days before Lehman Brothers went under and the financial meltdown began.
The impact was immediate and big.
Two of the investors 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 had been talking to, decided they were not ready to take the risk. "Talk to us in six months or a year's time," they told her.
The flagship store, which was to be opened in December, had to be put on hold until she got more funding and, to add insult to injury, there was no seasonal increase in sales. "Fundamentally, (although) 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 was not in recession yet we did not see a peak over Diwali (the Festival of Lights)," says Hari.
In response to the sudden economic downturn, 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 exercised prudence.
"We trod cautiously and aimed at bringing on additional resources, while making sure we stay cash positive," 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 says. "Although we would like to grow our footprint rapidly, we are holding back the company's development. For example, we are keeping our team size at three, until business picks up."
온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 is also prudent about their marketing activities, restricting it to highly targeted and proven marketing activities that yield a high return of investments.
"This should stand us in good stead in the event that the market takes a further downturn," 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 says.
The company is inherently growing, says 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈. Despite poor market conditions, Stylkist's consumer base, sales and the number of boutique partners have been growing.
In January 2009, five months after its launch, its cash flow was positive.
The former engineer who worked in marketing and sales in the United States for Cisco and Schlumberger has a creative streak. She dabbled in art and photography to stay connected with her passion. While in the U.S., she established "Pink Lotus" which organized exhibitions of artists from 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 and other parts of the world in galleries in San Francisco. There was also an online portal for people to learn about the company.
In the middle of all this, 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 and her husband decided to do the)r lBAs and enrolled at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, graduating in December 2005.
Ever the entrepreneur, Hari found that there was a growing need for contemporary decor in 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 "and I wanted to create an 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈n version of Crate and Barrel" dealing with fabric decor and small home accessories such as wall art, vases and platters.
Never having worked in 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 before and having no network there, Hari decided she would gain corporate experience before starting her business.
온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 worked with Google and then MSN in marketing and "learnt a great deal about running a business such as how to deal with vendors and customers."
"Having sat through three years flitting with the idea, I decided to launch the company with two partners," 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 says. That was when 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 found 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 was pregnant.
After the decision was made to delay the launch of the company, 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 spent the two years researching the market intensively and made contact with suppliers.
"By the time we opened last year, we hit the ground running," says 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈. The hiatus was not wasted.
When the investors backed out at the time of the financial crisis, 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 started looking for smaller sums, spreading the funding needed between different investors.
This made her think harder about the investors who want to come on board. Are they right for her fledgling 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 and can they add value?
"We need expertise in areas that we are not familiar with, such as offline retailing and corporate gifts. Someone who has product design experience could advise us on the creative side of the business. An investor who has built up a business in contemporary products and sold it, would add value on how to build a business and when to exit," 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 argues.
Stylkist has three channels through which it does business: e-commerce, retailing and corporate gifts.
Hari says there's a burgeoning market in e-commerce. However that's a tall order for 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 as people are suspicious about buying things online, wondering if they'll ever get their purchases or their money back.
Hari made the shopping Web site stylkist.com as elegant and trendy as possible "and visitors to the website asked if we were American or 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈n!"
온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 believes e-commerce will be the company's long-term challenge and it will need to supplement this with both retail and corporate gift activities.
"We are constantly observing the buying trends and, for now, our priority is retailing as it's selling quite well in the spaces we have in major stores. That's our low-lying fruit," says 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈.
Its second priority is e-commerce. "We are still learning about pricing strategy. Customers start by buying small items to see if internet shopping works. We are slowly building up repeat customers who buy larger items," 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 says.
As for corporate gifts, the company partners with other firms. "For now, we are happy to leave that space to them and give up a percentage of the profits," 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 says.
In the short term, business looks promising for 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 with gradual expansion for e-commerce and offline retailing, with the flagship store in Mumbai a key objective.
In the medium to long term, the prospects are expected to improve. Within three years, the company aims to be operating several large-size businesses and shipping Stylkist goods outside 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 through e-commerce.
In five years' time, 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 says they could be looking to franchise, grow organically or expand internationally. A decision on this will depend on how things pan out.
"Just look at Fab 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈, the fabric and home accessory store," Hari says. "In 10 years, they have 120 stores and continue to grow. That's the promise of 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 -- its economy is large enough for businesses to grow."
15,000개의 아티클을 제대로 즐기는 방법
가입하면, 한 달 무료!
걱정마세요. 언제든 해지 가능합니다.
인기기사
회원 가입만 해도, 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 월정액 서비스 첫 달 무료!
15,000여 건의 온라인카지노 총판 벳위즈 콘텐츠를무제한으로 이용하세요.