Women-focused businesses started by women innovators are dazzling and changing the way of thinking about womanliness. They are becoming the sign of women empowerment and gender equality. Three women Shabnam Banu, Amirun Nisha, Sumita Sinha from Kolkata came together to make a difference in artificial jewellery and accessories segment and has launched Femiza, an online store that focuses completely on women buyers. They have launched this website in 24th July 2016 and now selling jewellery and bags in Kolkata and other near cities like Mumbai from an inventory shop. Founder Shabnam Banu shares, “We are planning to extend into a marketplace and our model will be very different from all other existing conventional marketplaces. We aim to target small sellers especially homepreneurs and traditional sellers who are deprived from conventional marketplaces due to the involved complexities in product uploading and legal formalities. On the other hand, this will give buyers a chance to buy a product from a wide variety of options all along a good value for their money.”
There are many problems that homepreneurs face when they want to become online seller with any big marketplace. Shabnam says, “Big players like Flipkart, shopclues, snapdeal etc. restrict homepreneurs by mandating VAT and other legal documentation as individuals and small companies with less than 5lacs turnover do not need VAT registration and generally not aware about legal documentation. In addition, interface provided by most of the marketplaces is cumbersome and difficult to understand. Uploading products one by one or dealing with complex excel sheets are tough tasks for busy non-tech sellers. We will provide the sellers all those tools with which they are most comfortable with and mostly use for their business.” Femiza app, which is yet to be launched, can manage registration and stock easily. In addition, it will also provide whatsapp as a medium of product uploading to the Individual Sellers/Homemakers/Wholesalers soon.
Shabnam confirms, “We have sold items worth Rs 20,000 even before launching our shop. We have got these orders through our facebook page and other online social platforms.” She is satisfied with the performance and the market response. She adds, “We already have an in-house PIM (Product Information Management) portal built with php and angular JS. Using this portal we can dump items in bulk and upload on our website. This portal is also very helpful in maintaining all product information.” ‘Delhivery’ and ‘Payu Biz’ are Femiza’s logistic and Payment Gateway partners respectively. In addition, it already has 20 sellers on-board who are sending their products through whatsapp everyday. It has also started the process of developing the automatic upload of product catalogs and description sent on whatspp by our sellers.
According to Shabnam, the online players like Mirraw, Craftsvilla and Voyella will give stiff competition to Femiza in the future. Do they have any plan to compete with these players? She replies, “To make a difference is very important to position Femiza well in the market. A good framework, our product range and services will help us to compete with the market competition.”
The ecommerce startup has three co-founders --Shabnam Banu, Amirun Nisha and Sumita Sinha. Shabnam Banu, co-founder, Femiza has completed B.Tech from Jadavpur University. She worked with different companies and carries a wide experience in software development. On the other hand, Amirun Nisha is an M.C.A; and pro in digital marketing and SEO. The third pillar is Sumita Sinha, a Political Science (Hons) degree from Calcutta University. She is looking after the business operations and development areas.
[Top Image - Shutterstock]
Making Online Roads Easy For Homepreneurs
There are many problems that homepreneurs face when they want to become online seller with any big marketplace. Shabnam says, “Big players like Flipkart, shopclues, snapdeal etc. restrict homepreneurs by mandating VAT and other legal documentation as individuals and small companies with less than 5lacs turnover do not need VAT registration and generally not aware about legal documentation. In addition, interface provided by most of the marketplaces is cumbersome and difficult to understand. Uploading products one by one or dealing with complex excel sheets are tough tasks for busy non-tech sellers. We will provide the sellers all those tools with which they are most comfortable with and mostly use for their business.” Femiza app, which is yet to be launched, can manage registration and stock easily. In addition, it will also provide whatsapp as a medium of product uploading to the Individual Sellers/Homemakers/Wholesalers soon.
Analysis of Current Business
Shabnam confirms, “We have sold items worth Rs 20,000 even before launching our shop. We have got these orders through our facebook page and other online social platforms.” She is satisfied with the performance and the market response. She adds, “We already have an in-house PIM (Product Information Management) portal built with php and angular JS. Using this portal we can dump items in bulk and upload on our website. This portal is also very helpful in maintaining all product information.” ‘Delhivery’ and ‘Payu Biz’ are Femiza’s logistic and Payment Gateway partners respectively. In addition, it already has 20 sellers on-board who are sending their products through whatsapp everyday. It has also started the process of developing the automatic upload of product catalogs and description sent on whatspp by our sellers.
Getting Ready For Stiff Competition
According to Shabnam, the online players like Mirraw, Craftsvilla and Voyella will give stiff competition to Femiza in the future. Do they have any plan to compete with these players? She replies, “To make a difference is very important to position Femiza well in the market. A good framework, our product range and services will help us to compete with the market competition.”
Founders Credentials
The ecommerce startup has three co-founders --Shabnam Banu, Amirun Nisha and Sumita Sinha. Shabnam Banu, co-founder, Femiza has completed B.Tech from Jadavpur University. She worked with different companies and carries a wide experience in software development. On the other hand, Amirun Nisha is an M.C.A; and pro in digital marketing and SEO. The third pillar is Sumita Sinha, a Political Science (Hons) degree from Calcutta University. She is looking after the business operations and development areas.
[Top Image - Shutterstock]
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