Armed with an engineering degree and driven by entrepreneurial passion, Mahesh Raju quit his corporate job to begin a new voyage in the e-commerce space. When resources and logistics turned challenging, he partnered with Flipkart to grow his business. Read this story of a Flipkart seller from Hyderabad, Telangana.
Hailing from Hyderabad, Telangana, Mahesh Raju, an IITian, left a corporate job to chart an entrepreneurial journey in the e-commerce space. Devoid of needful resources but brimming with resilience, this first-generation entrepreneur navigated all his moves towards one destination – to make a mark with a business of his own.
Catching the waves early on, Mahesh began exploring e-commerce 12 years ago when the online shopping space was still shaping up in the country. “I knew that eventually almost everyone, at some point or the other, is going to buy online,” he says, recalling why he made the strategic shift to digital. Since then, Mahesh has overcome a range of challenges, relying only on business proceeds to fuel growth.
Mahesh onboarded his company, Digital Shoppy Newcom Limited, on Flipkart in 2017. Learning on the job, with an expanding portfolio, it wasn’t long before he built an online business with an annual turnover of over ₹1 Crore on Flipkart. Find out how he got here, in Mahesh’s own words.
From Engineering to Entrepreneurship
My name is Mahesh, and I am a Flipkart seller. I pursued my engineering degree from Andhra University and, after completing my M. Tech. from IIT Delhi, I worked with a multinational for a couple of years.
I left my job to build my own business as I wanted to make a mark. However, I am a first-generation entrepreneur. With no resources to fall back on, I worked to generate cash flow internally as I simply didn’t want to rely on banks. So, that’s the reason why it took time to get to this success.
Building an E-Commerce Empire
I initially started an offline business, retailing and distributing consumer durables and electronics. Over 12 years ago, we witnessed the start of what I knew would be the next big thing: e-commerce. Since it prioritized customer convenience and access, and reduced operational costs, I wanted to leverage e-commerce for my young business.
The early days were full of challenges, especially for logistics management. We stood in long queues at the post office to dispatch orders. The order processing took a lot of time, and there were also limitations on the number of packages we could send each day.
That’s when Flipkart emerged as a pillar of strength for us, helping to streamline all our operations. There was never a single day that a pickup was missed. There was never a single day the payments got delayed. Working with Flipkart in these last six years has been super smooth.
Flipkart taught my team and me so many things in the e-commerce business. It made our life so easy – especially the dashboard, which allows us to monitor everything.
Anchoring Success
At the beginning, I used to get 1 order every 2-3 days. Slowly, we got to 20 orders, and then I still remember the milestone of crossing 100 orders a day. That was the proudest moment of my Flipkart journey to date.
To get there, we had to build a team and have a proper warehouse and backend. I started on e-commerce with personal care and home care products, but today, our range has expanded to include kitchen and domestic appliances. We now have over 13,000 products in our inventory and the prices range from Rs. 500-2000, keeping in mind affordability, access and quality for the Indian customer.
With a team of 12, most of whom have been with me since the beginning, we are committed to delivering quality products throughout the year. I believe the most crucial part of building a sustainable online business is choosing the right products and ensuring the right price for customers.
So far, our business has achieved an annual turnover of over ₹1 Crore on Flipkart. My advice to the new sellers on Flipkart is to tap into the success that digital commerce offers.
To read more stories of #SellfMade Flipkart sellers like Mahesh, click here.
