Emotions don't go out of fashion

C.R. Sukumar

FROM a low-key bakery in Hyderabad to becoming one of the popular brands in e-commerce services for NRIs, it has been a steady transformation for Country Oven.

Its gift portal, giftagift.com, which started with cakes and flowers, has become an online supermarket with over 5,000 varieties of gifts. It has arrangements at around 140 centres across India to deliver even perishable items such as cakes, flowers and sweets.

You name the occasion or personal relationship and giftagift.com is ready with a gift to express your emotions. Gifts are available for birthdays, anniversaries, congratulations, to celebrate friendship, general, wedding and traditional festivals. From New Year's Day to Independence day, for festivals of every kind and to celebrate days popular in the western region -- Friendship Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Valentine's Day -- the portal has a package ready for delivery.

Sending a gift has been one of the best ways to convey the message that you care for somebody. Technology has now changed the way people send gifts. Convenience and hassle-free gifting have popularised the practice. It's not just flowers, cakes and sweets. The range has expanded to watches, pens, apparel and accessories to electronic gadgets and even home appliances such as refrigerators and computers.

Floating a gift or shopping portal appears simple and lucrative. But when it comes to empirical operations, most Web sites fall flat, unable to maintain service standards and record at least breakeven, leave aside posting huge profits.

The Chairman of Country Oven, Dr Sudhakar Rao Polsani, a qualified medical professional, was one of the first to venture into the online business and was fortunate to see roaring success. ``But it was not a cake-walk for us. When we offered to `deliver emotions at $5', there were very few NRIs who trusted us. It required a lot of dedication and a customer-centred approach to become successful in the online business. We have been known for high-quality designer cakes for all occasions and in fact, we had nothing but a reputation for quality to boast of when we started giftagift.com,'' he says.

According to him, the portal owes its success to its loyal customers, who continue to be the brand ambassadors of giftagift.com. Another factor was the offline infrastructure in key cities and towns across India.

``We have emphasised customer satisfaction from the beginning and have never hesitated to go that extra mile to satisfy the needs of our customers. This approach has won many a loyal customer and those satisfied customers have become our brand ambassadors. This has helped our portal to grow steadily and survive in the dotcom slump. The portal has never depended on advertisements for revenue generation. Having already achieved breakeven in operations, we are currently achieving an average monthly turnover of around $25,000 with a moderate profit margin,'' Dr Sudhakar says.

Dr Sudhakar, with a penchant for innovative services using information technology, has decided not to confine the portal to gift articles alone. He has steered it into offering services such as ``health checks'' at a corporate hospital and ``arrange a party'' service at premier hotels in various cities. Giftagift.com is also eyeing the travel and leisure industry to offer new services to customers.

According to Dr Sudhakar, healthcare services gained instant acceptance from NRIs, who crave for the health and happiness of their families in India whom they sorely miss. This has inspired NRIs to gift even `health insurance' to their near and dear in their homeland. Following this, giftagift.com has entered into an alliance with Apollo Hospitals to offer some of the popular health products and services online.

Dr Sudhakar says giftagift.com plans to introduce more innovative services for NRIs shortly. ``Being an NRI, I understand the needs of NRIs and how emotional they are about their families back home and their homeland. Our service helped us build a good clientele base and most of our customers come back to us again and again.''

Having tasted success in its offerings to NRIs, giftagift.com is set to launch its Indian version by Diwali to cater to resident Indians. ``We have ambitious plans to make the services available in around 1,500 centres across the country from the current level of 140 centres focussing on services to NRIs,'' he says.

Feedback can be sent to sukmar@thehindu.co.in

Please e-mail us at eworld@thehindu.co.in if you have queries on computer usage or if you find an interesting way of using the computer.