1-India Family Mart: Value Retail Chain of India

 

1-India Family Mart  is a Delhi based startup founded by JP Shukla and Ravinder Singh. 1-India Family Mart  is a Value Retail Chain in India was established in 2013 with a vision of providing Fresh and Affordable Fashion and General Merchandise to its customers.

 

The industry is full of big and small retailers dealing in apparels, however, we are amongst the very few companies who deliver quality products at cheaper price. Our aim is to introduce products used in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities at cheaper prices so any common man can afford it.

 

We got an opportunity to talk with JP Shukla, it is an inspiring story of the co-founder. Read his full story to know more about the startup.

 

 

Give a brief info about your startup?

1-India Family Mart is a fast growing value retail chain. Its inception took place in 2012 with Nysaa Retail and its operation started in October 2013, ever since then 1 India Family Mart has been growing. On 29th September 2018 we opened our 69th Store. We aim to open 100 stores till the end of the fiscal year 2019.

 

 

What made you start your startup and what problem does it solve?

Since the early days of school I had this dream of owning my own  business, and there was an inclination towards fashion and retail, This passion of being a retailer urged me to take up a job at Vishal Mart in the earlier years of my life. Being an active member of the retail business and having the ability to solve problems with full proof solution, I always knew that I have the risk-taking ability and the innate entrepreneur skills.

The industry is full of big and small retailers dealing in apparels, however, we are amongst the very few companies who deliver quality products at cheaper price. Our aim is to introduce products used in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities at cheaper prices so any common man can afford it. We at Nysaa Retail Pvt limited  would like to create a retail sector that is not just growing rapidly, but also efficiently to play a significant role in addressing issues of inflation, apart from inclusive growth, providing huge employment opportunity to our youth, unless our nation’s prosperity permeates every village town or street, our growth will not be sustainable.

 

 

Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?

Before Starting 1 India Family Mart with Mr Ravinder Singh. I have worked with some big companies like Future Group, Adani Retail ltd, India bulls Retail, Salasar Retail. I left my last job as an EX Director of Vishal Mart. And then decided to start my own business 1 India Family Mart.

 

 

Where is your startup based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?

Our startup is based out of New Delhi. But we are focused in the North And Eastern region. We have focused on expanding our stores across UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and we have recently entered the eastern region and opened 2 stores in Assam.

According to our business model, we have focused mainly on tier 2 and tier 3 cities and have targeted the audience in the income group of 15k to 25k.

 

 

As a start-up cofounder, what are you paranoid about? What keeps you awake at night?

This is a cutting throat business, the inventory planning has to be accurate in order to optimize the stock levels in such a pattern that both customers and vendors both are satiated. Whenever the inventory levels rise the situation becomes critical and has to be managed promptly.

 

 

Who are your competitions and how are you better than them?

Our Biggest competitor is V-Mart. It has expanded like anything to various cities but that has happened gradually over a period of 10 years, we on the other hand are expanding with a steady pace exploring opportunities in tier 3 tier 4 cities in the north and the east. Also the SCM that we have built is focussed on these states and the merchandise planning is pretty accurate, we are also investing a chunk of money in data analytics to scientifically conclude  our strategies and stay ahead of the competition every time.

 

 

How hard is it to have a work life balance as a startup founder and how do you manage it?

Managing a 5-year-old start-up with 69 successful stores. You could imagine how busy and occupied my life would be. It is a quite a consuming process to plan strategies and decide upon locations to set up new stores.

Having said that, I do believe that no matter how hectic life gets it is important to spend time with yourself and your family. I love spending time with my wife and kids. I ensure to take out some time to go on mini vacations as well.

In order to be a successful entrepreneur, it is very important to have peace of mind. I find peace and joy in spending time with my wife and kids. I make sure that my employees get to spend enough time with their family as well.

 

 

Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If no then please tell us if you are looking to raise.

Yes, we have raised funding. We received an amount of 6.5 million dollars from a private Equity firm Carpediem Capital. This amount is sufficient for us to reach the benchmark of 100 stores. After achieving this number we might look for another funding in near future.

 

 

What’s the biggest misconception person have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?

People often confuse me as an easy going person but there is a lot that is going inside in terms of thought processes, see when you are running a business that is set to reach a bench mark of 1000 crores in 6 years from inception you have to be the god of many faces and it comes gradually through experience.

Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple. The apparent complexity of our behavior over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment in which we find ourselves.

 

 

What gets you excited about this company?

The thing which excites me about this company is that it gives me an opportunity to do something for my community. Generating job opportunities for people who lack formal education residing in small towns has helped me in supporting a number of households. Availing commodities to them at a reasonable price, and fulfilling their dreams and desire to have specific materialistic things they aim for is very satisfying.

 

 

Tell us how a day in your life looks like? Your schedule for a day right from the time you get up till you hit the bed at night.

Well I get up early, go on a long walk for 45 minutes then have breakfast with my family, post that the routine begins I reach office around 10.30 and then I sit with the analytics team to have an insight about the business in terms of revenues and area performance, post that I attend meetings with departments to assess performance and assign tasks, sometimes I travel to warehouse the other day just to check how the supply chain is faring.

At days end, I reach home, have a walk in the adjacent park for about 45 minutes attend kids, spend time and have dinner with the family, then I hit the bed.

 

 

Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?

There is a saying that goes, good people know good people. So we all had an aligned vision we knew each other and then it happened. We started young, having a vision ascertaining the need of 75% of the population of the country  who resides in the core india in small towns and cities. The understanding of the business at these doors was naiveté, but was still focused as there was an innate enthusiasm about the possibility of business that could be extracted from these towns.

 

 

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