It was backbreaking work for the sisters of the Donga family from Surat, Gujarat, who had an immense talent in tailoring. They excelled at embellishing sarees and women’s ethnic wear like kurtis , lehenga cholis etc., but the talent didn’t result in a significant contribution to the household’s income. That was when their younger brother, Ravi, introduced them to the world of e-commerce and online selling.
For want of a rakhi, a business was born
Fired by a desire to gift his hardworking sisters something worthwhile for the festival of Rakhi, Ravi finally hit upon the idea of online retailing. Determined to find an avenue that would help him earn enough to buy his sisters’ gifts, he says, “I remember that I used to sit online and endlessly research all viable possibilities. And that's when I learnt about Amazon's seller platform.” For Rakhi that year, Ravi went on to achieve his dream of gifting each of his sisters, touching their hearts. What began as an idea to give something back to his sisters eventually became the answer to his family’s financial difficulties.
My elder sisters, Daya Didi and Gulab Didi, had stitched the very first kurti that we sold online on Amazon. Today we have a team of 35 people.
Vatsla goes online
Acting as the enabler for the inherent talents of his sisters, Ravi decided to leverage their traditional creations. The beautiful ethic wear that the sisters Daya and Gulab laboured over each day helped them to instantly choose their own product category. Once they finally registered themselves on the Amazon sellers platform in 2014, there was no looking back for the family. He recalls, “My elder sisters, Daya Didi and Gulab Didi, had stitched the very first kurti that we sold online on Amazon." Today they employ a team of 35 workers at their small manufacturing unit, clocking in a monthly turnover of nearly ₹ 80 lakh. From an inventory of a single kurti design, stitched by Gulab and Daya when they started out, today their women’s ethnic wear brand boasts of almost 1,500 unique designs!
With the help of Amazon’s seller platform, that was how an unorganised, household tailoring business of a middle-income family from Surat, transformed itself into a successful online enterprise.
