Zoho is the oxygen of a modern business. One needs to make it a part of one's business. I have been ahead of the competition because of my online-first approach, and I know that competition will take a while to catch up, even if they decide to take up the online path now. Despite the pandemic, my sales went up.
- Sajjan Kumar
Owner, My Wall Panel
The Company
My Wall Panel was founded by Sajjan Kumar as an offline store in 2019 in Delhi, India. It sells a wide range of products for wall paneling, interior decor, doors, and flooring. Over the years, My Wall Panel has grown its business, and today its products are available all over India.
The Challenge
Sajjan's search for a good site builder began in the year 2015. Being a manufacturer who regularly churned out new products, the big challenge for Sajjan was to find a space to showcase his products to his customers. Even a display area of 15,500 sq ft seemed inadequate. It was also getting cumbersome to manually keep track of product specifications and pricing details.
"I was aware of Zoho Commerce during its testing period, when it was called Zoho Store," Sajjan says. He tried the free version, made his website, and checked out the feasibility of the plans.
Having previously used Magento to run his website, Sajjan spent more than a million rupees on it, but it lacked GST-ready accounting (India-specific accounting practices) and product tracking. He was then introduced to Zoho Commerce in February 2018, and a month later he successfully migrated his entire store to Zoho.
The Solution
"Time is of utmost significance for a business," Sajjan says. "By moving to Zoho, I knew I could save time. I'd say Zoho is the oxygen of a modern business. One needs to make it a part of one's business. A few years back, we could not have thought of doing e-invoicing, but Zoho has easily enabled it. Investing in Zoho has saved us from investing heavily in IT infrastructure from our end."
The website of My Wall Panels
The Benefits
Sajjan has seen his business grow during the pandemic thanks to the ecommerce store, which has ensured that business has continued as usual. "The market is an extremely dynamic factor, which means that information also has to flow to our customers on a real-time basis," he says. "Having our own website was necessary to communicate with our buyers, and it was important to own our own online store."
The biggest impact of the ecommerce store, according to Sajjan, has been that today the products of My Wall Panel are available in every corner of India. "This has been possible with online orders. Business has increased after launching our ecommerce store. In fact, we haven't done outgoing calls seeking customers out."
Investing in Zoho
There are many reasons why Sajjan believes a business should focus on an integrated IT package like Zoho. "From Payroll and People to Books and Commerce, Zoho has solutions for all aspects of a business—be it marketing, HR, or finance—all under one umbrella. There are many CRM players in the market, but Zoho has made a complete business package available to its users. In fact, Zoho Books is far ahead of accounting software like Busy or Tally. Also, Zoho is very affordable. It also helps with SEO. This has been possible because Zoho keeps its ears to the ground, and this aspect has made it incomparable."
Integrations to the Rescue
Sajjan is a fan of the integrations that come with Zoho Commerce. "The integration of Commerce with SalesIQ (Zoho's engagement and live chat software solution) made connecting with my customers and studying their behavior a lot easier." He believes that good integrations will be key to the success of Zoho Commerce even in the future.
Online Business Saves You Time
Sajjan feels Zoho Commerce has come at the right time for his company, when he is focusing on the online business. "There are two aspects of my business that I pay a lot of attention to. The first is my consumer. A satisfied consumer will eventually promote your business. Secondly, I am focusing a lot of my energies on online sales. A business model that thrives on online sales saves you a lot of time to focus on other aspects of your business." This faith in the online business model comes from his own experience in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The Road Ahead
"I was always focusing on my online sales," Sajjan says. "Perhaps, for this very reason, when stores were shut during the lockdown, I was able to continue with my business. I have been ahead of the competition because of my online-first approach, and I know that competition will take a while to catch up, even if they decide to take up the online path now. Despite the pandemic, my sales went up." He has also recommended Zoho to many friends and fellow business owners. "In today's world, competition is getting tougher and margins are decreasing. In such a time, ecommerce is the way out. We have two ecommerce stores that are running on Zoho and plan to start a new one soon."