There are plans for product innovations in the content and commerce space: Bhawna Agarwal, CEO, NDTV Gadgets 360

NDTV Gadgets 360's newly-appointed CEO shares future plans and strategies for the brand

Aanchal Kohli | Mumbai | November 24, 2015

Bhawna Agarwal

NDTV'S e-commerce venture Gadgets 360 has gradually carved its place in the competitive e-commerce market. It provides a curated marketplace for exclusive launches of mobile phones and other electronic gadgets. Gadgets 360 (currently known as NDTV Gadgets) is India's most viewed gadgets portal with over 20mn unique visitors every month. Gadgets 360 is now valued close to 50 million USD.

Recently, Bhawna Agarwal, was appointed as the CEO of NDTV's e-commerce venture Gadgets 360, who has over 16 years of experience in leading start-ups of the country.

Agarwal has been instrumental in setting and scaling up leading brands such as Yatra.com, Seventymm among others. She has been associated with luxury retail in the past and is also on the advisory boards of OYO Rooms, Venture Fund among others.

Agarwal spoke to BestMediaInfo.com about plans for Gadgets 360 as well as trends in the e-commerce and start-up space.

What is your vision and mission for the brand?

Over the years, Gadgets 360 in its earlier avatar has built a very strong connect with users in the technology and gadgets categories. We would now be covering the last mile by extending the platform to enable handpicked exclusive gadgets for our users with high quality content and expert recommendations. We would be enabling strong value propositions on both mobile and desk platforms while empowering the user to make the right choice, suited to his needs,

With 16 years of experience in your kitty, how have you seen the world of start-ups growing and evolving over the years?

There have been very interesting changes in the digital and mobile industry over the last few years. A lot of myths have been broken about credit card and  internet penetration. Many leading players in travel, banking and ecommerce have helped expand the digital eco-system in the country and are helping to grow awareness about safety, security and convenience of the medium. From the time when only a handful of people would want to take the risk of joining an online start-up, we are now seeing high quality talent with excellent pedigrees wanting to join the start- up bandwagon for all the right reasons.

What strategies you think work best?

Every business is different and so are the markets, each entrepreneur caters to. Companies that are adequately funded, usually follow the logic of prioritizing growth over profitability so they can dominate the market before the competitors in the formative years. However, the lean start-up method works best for most early stage start-ups where one can go to market quickly, continuously validate and improvise the model while keeping the costs low. Since the market place is constantly changing in India and while it is growing and developing , one has to constantly adapt and evolve with it and hence it is very important for businesses to be very agile.

Recently, NDTV Gadgets 360 raised funds. Are there more such developments in the offing?

The business is adequately funded right now and would be exploring any such development in due course of time.

What has the growth of the website been like in terms of revenue?

We have seen tremendous growth over recent months. With 27 million unique visitors a month, our revenue is going up very consistently and is expected to grow even faster after enabling e-commerce on the platform.

What are some of the challenges that every successful entrepreneur faces during the early days?

One of the challenges is picking the right business and believing in it wholeheartedly. To do good business, you should have a real business, a great product or a service that you believe in so you can get others to believe in it. Another challenge that many people face is financing the business and at the right time. If you raise money too early or too late, it changes the direction and outcome of the business completely. Finding trustworthy business partners, while dealing with competition is also a road- block in the early days. A good healthy competition helps expand the eco-system but negative pressure resulting from unviable practices from the competition acts as a stumbling block for many entrepreneurs that are starting business and would like to focus on building credibility and earn trust. Lastly, it is about hiring the right team. Recruiting a team who shares your passion for the business and is wholeheartedly aligned with the company goals is one of the biggest challenges many entrepreneurs face. if your team is not flexible and less responsive to change, it leads to interpersonal problems within the teams and slows down growth. A good team that is able to deliver results very fast in a high pressure environment makes all the difference. The winning team combined with impeccable execution drives success.

What is the one thing that start-ups should keep in mind?

Focus on prioritizing the business and goals that keep changing with the external environment. Focus on building viability of the business in the long run and build trust. It is important to remember that in a business that your customers are not buying the product, they are buying you. What you see is what you get should be the goal to build credibility the right way.

What trends do you foresee in the e-commerce and start-up space? Where do you see it heading in the next couple of years? 

Entrepreneurs are now evolving the business model from an earlier model of merely driving eyeballs to driving transactions while driving meaningful growth, it is no longer restricted to metros and is expanding its footprint to tier 2 and tier 3 cities of the country and opening a new world for them. While a lot of companies were initially focusing on driving business growth at the expense of profits, a lot of e-commerce and other start- ups are now beginning to focus on viability of the existing models to increase the longevity of the business. This would further evolve as the market starts maturing.

How do you plan to take Gadgets 360 ahead of the competitive curve? 

We are in the unique hybrid space of content and commerce where we do not have to compete basis discounting. There are a lot of product innovations planned for the coming months in the content and commerce space that would redefine the consumer experience and would help position the company in a niche space.

What kind of response has the brand witnessed?

We are receiving very encouraging response from our users and the team is super excited to further build on the credibility that the platform has built over last few years. Stay tuned for many more exciting innovations that would be launched soon.

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