New Delhi, Sept 30 (KNN) The world has come to a juncture where almost everything is being revolutionized by technology. Dive deep into any segment of the society and there lies a ting of technology.  Then why leave behind the celebration of memorable moments in life. This was the whole and sole logic behind laying the foundation for FlowerAura.
 
FlowerAura.com is a website dedicated to online floral service throughout India providing beautiful Flower Arrangements, Cakes, Chocolates and Teddy Bears for your loved ones at just a click away. FlowerAura, in a way has found the way to capture the interest of the customers by providing unique and luring offers in its service. For instance, along with the gifting options, FlowerAura provides Song Dedication Service on Guitar for NCR region.
 
Shrey Sehgal, the founder of FlowerAura was in conversation with KNN to tell more about her venture.

As ironical as it sounds, it was when a delivery of flowers to his girlfriend (now wife) failed by a reputed gifting company, the idea to make some amendments popped up into the mind of the founder.

“It was then I realized that there is an immense potential in this field and decided to explore the possibilities,” said Sehgal.

Though the idea for working on an innovative topic was quite elating, the firm did have to conquer some road rocks. For every start up, one of the biggest challenges is finance.

The firm started with only Rs 1 lakh in its accounts and the lack of external funding prevented them from trying out new things, said the entrepreneur.
 
“The second situation we faced was hiring people who’d be ready to work in a basement (then). Mostly people are sceptical about working in a shady office,” Sehgal said while talking about the issues the firm faced in its initial stage.
 
On funding, the entrepreneur said, “FlowerAura is a bootstrap start up.” The founder also mentioned that all the funds that came in were the earnings FlowerAura made from its operations.
 
“In fact, we started withdrawing our own salaries three years after starting the company,” he added.
 
The founder said their philosophy of growth has been to hire somebody when they have enough to pay the salary for the next three months. “As a process, we took all our earnings through building our team and growth.”

With a team of 30 efficient employees, the enterprise is currently on a hiring spree. “We hit the turnover of 1 million dollars in the previous financial year,” disclosed the founder.

For an E-commerce portal, efficient functioning and growing roots in the market is of utmost importance to survive.
 
Sehgal also talked about the working procedure of his firm. “After we receive the order, it is transferred to the local partner. The final delivery happens at the local delivery centers,” he said.

The enterprise accepts same day orders before 4 pm on the given date, and depends heavily on its Customer Support System. “We have a strong feedback loop as major emphasis is laid on a very strong customer service. To add to it, we’re also helping our local partners with technology to ensure quality service,” added Sehgal.
 
The founder is of the belief of giving utmost importance to quality and providing that standard at competitive prices. As per the interview, he said that their idea is to provide an ‘Affordable Luxury’ at the doorstep.
 
“In addition to that, we have a strong customer centric team that deeply understands the value of feelings and that we deliver not only the product, but also the emotions attached with it,” he said.
 
Though it gives a tough competition, Sehgal sees the E-commerce trend as an opportunity. He claims that with the rapid progress in technology, the market has been taken over by mobile and e-commerce sites where everything is being delivered to your doorstep. People have seemed to warm up to this kind of lifestyle and that is what suits their business model as well.

The entrepreneur also talked about the emergence and development of MSME sector in India. 
 
“The enterprises are emerging at a very fast pace, but sustaining them is where the real challenge comes,” he said. He believes that the growth of Start-ups and SMEs in India is somewhat slow. “We lack some basic infrastructure like internet which isn’t accessible in every part of the country. The lack of office spaces is another situation that the emerging companies face. In addition to it, the Taxation Laws are so complex that a major chunk of an entrepreneur’s time goes into understanding them rather than focusing on his work,” said Sehgal speaking about the fallbacks in growth trend of MSMEs.
 
Now that the MSME sector is growing at such pace, the government ought to take some steps to formulate and develop the sector. Sehgal sharing his notion in the regard said, “The government has taken steps to ease the procedure of staring your own company in an attempt to encouraging emerging entrepreneurs.”
 
Adding further he highlighted the support that government is offering to the sector, “In addition to that, there are other things being done by the government which seems to have given a positive direction to the companies’ growth. However, it will take time for the effects of it to trickle down to the SMEs and Start-Ups.”
 
The huge success of previous start ups like Flipkart has become an example for the future entrepreneurs to make a difference. Also, in today’s world, the campus culture is immensely encouraging for the students. So has been the strong Start up Communities that have played a role in the motivation of the future entrepreneurs.
 
All in all, the entrepreneur holds the notion that political as well as the educational environment does seem to be conducive to the start ups and there is a hope to see further upward sloping changes.

The entrepreneur further reveals his wish to establish FlowerAura as the No. 1 online gifting brand of the country. “We also are focusing on enhancing our logistics and introducing new product lines in gifting,” he concluded. (KNN/ J)