Starting a brand in India is not a walk in the park. One needs utter a clear goal and idea about how to achieve that goal. One has to research about several aspects and invest their time and energy with utmost dedication to be successful in their work and reach to more and more people.
Born in a small town in Rajasthan, Nidhi grew up in a joint family in a big house that had an enchanting garden filled with flowering plants. When she completed her graduation in Engineering and post-graduation in MBA, she realised that people in the urban area are keener on having a garden filled with flowers. She started working after her MBA and was exposed to e-commerce and it got her interested instantly. Her family had their own business, this gave her exposure to what are the challenges of having a business.
Nidhi got married and when she had a house of her own, she took charge of the décor and wanted to have flowers around. Flowers are simple but profoundly beautiful and enchanting. Some flowers have a charismatic smell and can instantly uplift your mood. They can be a quintessential decorative piece ad instantly brings a smile on the face of the person you gift it to.
When she started searching for a particular kind of flowers, it came to her realisation that the flower industry in India is so limited. The number of options she got was very few and even the local florist didn’t have any good flowers. This is when she thought of getting and selling flowers on her own. It started with the feeling of enjoyment where she would distribute it among people in her area. But then she realised that this is something that interests people and was curious above. When she thought this could be a good profit business, she started ‘Shades of Spring’.
The journey towards ‘Shades of Spring’ wasn’t elementary. She had to first set up a place and then understand what would work for her customers and do an in-depth analysis of flowers. Usually, when florists sell flowers there are middlemen like whole sellers and retailers. Because of this around 30-40% of the flowers go to waste as there is a delay in time and the flowers dry out. She wanted to cut out the wastage and deliver fresh flowers to her customers. Hence she procures them directly from farmers and sends it over. Selling flowers directly from a source not only reduces wastage but also helps the farmers to gain a better sum.
This venture started from Nidhi’s home and is now in four cities- Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Nidhi found out that in places outside India they have a system of subscription and wanted to introduce it to the Indian market. One can go up to their website and choose a subscription and its starting price is Rs.299 including delivery. One can choose the kind of subscription they want, either for a month or 3 or even 6 months where the flowers will be delivered every week or once in two weeks as per your request. One needs to book this two days prior as she doesn’t tell the farmers to produce unless there is a request, hence decreasing wastage in every possible way.
Shades of Spring has captivating bouquets starting from Rs 899. Bouquets can be delivered the same day or the date of request. The sunflower bouquet is their best seller as it mesmerises both men and women. Gifting a flower shows the thought behind it and adds a personal touch to it.
Their venture has flowers like Limonium, Allium, Snapdragons, Janada Leaves, Amaranthus, Scabiosa, Lilies, Celosia and a lot of others. They even have some beautiful vases one can purchase and revamp their homes with it.
According to Nidhi, setting up the brand and connecting with the farmers as well as researching about flowers and how to keep them fresh and take care of them was a challenge in itself. She says,” There is always a struggle here and there, everything else is a part of the journey”. You can log on to their website, select the city and order your choice. They want to expand their venture pan India and add smiles on the faces of more and more people.
I am linking the website and the social media handle so that you can go through the same and keep you updated on the latest offerings.
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