Rahul Goel was nonetheless learning at Amity College, Noida when he was serving to his father in his automotive equipment enterprise positioned in Karol Bagh, New Delhi. The corporate was dealing in making automotive mats, audio system, and different equipment. Someday, whereas working at their workplace, he discovered that his father has a registered trademark for a model ‘Woodman’ however by no means used it.
“Dwelling in occasions when web penetration has gone so deep, I requested my father if he desires to utilize the model trademark and if we will promote our merchandise on-line. My father was very supportive however he guided me in the direction of beginning up my one model, a separate entity reasonably than scaling up the prevailing enterprise,” Rahul tells SMBStory.
As Rahul already had a knack for entrepreneurship, initiating a brand new enterprise wasn’t laborious for him. In 2015, he approached ecommerce platforms like and to record his android automotive stereo system on {the marketplace}.
“Flipkart had newly launched the automotive accent class then in 2015,” Rahul says including that simply after he listed his merchandise, the demand poured in and inside seven months he had executed the enterprise of round Rs 60 lakh. He was even awarded because the ‘Finest Entrepreneur’ from his college in 2016.
Nevertheless, his enterprise noticed a number of ups and downs. Rahul bore an enormous lack of Rs 1cr and was in heavy debt in simply two years of beginning .
So, what helped Rahul get well losses and restart the enterprise that holds such a great place at present that he’s aiming for bold enlargement in 2022? Rahul says, “focus”.
Studying a significant lesson
Whereas Rahul was working Woodman on e-commerce platforms, he was making sufficient progress that made him take into consideration beginning one other new enterprise.
“I used to be being profitable and was worthwhile. I used to be impressed to begin one other enterprise and I opened up a meals truck enterprise in Gurugram. However that was my largest mistake. I had no concept of how you can run that and I began struggling losses. The hard-earned cash that I used to be making within the automotive accent enterprise was all wasted right here and I got here in a debt of greater than Rs 1 cr,” Rahul remembers.
Rahul once more took a U-turn and began focussing on Woodman promoting on marketplaces, nevertheless, by this time many different gamers had are available and competitors began rising.
“Promoting on e-commerce offers great alternative, nevertheless, it additionally has its cons particularly when an individual is underneath debt. I didn’t have more cash to spend money on advertising budgets and so. Neither was I getting my provides in debt. It turned out to be a vicious circle,” Rahul says.
On this interval of gloom when Rahul felt that every one the doorways have been closed for him, a ray of hope struck. He employed a freelancer to develop an internet site and began promoting his merchandise on his personal portal in 2019.
“You see, our merchandise weren’t very low cost. It begins from Rs 10,000 and goes as much as Rs 60,000. So when a shopper buys any product of this vary, they do their very own analysis on the web as effectively. After they noticed that Woodman additionally has their very own web site they began ordering immediately from us,” Rahul tells SMBStory.
Woodman automotive stereos
Taking a leap in enterprise
Inside a month after launching Woodman’s personal web site, Rahul made gross sales of Rs 1 lakh GMV (Gross Merchandise Worth) per day. The web site additionally attracted clients with thrilling offers and provides that made clients order immediately from the web site and never from {the marketplace}, Rahul claims.
“I additionally considered beginning as a D2C as a result of many gamers had entered the ecommerce platforms each organised and unorganised gamers. And I used to be in need of cash so anyone might have wiped us out,” Rahul explains.
Rahul additionally began taking video critiques from the shoppers and uploaded them on YouTube to replicate the model’s authenticity, which he says, can also be a motive behind the client’s rising belief issue.
As we speak, Woodman makes a income of Rs 5 crore, and Rahul expects the corporate to shut March FY 22 at Rs 7.5 crore. All of the merchandise offered at Woodman are pay as you go orders or partial COD. The merchandise are made domestically the place round 80 p.c of the uncooked supplies are imported.
Woodman offers in additional than 150 automotive fashions with XUV automobiles main the share now. It has in its choices automotive stereo programs, automotive sensors, automotive lightings, automotive digital camera, and steering wheel controls.
The market situation and means forward
The automotive equipment market is extremely fragmented. Rahul says that there are a lot of unorganised gamers out there who additionally occur to be in fraudulent actions or giving faux commitments to clients.
The market can also be dominated by gamers like Sony, Pioneer, Blaupunkt, and extra. However what differentiates Woodman from the giants is the client help and never the vendor help it gives, Rahul claims.
In 2022, Rahul is aiming to extend its market presence by coming into the offline market by means of franchise and likewise create a market for acer equipment.
