4 min read
In times when start ups are beginning to establish a strong foot in Pakistan, this new breed of technopreneurs are now going a step ahead of the competition by taking complete advantage of the resources available to them. They realize a lot of opportunities are waiting to be explored. For Irfan Ahmad, CEO of Babyplanet.pk, the opportunity of creating a one stop online shop for babies seemed a valuable proposition.
What started off as a project report in Marketing and Entrepreneurial subject, has now turned into a full fledged online store for babies. Don’t be confused. Babies are only the consumers, customers are still the parents. BabyPlanet.pk promises to take your shopping experience for your toddlers to the next level, all in the solace of your homes. “Nothing beats the joy of seeing your child in comfort and we promise that joy without having you to run around for it. Thanks to the comforts of internet, things that you desire are a click away!”- BabyPlanet.pk. It not only believe in building positive relationships with their customers, but also on maintaining trustworthiness in order to yield the maximum value for both, the company and the customers.
Irfan Ahmad started the project on his own, but with the inevitable expansion requirements, the team grew to 8 people and counting. He comes from a family of technology savvy siblings, as both of his brothers are working at Microsoft. He decided to pursue his MBA instead and carry on with his idea of operating an online baby shop. For him, BabyPlanet.pk is not a brand, but a complete lifestyle.
“Our mission is to offer best solutions tailored to our customer’s requirements while fostering healthy and lasting relationship with them.”
Babyplanet.pk is just starting out, so a lot needs to be done for it to grow. Since the website is the main point of contact between the customer and the company, their opinion matters the most. One look at the website and you realize that it indeed is a one stop shop. From diapers to food to school supplies, it’s all there for kids of all ages and both genders. But, somehow, the theme doesn’t attract the way it should. “Why are there so many hearts in the background? It’s not a valentine store” remarked a mother of a 4 months old baby girl. That was the first impression she got from the website. Another young mother of two kids added “They could do with a filtering bar on the left-pane and add options to filter out products, so that it’s convenient for the user.” When you take a closer look at the layout, you realize a bit of more work needs to be done. The color scheme would also need a bit of adjustment to maintain consistency with the fonts, pictures and the background.
Babyplantet.pk is not a new idea, but it is indeed a different approach. Similar stores are also present, in Pakistan, but they all have their limitations. If BabyPlanet.pk can capitalize on those limitations, then this idea is a definite win-win! At the moment, BabyPlanet.pk is looking to grow. Since inception, there number of orders have grown and are now in double figures, for a single day. Presently, the company is valuated in millions and have received offers from different investors who are interested in funding the idea and sharing the burden of expansion.
Currently, it’s only available through web-access, but sooner or later, the company would have to introduce mobile applications, simple because the current era is all about the mobile access. This would help the company to grow at a faster pace than expected, as the industry at the moment is quite small and only a few players are operating, so this idea has a good opportunity of growing into a big business, provided the start up is able to generate the required amount of funds, as this small industry would mean less number of people and a higher risk factor. Whether babyplanet.pk becomes the no.1 online shop for babies shopping, we’ll have to wait and see.
