Author: Swathi Bhat

Email Marketing

Swathi Bhat

Email marketing is a way of reaching out to people via emails and successfully turning them into valuable customers. Emails help connect with customers and build trustworthy relationships. If you know to use it right, email marketing can serve as one of the best marketing strategies, with low costs and significant profits. Moreover, many small businesses have limited budgets for marketing. That is when email serves as one of the easiest and most cost-effective marketing techniques. Why Email marketing? As per research, about 91% of customers go through their mail…

Small Businesses – The Pros and Cons of Partnering with a 3PL

Swathi Bhat

Every business needs a well-planned logistics strategy in order to run its operations smoothly. While some organisations prefer an in-house logistics system, many others go for third party logistics (3PL) companies. 3PL companies have a separate warehouse for the storage of products and provide services for assembly, packaging, shipping, delivery and customer support when an order is placed. It is a good alternative to leasing a warehouse, which involves forming your own team and managing the entire process on your own. Small businesses don’t usually have the required time and…

A Plan for Profit

Swathi Bhat

Every business, small and big, should have a profit plan in order to drive the business towards success. Such a plan is even more crucial for new small businesses because it will help them stay on track and not fail midway. When you plan for profit, it helps you understand the various factors that contribute to your success. It will be a kind of summarized income statement in written, which will serve as your profit and sales objective, and as your business budget. Your profit plan can be used to…

Delhivery – Sahil Barua’s Success Story

Swathi Bhat

Most of us follow the beaten path but few muster the courage to step aside and create a new one! Such is the astounding story of Sahil Barua, the co-founder of Delhivery.  Early Days  Born and brought up in Delhi, Sahil Barua completed his schooling in St. Xavier’s High School. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology Karnataka. Barua went on to pursue his post-graduation in Finance from IIM-B Bangalore and won the gold medal as an all-rounder, in the institute’s Director’s Merit List. Being a workaholic,…

How Small Firms Can Compete with Big Businesses

Swathi Bhat

In this vast and burgeoning business world where big brands take the centre stage, small businesses face the challenge of keeping up with them. It can seem like an uphill road when you’re trying to compete with the bulk purchasing power and big marketing budgets of big businesses. It can be frustrating, making you want to give up on your ideas. While it is true that bigger brands can easily overshadow small businesses, you should also remember that small businesses have their own set of advantages that can help propel…

Green Supply Chain Management and SMEs

Swathi Bhat

In this highly competitive 21st century, it has become very crucial for businesses to have an efficient supply chain management (SCM) system for surviving in the market. In any business, SCM plays an important role in meeting the market demands and customer needs. At first, SMEs faced challenges in developing a good SCM system owing to their lack of resources. However, the amazing technological advances today have opened better opportunities for SMEs to compete in the global marketplace. Of late, there has been an increase in environmental and social awareness…

Essential Logistics Tips for Small Business Owners

Swathi Bhat

Logistics and supply chain are an integral part of any business, whether small or big. If even one thing goes wrong in the process, it can cause major losses. Products delivered to the wrong location, packages lost in transit or additional charges on customers, all due to improper planning can cost you your customers. In order to prevent unnecessary losses, companies should invest in proper planning and management of their supply chains. A well-crafted logistics plan helps manage costs effectively and run the operations smoothly, thus ensuring a successful business.…

How are Digital Payments Helping Transform the SME Industry?

Swathi Bhat

In this new age of ecommerce and digital payments, we are walking towards transforming India into a major economic powerhouse. A number of government reforms and initiatives have been introduced with the aim to bring about a huge change in the country’s financial system. SMEs and MSMEs play an important role in improving the economy and are considered as the backbone of the Indian economy. Therefore, the development and progress of these small and medium firms are a top priority. However, issues like roadblocks in the company’s expansion, untimely credit…

Logistics in the E-Commerce Era

Swathi Bhat

The ever-changing e-commerce scene has resulted in major changes in the way logistics work. Certain processes that ensured success in the past years may not necessarily yield the same results today. Owing to the increasing demand from different e-commerce channels as well as new expectations from customers, businesses and logistics companies have started investing in advanced technologies and improved management systems. Implementation of new, advanced logistics and supply chain processes is the key to winning the game in this e-commerce era. The pre e-commerce era merely involved transportation of goods…

Shoestring Budget Planning for Marketing

Swathi Bhat

Market planning or budget planning plays a major role in business marketing, further providing means for business growth and success. It outlines the costs involved, strategies to implement, smart tactics and estimated results to achieve over a specific time period. Having a good market plan helps the entire team focus and work towards specific goals, which is extremely important for the success of a business. The amount of time spent in creating a good marketing strategy is negligible, when compared to the risks and unexpected failures occurring due to lack…