Brimming with energy and enthusiasm, Raghav Gupta, The Rug Republic’s (TRR) Director of eCommerce, is here to leave his mark in the world of furniture and home décor manufacturing. The young business leader wants to reinvent home fashion for the world and orchestrate an end-to-end eCommerce lifecycle to catapult business growth.
Man on a mission
The graduate in Mathematics and Economics from the prestigious University of California, Los Angeles, showed a glimpse of his talent and ability by spearheading the company’s expansion in Europe via revamping payment and delivery systems. He also impressed everyone by accelerating sales by two times within a month via deploying an upgraded customer service and social media strategy. It was his new-age ideas that allowed a well-established business to venture the uncharted courses and then conquer them all. To begin with, he coordinated the business onboarding and expansion on domestic and international levels via deploying a new shipping model. He then supervised the end-to-end establishment of business properties in the Netherlands.
It would be surprising for most to know that his journey at TRR began not as the Director of E-Commerce, but as a marketing intern in 2017. Soon, he began to prove his mettle. Using his core expertise in marketing and business expansion, he envisioned and implemented an ambassadorship program to boost social media followers of the company. He deployed SEO techniques to bolster the website’s session duration and conserve bounce rate. He took to Team Leadership and Client Relationship Management like a duck takes to water and began chairing cross-functional teams and managing business operations in various departments like a pro. He started collecting customer feedback by personally communicating with at least three clients daily and using the response to improve the services. He developed comprehensive systems for backend operations to achieve advanced reporting systems and performance metrics. He enforced daily audits of pending orders by implementing an automated system and consolidated the average delivery time by 10%. The list of his stellar achievements goes on!
Like father, like son
They say that the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. Just like Aditya Gupta- a name to reckon with in the world of furniture and home décor manufacturing, converted his father’s small business set-up in Meerut into a multi-crore brand name, his son Raghav is now taking the brand of TRR to newer heights. Even amid the pandemic when the challenges have been unprecedented, there was no stopping this dynamic youngster who is on the mission to transform the outlook towards recycled products across the world.
Planning ahead amid a pandemic
Managing in the COVID-19 times wasn’t easy for Raghav. He had to relearn management and coordination as managing a team remotely is a different ball game. He says, “The lockdown was surely a setback in terms of production, sourcing, etc. but it was the need of the hour. We are now progressing as planned, taking all the necessary precautions. People are also slowly adapting to the idea of the home-office and perhaps in a few years that might just be the norm. It took a massive amount of conviction and hard work to get back on track but honestly, having dealt with a problem of such magnitude, our confidence is at an all-time high. The lockdown is not without a silver lining.”
The coronavirus outbreak had a significant impact on the economy, but Raghav’s pragmatic approach and meticulous planning didn’t let the business suffer. Talking about his e-commerce strategy during the pandemic, the Young Turk says, “The way people buy things has changed forever and businesses must change with it. I have believed for a long time that gradually people will get less comfortable going to stores and spending hours selecting rugs and furniture, let alone touch a rug touched by many people before them. Obviously, gloves don’t solve that problem as you cannot really feel the rug under the rubber. People want to know the touch and feel of a rug. To provide them with that, we are coming up with very detailed look and feel videos for all our products to help the customers understand the rugs and accessories beyond just photographs. If we can help the client understand our product without having to leave their homes, then we are heading towards innovation and growth.”
Fortune favours the brave and Raghav could see a window of opportunity. With most people working remotely and spending more than time inspecting their homes, the need to embellish their homes with new rugs, poufs, accessories, etc, began growing. This meant good news for a brand like TRR. “We might very well be on the cusp of what is India’s home decor revolution and that is very exciting to me, even on a personal level,” Raghav adds.
A wearer of many hats
Like a true go-getter, he keeps pushing the envelope. Despite his busy schedule, he finds time for his other pursuits. He has an in-depth knowledge of the stock market and used to trade in cryptocurrencies. Interestingly, he even started the UCLA Bruin Crypto Club. In his leisure time, he loves to play chess and poker. Going on adventurous trips is one of the many things he is passionate about. A Sunday well-spent for him could mean honing his mixology skills or cooking a sumptuous meal for family and friends or simply reading some poetry.
He feels a deep sense of responsibility towards society and actively participates in fundraising initiatives as well as cleanliness and plantation drives. He regularly visits slums to help the needy.
Raghav is someone who aims to leave the world place than he found it, taking one step at a time.