The breakthroughs in information technology have deeply penetrated into our lives and the ways we sustain them. One such breakthrough is the transformation in markets – the places where buyers meet sellers. Buy and sell commodities and live: subsistence of mankind in a nutshell. Owing to the former, market, which up to a large extent, has now become intangible and is on our screens, is a place where buyers meet sellers and carry out transactions. Lately in the valley, there has been the introduction of online stores and multi-faceted markets to make the daily-life transactions convenient. One of such novel endeavours from Kashmir is a dynamic online bookstore that goes by the name of ‘Lalchowk Bookstore’. Though the number of such stores is considerably small, but there is a fierce competition and Lalchowk Bookstore, adhering to consumer friendly policies, is doing exceptionally well.
A group of five students, after completing their MCA from the University of Kashmir, opened an online shopping portal, which consisted of all the categories varying from fashion, groceries, books etc. However, after a couple of counseling sessions, they decided to stick to a particular category to focus their attention on a single thing and avoid chaos, therefore deriving more positive results.
The team, who are incidentally all 26 year olds, consists of Sheikh Usman, Asim Mehraj, Mubashir Bashir, Zubair Zahoor and Haseeb Ashai.
“Since we all are from the background of technology, we developed an app on our own in May 2017. We had around five thousand products at that particular time belonging to different categories. After a couple of months, we switched to only books as it became difficult to manage all the tasks. Around that time, we also launched our website for the ease of access. Rather than going out of the valley, we decided to stay back and do something for our hometown. Our startup is bootstrapped but we managed to generate revenue from it,” says Usman.
Lalchowk has a rating of 4.6 on the Google App Store and around five thousand downloads. When it comes to online business in Kashmir, the question haunting everyone is ‘what would happen if the internet services are shut down?’ This happens quite frequently in the valley owing to the unpredictable circumstances. To tackle this situation, the teammates have come up with a great alternative.
“If there is no internet connection, simply log on to our website and the webpage will display a number on which you can call and place your order. It’s important to find different ways to continue with your endeavour even if the situation does not allow you to do so. We deliver during strikes also,” says Asim.
For Lalchowk, customer satisfaction is most important and this has helped them to retain customers who have repeatedly shopped from this portal. Going through a series of reviews, it becomes clear that the team has successfully been able to cater to their customers. A customer, Asiya Shah, writes, “Prompt response, fast delivery and having almost entire gamut of books one may need.”
Another feature that makes Lalchowk stand out of the crowd is its one-day delivery service. With a range of listings, the genres of books available at the store are academics, literature, fiction, non-fiction, Islamic books etc.
Recently, another feature was added to the store wherein people can shop for used books at relatively cheaper prices.
“Some people find it difficult to afford books, especially students preparing for competitive exams and that is why we have introduced this section of buying used books. Also, to help the budding authors from valley, we make sure to reserve special places for them and promote their content to the fullest. We do marketing for them from our end with no additional charges,” says Usman.
Giving employment to four people for delivering the orders, they also take interns to help them know about the various areas of digital world.
“Our main market is specifically Kashmir but we also take orders from outside Kashmir. There are special orders on books related to the history of Kashmir, so we try to deliver them through various means. There was this book called ‘Kaeshur Lugaat’ by Shafi Shauq which is a dictionary of Kashmiri language, and for that we got orders from outside India. We do our best to reach our customers and I think that has gotten us to where we are right now,” says Asim.
The team is divided into different sections to organise all the work efficiently. Zubair and Mubashir are dedicated for technology while Asim and Usman look after marketing and management with Haseeb managing all the finances.
The team strategically uses social media marketing to promote their content and puts special discounts on various occasions.
“We put special discounts if there is any occasion. For instance, we had put good discounts on Islamic books during the month of Ramadhan. A lot of offers are put forth and we provide discount on almost every book,” says Usman.