Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Karishma Ruia: Me and Ashumi (Co-founder) both were working at a Retail company initially , we decided to branch out and follow our passion and start a blog about Travelling , Eating and Shopping and that was where Eat Travel Splurge was born. After a couple of months we realised we needed to add another element to the business and that's when we started our stationery line (because who isn't obsessed with stationery) and that's how a blog started its transition to a lifestyle brand.
Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Eat Travel Splurge
Karishma Ruia: We provide an array of products ranging from trinket dishes to gratitude daily planners. We also do a lot of customised products for gifting like laptop sleeves , mask pouches and cosmetic pouches.
Great Companies: What makes Eat Travel Splurge different from hundreds of other E-commerce & Retail Firms ?
Karishma Ruia:
From day one we have always curated or manufactured products which me and my co-founder both would like to own personally. So when it comes to quality or design we would never compromise that for the cost factor which today's Ecommerce spaces thrive on.
Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face?
Karishma Ruia: As a small business struggles and challenges are a part of the whole journey , luckily we have been able to survive storms and make it to the other side. Covid-19 wasn't kind to any business and we had to face a point where for 6 months we had not a single sale and vendors had to be paid , GST and had to be filed etc. Once we finally started picking up on sales our Instagram account was hacked for two months. This has been last year , but as we always say onwards and upwards.
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Eat Travel Splurge?
Karishma Ruia: We are planning to diversify our product line and trying to locally manufacture most of our products. The next 5 years we would like to start retailing in couple of stores across India, collaborations with like minded brands and also start exporting a few of our products worldwide.
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Karishma Ruia: Enjoy the win, learn from the losses and always have a plan B when it comes to tackling any obstacles in the business.