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Story of BedEasy
Story of BedEasy

BedEasy is an E-Commerce business selling elastic fitted bedsheets from local manufacturers. As part of this business, we developed a website, established the supply chain, and built the GTM & sales strategy for spreading brand awareness and purchase inducement. We generated revenue of INR 80K+ through social media marketing channels, within a month of launch. The brand aims to provide you with a convenient, comfortable, and affordable bedding experience, through our fitted elastic bedsheets. We are not operational currently, but starting this business from scratch gave us hands-on experience and a lot of learnings!

Getting Together

We were just a bunch of friends, just started our MBA journeys, and were dreaming about starting something of our own from scratch. None of us had any experience in doing own business, and still we managed to pull it off, all together!

The team formation was carefully planned and thought out. All of us were aware of the basic skill sets each member brought to the table. Two of us knew each other from meetups before, three of us were in the same class and some of us were a part of the same team during the onboarding activities. We connected easily and were able to align our thoughts from the beginning. Surprisingly enough, we formed an all Maharashtrian team!

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Deciding the product

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This was the first and the most important decision of our drop shipping project. All of us came up with a couple of ideas like apparels, curtains, rugs, doormats, bedsheets, home decor etc. We were keen on finding a utility product that was a “need” and not a “desire” for an individual, so that we could target a larger customer base. A product that would be present in every household could be easily sold and would have a higher demand. However, at the same time, we also focussed on getting a niche product. We aimed to find the right need combined with a unique offering that would give the product an ultra edge.

While selecting the product, we made a conscious decision to avoid products that could lead to any potential issues or complaints in any domain, specially related to sizing, since that is often difficult to determine and could potentially be wrongly ordered, as that would trigger a return request which would hamper the brand as well as increase the costs. Our considerations were therefore limited to curtains, rugs, doormats and bedsheets. Sitting together, pondering over the products of our consideration set, one of us started fixing the crumpled bedsheet and tucking in the edges of the sheet, when it actually struck one of us! Looking for an edge in these products, we came up with an idea of fitted elastic bed sheets. We researched about the product in depth and realized that it was not very well known in the market and it fitted our criteria very well. Fitted elastic bedsheets were different from the traditional bedsheets and had multiple advantages.

Fabric

There are various fabric options available and the material is mostly thick due to the attached stitched elastic

There are various fabric options available and the material is mostly thin

Function

To protect the mattress and add a soft even layer on the bed

To protect the duvet

Usage

Bottom sheet

Top sheet and bottom sheet

Aesthetics

Gives a polished, seamless and premium look to the bed

Gives a normal look

Size

Can be customized to user needs

Generally available in standard sizes

Advantage

Do not move or come off from the bedding, easily changeable, gives a hasslefree-smooth experience

Protects the underneath mattress

Disadvantage

Difficult to fold and takes up a little more space during storage

It gets wrinkles, crumbles, and comes off the bedding during slumber

There are no rows in this table

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Why did we go ahead with fitted elastic bedsheets?

Bedsheet is a utility product present in all households, which makes a larger customer base.

It is a niche product and new to the market.

It has minimal issues which might trigger a replacement/return order.

It had multiple advantages; hassle-free experience, aesthetically pleasing and a potential to replace the traditional bedsheet need.

We were comfortable and confident with this product, gauging a massive need for it in the hostel.

Going About The Process To Kickstart

Next, we sat down with an agenda to lay out the plan for the entire project. We made sure to set targets for ourselves to ensure the smooth functioning. Since we were still in an initial phase of the project, we kept buffers wherever necessary. Some ground rules were also set :

All meets will have a predefined agenda

Everyone will make sure to be on time for the meet

Revenue and costs will be equally split

Roles and responsibilities will be shared and switched as per requirements

We also reached out to a couple of our seniors to discuss the process, expectations and outcomes of the project. We had a detailed discussion on the process of looking for a suitable vendor, the available options to host our website and the strategies to market and promote our product. They also shared their experiences and learnings and highlighted a few pitfalls. Some suggestions we got from them were :

To possibly cover more products : (related to bedsheets) like quilts and topsheets.

Have multiple vendors : instead of relying on just one. This would allow more variety, designs and patterns and would extend product lines to cater to each and every customer’s needs.

To finalize the vendor on priority : This was one of the critical parts of the project and would consume the most amount of time to convince vendors and make them understand the process. They suggested to work in parallel and finalize the vendor on high priority.

Narrowing The Product Category

Once we finalised the bedsheet as our product, there were a variety of options available in the market. Bedsheets were available in different quality fabrics like glace cotton, microfibre, polycotton, pure cotton etc., had varying thread counts, range of prints and patterns, and type of elastic. We were advised to not go for everything, start with a few categories, analyze the response and then further expand to new ones. In the process of shortlisting, we decided to stick to a wider price range and limit the SKUs under each category. We finally came up with a total of 41 SKUs and 5 product categories namely, glace cotton : single and double, premium cotton solids : single and double and premium glory cotton : double. These categories of bedsheet exactly suited the target market we were tapping and there was untapped potential in this segment.

Branding

Branding is the perpetual process of identifying, creating, and managing the cumulative assets and actions that shape the perception of a brand in stakeholders’ minds. Our goal was to make our customers life easier and convenient, by providing a hassle-free bedding experience, and we wanted that to reflect in our branding.

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Brand Name - Once the product was finalized, we started looking for a suitable brand name for our business. We wanted our brand name to be easily recognizable, meaningful and appealing. And that’s how we came up with our brand name “BedEasy”.

Brand Tagline - To instill the trust about the brand and to show our customers that we care for them, we came up with our tagline “Your Sleep Matters”.

Color Palette - We selected few colors which can go with our brand identity. This color palette we used in all our creative contents to maintain the consistency across all platforms.

Brand Logo - The brand logo includes brand name and tagline, along with a creative graphics as shown in the image above. There are few logo variants created, to be used on different colored backgrounds.

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Other logo ideas created before finalizing, are as below.

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The Website

We developed a website as a primary channel for sales. The website currently hosts around 41 SKUs across 5 product categories. We strive to increase the categories and SKUs in near future.

For the creation of the website, we explored various platform options where we can create an online store. Some of these options are as below:

Shopify

Dukaan

Amazon FBA

WIX

WordPress + Woo Commerce

Finally, based on various parameters like usability, affordability, and necessary features availability, we decided to go ahead with the Dukaan platform.

Along with the normal functioning of an e-commerce site like showing categories, product detail pages, shopping cart, payment methods, etc., we also included some additional features like direct whatsapp chat support, email subscription form to collect user data, etc. As part of the digital marketing, we are also in process of doing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for our website so that it can easily appear on top of the google search results.

For the payments part, we had options to integrate Razorpay or Dukaan Pay. After analyzing the pros and cons of these options, we finalized to integrate Dukaan Pay, as it was charging less transaction fees.

We are really proud that we were able to create a fully functional website in a very short period of time.

Website details:

Domain name:

bedeasy.co.in⁠

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Platform: Dukaan

Payment Channels: Dukaan Pay (Includes Cards, UPI), Cash

Below are some glimpses of our website.

Homepage:

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Product Categories and Product Grid:

We wanted to cater to all possible customer segments, keeping this in mind, we introduced 5 product categories, which ranged from Rs 499 per piece to Rs 1299 per piece, depending on the quality of the cloth. Having a wide price range helped us reach out to the customers with premium as well as traditionally priced bedsheets.

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Product Details Page:

We wanted to make sure that the website provides a complete description of every product from size, dimensions, colour, weight, cloth to pattern, wash care etc. Hence, we spent a good amount of time in making sure that everything that could possibly come to a consumer’s mind while purchasing the product was addressed very clearly on the website. This led to a very comprehensive and detailed product description for all our SKUs hosted on the website.

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Shopping Cart View:

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Managing The Supply Chain

Procurement (Vendor Management):

Our topmost priority was to find a local vendor, so as to personally validate the quality of the product; verify the prints, fabrics, elastic, and fitting of the bed sheets along with the packaging of the parcel. We started off looking for vendors on websites like IndiaMart, Tradeindia, and Exportersindia and speaking to them trying to understand their business and connect with them for our requirements. We tried to connect with some vendors through Instagram as well. We went scanning through the markets of Chandni Chowk and Paschim Vihar in Delhi, in the hope that we will be better positioned to explain and convince the vendors in person and help them understand the entire process.

Challenges:

Wholesalers and retailers wanted us to keep inventory and did not agree to sell order-by-order bed sheets.

Vendors were not able to comprehend our ideas and the business model.

Vendors outside Delhi could not be verified

Retailers had overly priced products, which left little scope for profits after considering the logistics of delivery cost.

Inventory status tracking : Since our product fell in the category of FMCG, the inventory tracking was extremely critical. This needed us to be in continuous touch with the vendors and many were not interested in providing this support.

Order tracking : Every order needed a tracking ID and the brand label for which the vendors had to add a step to their packaging process to include these two. None of them were agreeing to take this extra effort.

Credibility of our work : Since we are all students, many had their doubts on our credibility. They made multiple assumptions as soon as we said the word “students”. Many discontinued and refused to carry the conversation ahead, many thought of this as just a gimmick and we could not handle the business properly and many did not want to invest their efforts in an unknown territory as they were not exposed to this.

Many vendors did not want to go online as they were content with their offline sales.

Fighting through all these challenges, we got in touch with more than 10 vendors across India through the mentioned channels. We visited some of these potential vendors and saw the manufacturing process step by step. Ultimately, we finalized 3 vendors namely Saggis (from Delhi), Rishaan Bedding (from Panipat), and Kamal (from Panipat). To validate the complete order delivery flow, we ordered samples from all these vendors. After checking the product quality and delivery quality, we discontinued 2 of these vendors, due to quality issues. We were very clear about providing good quality and better experience to our customers, and that’s the reason why we took this decision, even though we have to take a cut on our margins. In the process we also learned about vendor evaluation and vendor management.

Logistics (Delivery Management):

For delivering the order to customers, we had 2 major options as shown below:

Dukaan Delivery (Dukaan had partnered with multiple delivery partners like Delhivery, Bluedart, etc.)

Direct Delivery by Vendor

For most of the deliveries we asked our vendor to directly deliver the orders to our customers. We are following the pure dropshipping model, with no inventory. As we wanted the complete customer experience to be seamless and engaging, we were constantly updating them at various stages of the delivery process, by sending messages through Dukaan platform. Before having an order placed via the website by a customer, we wanted to go through the process ourselves to ensure smooth functioning of everything from user experience to placing an order, making the payment and confirming the order, tracking the order status and confirmation on delivery.

Marketing

For creating awareness about our brand, product, and for purchase inducement, we majorly used 4 channels as shown below:

1. Website

Website is our primary channel for sales. We also ran some promotional campaigns on the website in form of discounts and special coupon codes.

Some insights from our website:

No. of Store Visits = 1100+

No. of Product Views = 450+

No. of Active SKUs = 41

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2. Instagram

Much before we were live with our website, we kept the audiences engaged, posting on Instagram and making a presence on social media online.

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We are using Instagram majorly to spread awareness about the brand. We planned our Instagram content strategy beforehand to make a consistent and structured grid, and also executed the same. For impactful marketing, we also created various videos and reels, as part of our marketing campaign. We were also regularly updating the stories about our posts, reels, customer reviews, etc. We planned our marketing strategies very well and timed all the posts and reels. The content of every post was creatively designed and executed. We have been highly appreciated for the enticing reels, creative posts and nice products published on Instagram. Below are links for some of our video campaigns:

Video 1:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cge0zGfgDJ7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link⁠

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Video 2:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChKgYVMgK8Z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link⁠

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Below are some insights from our Instagram page:

No. of Posts : 32

No. of Stories : 17

Accounts reached : 4,097

Accounts engaged : 107

The reach which we achieved is completely organic, as we haven’t run any paid promotions as of now.

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3. WhatsApp Business Account

We set up a whatsapp business account to run some whatsapp messaging campaigns. We were sending personalized messages to our customers and potential customers, at different stages of the purchase cycle. This is mainly to provide a better user experience.

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4. In-Person & Mini Mela

A lot of our orders came through the in-person marketing and Mini Mela organized at Masters’ Union hostel. We received around 27 customer interests, and we were able to convert almost 85% of them later.

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The first sale

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The dropshipping mela made us begin with a bang. We were delighted with the kind of responses we were getting and there was no looking back post that! We sent out personalized messages to all our first customers and personally delivered all our orders at the doorstep to build customer connect.

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Boosting sales

We used personalized messages on Whatsapp and broadcasted messages for all recent offers on the website. We were able to cater to customers from Pune, Mumbai and Delhi NCR as well. We were very happy to have returning customers for multiple orders, got good feedback from multiple customers and they had a seamless experience ordering from BedEasy. Moreover, they were very happy with the product which was of great value to all of us. The happy faces and glimpses of happy customers were rewarding for all of us.

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Our Journey in a Glimpse

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Our Learnings

Our 2 key takeaways from the journey so far,

Importance of management : Connecting with the vendor on an everyday basis to take inventory status updates, discuss products out of stock and order dispatch status, following up with the potential customers and managing the project with all our assignments, projects and quizzes. One major learning, which all of us are proud of, is the art of management.

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Team collaboration : In the journey so far, we all believe that it does not take a skilled team to be successful, all we need is trust, understanding, passion towards our common goal, the art of working together along with a desire to learn and everything can be achieved.

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Conclusion

All of us had a great experience working on a project of such a scale. It was an ultimate learning and exploring experience. We all greatly value and understand the importance of managing a business now. The journey of BedEasy has been a great one and we are not ready to put a full stop to it yet. We thrive to sustain and provide value and experience to our customers and hope to scale up our operations. We are nothing but immensely proud of what we have been able to achieve in a month. What seemed impossible 1.5 months ago is now a reality, the one we would continue to scale in the future. We would like to thank Master’s Union for presenting us with this opportunity and are extremely grateful for all the support and assistance from our professors, seniors, friends and family.

Blog by Team BedEasy

Prathamesh Bawkar

Tejas Kulkarni

Rushabh Shah

Kriti Sharma

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