By Happily Unmarried established back in 2003 is known for their viewy products; is a commodity brand from India. Now based in Okhla, Delhi, it was founded by Rahul Anand and Rajat Tuli, both alumni of Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad. Happily Unmarried collaborates with many designers and artisans from across the country to link traditional skills and modern design to produce a host of lifestyle products and everyday household goods.
What will you find in this Article?
-
About Happily Unmarried Founders
-
Struggles & Success Story
-
You Order We Dance! – First success
-
Marketing and Promotions Tactics
-
Interview with BBC
About Happily Unmarried Founders
Rahul Anand was a young professional post-graduated from the prestigious Mudra Institute of Ahmedabad. Rahul was working as a marketing manager for an IT company. He had not been given his salary for almost six months. His friend Rajat Tuli and he himself were working for a loss-making firm in Hyderabad for nearly two months, and then were moved to its Mumbai branch, and then to Delhi.
Rajat Tuli, cofounder of Happily Unmarried | Via
Working without salary in a loss-making company left both of them with no money in their pocket, and for the next eight months, they were left with no money. What they had with them was just a company-owned laptop. After few months, the business went belly-up, and the mates were in great difficulty of what to do next.
Although they were to discover their next job, but they picked to start their profession as an entrepreneur. It was really a very difficult choice for both of them as their parents were against this entrepreneurship origin and thus they both had nothing to invest in their startup plan.
Struggles and Success Story
The only thing they had was the business owned laptop which Rahul can sell and manage to arrange money. Rahul, however, succeeded to convince his ex-girlfriend’s dad to buy his laptop and then sold it for INR 50,000. This was like a life for their startup idea.
The pair then started their entrepreneur career in the year 2003 with Happily Unmarried which began its operation from the rented room of Rahul in Malviya Nagar, Delhi. The motto of their company was to offer all the services to the singles in the city. Offerings included accommodation, furniture, curtains, rugs and everything that a single man needs in a new town.
Rajat Tuli, old days click | Via
It was an unfortunate start for them as the sector was unorganised and they had no money to hire a full-time employee. So the duo did most of the stuff by themselves. Later they chose to focus on product rather than offering services.
From conceptualizing a product and to selling them was their own task and it was really getting a tough task for Rahul. Thus Rahul once thought of quitting as an entrepreneur and again join a cushy job. But Rajat was mentally stronger than Rahul, and he convinced Rahul for not leaving his entrepreneur career.
Mukul Goyal, a designer, stood with them in their terrible time and worked on some designs and produced their first product from its Gurgaon unit. The business market was new and different for them, and not much people knew them, so they began with an idea and started visiting their mate’s office with their products.
During lunch time the conference places get turned into mini bazaars. To attract the consumers and be in the limelight, they kept their products funny, and it became the USP of the company.
Via: Happily Unmarried Website
In 2003 there were no malls and indeed no social media. So, the only thing that could work for them was “word of mouth”.
Happy Dance at Happily Unmarried – You Order We Dance!
The first success came for the brand when they got an order of corporate gifts for National Geographic Channel. This acted like a big break for the company and the capital earned from the order was used to improve the product range.
The brand has now an offering of several categories including garments, bags, stationery, mobile phone covers, home accessories and numerous other products.
Happily Unmarried Bar Glasses; Products’ Advertisement : Via
Now the brand Happily Unmarried is not an unfamiliar brand in the market. Although the company name is promoting themselves through all the free social media platforms, their customer base is growing day by day.
From a rented flat in Malviya Nagar, the company has now moved to its marvellous office at Okhla. With 11+ stores and a franchise store in Shillong, the company is moving steadily towards its expansion.
Marketing and Promotions Tactics
One of the remarkable ups at Happily Unmarried had been the addition of Jagdish Shivdasani as head of marketing. “The man Jagdish was someone with over 20 years of experience in marketing, and he had helped take jewellery brand, Nakshatra, from two to 100 stores,” says Rajat Tuli.
“He’s been telling us that there’s a 50 to 100 crore rupees opportunity that is waiting for us and we just need to get there.”
Working with and serving other cool brand names like Bacardi, Delhi Daredevils, and movies like Bombay Velvet, Shandaar, Phantom, Dil Dhadakne Do, NH10, the brand has received enormous popularity. Its Facebook fan following has reached to more than 6 lacs and still counting.
Twitter has witnessed more than 9000 followers due to its incredible campaigns and products. Recently they launched men’s grooming product kit ustra as well. The company is going amazing and proved right their struggles on this successful journey.
Interview with BBC
As part of a BBC column of entrepreneurs around the world, Rahul Anand and Rajat Tuli described how they used an idea about making products designed specifically for young, upwardly-mobile Indians into a growing business. You can watch the video interview here: My Business: Indian youth brand ‘Happily Unmarried’
Comments