WhatsApp mobile application is the key mode of sales figure updates in Sangeetha mobiles. Amongst the never-ending green notifications from those WhatsApp groups, a busy Subhash Chandra, CEO of Sangeetha Mobiles, sits for an exclusive chat with SMEPost.com.

A company in the business of retailing mobile phones, smart phones and tablet devices with a turnover of 500 crores (USD 100000000), seven million happy customers and 70,000 more that join the family every month, Sangeetha Mobiles is India’s first registered mobile retailer. This however is just the tip of the iceberg.

“Our family was into business for a long time. We initially sold gramophones, then cassettes and then we were a pure-play home appliances seller. The mobility impressed me and for a short-span we were in the pager space. However, with the invent of reverting facility in mobile phone those days, when the brick-sized mobile phones came into picture, we wanted to do in an organized way. Thus we wrote the alphabets for retailing of mobile phones in India”, Chandra says.

He says it was a challenge in the initial days to bring awareness among people on organized retailing for a product which was then sold only through grey market or bought only abroad.

“We have always been in the forefront for anything. For example, we were the first to introduce insurance for mobile phones. Insurance, a word people think money never comes back. However, we signed with an MNC that provides insurance only for mobile phones in London”, he says.

Chandra recalls an incident where a businessman lost his fully-insured factory out of a calamity. In the accident, the customer had lost his mobile phone.

“I could not express in words the amount of happiness he had once he received a call from us and we he returned his money within 48 hours of claim”, he says and further adds that the key motto of the organization is customer service at the best.

“People say customer is king. However, with the variety of purchase option today, I will rephrase, ‘Customer is the emperor’”, he adds.

Tough times:

Even though Chandra did not have cake-walk all the way in his life, the biggest challenge, according to him was when the customer patterns changed.

“The unethical e-shopping sale hit the numbers of all the retailers like me. However, we need to change according to the market trends. We keep changing the way the organization functions. We brought thrilling insurance, warranty and in some cases of insurances, we do not even claim FIR from customer”, he says.

ShopNo47:

ShopNo47.com is the e-tail wing of Sangeetha mobiles. The idea is to deliver within 47 minutes, any mobile purchased through the portal. The project is on beta stage and Sangeetha is betting big in this space.

Pioneer in insuring mobile phones and servicing phones by picking them up and delivering them at doorsteps Sangeetha has a new business model of inviting Franchisees and Business associates to reach out to consumers in every nook and corner of the country.

“We have two plans right now- going public and inviting investors for our company. We are open for investments both from agencies and Venture capitalists. Also, we are planning to tie up with many stores in the remotest places of the country to ensure our delivery challenge”, Chandra concludes.

Sangeetha Mobiles is a people driven organization since 1974 with a strong team of 800 employees today and a belief in ‘Customers Are Really Everything’.

On the soft life, Subash Chandra is an avid blogger. Besides working for more than 12 hours a day, he finds pleasure time in his gadgets. He finds his succession plan with his son who had already started stepping into business as third generation entrepreneur.