Chumbak mentioned in Facebook’s ‘thank you’ note

New Delhi: As social networking site Facebook Inc. reached the two million advertiser milestone on Wednesday, Indian online retailer Chumbak.com was among the few that got a mention in the ‘thank you’ note circulated by founder Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg on the occasion.

add_main_imageFounded in 2010, Chumbak sells souvenirs, travel and tech accessories, jewellery and apparel, all of which are inspired by everyday Indian sights and experiences. Their Facebook page has 350,000 followers and the site gets 300,000-500,000 monthly unique visitors in a month, said Vivek Prabhakar, founder and chief executive, Chumbak Design Pvt. Ltd.

“There are now more than two million active advertisers on Facebook, and we have just two words to say to each one of you: thank you. This is a moment to celebrate all the incredible entrepreneurs like you who are creating value for their communities… Shubhra and Vivek, married Indian entrepreneurs who sold their house to raise the money to start Chumbak, an accessories company that now employs more than 150 people... And there are more than two million other inspiring stories of people working to grow their businesses. You’re creating jobs, sharing new ideas and inspiring all of us to dream big,” said the note published on the Facebook for business page.NextMAds

As a small start-up, Chumbak needed a cost-effective way to get the word out about its products, build a community of people supportive of the brand and introduce products and solicit ideas for new items.

“I’ve felt strongly about social media since the beginning. We started in March 2010 and our Facebook page was ready a month of two before that. From day one, we wanted to build our brand as one which creates a conversation with consumers and no one gives the reach that Facebook does,” said Prabhakar.

The online retail start-up spends an estimated ₹ 15-20 lakh on Facebook per year to run ads via promoted posts, ads in the News Feed section as well as mobile ads. According to data from Facebook, Chumbak generates 35% of its online revenue via Facebook; 38% of its website traffic comes from the site, too.

“We only have a digital marketing budget, a majority of it is spent on Facebook while the rest is spent on advertising on Google using ad words, display and search ads. We also do a lot of video stuff on Instagram owing to the nature of our products,” said Prabhakar.

Start-ups and Facebook seem to have a happy synergy, as the platform provides the maximum targeted reach across media, say digital media experts.

“It’s the best way to acquire new consumers and Facebook also has the highest level of targeting possible across all media,” said Praseed Prasad, national director (digital trading) GroupM, a media buying agency part of WPP, a media conglomerate.sixthMAds

Prasad added that online retailers like Myntra and Jabong have spent huge amounts of money on the platform for customer acquisition in their initial growth stages.

According to GroupM data, digital media has been growing at an average rate of 35% over the last two years. This year within digital media video, mobile and social will be the biggest growth drivers, the agency’s report said. GroupM’s annual report stated that digital media ad revenue is expected to grow 37% to ₹ 4,661 crore in 2015.

Chumbak has till date raised funds twice: one via a seed fund at the end of 2012, the other via Matrix Partners in May 2014.

Bengaluru-based Prabhakar sold his house for the initial investment of ₹ 40-45 lakh in his venture.

“We are working on understanding the consumer at a deeper level internally. Once that is done we will get into more targeted advertising and increase spending as well,” explained Prabhakar.

Chumbak, Hindi for “magnet”, designs and retails fridge magnets, keychains, T-shirts, coffee mugs, phone cases and many other products with colourful and witty India-themed graphics.