I met Grace, the MIT alum I had met in Hubli, at SELCO’s main office in JP Nagar. I always enjoy visiting SELCO. We talked with some people from the SELCO Foundation, which is the arm of SELCO that supports Ujire’s SELCO Labs. I asked a lot of questions about after sales service, which I believe are going to be key to Essmart’s success. It seems too easy to flood the market with new products. After sales service is essential. You hear all these stories of products breaking within two to six months after purchase. What are some ways that Essmart can address this?
- Distribute high-quality products, even if they are more expensive.
- Distribute products with warrantees and facilitate the exchange/refund process.
- Offer insurance and service on all products.
I’m not sure if this is economical, but it’s something we need to do. We’re considering a few models to do it (an educational/training nonprofit arm?), but we still need to sit down and figure out all of the economics and financials. I’ve realized that I’m not as pro at Excel as I thought I was. There is much to learn, and hopefully next semester’s Sloan classes will help.