In Vasai, Maharashtra, a home furnishing business is thriving in both the offline and e-commerce space, a culmination of two generations of entrepreneurial dreams. Now helmed by Hardik Goyal, a young man of 24, this family business is a legacy woven from the threads of his father’s grit.

Thirty-five years ago, in a humble home, his father, barely out of his teens at 20, laid down roots for this venture. Back then, home linen didn’t enjoy much focus in India, and the market was flooded with limited options for cotton pillows. But Hardik’s father saw an opportunity and started the business by hand-stitching the first hundred linen and fiber pillows himself.

A whole generation later, Hardik, who always dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur, had his fair share of struggles. He dropped out of his MBA course to follow his startup dreams, but scaled back the venture because of scarce funding. Three startups later, each a lifetime of learning, he went back to his roots and joined the family business.

Recognizing the potential of e-commerce, Hardik strived to build a blossoming business, which today has a revenue of ₹40 Crores. Hardik now plans to further expand the business, aiming for ₹100 Crores in revenue in 3 years. Here’s his story in his own words.

Building on a Legacy

When my father started the linen and fiber pillow business in the late 80s, the market was nearly non-existent in India. Carving a niche took time. I remember, during my childhood, I hardly saw him. Each morning, he would leave with a bag of demo products, catching a train to meet prospective clients. It became a familiar sight. We barely had quality time together but all his relentless effort paid off. Over the years, my father built a thriving business that now caters to some of the biggest names in the country.

My journey wasn’t as straightforward as my father’s. With my friend, I worked on three different start ups – hoping to build the next unicorn. But we couldn’t scale as expected. Regardless of the outcome, I gained invaluable insights – especially what not to do when running an online business. And when I finally turned to my father’s business, those lessons became my biggest advantage in scaling it to new heights.

I joined my father four years ago when I was 20 – the same age my father was when he started the business. Back then, we used to do white labeling for bigger brands. Basically, we took care of the entire procurement and manufacturing process, and got into memory foam pillows, bedsheets, bed runners and more. But instead of putting up our own brand name, our products had the name of brands that sourced from us.

I didn’t want to continue white labeling – I wanted to build our own brand. I saw younger brands sourcing from us and reaching new heights and I kept asking myself, “If we can help them grow, why can’t we grow ourselves?” Around this time e-commerce was booming, with new brands emerging rapidly. That’s when I decided to take the leap and listed our first product on Flipkart in 2021.

Embracing E-commerce with Flipkart

My father works with supermarkets, the railways, and mattress companies, handling bulk orders in the thousands. To him, supplying just a pillow or two never made sense – nor did the need for ads, photography and videography of products – which are essential in e-commerce.

But I knew the scope of going online. My journey started with Flipkart. All we needed was a GSTIN, so that made entry easier. In fact, starting out with Flipkart was more seamless than I expected. The Seller Hub made it simple to get guidance about listings, images or videos uploads whenever we needed. No matter the queries, the Flipkart team was always ready to assist.

At first, my father was completely against it. I covered the costs of photography, videography and running the online business from what I had earned from my previous ventures. Looking at the market, I introduced new product lines, such as neck pillows, back pillows, seat cushions and even gaming pillows.

Bringing Success Home

As it happened, I didn’t have a promising start when I took the business onboard on e-commerce. After I listed a few products, I got just one order in the first month. While we made some progress in the second month, it wasn’t encouraging. But I didn’t lose hope.

I knew we were doing something wrong. I knew it wasn’t the platform, and it wasn’t sales as other brands were selling well. So, I focused on making small but crucial improvements. We upgraded from basic product images to infographics, and eventually to high-quality visuals with models. Each step made a difference.

I realized every detail mattered so I started putting more effort into our listings. We improved our ads, and ensured smooth transit and delivery of the products. Today, we have successfully scaled online orders to about 150-200 a day.

Flipkart’s Big Billion Days sale is one of the biggest opportunities – it brings in as much revenue in just a week as we typically earn in a month. Our online sales reached ₹20 Crores in revenue last year – mirroring the success of our offline venture, which clocked another ₹20 Crores.

Looking ahead, we are planning to introduce new product lines with tech-driven products like heated cushions or maybe even musical pillows. We will be focusing on our online brand and desire to grow it into a company with a revenue of ₹100 Crores in the next three years.

I don’t want our brand to just be about numbers, I also want it to be about creating opportunities in India. Today, we employ over 150 people and women make up 40% of our team. I was inspired by a brand that featured the names of women who wove their blankets in their labels. It made me realize the immense potential of women in India’s workforce. After the pandemic, many women were really in need of work, and that’s when I made hiring them a priority. From tailoring to quality management and packaging, most of the operations at our unit are now handled by women.

Everything I have done has been to take my father’s hard work to new heights. He spent years building this business from ground up and today, I have been able to scale it beyond what we once imagined. But more than the growth, the greatest reward for me has been making my parents proud while giving back to them in a meaningful way.