Bollywood meets business: Celebs want to make a mark in startup world

Rohit Reddy with Tushar Jain

From Hollywood’s Ashton Kutcher to Bollywood’s Salman Khan, actors are not just investing in films and related business but are also trying their hand at new ventures.

Recently, Khan’s charitable trust Being Human, which has forayed into a clothing line, said it would launch a smartphone (under the brand name ‘Being Smart’).

Khan is not the only one making business moves. Actors Anita Hassanandani Reddy and Rannvijay Singh along with cricketer Jonty Rhodes recently started a new business journey with an online marketplace called ‘Bagtalk’.

The opportunity

The bags market is largely an unorganised segment. Even in the online market, the segment has gross merchandise value (GMV) of only about Rs 15 crore, divided between three to four players. This includes just bags and luggage, not handbags or wallets.

This means that the online business is just two to three percent of the entire bag market.

However, this doesn’t mean demand is less.

Investment banker-turned-entrepreneur Rohit Reddy says that there’s a reason why bags are minuscule business: “The inherent flaw with online marketplaces is how they work for bags.”

Just like clothes, customers prefer buying bags from stores where they hold their bag in hand and know how it actually looks.

How BagTalk is different

Bagtalk is high on imagery and tries to reduce the gap between the laptop screen and the actual product.

It also has a specialist working with the team: Tushar Jain, whose High Spirit Commercial Ventures (HSCV) is a leading manufacturer and exporter of designed school bags, business bags and more.

Jain’s company trades fabric from China and manufactures its own bags. Jain’s company has partnered with BagTalk and their brands like Priority and Traveled will be exclusively available on the platform.

Adding to the private label portfolio are celebrity bags. Cricket fans can check out bags designed by Rhodes. Star power will attract the other consumers.

The Buzzfeed of bags

Showcasing products to consumers is not enough: to hold their attention, companies have to engage with them.

Other than buying bags, users can also discover information on what kind of bags should be used for what occasion and earn reward points for engaging with content.

These points can be used for a purchase. Customers can also interact with the stars: Singh, Rhodes or Hassanandani are a Skype call away.

Reddy’s experience in the digital space pushes him to go an extra mile. Instagram is a place for sharing pictures but now users can even buy via the platform.

If you are checking out Anita Hassanandani’s page and you happen to like the bag she is carrying, all you have to do is swipe on the product's picture. The bag directly gets added to the Bagtalk cart.

Going ahead

The company has plans to launch four stores this year. These will be "experience studios", where the company assures its customers that what they see offline is what they get online.

Bagtalk is a bootstrapped venture. The company says it does not need funds for the next 18 months.