Kolkata: After spending over 30 years in advertising, Arvind Sharma, ex-chairman and CEO for Indian subcontinent at Leo Burnett, has turned entrepreneur, with an ecommerce venture for exquisite Indian saris and fabrics.
Sharma who quit Leo Burnett in October 2013, has launched Indiasarihouse.com along with Amit Gaur, general manager, accessories and global sourcing, at online retail firm Yepme.
“For the last three years I have been saying to myself that while advertising has been wonderful, I still have another 10 years of working life. And I have always been attracted to technology and innovation and e-commerce is a space which includes both and thus I am excited about the new venture,” Sharma said. Indiasarihouse.com was registered in May and the website went live a week ago.
“E-commerce is a broad space and there are some very successful ventures in the horizontal play. But I believe going forward it is the specialist ventures for specific categories that will have the bigger play,” Sharma said.
Currently his venture is sourcing saris directly from weavers from 20 centres across India. It is also in talks with several renowned Indian designers to adopt some of the weaving centres and modernise the designs. “Working out the supply chain took several months and we are trying to create a self-sustaining longterm channel that offers quality and integrity. So we will be giving a certificate of guarantee and details of the weave with every sari,” he said.
