The world is progressing with a heartbeat, where sustainability and development is getting encouraged on a daily basis. Today, with the right mindset and direction, goals can be achieved, and growth can be generated. Interestingly, just a few years back we might think of the times when smartphones were not so interactive.
In a period of AI and Operating System assistants, we have come a long way. Likely, humanity has also learned to nourish such evolution with smart living and seamless lifestyle. Ecommerce has literally changed our life and we are able to save so much time.
A Brief History-
From home-grown brands like Flipkart to American giants like Amazon, every platform has their share of customers. From simple tech accessories to expensive smartphones, it feels as if we are walking through a diverse digital market.
With the passage of time, these ecommerce platforms matured as the consumers got access to a wide range of products. Business Outreach Magazine has never been more intrigued to meet a leader, who not only created one of the fastest Indian House of D2C brands, but also made it grow exponentially each year.
Santhosh Balasundaram started the company in just a corner office in a building in Chennai, back in 2017. In that 60 sq.ft area, Shadow Etail (formerly Shadow Securitronics) was created. We asked about the relevance of the name and to that Santhosh proudly expressed ‘Shadow’ to mean ‘Protect’. The first product by the company was ‘Commando and Shadow Warrior’ pepper spray and GPS watch trackers for women and children.
Struggles and Success Stories-
Time has been an unpredictable power for Santhosh, who faced a massive loss of more than Rs. 15 lakhs during the time of COVID-19 in 2020. Almost 2,000 orders that were already in transit were canceled in a matter of 15 days and destroyed. Recollecting those tough times only made Santhosh stronger. Shadow Etail generated a revenue of Rs. 10 crore last year and they are reportedly growing at 2X every year.
Under his leadership, employees were still paid full salaries along with rents paid for the next 6 months. The revenue massacre of 2020 allowed Santhosh to rebrand his company as ‘Shadow Etail’, where he launched the company’s proprietary marketplace along with multiple products indigenously developed by them.
The company also relocated their headquarters to Coimbatore in June, 2020. The company’s developed ‘Pulse Oximeter’ garnered a lot of praise from the customers during the times of COVID. Shadow Etail sold more than 10,000 Pulse Oximeters along with several other medical equipment.
Key Takeaways-
Serving more than 500,000 customers with over 20 successful brands under its portfolio like Tom Cat; being an innovative rat-repellent car spray, Happy Nights; a reported chemical (DEET) free flavored mosquito repellant, Happy Hippo; pet care products, Gecko – Household kitchen sprays & repellents, Royal Heritage; chemical free wellness products, Hola Cosmetics; a chemical free skin and hair brand, latest is Mama Quilla – a premium herbal bio-degradable, plastic free sanitary pads made from Hibiscus plant and helps women achieve guilt free periods and 100% of profits from the brand go to charities for women empowerment. Shadow Etail is now one of the top 10 sellers on Amazon.
Our goal is to make Shadow Etail a socially inclusive company and that can be seen by how the company operates a community pharmacy at no profit for the people of Coimbatore, Tamil Nādu. More than 10,000 customers have benefited.
Shadow Etail’s products can be ordered on www.shadowetail.com along with other online platforms like Amazon, Jio Mart, Flipkart, Meesho and Big Basket. Santhosh whole-heartedly invites distributors and retailers to collaborate with Shadow Etail and join on this socially inclusive journey of development.
