Not long before celebrating the 40th anniversary of Nazrana Chikan, the clothing retail and manufacturing business he owns with his brothers Dilip, Mohnish Khairajani made the decision to shift his business to digital, changing nearly everything about how he runs the company.
Up until then, all sales were conducted through Nazrana Chikan’s four stores in Lucknow and Chandigarh. Business operations were traditional, much like the product line itself, which features intricate Chikankari needlework designs. Since its founding in 1981, Nazrana Chikan had grown to provide jobs for thousands of people, including its own employees and the large network of artisans involved in the manufacturing process.
COVID was a huge setback for the business. The stores shut due to the lockdown, leaving both the retail and wholesale units with no sales during peak season. Production was severely impacted, and ready stock went to waste due to safety concerns. Facing a near financial collapse, Mohnish decided to sell one of the stores to pay everyone 50% of their salaries, just so they could sustain themselves.
But Mohnish also saw the pandemic as a chance to start anew.
In March 2020, he shifted Nazrana Chikan’s focus to selling online, upgrading its display-only website into an e-commerce site. He began using Google Workspace to help with digitizing inventory, connecting with wholesalers remotely, and hosting internal meetings. He also saw immediate results from Google Ads, including a 300% increase in traffic to the website and a 200% increase in sales.
“Without digital tools, our business would have been stagnant and we would have missed out on a lot of opportunities.” says Mohnish.
After all of the concerted efforts to digitally transform Nazrana Chikan, the business eventually recovered from the losses it incurred and has a bigger reach than ever. Mohnish is hopeful that he can continue to evolve the business and build valuable relationships with the help of digital.
“In the past 40 years, our customer-centric approach has been our biggest strength,” says Mohnish. “Now, we would like to replicate the same level of service in the online space.”
