Things I learnt after 1 year of running a Meat delivery business in Dimapur
Hi fellow nagas,
I built a platform for delivering meat products online and have been running it for the last 1 year in Dimapur. Here are some things I have learnt and experienced along the way.
As a Naga living in Pune for the past 15 years, every time I come home, I feel a lack of services in Nagaland. The ones I miss most are services like Blinkit and Zepto. So putting together a team, we built one and here are some insights.
1- Market: Understanding the naga market has been half the battle. Most people want to look at the products, feel it with their hands and then buy. Selling meat, especially pork using a picture has been the toughest challenge.
2- Sourcing: Nobody wants to pay premium. Ensuring a pricing that matches the market rate was crucial. Which eventually means working on very thin margins.
3- Delivery: completing deliveries in Dimapur is a nightmare. Want a customer's address? They will tell you " Reach the pan shop, take 2 rights and stop when you see a big tree. 3 gates later is my address". Investing in a delivery team who knows Dimapur in and out was necessary.
4- Customers Response: I'm surprised that repeated customers and referrals became the biggest source of my growth. Trust seems to matter more than discounts.
5- Hard lesson learnt: Expecting customer to order online because it was easier was a huge blunder. I underestimated how important it was for my customer base to physically see the products.
Private sector in Nagaland is quite weak. Entrepreneurship still feels less common than Govt jobs. I feel that we Nagas have so much latent potential when it comes to running a business. I'm posting this with hopes that maybe it may encourage more naga entrepreneurs to build businesses locally.