“Whenever we consider a key business decision, we ask ourselves, what will a Maharani do?” says Tanishka Kapoor, Founder at Maharani. Headquartered in Bengaluru, Maharani is an online ethnic women only store. It is a one-stop online shop for ethnic clothing, footwear, jewellery and other accessories.

Maharani is a brainchild of Tanishka and is inspired by the royal history of the wonderfully poised and strong ‘maharanis’ across India's rich cultural heritage. This inspiration became the driving force behind building this brand, with a vision to bring out the maharani in every woman across india.

With Maharani online store, Tanishka wishes to make every woman feel like a Maharani. To know more about her & Maharani, kindly peruse the exclusive conversation between Tanishka & Women Entrepreneur India.

Take Us Through The Journey That Led To Maharani?

The foundation of Maharani began 3 to 4 years ago. I have always loved fashion, especially Indian wear. While I was in my final year in College, I wanted to do something of my own. So when I was in the 3rd year, I hired a workplace and would spend hours there to research and understand how I can build something of my own. I knew I wanted to do something with fashion and further explore the same through an online company of my own. That’s when, one day, sitting in that workspace, the idea came through, to create an online ethnic clothing store, an all-inclusive platform that showcases the products of women entrepreneurs in India. So once I completed college, I brought the platform live.

“Whenever we consider a key business decision, we ask ourselves, what will a maharani do?”

However, the first two years were difficult. We faced many challenges especially when it came to gaining trust from customers. Our sales were zero until recently, but I trusted and believed in Maharani, and today we are at a better place, hoping to expand and grow globally.

The Indian Fashion Retail Industry Has Been Growing Rapidly, Especially With The D2c Trend Picking Up Massively. How Big Is The Said Market Currently And What Opportunities Do You Foresee For New Age Brands Such As Maharani In The Market?

The whole ecommerce platform over the past years has boomed, especially during Covid. The online market has experienced exponential growth in the past few decades. Maharani was also able to leverage this growth. We experienced a lot of orders from customers globally during the pandemic and we continue to grow. Honestly, before Covid, the growth was zero, however with everyone online now, it has changed. I believe people are more comfortable online and more at ease with online shopping, we have leveraged the same. The ecommerce market is scaling new heights and there is definitely a lot of potential for everything ‘online’ going forth.

What Are Some Unique Features About These Products That Make Them Different And Unique In The Market?

We are an all women ethnic online store. Most of the products on the platform are from women entrepreneurs. We focus on everything equally to ensure unmatched quality, from design, procurement, advertisement to delivery worldwide. Even during the pandemic we managed to meet our customers' deadlines globally. Due to Covid, there was a shortage of staff but we did not stop, and we continued to deliver and work round the clock to ensure customer’s needs were met.

One of the interesting features about us is that we personally try to connect to each of our customers so we understand if we can deliver to them a product as per their liking. We also sell clothing materials and offer customizing services as well. So, it's not just click and buy, you can click, customise and buy with us. We want to ensure that we are able to meet the unique taste of each client.

Each customer of ours is important and we cater to them like each of them are Maharanis. If the customer trusted us we have to cater to her the same way we would cater to a queen.

What Are The Different Avenues That Maharani Utilizes To Reach Its Consumers? Give Us A Glimpse Of Your Clientele.

We are actually present on every social media platform, be it, instagram, pinterest, snapchat, facebook, twitter, and more. This, because we want to get connected as close as we can to every possible customer. Social media today can either break or make you so it's important to leverage the best of the same.

Our clients vary from a young teenager to a woman in her 70’s, globally. Age is not a barrier at Maharani. Every young woman, young or old needs to feel like a Maharani. Also, every product has been affordably priced and we ensure the customer gets what they see on the platform.

How Has Maharani’s Growth Journey Been So Far? What Is The Roadmap Ahead For The Brand?

I want Maharani to be a global brand. I have always wanted it to be recognized internationally because I want the ethnicities and traditions of India recognized globally through a concept of all women working together on a platform. As far as the roadmap is concerned, we are currently closing some paperwork to bring in more brands on the platform. These are brands who have good capabilities but cannot showcase their product because they do not have a platform.