Klip: A Startup attempting to make Shopping a Personal Affair!

The philosophy behind Klip is that shopping is a social activity and shopping is not just about buying. Klip is therefore an ecommerce site that gives you a broader online shopping experience beyond just a transaction. On Klip you can create collections of Klipboards, join product based groups, connect with other users and buy products.

Klip is a product from Smursh Media, a firm started by Harsh Gadia and Maneesh Madambath. Smursh operates a digital advertising agency and a web video production unit besides Klip. Harsh and Maneesh are business graduates and were previously employed with an Internet Solutions firm called Directi before starting out Smursh in 2008, along with Sahil Malkani.

The core team at Klip also includes Krishna N. Venkitraman who heads the operations. Krishna is an ex-TCS software engineer with over 5 years of experience in various blue chip projects. The team at Smursh’s divisions are also involved actively in Klip.in’s various processes including marketing, vendor development and customer service and the good old favorite -‘pointing the bugs out’.

Klip operates as a non-inventory based online marketplace where it ties up with various online vendors. While for most products the purchase process happens on the site itself, with a few vendors they have explored an affiliate model where users are taken to the merchant website to complete the transaction.“True to Smursh’s digital gene, the idea of Klip happened over a gTalk chat early last year. Ecommerce sites in India are mostly a point of transaction. Users come for a product, buy and go and a lot of non relevant deals and emails follow them. The customer was essentially a number, a transaction. Our initial idea was to make the experience personalized and put the customer at the centre instead of the product and thus the idea of Klipping things as a collection was born. We saw the opportunity in being a place that helps in the pre-buying phase - A place to start your shopping cycle and not end it,” says Harsh.

This is where the concept of klipping and connecting users based on their taste to make it social came in. Smursh’s core business involved building online communities for brands and they wanted to build a consumer facing brand/product. So to build one for shoppers was a natural extension.

Klip currently generates revenue through commission on sales and they are exploring options of building an internal advertising and analytics enabled product as another channel given the nature of the site. Klip started off with books and electronics and have integrated a few fashion vendors within their system as well since the launch.

“The main challenge is to create a new habit among users. At the other end is of course the typical challenge of speed, Klip right now is at 10% of our vision for Klip. Getting that done quicker is a constant challenge and getting quality vendors to broaden our range is another challenge,” says Maneesh.

Do give a look at Klip! It also has a Page on YourStory Pages. 99Presents is another startup attempting to create a dent in a similar space.