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StudioBackdrops.com has first mover advantage in the studio equipment and product sector: Archisman Misra
Studiobackdrops.com was born after three years when Archisman, a computer engineer left the field to pursue Photography in 2013, his lifelong dream and passion. While working as a professional photographer, he realized the need for a platform which offers a complete range of studio products, equipment and backdrops. That realization led him found Studiobackdrops.com in 2016, he revealed in a candid chat with Silicon India. He shared his outlook for the emerging sector and talked about the potential it offers.
How do you see the demand for studio equipment products growing in India?
Throughout the 90s and 00s, most of the demand for studio equipment for photography and videography was from professionals and production houses. During the late 2000s and early 2010s, there was a surge in interest in photography in India owing to the popularity of websites like Flickr and 500px.
Facebook Pages and Groups also gave an opportunity to amateur photographers to showcase their work like never before. This was further cemented by the launch of the Android app for Instagram, which remains the most favored application amongst photographers.
This newfound exposure for amateur photographers encouraged them to experiment with studio photography and initiated the rise in demand for studio equipment in India.
The rise of video platforms like Youtube, Snapchat, and Tiktok created an entirely new segment of independent content creators who also started aspiring for studio equipment to increase the production value of their content.
As of now, 4 main segments exist that drive the demand for studio equipment in India, Professional Photographers, Production Houses, Brands, and Independent Content Creators. With the increase in popularity of short-form video content, we can only envision this demand to keep growing sharply.
What kind of growth do you expect in this space? What is your vision for the company?
We are regularly seeing Brands and Companies choosing to build in-house studios, Content Creators building home studios, and Photographers expanding the range of equipment they have on hand. Our vision for StudioBackdrops.com has always been to be a support system for professionals, independent content creators, and everyone creating photos or videos in India.
We want them to be able to purchase everything they need for their dream studios directly from our website and have it delivered to their doorstep. They are further aided in this by our experts who are available on chat and with the product authenticity guarantee that only StudioBackdrops.com can provide.
What change in consumer trends have you seen recently as compared previously? How have you prepared to tackle the changing scenario?
After 2 years of incredible triple-digit growth during the peak times of the pandemic, 2022 did see the growth rate fall to double digits due to customers returning to offline stores. Plus a constant fear of an upcoming recession and inflation in the Indian economy did not help either.
Since a lot of our products are directly related to marketing efforts, which most brands increase during a climate of recession, we don’t usually see a massive dip in sales. Some products in our inventory may be seasonal but most of them are in demand throughout the year.
What are the range of products that you offer at your platform?
StudioBackdrops.com is currently India’s largest Photo, Video, and Audio destination with over 6000 product SKUs available in our inventory. We offer the widest range of photo video backgrounds, studio lights, pro audio recording devices, light shapers & modifiers and an assortment of essential studio accessories and equipment.
Who do you believe is your biggest competitor? How do you differ from them?
We have the first-mover advantage in this space and are still enjoying the benefits of that since a true competitor has failed to arrive. There is nobody else currently offering the lethal mix of manufacturing, distribution, and marketing that we do. While a few stores and distributors have tried to emulate our d2c model, our community and brand awareness have prevented our customers from going elsewhere and kept bringing in more customers and loyalists.
What further sets us apart is our omnichanneldistribution and selling network combined with our incredible logistics network through which we have managed to reach even the remotest corners of India and are slowly expanding into the Indian subcontinent.
What do you think are the biggest challenges the industry is facing and how can we overcome this?
While the demand and need for pro photo and video products have expanded beyond the professional environments the technical know-how and awareness of the products have not spread as much. There is still a major gap between what is available and what people are using on a day-to-day basis.
The reason for this is mainly because this industry is massively fragmented and still works on the very old distribution models where brands have failed to pass on proper product knowledge to distributors, who have in turn onboarded every possible dealer without providing any training about the products.
Most dealers and retailers usually come to know about products and their benefits from customers instead of it being the other way around. StudioBackdrops.com is continuously working to change this by educating both our dealers and customers about the products and their benefits along with ensuring that everyone knows how to get the best results from their respective equipment. A free online academy and detailed knowledgebase is in the works.
What strategies would you use to increase our market share?
Since we are only focused on one vertical it gives us the benefit of focusing all our efforts and endeavors on a singular industry and its products. We are constantly introducing new products and bringing more international brands to the Indian market and distributing them all over the country. We’re always open to partnering with other businesses and global brands since our company’s vision is based on 3 words - Creativity, Community, and Content.
We want to foster unprecedented creative potential in India and build a community around these individuals to make sure that they create some of the best independent content in the world.
Describe how you’ve driven studiobackdrops.com to accelerate growth, expand EBITDA, and profitability in the past?
StudioBackdrops.com is a bootstrapped startup, and hence we remain fully in control of our growth and channel it in the direction that lets us stick to our vision. Our team consists of industry professionals who have worked in some or other creative role in the industry. This gives us an incredible insight into how the industry functions and gives us a direct channel to most of our primary customer bases.
We also handle advertising, content, and marketing in-house and that helps us stay true to our brand and our relationship with the community. We have been profitable from our year of inception and despite being a pipeline-driven business we have managed to constantly keep growing by cleverly re-investing in ourselves. While we have usually stayed away from external funding and investors in the past, we are always open to partnering with the right people to enable explosive growth and serve the community even better.
What has been the long-term impact of this growth?
We always use our customer success stories to measure our growth and achievements in the industry. We have been able to see our customers grow along with us and that gives us a lot of happiness and gives us a sense of satisfaction. Another great impact of this growth has been the fact that people are actively talking about pieces of equipment and products that were only reserved for professionals. And as a professional Photographer and Cinematographer myself, it gives me immense joy to be able to contribute to an industry that I have been involved in for a long time and love.
What’s one thing your business did that you didn’t expect?
Usually, photographers, independent content creators, and imaging professionals are a very competitive bunch of people. StudioBackdrops.com somehow managed to create an environment for a free exchange of ideas and thoughts. We often find our community members actively helping and supporting each other, following each other on social media, and actively championing each other. This is something I honestly did not envision but I am most thankful for.
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