Goomti Experience Center opened its second flagship store at Vedic Village Spa Resort early this month, just three months after opening its first store at Kochpukur, opposite Aquatica. A promising phygital start-up, Goomti offers a wide range of beautifully handcrafted gifting and home decor items, inspired by world philosophies and contemporary aesthetics. We caught up with founder of Goomti, Prasenjeet Mukherjee, to know more.
What are the products Goomti is offering and why are they special?
The Goomti philosophy is to make memories with art, centred around captivating stories through our ‘prod-arts’ in the form of products. Each of our prod-art is inspired by philosophies from around the world and is embedded with captivating stories. Our customers take back home a piece of philosophy or a story or gift the same to their loved ones.
What are the bestsellers?
The most popular ones with our customers are the Prana Vase, Healing Horse Candle Stand, Terra Tortoise Planter, The Oasis Bowl and the Carambola Vase.
How is Goomti benefitting local artisans?
Firstly, our team helps and guides the local artisans with improved designs and quality checks. Each and every prod-art is held to the highest international quality and standards. This increases the scope and marketability. Secondly, we offer a better price and value for the prod-arts to artisans. This improves their living standards. Thirdly, we provide artisans with the scope to scale exponentially, leading to more employment of artisans in the handicraft industry.
What are Goomti’s future goals?
According to a report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India and Market Research Future, the personal gifting and corporate gifting market size in India is worth Rs1.5 lakh crore and Rs 12k crore respectively, annually, and growing at a CAGR of 15 per cent plus. It’s fragmented, scattered and unorganised. Hence we see potential and opportunity to organise it, structure it and scale it. Our aim is to make art part of day-to-day life and living.
India has a long and rich culture of gifting for every occasion and emotion, from weddings to birthdays, ‘I am sorry’ to ‘get well soon’ emotions. Goomti is a one-stop shop solution. Gifting is usually a last moment task, and in the shortage of time, we suffer from dilemmas of what to buy, where to buy from, how soon we can get the delivery etc. Goomti intends to solve all these problem statements through our prod-arts, which express the right emotions and deliver in two hours within city limits.
Our design, content, technology, supply chain and logistics teams are working together, day and night to integrate all the necessary components efficiently, to offer a seamless customer experience.
We intend to offer all these features to our customers from Q1 of FY 23-24, beginning with the Calcutta market and expanding to other relevant geographies in FY 24-25.
Since inception, we are revenue positive month on month, have raised capital from HNI’s and corporate stalwarts at a $3-4 million USD valuation, and intend to become a household name, a unicorn from the city of art and culture by 2027-28, through scope and scale.
More about it
What: Goomti Experience Centre
Where: Vedic Village Spa Resort, Shikharpur P.O, Bagu, New Town
Price range: Rs 1,000-3000
The Goomti team, (L to R, clockwise) Jhuma Kundu, Tulika Sharma, Prasenjeet Mukherjee, Jayeta Mukherjee, Ayesha Bal, Renee Mukherjee, Sanjeet Ray, Munif M. Latif, Emmanuel Panja, and Dilip K. Bari.
The inauguration day of Goomti at Vedic Village Spa and Resort was buzzing with activities like sketching, fluid art, and pottery sessions.
A glimpse of the collection at Goomti Experience Centre at the Vedic Village Spa Resort. Alternatively, one can purchase from their online store and have them delivered locally within two hours
The Terra Tortoise Planter will lift a corner of your garden with its earthy notes
Top pick
The Goddess Durga masks are a symbol of shakti. Simple yet striking, it’s a perfect home décor item that will add the bangaliana touch to your house.
This modern Healing Horse Candle Stand made of ceramic and naturally glazed, is inspired by the healing power of abstract art. With soothing teal and mossgreen colours, this candle stand is perfect for creating a relaxing atmosphere at your home.
This pretty and spacious picnic basket made from kauna grass comes in pastel shades like blue and pink, and is perfect for your next family outing.
This Snakes and Ladders board game has Sanskrit as well as English numerals on it and symbolizes the ups and downs of life.
The Terra Mater Vase, with ‘Terra Mater’ translating to Mother Earth in Roman mythology, evokes feelings of contemplation and calmness.
Pictures: Koushik Saha