Mixing Business with Pleasure: Top 4 Indian retail power couples

Chumbak was founded in 2010 by the husband-wife duo, Vivek Prabhakar and Shubhra Chadda who got married in 2004.
After travelling for years and collecting souvenirs from different parts of the world, Prabhakar and Shubhra Chadda realised that India has very little to offer its visitors in terms of souvenirs that represents the vibrant country in its true colours. That’s when they decided to launch Chumbak in 2010 and give a slice of India to its visitors by adding a bit of quirkiness and humour to the Indian souvenir market.
Today, Chumbak is one of India’s most promising lifestyle brands that brings together an eclectic mix of fashion clothing, accessories and home decor with global design appeal, targeted at consumers worldwide.
For marketing and promoting the brand, Chumbak focuses mainly on in-store and digital advertising and also through promotions on social media along with other strategic partnerships.
As CEO and Co-founder, Prabhakar looks at the big picture story — the overall system, warehouses, finances — of Chumbak while Shubhra oversees micro aspects like design and products.
 

WowTables was launched in late 2012 in Mumbai under the name ‘GourmetItUp’ by Deepa and Kunal Jain – both food enthusiasts. The company reportedly raised $300,000 in their first round of funding in 2014.
This brainchild of the Jains is the first online reservation portal in India to offer classic table reservations and curate exclusive dining experiences for guests by associating with quality restaurants in India.
Post a successful year in Mumbai, WowTables expanded business and entered two new cities – Pune and New Delhi – in 2013 & 2014 respectively and has recently launched in Bangalore. They are now associated with more than 200 restaurants pan India and are aiming to grow even further this year.
Deepa brings to the table, an indepth understanding of the restaurant business as well as an extensive network of top restaurants, food celebrities and journalists.
Her husband, co-founder and MD, Kunal is an entrepreneur and a digital marketer with about 10 years of experience. He is an expert in building and marketing consumer websites.

CashKaro.com, India’s leading cashback and coupons website was launched in 2013. The same year it raised angel funding of $750,000 from a group of London-based investors.
Founders Rohan and Swati Bhargava who got married in 2009, left their high paying jobs in the UK and chose instead to work on a cashback concept which they came across while booking their honeymoon flight that got them Rs 25,000 as cashback. Initially they launched PouringPounds.com in 2010 in UK but soon migrated to India and launched CashKaro.com.
Their goal is to help patrons grab great deals and save largely on their regular online purchases at leading Indian and International brands. Cashkaro’s cashback and coupon partners include leading brands like Myntra, Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart, Jabong and about 500 more.
The company gained Ratan Tata as an investor in January, 2016, reportedly with an undisclosed investment amount. The announcement of Ratan Tata’s investment comes just two months after CashKaro raised Rs 25 crores in Series A funding led by early-stage investor Kalaari Capital.
The company claims to be the largest cashback site in India with over 10 lakh-registered users and over five million page views a month.

The entrepreneur couple fell in love and got married in 2013 after passing out from the same school, British School in Delhi.
Soon after their wedding, the couple founded Eristona.com in March 2014, a veritable go-to online portal for the most stunning pieces of statement, artificial and costume jewellery.
The idea was exciting, but keeping a note of the risks, the response of the family was cold. But finally, the family gave in all their support to the couple to get started with the new venture and also gave seed capital of Rs 1 crore.
Eristona offers necklaces, earrings, bangles, bracelets and rings starting from Rs 150 going up to Rs 4,000. Currently the couple is doing shipments of 20 orders per day, and claim to be in the black.
What keeps them together is one mantra: have roles that don’t overlap. So, the commercial, financial and marketing aspects are taken care of by Jyotveer and the designing decisions are made by Gurshagun.
This online store offers a wide range of Designer Costume Jewellery and Fashion Accessories for beautiful girls and womens with exquisite designs like Necklaces, Earrings, Bangles, Bracelets, Rings, Flash Tattoos, Headgears and Scarves.
Apart from this, the website also features a category called the ‘Golden Stone Collection’ which offers real stone jewellery. It indulges its buyers with various simple and statement pieces that are chic, gorgeous and elegant all at once.
Eristona’s brand proposition is to provide patrons with fashionable ornaments that are a perfect blend of value for money and superlative quality.
With a team of young and dynamic professionals, it aims at becoming the household name in fashion jewellery in India. Eristona also plans to venture into the international market soon and envisions being the ultimate global destination for fashion jewellery.
Going forward, Shagun wants to take the Eristona label into the global market and firmly establish its position as the most sought-after international destination for statement, imitation and costume jewellery,handmade jewellery pieces. pieces. Her focus is on building a name that is a hallmark of cost-effective yet high-quality products.