From Hyderabad to Global Markets | Bhuvana Ganesh

Swarnim (Host)

Namaskar everyone, and welcome to The True Trade Talks, powered by Gxpress. Today we're talking with an entrepreneur who has successfully grown her brand through Amazon and taken it to international markets. We'll hear about her business journey, the challenges, the learnings, and how she made the most of cross-border eCommerce opportunities. Welcome to our podcast, ma'am — please tell us a little about your brand and yourself.

Bhuvana

Hi, I'm Bhuvana Ganesh. I take care of all the operations at Daana Farmers Network Private Limited. We're based out of Hyderabad in India, and we carry our business into the US, the UK and also India — but India is a very small market for us. We started Daana in the year 2015, and we're completing eleven years this year. It has been quite a journey — starting with a small market in India and then growing on to the US and the UK. Thank you for having me on the show.

Swarnim (Host)

If we talk about Amazon — how did you start? What motivated you to sell on global eCommerce marketplaces?

Bhuvana

Initially we were selling only in the city of Hyderabad. We started off very small, and then went on to Amazon India, because we thought expanding through Amazon would give us more customers. We had our own website through which customers used to order, but obviously the number of customers was very limited at that point. Then we went on to Amazon India and BigBasket as well. Once we reached there, we thought about exploring outside India — and that's when the US happened. The first shipment that went out was a very small air shipment, and then it started growing. We felt the organic market abroad had many more people looking for organic products, so it was a good market to explore.

Swarnim (Host)

When you started the online business, what were the major challenges you had to face?

Bhuvana

I think reaching out to customers is the biggest challenge, because unless you put yourself out there — starting from social media — it's not easy to convince people how good your product is. Initially, on our own website where people bought locally, we used to call customers for feedback, talk to them, and if they had any issue with the product we'd work on it. Then word of mouth — asking friends to refer people. Once we went on Amazon India and BigBasket, we started getting genuine organic reviews, and that's how our base in India grew. In the US it took time, because we had to build our base there. The first oil we sent was coconut oil, then slowly cooking oils, and then skin oils. So the major challenge was getting customers to actually accept the product, use it, and reorder it.

Swarnim (Host)

And when we talk about logistics, shipping and compliances — how did you manage to get through all of this?

Bhuvana

Logistics-wise, we were enrolled with another freight company — I don't want to name them; they were very good — but with the cost of transport on top of the cost of production, the product that went out was far more expensive. We were spending too much and recovering very little. So the biggest challenge with logistics was the cost. Also, the product we were exporting was oil, which needs so many certifications and all the necessary documents — first to cross Indian customs and then the destination customs. We had to have every compliance in place. There were a couple of agencies specialised in this who really helped us get all the proper documents, so we didn't get into any hassles with Indian customs or the customs at the destination.

Swarnim (Host)

When we talk about Gxpress — how did Gxpress help you navigate the challenges in logistics?

Bhuvana

The first time I came across Gxpress was on Amazon Seller Central — they have this SPN portal. I actually came across so many freight forwarders and tried most of them, calling them, talking to them. In fact, Gxpress didn't respond to me for almost a month! Then suddenly one day I got a call from someone at Gxpress, and he really helped me onboard, and helped with the documents we would need to send our shipment by sea — because we were already enrolled with someone for air shipments. We were quite happy with how that worked, except the costs were very high. One major reason we joined Gxpress was that they were doing ocean shipments, and I really felt their cost was very reasonable compared to others. The onboarding was very smooth, and from start to end of our first shipment we knew exactly what was happening with the ship. That really encouraged us to keep sending more with Gxpress — so we slowly moved all our air shipments to Gxpress as well. I think we've been working together for more than three years now.

Swarnim (Host)

If you could advise new sellers who are doing well in the Indian market but want to grow globally — what would you tell them?

Bhuvana

This market is changing every day — starting with compliances. Every time you send a new shipment, suddenly there's an email saying we need this document, something more. And it's relative, because every product has its own set of compliances and regulations. Get that ready first — documentation is a huge part of exports. If you have all of that in place, then with a freight forwarder like Gxpress, things should go smoothly.

Swarnim (Host)

It was great talking to you, ma'am. Thank you for coming on our podcast — it was really insightful. Thank you so much!