Appsolutely profitable

Being a social media influencer or having a social-media account can get a little more than just fame; all you need is a knack for sales and marketing. An online lifestyle store Wooplr, which is an Indian start-up modelled around an eco-system of sellers, brands and customers, allows you to open your own store app and that too without investing a penny.

Vibhor Arora and Pooja Ghatak

Amarjot Kaur

Being a social media influencer or having a social-media account can get a little more than just fame; all you need is a knack for sales and marketing. An online lifestyle store Wooplr, which is an Indian start-up modelled around an eco-system of sellers, brands and customers, allows you to open your own store app and that too without investing a penny.

In Chandigarh, Ludhiana-based Vibhor Arora and Zirakpur-based Pooja Ghatak, who are social sellers with Wooplr, tell us how they earn money through this app.

"It's only been two months since I have been associated with Wooplr," says 35-year-old Pooja, a homemaker. She's at the beginner lever, which basically means she gets a 15 per cent commission on every Wopplr product she sells. She informs, "There is no 'signup fee' and you don't even have to buy the products. Just select whatever you feel your core group would like to purchase from the Wooplr catalogue and add it to your store. You earn with every product you sell."

Wooplr's aim is to reach the potential buyers and sellers from small cities, and not just the urban population of metros alone. At present, from over 30,000 social sellers on their platform, 4,500 are from Punjab and Haryana alone, informs the co-founder of Wooplr Arjun Zacharia who partnered with Ankit Sabharwal to get Wooplr rolling in 2013. "We have four main investors and some 20 angel investors, at the moment and a team of 75 employees, who we pay on monthly basis. However, we want to get more people, from several regions, who endorse and sell our products to their core groups. Up North, we are looking to get 1,20,000 social sellers on board," he says.

For 27-year-old Vibhor Arora, Wooplr is a way of making an extra buck. He's already crossed the beginner level to reach the 'popular' level and makes 18 per cent profit on each product he sells. "It has everything from clothes to shoes and accessories to kitchenware... everything that you expect a lifestyle store to have. I make some Rs 1,500 a month," he says.