Home Startup Stories Happy Bean Bags Nepal: Decorating Nepali Market with Bean Bag Chairs

Happy Bean Bags Nepal: Decorating Nepali Market with Bean Bag Chairs

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Shahil Agrawal used to see bean bag chairs during his travel to India and thought of starting bean-bags in Nepal 5 years ago. Totally unknown to the Nepali market, beans was not available in Nepal and the production of the bean bags couldn’t take momentum that time. Now, as the beans come from India, they have started producing bean bags here in Nepal itself.

They make the covers using the resins from Japan and stitch the faux leather here and refill it with beans and sell it in Nepali market.

They have set-up a factory with a production capacity of around 50-75 bean bags in a single day, with two machines and 4 people involved in production. Currently, they get orders for 2-3 pieces of bean bags daily. They have availability of various colors, shapes and sizes of bean bags along with making of bean bags as per the orders and requirements of the clients.

As most of the bean bags available in Nepali market are made and brought from India, Happy Bean Bags Nepal makes the bean bag chairs in Nepal itself using the original fire resistant beans. They also have the facility of home delivery of the bean bag chairs.

Currently, they are marketing their products through Facebook and Instagram only along with their personal network including friends and relatives.

happy-bean-bags-nepal-2The price of bean bag chairs at Happy Bean Bags cost range from Rs. 3500 to Rs. 20000.

They conducted R&D on their own to come up with different, shapes, styles and sizes of the bean bags. Sharing the smooth functioning of the company, Agrawal says, “There is a proper division of works in the company. My partner, Anup Kaberiya looks after the accounting and finance departments while I look after the marketing and promotional side of the business.” They also have hired a different set of team to run the showroom.

Now, coming this far within the short span of launching the company, they have dreamt of making all designs available in the international market from Nepal.

The customer response so far is very good, and there are no complaints from any of the 200 customers they have dealt with till now. And, almost none of their customers have returned without buying one. They get pleased when their customer sitting in the bean bags say, “It’s too comfortable to make me feel not to get up from the chair.”

They also have been getting orders from institutions including, schools, corporate offices, as the office spaces are getting cool, colorful and comfortable.

Sharing about the challenges of bean bags, Agrawal says that as bean bags is a relatively new concept in Nepali market, it’s a bit challenging to convince people about it. People don’t buy these directly, and are willing to come and try it first.

Further talking about the challenges in the business, Agrawal says that they need to bring every material from India for the production of bean bags. “As the bean bags are extremely large in size, there is not any proper delivery mechanism in Nepal. If one orders online, though other goods can be delivered easily commuting through motorbikes, but for the delivery of bean bags, we need 4 wheelers, and as the cab fair in Nepal is extremely high, the cost of delivery is very high,” shares Agrawal.

As of now, they have conducted deliveries of the bean bags inside the Kathmandu valley only. They are also opening a showroom of the bean bags chairs very soon and also planning to market it to Pokhara, Biratnagar and other places through dealership and franchises in near future. In the next two years, Agrawal plans to take the business all over Nepal, along with making its price much lower.

To the emerging entrepreneurs, he says that there are obstacles in every steps for the entrepreneurs here. “We should try entrepreneurship in small scale, with proper homework and scale it up slowly. We shouldn’t lose hope. And, work towards it,” he shares.

Presented By: Basanta Kumar Dhakal