Umar Qamar from Faisalabad, the heart of the textile industry of Pakistan, becomes an entrepreneur like his father, Qamar Aftab who is the Co-Founder of elo. Things changed when Umar noticed the number of finished garments and fabric stock was piling up in his father's warehouse. Due to declining sales in Europe, a lot of his father's export clients were going out of business and in some cases, cancelling orders. He came up with an innovative idea: Why not sell the leftovers?
Historically speaking, leftover garments were sold by factories at 1/5th of the selling price to a local - Lotia (Wholesaler). What first began with the idea of selling the leftovers for 1/5th the cost price of the product quickly expanded into a creative successful family business. Umar became inspired to start an cycling platform where he could sell leftover items at the cost price to recover at least the manufacturing cost of the product and this is where online platforms became crucial to the business's success.
M/s elo started as a two-man operation in 2013 and today employs 80 people. Its success in using the online platform Facebook to advertise their business and having an easy mode of access to their customers, and vice versa, has flourished their business. Their growth through Facebook advertising was crucial, being the only inexpensive source of advertisement that the small business could afford.
The results are impressive: Since using Facebook, revenue and website visitors have both increased by 100 percent, customer satisfaction is at 4.75 on a scale of 1 to 5, and the customer return rate is at 70 percent.
M/s elo has seen increasing sales and return on advertising spend on Facebook ads, and is now planning on increasing funds on ad expenditure. M/s elo also uses Instagram for a wider reach and influencer marketing.
Today, the company works with number of factories across Pakistan, Bangladesh, and China and aren't just limited to textiles anymore, selling anything from leftover crockery to sporting goods.
The company spends some three hours a day on Facebook and Instagram, but the returns indicate the inexpensive success these technologies afford. Facebook in a constant bid to enhance its resources in terms of various tools and products has been significant in helping SMBs grow their businesses. The organisation provides a platform for SMBs to learn from each other around all the different sophisticated tools and techniques that are there to use. The global platform has shown its role in expanding businesses and contributing to their immediate growth.