Personal Life & work Life of Shashank Panchmukh
The Arabia Times: Explain your background and your Company’s in detail.
Shashank Panchmukh: I’m Mr. Shashank Panchmukh, Founder of the Websites Menakart and Booksvenue
In my current role, I head the overall operations for the company and has an experience of over 2 decades into handling Sales, Operations and Finance. I have also been awarded the Outstanding Professional Achievement and Nation Building award by International Achievements Awards. I used to work in Retail Sales and Operations for almost a decade before. Then I made a shift in my career and wanted to learn more in E-commerce. Now with more than 11 years of experience in E-commerce, I am the CEO for Menakart.com & Booksvenue.com, both online shopping websites of DUBAI, UAE catering to the Middle East. Menakart was founded by me and my partner Mr. Praveen Chandrasekharan in the Year 2015 with the goal to serve each and every customer in the region. We have more than 10 categories and we ensure to deliver in the GCC region and other countries Worldwide. Our motto is to give the best service possible to all our customers so that they can shop sitting and relaxing at their home or office.
Menakart caters to the B2C and B2B customers. Booksvenue caters to B2C and Institutional / corporates.
Strengths & Goals of Shashank Panchmukh
The Arabia Times: What are your goals?
Shashank Panchmukh: Our main Goal aims to satisfy each and every customer of Menakart. We do our best to ensure to deliver the products before time, so the customers are happy with our service. Our customer service team is very efficient and ensures to handle all customer queries on time. Menakart ensures to provide the best products at reasonable prices clubbed with fast deliveries.
The Arabia Times: What do you feel is the biggest strength of “MENA KART” and “BOOKS VENUE” right now?
Shashank Panchmukh: Menakart (Your Online Store) has been in the region for more than 8 years and we have a lot of happy customers across GCC due to our service. We ensure to provide all the latest products at best prices so that the customer can order, and we ensure to deliver instantly and do Cross Borders also.
Booksvenue is the largest Bookstore in Middle East with more than 15 million Books Online. We wanted to fill the gap for the Book lovers in the region and provide the range of categories which mainly are difficult to find in the stores. We ensure to provide books in a week’s time which generally customer might have to wait for 15 – 30 days for the books to avail. Our website is user friendly, and the customer can search and place the odeliveryline and we try our level best to deliver the books to the customer’s doorstep in 5 working days with free deliver option. We also provide the best prices possible to our customers.
The Arabia Times: Give us one word that describes you the best.
Shashank Panchmukh: BELIEVER
Path followed by Shashank Panchmukh
The Arabia Times: What was the path you took to get to where you are today?
Shashank Panchmukh: Every E-commerce company must ensure to have a robust plan to be different in the market. We ensured each and every customer are satisfied with their purchases online. Our team provides extra support to every customer of Menakart to ensure they don’t get unhappy with any purchases.
The Arabia Times: How did you get the idea to start these companies?
Shashank Panchmukh: There is a space in this industry, and we wanted to capture it. Since I was from a Books background, I saw the need for a Books website with more options, fast delivery, and best prices possible. Every Book lover wants their book at the earliest so that they can read it. When I started working in the online E-commerce space, I was fascinated by the way E-commerce has helped the customers for their daily needs. It was my dream to do an E-commerce business and the dream came true in 2015 with the launch of our website Menakart.com. Knowing the fact that Dubai, UAE is a Trading hub and especially when all the Best Brands are easily available, our agenda was to on-board them and take the Brands from Retail space to the customers home with just a click of the button.
Challenges faced by Shashank Panchmukh
The Arabia Times: What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome during the journey of your leadership?
Shashank Panchmukh: Some of the biggest challenges were:
- How to make every customer happy with our service
- How to ensure the team is also motivated with the company goal of customer satisfaction
- Making Funds available for expansion and technology
- Delivery service to ensure customers receives the orders on time.
The Arabia Times: What are the key values which helped you to overcome the challenges in your path? Tell us something about your memorable incident in your leadership?
Shashank Panchmukh: During my leadership, the toughest part was to get a like-minded investor who understands our goal and what we want to achieve. We would have met a lot of investors, but we had to have patience to ensure we go with the same mindset with the investor to ensure to keep the customers happy. Another Challenge we faced at the time of Pandemic was the entire world went on a standstill and we got a huge responsibility on our Shoulders to provide the services to the customers. Thanks to the frontline workers
Work & Vision of Shashank Panchmukh
The Arabia Times: What do you value the most about “MENA KART” vision?
Shashank Panchmukh: Menakart was formed with a vision to make “Happiness Delivered at your Door”. To see a happy customer with the products we offer and the best services possible. I am happy that we were able to do this and see the smiles on the faces of our customers.
The Arabia Times: How do you see these companies are changing in 5 years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
Shashank Panchmukh: E-commerce has evolved a lot and there is lot more to come. Now AI, Machine learning are used to understand the customer behavior so that we can provide them what they are looking for at a short span of time. E-commerce will evolve again, and I feel more players will be entering the region soon. The e-commerce market in the GCC currently accounts for just 1.8% of GDP, according to retail industry 2022 report. However, the sector is broadly beginning to flourish, with strong growth in solutions and market entrants.
Benefits from Shashank Panchmukh Services
The Arabia Times: What benefits are your clients getting from “MENA KART” and “BOOKS VENUE” in this competitive world?
Shashank Panchmukh: For Menakart, we ensure to provide the best prices, amazing discounts, free delivery, warranties on electronics and fast deliveries to the customers.
For Booksvenue, we ensure to provide a wide range of Books at best prices, Fast deliveries in 5 working days and plan to add eBooks also in future.
Advice from Shashank Panchmukh
The Arabia Times: Would you like to say anything else to our viewers?
Shashank Panchmukh: I am really happy to The Arabia Times for this opportunity and really thank each and every member. I am happy to launch Menakart.com and Booksvenue.com and I am really thankful to my team members who stood with me to ensure both the companies grow at rapid pace. Also, to add, I want every individual to be a believer. Life gives you the chance to do something and one should grab the opportunity and believe in themselves.
Connect Shashank Panchmukh on LinkedIn
