As you set foot inside the Good Earth store, you are spellbound with the elegant collection of tasteful things all around. Delicate fragrances and beautiful objects wherever you cast your eye. Simran Lal is responsible: patron of art, owner and CEO of Good Earth, India’s only luxury home décor design brand, painstakingly built by her over the years. “I am still on the road, and this journey is what I am,” she says. As she goes down memory lane she talks about when she joined the business as head of retail and merchandising back in 2002 and you realise that at every stage, she struggled, got her hands dirty yet pushed on to achieve excellence in the operations and supply chain. “As the business grew we felt the need to tackle front-end operations, and that is where I chipped in and learned the trade,” says Simran.
Simran has been a visionary since her early days and the awe-inspiring 20,000 sq. ft Good Earth store at Raghuvanshi Mills, Lower Parel, Mumbai, is Simran’s brainchild. “We didn’t have a business model, so we built a model as we learnt our lessons while facing challenges,” she says.
Global BrandFor this new-age entrepreneur, every day has been an adventure, where passion for work forms the core of the work culture — a fact that reflects in the success of her brand. Since its inception in 1996, at Kemps Corner, Mumbai, Good Earth gave a novel dimension to this industry, setting the standards for stylish retail in India. Over the next two decades, Good Earth became a leading design house, and grew into a cult brand. “Our brand is all about giving joy to people and shaping culture. When you love what you do, there are no moments of doubt as to why you are doing it,” says Simran.
Today, Good Earth has a turnover of around Rs 150 crore, with a 750-strong dedicated workforce. What’s more, with an eye catching e-commerce portal, a whopping 65 per cent of Good Earth’s online revenue comes from outside India. With a loyal customer base in almost 50 countries, the US, UK and China are Good Earth’s largest consumers.
Simran has toiled to make it a global brand with people the world over flocking to its stores during the annual sale and otherwise. Simran says, “It is a proud moment when Indians abroad take pride in calling Good Earth their own. From London to Turkey to China, I am overwhelmed and humbled with the responses we get and take joy in reading each and every email from customers.”
People FirstTo her employees, Simran is the best guide they could ever have had. She inspires them to work with passion, mindfulness and trust as they endeavour to take the brand to new levels. Known as a people’s person, she thinks her employees are her strength; she is deeply emotionally involved while working with them and feels bad when if they leave. “It was a major setback when a design head left after just six months of joining because we treat our people as family and we peg a lot of trust on them,” says Simran.
She feels strongly not only about her employees and customers but also about craftsmen, business partners and the culture within her offices. “Building an artisan community and sustaining the business in India requires both tenacity and hard work. Also, we believe in women empowerment and 80 per cent of our workforce and artisans are women,” says Simran. Being a mother of two children, she knows the importance of work-life balance in a working women’s life. “We are sensitive to women and give them flexibility and freedom,” she says, herself globe-trotting frequently while managing her home perfectly.
Born for ArtGood Earth was started by Simran’s mother Anita Lal, known for her astute aesthetic sense and who is now the mentor and Creative Director for the business. With artistic inclinations since childhood, it was natural for Simran to follow in her mother’s footsteps. It meant filling in a big pair of shoes but Simran assumed her role with élan. “She is a great support system and we look after separate departments; I devise the strategy and she adds creativity to everything, but we are deeply into each other’s work,” says Simran.
Having achieved an iconic status for the brand and being the lone player in the affordable luxury design space in the country has not made Simran complacent. She is ever hungry for excellence and exudes energy as she steps into her office. During times of crisis, she keeps her cool and chooses to smoothly resolve issues. “We are our own biggest critics and celebrate both success and failure with ease. We constantly evolve and always choose the path less travelled,” says Simran.
Simran’s mission is to re-define luxury, to sustain and preserve heritage while creating livelihoods. “We want to shape cultures by bringing back pride,” says Simran. She fondly relates an incident where a delighted customer felt ecstatic after buying a Golconda-inspired dinnerware set created by Good Earth. “This is the real joy we want to spread,” says a smiling Simran.
Simran has this to say about the key to running a business: “Always hire people with the same level of positivity and enthusiasm. And finally, save as much as you can because in fashion, you don’t make money for the first five years.”
