Radhika Ghai Aggarwal | The success story of the founder of ShopClues

Radhika Ghai Aggarwal is the co-founder and current Chief Business Officer of ShopClues. ShopClues is an online shopping website that sells products ranging from technology and footwear to fashion and jewellery. The company empowers local merchants from small cities and makes them a national enterprise. Aggarwal is the first Indian woman to enter the Unicorn club. In 2016, she won the CEO of the Year Award at the CEO India Awards. Her story is very inspiring to thousand of women entrepreneurs all over the country. Here’s Radhika Ghai Aggarwal’s success story.

Early life

Radhika Aggarwal was born into an Army family. Her father worked in the Indian Army while her mother was a dietician. In 1992, her father decided to start his own health club. This was her first step into the entrepreneurial world. Aggarwal holds an MBA from Washington University, located in St. Louis. She also has a post-graduation degree in advertising and public relations. In addition, Aggarwal was also part of an executive program at Stanford University. In 1997, she established her advertising agency in Chandigarh. 

After finishing her studies, Aggarwal worked in marketing for Nordstrom in Seattle. Later, she worked in strategic planning at Goldman Sachs. Aggarwal has 14 years of experience in diverse sectors such as lifestyle, e-commerce, fashion, public relations, and retail. This helped her to start her own company and succeed. In 2011, she started ShopClues along with Sandeep Aggarwal and Sanjay Sethi. Aggarwal became the first Indian woman to enter the Unicorn club, which was valued at $1 billion.

ShopClues

In 2011, Radhika Aggarwal, Sandeep Aggarwal, and Sanjay Sethi started ShopClues. Before that, she had a company called FashionClues, a content platform for NRI women. The company was valued at $1.1 billion in four years and entered the Unicorn club. In 2016, it had half a million sellers on the website and became the highest in the Indian e-commerce industry. The website sells various products, from fashion and footwear to technology and jewelry. The company helps tier-2 and tier-3 merchants sell their products and establish their brands. 

In 2019, ShopClues was acquired by Qoo10 at $70 million. Aggarwal is still the CBO of the company. She has been the recipient of numerous accolades since starting ShopClues. In 2016, Aggarwal received the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year at Entrepreneur India Awards. She was also awarded the CEO of the Year Award at the CEO India Awards in the same year. In 2021, Aggarwal started another company called Kindlife.com. It is a marketplace for organic products in various categories. She is an inspiration to hundreds of Indian women who want to start a business of their own.

Radhika Ghai Aggarwal’s story

After starting ShopClues, Radhika Aggarwal became the first Indian woman to enter the Unicorn club. From the start, she worked hard to gain experience in various sectors and built a company from scratch. Her story teaches us that hard work is the key to success. It teaches us dedication, determination, and perseverance. If we work hard every day, we can make our dreams come true. Secondly, we should always learn from our mistakes and never give up. Anyone can achieve anything, regardless of their gender. Always remember to believe in yourself and your dreams. 

Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers book highly inspires a mother of two, Radhika. She believes that failures cannot be overlooked; they ought to be present. Aggarwal is the best example of a woman handling motherhood and her business perfectly and denouncing the term ‘sacrifice.’ 

Recent Update:

In December 2021, Radhika Ghai Aggarwal established her second venture, Kindlife. Kindlife is an e-commerce marketplace. It aims to provide cruelty-free beauty, nutrition, and home care products to its customers. The brand promises no use of toxins or any harmful effects at its e-commerce store. This is Radhika’s second venture after ShopClues. Radhika said that with Kindlife, she wants to help Gen Z and later millennial consumers. She has built Kindlife to give a clear message of leading a kind life. Radhika feels that self-care and planet care go hand in hand. Hence, through Kindlife, Radhika aims to establish a new-age beauty and wellness ecosystem.

Also read: Srinivas Kamath | The rags to riches success story of the founder of Naturals Ice Cream