The Rise Continues... (2021)

Right from start of 2020 corona cries became louder and louder and then on 23rd march 2020 India went into lock-down. All our orders stood cancelled from 18th march on wards. We put both our amazon and flipkart account on vacation to stop sales. At start, we all were just wondering how the world had gone silent. Slowly the realization came that situation is not about to turn around soon. One thing I was more concerned about was, people working with us. I did not want to miss any of them when markets come alive again. So I talked to them and assured that for whatever time the

production remain off, basic salaries will be paid. That meant roughly 75% of pay bill.

The lock down was extended again and again till deep into May. The markets came alive again on 20 May. As we started again, all staff reported back. We noticed a hike in orders in remaining May days. We thought it to be backlog demand. But next month and then there after the trend continued. From 500-600 per month before lock-down to over 1000 per month after lock down. Now we realized that this is not backlog but a tectonic shift in buying behavior toward online markets. Its ironic and even now I feel uneasy to say that our business doubled while many faced disaster.

But the worst was yet to come. As the talks of 2nd wave grew, I explained to staff "we have to work more to ward off future threat. So if you wish to work overtime, we can increase production to build stock." All agreed and by the end of 2020 about one months sale was stocked in store. By the time second wave surged in April 2021, we had sufficient devices in store to sell for one and half months. Production stopped again. The 2nd wave was turning to be monstrous in its intensity and reach. It was everywhere, in fact it reached my home as well.

As the online markets were just getting ready to open I contracted COVID. On 2nd May, I went into quarantine. For first 4-5 days it looked like mild fever but next 5-6 days were so hard. There was no respite from fever. I was not able to take full breath. I was kind of shallow breathing. I feared to take full breath, as I started coughing. My wife brought oxy meter, which added more misery. It showed less then what was needed. I was sure that oxy meter is not right. To give faith to myself I used to step up to second floor rooftop of my home, every morning and evening. I felt little breathless, but it gave me belief that my lungs were not in such a bad shape. By 10 day, fever begin to fade off. I was well by 14th day of May. During most of this COVID ordeal I attended almost all buyer's calls. I was kind of customer care executive in quarantine.

The buyers rewarded, with good ratings and reviews. We crossed 3000+ ratings at AMAZON and 1500 ratings with good 4.3 satisfaction score. The alarm has finally entered the good books of buyers and reviewer. We were happy to know that many you-tubers have reviewed our product and got more views then what we have on our own youtube channel. Some youtubers explained our overflow alarm in languages of south India. To say in youtubers lexicon our overflow was "unboxed". This especially helped us reach deeper into south India markets.

Today 60-70% of our water level alarm sales come from south India. Our products have reached nearly 2000 towns and cities across India. Apart from retail now we are getting B2B orders as well. Many an electricians and shops are beginning to sell our products. The orders are beginning to become repeat orders, the alarm users are just starting to check overflow auto-stops. Simply said, the product which at start had little hope is now fueling hope. The hope that our devices will help India people save so much of water that it will count for the cause of India. The beginning has already been made. The alarm - sensaswitch overflow alarm has risen to be recognized. The rise continues...