When Rakesh Kansal took over his family’s Agra footwear unit in 2004, the business ran on relationships — a rotating cast of city wholesalers, cash-on-delivery, and a paper ledger. Twenty years later, that same trust network was quietly becoming a ceiling.
“Every wholesaler wanted to be my only wholesaler. And every time one of them missed a payment, my working capital took the hit.”— Rakesh Kansal, owner
Rakesh started experimenting with a Procur storefront in April. Twelve weeks later his unit’s monthly order volume had roughly tripled — driven almost entirely by new retailers who had never walked past his factory in person.
What actually changed
- A single public storefront URL replaced 40+ WhatsApp catalogues
- A printed QR poster went to every existing wholesaler’s counter
- Prices stayed gated behind retailer login — no undercutting his existing partners
- Orders started arriving on Procur, invoiced with GST and paid through the platform
The unlock: verified retailers he’d never met
The unexpected boost came from retailers browsing /store and stumbling into his catalogue — mostly Tier-2 city stores that couldn’t justify a physical trip to Agra. In week 8 alone, 22 new retailer accounts placed at least one order.
Working capital cycles compressed too. Because Procur handles invoicing and settles weekly, Rakesh’s payment days-outstanding dropped from 32 to 11.
“The old wholesalers didn’t go away. But now they’re not my only channel. That’s the real change.”— Rakesh Kansal
If you run a similar unit and are wondering whether the storefront play makes sense: start by pointing your existing wholesalers to it. Once they see the catalogue is the same one they’ve always had, the internal politics fades — and the new retailers do the rest.
