Sourcing good quality production equipment is a challenge for content creators. Supporting the producers and creators to overcome the challenge StudioBackdrops.com (SBDC) was launched which has been disrupting the imaging market in India for the last 6 years. The new age startup offers quality products at unbeatable prices, all curated by professionals. The company was founded with the goal of giving the community of creators and creative professionals access to better tools and equipment at affordable prices. We spoke with Archisman Misra, Founder and CEO, Studiobackdrops.com under whose leadership the company has seen an exponential growth, becoming India’s largest photography and videography solutions brand with 150% (YoY) growth.
1. Tell us about your journey from a photographer/cinematographer to entrepreneur?
I started out my photography journey in 2009, right out of school. I started out like most amateur photographers and was mostly interested in Travel and Landscape photography. It was only when a couple of friends asked me to click their photo entries for Miss India that I worked on studio photography. And that was the day I fell in love with this medium.
I am a self-taught photographer and I spent all my free time watching tutorials on YouTube and following international photographers to learn from them. I saw that a lot of the tools being used by the international photographers were not even available in the Indian Market. And the others were so exorbitantly priced, that only people at the top of the industry could have access to them. I wanted to change this and give amateurs photographers like me access to better tools to aid their learning. This gave birth to the idea of StudioBackdrops.com
I worked as a freelancer and consultant for several agencies and helped create campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the world. I took all the experience I had gathered and started StudioBackdrops.com in June 2016.
2. What is the aim of SBDC?
SBDC aims to provide the right products to the right audience at the right price point. We believe this would help us foster an ever growing community of Photographers, Videographers and Creators. SBDC also aims to provide them the knowledge to use the tools and equipment to their full potential. We want to create an ecosystem where every creator is uplifted and enabled to produce the content of their dreams.
3. Tell us about the story of SBDC? What is the idea behind it?
SBDC started out with an exclusive deal with the biggest manufacturer of fabric backdrops in the world. We are a thoroughly digital native brand and were the only brand in India to launch a D2C portal before introducing our products on marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart etc. We slowly brought in products across different verticals as the sales picked up. We spent the first 3 years building trust with our customers and they became vocal proponents for our brand.
The idea behind SBDC was to create a trustworthy omnichannel destination where every kind of digital content creator can find the right products. The first few years of growth for SBDC was largely dependent on word of mouth marketing.
4. Tell us about the range of products that SBDC is offering and what are its USP.
As our name suggests, we are the global specialists in backdrops. At SBDC, we offer the biggest variety and range of backdrops in the world. Our most popular offerings are our Muslin backdrops that are used by amateur photographers as well as industry professionals. Our canvas backdrops are hand painted by artisans who have decades of experience. Which is why we can boast of having the largest collection of canvas backdrops in the world.
Our other bestsellers are paper backdrops, studio lights, tripods, and other studio paraphernalia. SBDC aims to become the biggest omnichannel destination for photo, video, and audio in Asia.
5. How has the market responded to SBDC?
The response in the Indian Market has been phenomenal and we have seen continuous year on year growth. Consumers were all waiting for a destination like SBDC to help build their professional studios, home studios and content creation setups.
The onset of the pandemic led to everyone being forced to change or abandon their regular shooting setups. As people were locked in their homes, they had to adapt and it gave rise to more and more content creators. The demand for SBDC increased exponentially and people from every remote corner of India began ordering on SBDC.
6. What is the future vision or plans for SBDC?
We intend to make SBDC the largest Omnichannel Destination for Photo, Video & Audio in South East Asia. We are already planning to launch multiple products across all verticals in 2022 and hopefully bring some of the best brands from around the world to India. Our growth plans also involve launching a Content Creator Program and a Photography Grant this year to help and support the growth of creators in India.