2023 Unived Rewind

2023

This has been one of the toughest years for all of us, at Unived. While 2022 ended in sheer joy of finally moving into our new manufacturing facility, 2023 was a true test of persistence, perseverance, and unconditional endurance.

Two Major Challenges

Manufacturing Setup

We moved into a new unit, in a new state. This meant we had to recruit a new team, train them, and get them up to speed with all things Unived. This proved to be tougher than what we collectively anticipated. The first couple of months saw a very high turnover of new employees. While people were willing to work, we needed to identify people with the right value-system. Training the new team, establishing new SOPs, setting up a new unit, ensuring production picks up pace so products are in stock, creating a local support network, identifying local vendors; everything was happening all at once. This led to several difficult moments, times of frustration, but also times that truly tested our individual & collective commitment, patience, and ability.  

As we neared the end of the year we had a stable team, production was on track, and our manufacturing setup was nearing optimal functionally.

New Website Development

In 2021, we’d issued a PO to a technology company to custom develop a new e-commerce portal for us. The project was to be completed within 9 months. As work progressed, we began noticing complacency on their part. Their project managers changed, and cracks in project-logic began to surface. The code had bugs, modules weren’t functioning, the basic checkout user-flow was incorrect, and timelines were stretched indefinitely. We diligently documented each of these gaps & concerns, in detail, via email to their Directors. Nevertheless, as we have always stood by our vendors, we remained patient and simply waited for them to complete the project. That wait lasted nearly 3 years, and ended abruptly towards the end of last year, when they conveyed that they were unable to complete & handover the project. This was a major setback for all of us. We’d invested close to 3 years on this project, countless Sunday’s brainstorming concepts, endless pages of drawings, and a lot of personal time & commitment. And while all the efforts seemed to be a waste, as has always been the case for Unived – cosmic forces conspired in our favor, and our previous tech-partner agreed to inherit and fix the project.

We were successful in launching the new site this January, and although some of the modules are not yet live, they will be in the coming months.

You

During 2023, we faced a continuous stock-outs of several products. This created a lot of distress for our customers. Many of you reached out to us to share your concerns, and frustrations.

Many of you understood our predicament, you waited patiently and stocked up as soon as products came back in stock.

You are not really our customers, but rather you are our brand custodians and our business owners.

Thank you for your patience & understanding.

Best Regards,

Amit Mehta