Reasoning Global e-Application has revolutionised the concept of online retailing in India. In an interview, Dashradh Ram Nutakki, VP-Channel Development, Reasoning Global e-Application, shares the inception and future plans of the company.
Abha Garyali (AG): Share with us the inception, growth and success of ‘Reasoning Global e-Application’.
Dashradh Ram Nutakki: The lack of simplicity and necessary eco-system for a SMB retailer to effectively use the internet (and mobile channel) as effective sales and consumer acquisition channel motivated us to come up with Reasoning Global e-Application.
Reasoning was conceptualised to provide the necessary capabilities and technology to retailers to overcome the difficulties and start using the internet as just another store-front.
Today, we have over 2,000 stores hosted on the platform. Most of the enterprise segment in retailing such as Videocon, Gitanjali, Next Retail, Big C etc are our customers today. With our partnerships with HDFC Bank, Google and Gati, we are providing a complete solution to retailers and are able to grow at a very aggressive rate.
AG: What inspired you to start Reasoning Global e-Application?
DRN: Reasoning began as an effort to bridge the gap between the common retailer and technology. Moreover, growing but unexplored space of multi-channel retailing and the huge growth in the retail sector, gave us enough inspiration to go do the things that we felt were required. Moreover, the growing penetration of internet and mobile, gave us lot of confidence in what we had set out to do. We have been fortunate that our research and understanding were aligned with reality. Today, we are a business with a family of around 100 people.
AG: When did you initiate franchising? What inspired you to take the franchise route for expansion of Reasoning Global e-Application?
DRN: We initiated franchising in April 2010. We took our time in researching the right model and then going to the market. We are currently partnering with functional and vertical experts as franchisees for an exciting business model built around a value driven business targeted at maximising the benefit of the retailer from the combined capabilities of reasoning and its franchisees.
AG: How many franchisees do you have and in which cities in India? What are your future plans for expansion?
DRN: Currently, we have three franchisees and we are looking to expand to 15 such valuable partners across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune.
AG: What are the qualities and qualifications that you look for in your franchisees? How much investment is required by aspiring franchisees?
DRN: In simple words - we look for entrepreneurs. We look for people who want to build business in the technology/IT segment with more than four to five years of professional or business experience in IT or retail industries. We are looking for commitment, expertise and value generation for customers from our franchisees and look for individuals and organisations with similar values as ours. On the practical front, we require a franchisee to have a sound financial status with an investment capability of Rs15-20 lakh. They should have the belief and capability to replicate the success that we are getting with a lot of sales aggression and customer relationship management. The focus has to be retailers, their business, their success and their happiness. Everything else will follow naturally.
AG: What support and training do you provide to your franchisees?
DRN: We provide a 360 degree support to our franchisees. From recruitment to product training, initial on-boarding sessions are planned to help them get an overall feel of the business. We provide ongoing sales support, marketing and advertising support and ongoing consultation. Overall, we prepare them to be a thorough e-tailing service provider.
