Of late, our country has seen a wave of start-ups either in technology sector or with the help of technology. Be it startups like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Foodpanda, Ola Cabs, Oyo or any other, tech is everywhere. Besides this, there are a number of companies which are offering cloud based or other tech services to the retailers helping them grow big.
“Our technology helps retailers and other business verticals get online within minutes and then become easily discoverable at a hyperlocal level. How do we do this? - Our products are run on a Local Auto-SEO technology which automatically optimises the content that business owners add to their sites for hyperlocal search - driving people who are searching online, to purchase in stores offline,” says Ronak Kumar Samantray, Co-Founder, Nowfloats.
Franchising can make a non-techie a successful tech entrepreneur
Many IT brands are looking for franchise partners as they look to spread their operations pan-India. “There is a huge opportunity for our franchisees to train and generate revenue. The other opportunity comes from servicing the trainees who run their own business and act like a digital marketing agency for them. We are present in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and are looking to expand to Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur and Chandigarh. We are now opening our first overseas office in Sydney this year and then expand to the Middle East and Africa,” explains the Digiperform Founder, Manju Jolly.
While, Ronak says, “People thinking about starting franchising or running them, would likely find our technology very useful for marketing, online discoverability, and tracking how many customers and what kind of customers land on their sites and make purchases. We're a one-stop solution for online discoverability. Currently, while we are headquartered in Hyderabad - we have eight offices in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, and most recently Rajkot. These are all mostly sales offices. We hope to expand to other smaller cities which have proven to show interest in the products that we have to offer - Goa, Lucknow, Nagpur and Jaipur, are likely next steps - among others.”
While, Puresight Systems Pvt Ltd has brought iRobot brand to India and the brand is a service provider for home robotic appliances in India. “We believe India has a great potential with the increase of a working upper middle class and the need for a reliable help at home. iRobot’s home robots will change the way Indians view floor cleaning, revolutionising the way Indians clean their homes. Our plan is to set up flagship stores where customers can experience the product. We will also have full-fledged service centers to provide complete post-sales support. We plan to expand to other cities as well,” Asaf Merary, Director of the company, which is exclusive distributor for the brand in India
How is technology franchise changing the retail face?
Manu Jolly of Digiperform, says, “The face of retail is changing. Who could have thought that one could buy everything from needle to elephant online just with a few clicks using ones phone. Every retailer is benefiting from the advent of technology - retailers today are not only selling from their store but also selling on various e-commerce platforms, selling on social media and also using various digital marketing techniques to sell and reach out to their customers. The time is for the one who can adapt. This is bigger than the industrial revolution, green revolution or white revolution. Digital Revolution will change the face of India and India is going to show how it is done, to the world.”
“India is quite clearly a leading beacon in the global technology ecosystem. While through the 1990's our USP as a country lied mostly in the fact that we could get good work done for a cheaper cost - driving MNC outsourcing towards India - the 2000's have seen an increase in actual R&D and innovation in India. The most recent Startup boom has proven that India is in a very exciting space, and this just the beginning,” shares Ronak.
