All Posts in Interviews

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

As per a report released by Economic Times, the unused goods market is likely to cross Rs. 115,000 crores. As per Assocham, whether consumer goods like electronics, durables or automobiles – used cars, or the industrial machinery in the capital goods sector the options of re-usage are being considered more actively than ever before. Also, it was indicated that Stocking items is very prominent among Indian households [Source]. With the increased penetration of 4G, falling rates of smartphone [at least before GST goes live], increase in disposable income, etc. more & more Indians prefer the online medium for shopping. This is mainly due to the hefty discounts offered by online retailers, ease, convenience and experience associated with online shopping

Along with Tier-1 cities, e-commerce growth has also been observed in Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities mainly due to growing aspirations & limited access to brands. When it comes to used goods marketplace, the biggest testimony of the market was when Amazon forayed into the used-goods market [via Junglee] thereby allowing individuals to sell their used stuff on Amazon. Though there are couple of players in the used-goods marketplace, there is not a single marketplace for selling Industrial goods, Jewelry & gems, musical instruments, etc.

Currently sellers don’t get enough Ad displays despite paying for Premium ads due to very high volume in paid category as well. These are some of the lingering problems that Zamroo, a startup in the C2C segment aims to solve. Zamroo is to a one stop shop for buying and selling used products where practically anyone can trade anything, anytime, anywhere in India.

Today we have a chat with Rakesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO of Zamroo. So lets get started with the Q&A…

How did you come up with the idea of venturing into used goods marketplace ?

I came up with this idea while I was working in Australia, for example if you wish to change a car, or replace your existing furniture in Australia, it just takes less than 24 hours to sell yours and buy new one by using similar platform like Gumtree and it was unbelievable simple and straight forward. We had huge number of professionals which were on the move, for them buying new products was not making sense, hence they can buy everything which a typical household needs in fraction of the original cost and they resell it again when they are leaving. Another fact of C2C space is in the western world 60% of the population uses these platforms on the monthly basis, that shows the importance of these platforms.

That’s where we got the idea and felt that it is a necessity of having similar platform in India and we started working on the same and build Zamroo ground up taking into account Indian behavioral eco system. Indian C2C market is still at nascent stage as even today we have less than 4-5% of population using such systems due to limited number of platforms and the awareness of such platforms especially in Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities

Can you share some details about the team behind Zamroo ?

Zamroo team are a tight knit group of business leaders, techies with average experience of 20+ years globally.

How much is the overall market size of used goods marketplace ?

USD 75 billion as per KPMG report.

What are some of the items that can be sold on Zamroo ?

‘One can sell from needle to aeroplane on Zamroo’…thats you can find in our tagline “Everything Sells”. You can download the Zamroo app from Google Playstore or Apple store here and here

 

Zamroo is a very different name, can you let us know how did you come up with that name and what are some of the options that were considered in naming the startup.

Finalizing a name took us more than 2 months of extensive research as we wanted a name which is short, distinctive, easy to pronounce, easy to memorize & should be easily convertible into foreign languages. Lastly it should be capable of legal protection and registration.

On all these parameters set by us….Zamroo name fits perfectly.

Snapdeal acquired used goods marketplace Shopo couple of years back, but the idea did not take off. What according to you are some of the USP’s of Zamroo from other such sites like Ebay, Greendust, OLX, etc.

There are couple of unique buying and selling patterns of Indians, for e.g. They want to sell 4 Lac rupees item [eg. Car, etc.] but do not want to spend 2 minutes in Ad listing which is very unique to Indian consumers. To address these concerns we have build our mobile apps uniquely i.e. They can Post Ad in just less than 30 seconds while we capture all the possible information from the seller which are likely help buyers to make a deal. Additionally we are working on few unique features for safe buying and selling and to build trust in Zamroo community.

What are some of the mediums i.e. WhatsApp, Twitter, etc. via where sellers can sell/post goods [for sale] on Zamroo ?

Currently sellers can post their listings via Web, iOS app and Android app….that too in less than 30 seconds however they can share their listings via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Whatsapp in one single click.

Rakesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO – Zamroo.com

Can you stress on some of the steps taken by the back-end team to ensure that high quality products are sold on Zamroo ?

Zamroo has built the automation system which ensures that unauthorized listings are not published, we have a quality control team which reviews these listings and based on its credentials either it is rejected or approved. All these listings are reviewed individually.

Who are the logistics partners of Zamroo and how do you ensure that the ROR [Rate Of Return] is kept to the minimum in order to maximize revenues ?

Zamroo is online marketplace for used goods, if buyer is interested they can connect with sellers directly over phone, email, SMS and decide the next course of action i.e. They can have the negotiations among them and Zamroo is not involved in that discussion. Zamroo does not charge any fees either from the buyers or the sellers.

Please walk us through funding of Zamroo [Self/Angel/VC] and are you looking out for external funding ?

Currently Zamroo is self funded by the promoters as we believe that India has huge market for such product, hence promoters not only infused the funds but also invested three years of their time to build the world class product.

As Zamroo is now expanding, we are seeking Series-A funding from Investors.

Many e-commerce companies are now pushing for omni-channel presence, does Zamroo also have plans to enter into offline as well [especially for big ticket items like Fridge, Washing Machine, Laptops, etc. or other items that require touch & feel] ?

Yes, Zamroo also has plan where sellers can leave their product and buyers can view that item in that shop/warehouse and if they liked the product they can buy the product then and their itself. With this approach sellers and buyers are safe and it will be hassle free for both the parties.

We would like to understand the customer [i.e. Age, Cities Tier-I,Tier-II, etc.] as well item demographics on Zamroo i.e. Which items sell the most on Zamroo and where does the major chunk of active customers come from on Zamroo.

Till recently our majority of the visitors were coming from Tier-1 cities however we are seeing increase in traffic by 30% from Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities since last 2-3 months as acceptance of digital platforms got the boost after demonetization. Most of the customers visiting Zamroo are less than 35 years old.

Does Zamroo also provide ‘Try & Buy’ facility for it’s customers especially items like clothing, shoes, etc.

No, Zamroo doesn’t offer any such service as most of the products sold on Zamroo are used products.

Is Zamroo a pure C2C [Peer-To-Peer] marketplace for used goods or you also stock fast-shipping items in the warehouse ?

Zamroo is pure C2C marketplace for used goods; we do not stock any item in the warehouse whatsoever.

There is growing competition in used-goods marketplace where there are vertical marketplaces like Droom [Automobiles], GreenDust [Electronics], GoZefo [Furniture], etc. and horizontal marketplaces like OLX, Quikr, Kraftly, etc. how does Zamroo ensure that it stays ahead of the growing competition in providing excellent service [goods] at competitive pricing ?

Zamroo platform is already ahead of the competition, we are continuously innovating new ideas and our team is working hard to ensure that we stay ahead of the curve in terms of technologies, customer service and innovation.

2017 so far has not been good for e-commerce with Snapdeal laying off employees, funds drying up, huge cash-burn; how according to you should entrepreneurs deal with such adverse situations.

There are serious flaws in various business models especially in eCommerce [B2C] space which looks very attractive on papers but actually they are not; typical examples are Flipkart, Snapdeal. More importantly we feel they have excess manpower, hence you are seeing those corrections at the moment.

Media to some extent has been responsible for rise of entrepreneurs, but they focus on valuations whereas there are many bootstrapped entrepreneurs who are not looked on, any tips on how media can do a better job of focusing on right stuff ?

Yes, we agree. Media plays a big role in the rise of entrepreneurship but they are just focusing on valuations rather than the product or it’s potential. For example, in India in C2C used goods space we only have OLX & Quikr and India needs at least 6~7 more credible players to address the market requirements as on every 20 million population one such platform is needed.

Online commerce has been so far about discounting, customer acquisition, etc. how do you see 2017 panning out for the online commerce, hyper-local & used goods marketplace sector ?

Let us give you our view point on each of these sub-verticals individually

Online Commerce – We need more online commerce players as we still have less than 10% online users visiting these platforms. If they promote their products in Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities their volumes can grow by 25-30% YOY.

Hyper-local – It’s not taking off as most of these companies are engaging the local service guys to provide service, they need to change the strategy for e.g. They should provide training to these service providers on regular basis, get the security checks done for them and also provide them the training to enhance the skills, than only they can maintain the quality.

Used goods marketplace – There is huge potential in this space as we still have less than 5% Internet users using these platforms, despite we have only 5% users using these platforms they are oversubscribed. For example, If you post your Ad on top two platforms, your Ad will be on 4th or 5th page in less than 15 minutes, which reduces your chances of selling. This even applies to Paid Listings, so the sellers are looking for more alternatives to list their products that’s where Zamroo perfectly fits in.

Initial customer acquisition is mostly built on discounting model, any other methods that entrepreneurs can follow to gain more customers keeping the burn-rate to the minimum [ensuring that transactions are repetitive instead of one-time].

As Zamroo is an online marketplace for used goods and transaction is happening between buyers and sellers directly, hence discounting doesn’t apply to us. Zamroo has more than 38,000 sellers signed up on the platform, primarily by social media and SEO only and we haven’t burnt huge cash as competitors did to attract customers as we believe in quality of our product and need of the market.

There has been lot of hue & cry about capital dumping, can you share your views on the same [and how fierce competition is necessary for the upliftment of the online sector] ?

We don’t think Indian companies are used for capital dumping, in our view investments by foreign investors should be used for building world class product and taking it to global level. We can also build another Microsoft & Google if investors are little visionary.

As per your entrepreneurial experience, when should an entrepreneur look out for external funding ?

The right stage for external funding is when the company is in early stages of revenue growth.

Some books that you highly recommend for entrepreneurs

I would like to recommend Zero to One by Peter Thiel & The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.

Entrepreneurs you highly admire and some traits of their’s that you would like to imbibe.

John Gabbert of Pitchbook and I admire him greatly for his perseverance, persistence.

Any closing thoughts for our readers ?

For Entrepreneurs, no matter what how difficult is the economy or getting the investors in the difficult times, at the end of the day good product, good management team, right product will always get funded.

We thank Rakesh Kapoor for sharing his insights with our readers. You can access Zamroo via Web, Zamroo iOS App and Zamroo Android App. Do give Zamroo a spin and share your experience in the comments section. If you have any questions for Rakesh & Zamroo Team, please email them here or share them via a comment to this article.

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

Few months back, we had written a review of Kushal Tradelink and analyzed the performance since I have myself invested in Kushal Tradelink based on suggestions given by a friend who is very active in the stock market. There were lot comments to the Kushal Tradelink stock review article where many readers also invested in it whereas some had confusion about whether to invest or not.

Image Source – Stock Market

Earlier this month I had a chance encounter with a heavy-duty investor at the Mumbai Airport and over-heard him giving some insights about Kushal Tradelink over the phone. As you might have guessed, I decided to convert this chance encounter into a learning opportunity. I started discussing with him about Kushal Tradelink, it’s performance, etc. since it is always important to learn from seasoned investors! I am in touch with that investor [not disclosed due to confidentiality reasons] during the time when the lower circuit for Kushal Tradelink had not yet opened and decided to have a Q&A session with him once we shared very good rapport and when lower circuit had opened up Kushal Tradelink.

Image Source – Kushal Tradelink

Below are the edited excerpts from the interview [Note : Due to confidentiality reasons, we are unable to reveal the name of the retail investor and the interview it for the benefit of retail investors who are interested to invest in stock market].

Are you an investor in Kushal Tradelink and can you comment on it’s performance ?

Yes, I am holding more than 100k shares of that company. What should I say about it’s stock performance! Entire Indian stock market has witnessed its strength and performance. I would say it is one of its kind of stock. Kushal Tradelink is an investment that has given 10x returns in 13 months and this is what makes it an excellent stock.

Any particular reason why you did not sell the shares of Kushal Tradelink when it was at its peak at Rs. 600 ?

Well, there are many reasons behind that, first I have invested in Kushal Tradelink from a long term perspective and believe that it will be around Rs. 1200 valuation after couple of years from now, another reason is since there are very few investment options available if I would have sold the shares. One option could be buying a property or investing in some other company. If I invest in another company’s shares there is no guarantee that it would give huge returns like Kushal Tradelink does and same debate holds good for buying a property. I strongly believe that Kushal Tradelink is a long term investment and investors should hold on to it.

There are some speculations in the media that Asia’s best performing stocks have started to nose-dive and investors are not able to sell the stock, your comments on the same and future market trends ?

Look, there is no doubt about that it was Asia’s best performing stock, all the investors that invested in it even for a couple of days were able to sell it with profit. Fall in price depends on supply and demand of the stock and just because authorities don’t want investors to make money they shifted it in Trade-to-Trade (T2T) segment and hence the demand decreased. I am considering Kushal as gold jewellery purchased for my wife neither I would go for selling it if price rises nor I would panic if the price goes down.

It is observed that any stock that has started to fall with lower circuit has never opened it’s lower circuit before it reaches to penny stock, do you think it will be a penny stock or you are still optimistic ?

It is not always not necessary that history repeats, We have observed its strength on the occasion of Brexit and when Demonetization was announced. On 2nd Jan 2017, the media criticized the stock heavily and many investors sold the shares. Hence in normal circumstances more positive buyers are there than the negative ones.

If we talk about lower circuits than I would like to emphasise on government body’s intervention that has created this chaos. SEBI and BSE has jointly taken the decision to shift it to the T2T segment for the welfare of the retail investors. This step has turned out to be a nightmare for the retail investors that have already invested in the company. Just because of T2T, big seasoned investors lost their interest and that’s why retail investors panicked and lower circuit started.

If you look at Atlas cycles same thing happened with that company as well, so it is nothing like it was the fault of Kushal Tradelink or there is anything wrong with their financials, or company suddenly started making losses, this phenomenon is due to varying supply and demand of the stock.

I have met many people and they were claiming that Kushal Tradelink’s stock price rose substantially because of manipulation but in reality it rose higher than their expectations and expert’s knowledge and therefore it was easy for them to say so. However, if you look from my point of view it is clearly visible that price rise was just due to demand and supply. According to my study based on shareholding pattern of December, I concluded that the price rose during the time frame October~December 2016 and it can be attributed to the formula of Supply v/s Demand.

How you can say that numbers were not manipulated and it was pure role of supply and demand ?

If you ask any person that is not involved in the stock market, he would claim that whole stock market is like satta bazar or  it is manipulative. In last September there were more than 19000 shareholders and in December there were 31000 shareholders. More than 11200 retail investors have shown their faith in the December quarter. A single quarter has 60 trading sessions which means that every day on an average every two minutes, one ‘new’ shareholder has purchased shares of Kushal Tradelink. We have not included intra-day and short-term traders for this calculation and total 30938 shareholders have shown their faith and made money in the December quarter alone. This huge number itself spells for the trust that retail investors have in Kushal Tradelink.

If we talk about FIIs than 4 new FIIs and 16 new foreign portfolio investors are currently holding stocks of Kushal Tradelink. In addition to that more than 300 new clearing members are holding it and 130 corporates have also purchased it. Because of the heavy demand, stock price of Kushal Tradelink sky rocketed in December and critics think it is manipulative.

Market capitalization is decided based on number of shares multiplied by price and the price rose because of demand and supply, and not because of PE, EPS and book value or peers comparison. People who criticize Kushal Tradelink must understand the demand and supply mechanism first since that is driving the growth for Kushal Tradelink. I am a shareholder in Kushal Tradelink and it has given me millions of moments to rejoice and same holds good for all the other investors of Kushal Tradelink. On the contrary I have not heard any expert opinions on Kingfisher, Unitech, and Satyam scams but their expert opinion are voiced out for the company that has consistently created fortune for thousands of people.

What is your next step, are you placing sell orders like others or you will buy shares of Kushal Tradelink in the lower circuit ?

According to me selling shares of Kushal Tradelink in the near future is a very bad option, let me tell you why – Company is going to do amalgamation of four companies, in addition to that, I have also heard from reliable sources that they are in process of buying few stressed business assets and they are diversifying and entering into the I.T, entertainment and Textile industries as well. Above all, Kushal Tradelink is debt free company and it’s financials are growing YoY and that will again reflect on it’s stock price. Therefore performance of Kushal Tradelink would remain intact and it would grow much faster because substantial number of people who have doubts on it’s performance are becoming positive buyers now and that will help in increasing it’s new and strong base of shareholders. My suggestion as a seasoned investor is to hold on to shares of Kushal Tradelink and buy it in case you haven’t.

Financial experts say that it will be penny stock because all shareholders will sell it when they will get opportunity, there is no chance of opening lower circuit. On what base you are giving the call to buy stocks of Kushal Tradelink ?

Popularity always makes a difference and I can predict that huge buying is about to start in the next coming days. Kushal is very popular all over India because of its price, performance and thousands of retail investor’s profitability. If you have not seen America that doesn’t mean America does not exist, same thing happened with the experts and I don’t think expert’s opinion matter. Apart from that let me give you an example how lower circuit will open, why people will not sell their holdings and my prediction of the future.

Assume that one share holder of Kushal Tradelink tells 5 people about the company or it’s amazing run at the stock market. Out of those 5 people may buy it because they trust the person who is giving that suggestion. Out of those five people, two of them invest in Kushal Tradelink as per the financial plan chartered by them.

Now let’s look at the bigger picture. At the end of September quarter, Kushal Tradelink was having more than 19000 shareholders. Out of that let’s say 9000 people recommended it to 5 people out 45000 people, out of that let’s say 18000 people actually purchased. However remaining 27000 are tentative to invest and when they get its reference from other reliable source they may jump in to buy stock at any time. Because of ~18000 new investors (short and long term) in Kushal Tradelink in December quarter, stock price of Kushal Tradelink sky rocketed.

In a nutshell, all people in the market that have either earned short term profit from Kushal Tradelink or have heard about it’s earlier rally or are referred by someone will come to buy it at 50% corrected price from it’s high price and people that plan to sell will anyways do it. This is how popularity of Kushal Tradelink is going to increase day by day and more number of retail investors will invest in the company’s stock.

Now let’s talk about predicted future:

According to our market research, we have found out that all those people that have booked full or partial profit are interested to buy Kushal Tradelink, apart from those people that have missed earlier rally or those who criticized Kushal Tradelink earlier are also interested in buying its shares. It is visible that many investors are buying it daily. Based on a research, the conclusion is that more than 1 crore shares are expected to be bought by old and new individual shareholders and the number does not include FIIs. We are also expecting more than 2 crore shares would be bought by HNIs and on the other side only 75 lakh shares are expected to be sold. Therefore we believe that demand remains higher than supply hence high rise in price is expected until demand and supply becomes equal.

Another thing is that demand in Kushal Tradelink was very high and it will remain higher in future because it has tripled investors’ money in a short span of time and based on it’s capacity, similar performance is expected in the future.

I am not talking anything about fundamentals as they are available for you on the BSE website and you do your own research. However company is on it’s way to buy more businesses and starting new ventures that you will get notification from BSE website, I am not suggesting popular mobile app for stock market because it does not have all the updated figures available. Hence I prefer BSE website for authentic data, besides this I am going to buy at lower price because of my research, simple logic and common sense. I am sure that price will get necessary support from the big boys forever just like earlier events 🙂

There are lot of negative talks about Kushal Tradelink, so what is the reason you are so optimistic about the company & its performance ?

You know our Indian culture, we rarely appreciate others for their success because we think we are the smarter than others and that’s the problem. People that don’t hold stock are in race to prove their self as experts by recalling their previous advice. I would like to thank all those people that have given space to Kushal Tradelink in their mind for free.

However let me tell you one thing that I am not going to make money by listening to their expert opinion, I am going to make money by taking my own call because it’s my own money so I cannot let others take decision for my money. If I will hold the stock, it is better to ignore those freebies since they are nothing but enemy of your profit. Can you tell me which is next Wipro, Infosys or TCS after 15 to 20 years?, no right. I am looking at Kushal Tradelink after a decade like one of these companies. So my suggestion is to buy it around Rs. 150 in quantity and when it price rises, get your invested amount back by selling few stocks and remain invested with your profitable shares, I am sure you will thank me after few years. In fact, you are invest in a lesser risky option like Fixed Deposits (FD) and let the profit from Kushal Tradelink be invested in buying it’s shares!

To sum off this lengthy discussion,

According to me Kushal Tradelink is people’s company and since more & more hands are joining forces together, its strength is growing. You can be a part of people’s company and create fortune or become a lone spectator, choice is in your hands…

Create history or Witness History

Disclaimer : Information provided in the article is based on my research, retail investor’s knowledge. I have personally invested in Kushal Tradelink stock. Investment in stocks involves huge risk, so consult your financial adviser or do your own analysis before making any investment.

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Though India is changing at a fast-forward pace, still there are some topics that are considered as Taboo and cannot be discussed online [as well as offline, especially with elderly people]. I am sure as soon as you read the word Taboo, many thoughts would have come to your mind. Some instances like buying a condom at a nearby store, shopping for lingerie, discussing openly about topics related to sex awareness, etc. do make us feel shy as well as uncomfortable. One such sector is Lingerie [for women] which is the foremost attire for women and due to the changing fashion trends, women have also become choosy about their lingerie selection.

Monica Anand, Founder  & CEO of Undercover decided to break that atboo and started her line of intimate wear with an aim to make lingerie all about fashion and comfort. Monica Anand draws inspiration from everyday things and people around her. A keen observer of people’s behaviour, evolving patterns and changing lifestyles, Monica is an entrepreneur, a people’s person and an unshakeable optimist at heart. Her indomitable spirit gave birth to the vivacious range of the detachable bra brand-Switchers, which truly redefines fashion and comfort.

Born in the United States, Monica has her grounding well-rooted in India. A graduate from Mumbai University with a Post-Graduation from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, Monica has worked with leading corporates, including ICICI Bank, TATA AIG Life Insurance and MNG by Mango, USA. Undercover has been a wonderful beginning for Monica’s work in the lingerie space. Over the last 5 years, she married her observations on the lingerie industry and the needs of the consumer to launch Switchers by Undercover. Switchers is a first of its kind modular, mix and match bra that allows the user to mix and match their bra, pushing the line from innerwear to fashion wear.

Today we have a chat with Monica Anand about her entrepreneurial journey, building the Switchers brand, the changing Lingerie segment, etc. So, let’s get started with the Q&A…

How did you come up with the idea of venturing into the Lingerie segment ? 

As a consumer, I was unsatisfied with the way my lingerie interacted with my outerwear. The 2 just never seemed to complement each other. One was always worried about wearing sleeveless, deep backs, racer backs, sarees, etc. because it lead to the question of What to do with lingerie. Options available would be biting silicon straps, stick on bras on in sewn cups, all of which were decent support but no where on fit or comfort.

That’s when I thought of the need for a super comfortable bra that detaches at various places to create better interaction with one’s outerwear without compromising on fit or support. I discussed the idea and execution with family, friends and professionals from the lingerie industry before finally going ahead with the product.

Can you share some details about the team behind UnderCover/Switchers ?

Under Cover Lingerie was started by me as the sole founder. I began the company with part time support from my family and have now taken it ahead on my own.

I am an MBA Graduate from SIBM in Pune. After spending the first decade of my career in banking and insurance, I recognised a need for better lingerie and nightwear at affordable rates and created my own lingerie venture in 2011.

How much is the overall market size of online lingerie that Switchers is trying to address ?

Switchers will address women in the age group of 15~30 in the metros and T-I cities.

Discussing about Lingerie [both from men, women] is considered a taboo [or rather awkward], how did you convince your near & dear ones about your intention to venture into it ?

I wouldn’t say it was difficult, but I would say that my family was surprised by my decision. Their concerns were that I was leaving a secure job to start a business and that the business was of selling lingerie. Add to that the novelty lingerie that we began our business with. I think they all thought I was a bit out of my mind, but they were supportive none the less.

Founder & CEO of Switchers – Monica Anand

Apart from retailing on Switchers, does your team retail the lingerie collection on other marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, etc.

Switchers is already available on Amazon Launchpad and will soon be available on Flipkart and LimeRoad as well. We are also exploring partnerships with other online retailers who are focused on fashion.

How do you ensure that ROR [Rate Of Return] is kept to the bare minimum since women could be very picky about the size, material,etc. [and reverse logistics accounts to huge amount of cash-burn]

We ensure intense quality checks and checks at the point of packaging to minimise returns and customer dissatisfaction. This is something we had to learn from experience. We would rather discard stock with errors than attempt to pass it on to a customer. That is very damaging in the short term.

There are lot of startups like ButterCups, Zivame, PrettySecrets, etc. that are trying to solve the ‘Perfect Fit’ Bra [as well as innerwear] for the women. What are some of the USP’s that Switchers offers vis-a-vis products offered by the competitors ?

When creating Switchers by Undercover, we worked closely with our target audience to understand exactly what their issues were with respect to lingerie, in particular-the bra. Our main takeaways were:

  • Different occasions and outfits call for different bras, which in all likelihood will not be very comfortable or supportive.
  • Women with larger cup sizes find it difficult to find fun bras
  • One’s favourite comfortable bra and fashion bras are 2 different products

This sent us back to the drawing board. The bra has traditionally been a one-piece garment. In order to create better interaction with outerwear, we have broken it into 3 parts. The cups, the back and the shoulder straps. The roles and requirements of each of these parts is very different and taking the bra apart allowed us to re-imagine each section individually.

To understand their individual strengths and limitations. Doing this has allowed us to use processes like hand embroidery to create high fashion accessories, which completely change the look of the bra without compromising on fit and comfort, making it a great fashion statement.

Please walk us through funding of UnderCover [Self/Angel/VC] and are you looking out for external funding ?

We are currently self funded but are now exploring funding to expand the Switchers line and marketing.

Can you please talk about the top selling products of UnderCover [and does the collection also include lingerie for pregnant women/any other customer segment].

At Under Cover Lingerie, panties and baby-dolls are our best selling products. We currently retail premium lingerie for all women.

Does Switchers only have online presence or you also plan to venture into offline retail [as many e-commerce companies are now pushing for omni-channel presence] ?

Switchers is currently available on our own website, Switchers has also been selected as an innovation and is sold on Amazon Launchpad and on Limeroad. It will very soon be available on other fashion portals as well.

We are very keen to explore offline as a mode of distribution for Switchers.

Who are the logistics partners of Undercover/Switchers and is there any discrete packaging followed for the items sent to customers to keep the privacy intact ?

We have partnered with FedEx to be our courier partners for Undercover & Switchers given their brilliant delivery timelines and service. Our products are shipped discretely in plain white secure bags to maintain our customers’ privacy.

Please share some details about the customer’s age dynamics [who shop on UnderCover] and some success stories ?

For Under Cover Lingerie, our customers were in the age group of 25~45 and spread across Metros and T-I cities in India.

For Switchers, our audience is younger aged 15~30 and is essentially based in the Metros.

We have received great interest on Switchers and most of our products have been gaining great interest. We haven’t met a prospect that didn’t love the idea. We are really looking forward to the future of Switchers.

Does Switchers also provide ‘Try & Buy’ facility for it’s customers ?

Not yet, but we will be able to offer that when we go offline. The wonderful thing about Switchers though is one only needs to try the bra once, then can accessorize to their heart’s content without worry.

Monica, you have donned multiple hats [before venturing into entrepreneurship] like merchandising manager, marketing manager, product manager, etc. how much of this varied experience helped you in your entrepreneurial journey ?

Every single thing I have done till date has contributed to my journey at Under Cover Lingerie and Switchers. My experience in merchandising had obvious benefits while those as product and marketing manager have built my skills on P&Ls, ROI, marketing, brand and distribution.

Do you also plan to venture into other segments [apart from Inner-wear] and if so, please share some details about the same ?

With Switchers, we have so many ideas on the lingerie side that it will be a while before we extend the product into other segments. Although it is part of our vision, we aren’t in the position to share details yet.

We thank Ms Monica for her time and sharing valuable insights for our readers! If you have any questions for the Monica & her team about the market, impact on retail segment, entrepreneurship, etc., please email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com or leave your question in the comments section.

|In: Fintech|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Few weeks back, we reviewed MoneyTap which is India’s first app based credit line. You can find the MoneyTap review here. As mentioned in the review, MoneyTap offers unsecured loans for salaried professionals in association with its partner banks.

Unlike P2P lending companies, the interest rate is much lesser and the loan process is fast & simple 🙂 Today we have a chat with Bala Parthasarathy, Co-founder & CEO of MoneyTap about MoneyTap, the P2P lending market, opportunities in Fintech, impact of Digital India & much more. So let’s get started with the Q&A….

How did you come up with the idea of MoneyTap ?

It was a combination of personal experiences as well as general observation. Growing up in India in the 80’s & 90’s and coming from middle-income group families, we have all faced shortage of additional funds at some point. We observed the market need and realised that the middle income group [the salaried class] has always been facing challenges with respect to credits, especially small amounts. People are not comfortable going to banks for loans for minimal amounts-this could be anywhere from Rs. 3000 to Rs.50,000 to 1 or 2 Lakhs.

Asking for money from family and friends always has an embarrassment factor. The needs are what most of us have, that could be anything from  medical, birth, death, school fees, deposit to take a rent on house, etc.  In many cases, people even have fixed deposits that they just don’t want to break for a small need. This is where we thought of MoneyTap and wanted to be like a friend who could be reached out at fingertips.

At MoneyTap, we are on a mission to change this and make credit accessible to those who deserve it. The ubiquitous presence of smartphones and initiatives such as Aadhaar has made it possible for us to develop a truly powerful and disruptive financial instrument. The credit line for consumers with accessibility through an app is a new concept in India and we are excited about the opportunities it can bring to thousands of millions of Indians. MoneyTap is like a friend who gives you money when in need, be it marriage, birth sudden death in family, school fees, hospital bills or sudden cash crunch during the month end. We, at MoneyTap, want to make credit available for deserving and eligible candidates.

Can you share some details about the team behind MoneyTap ?

MoneyTap is based in Bengaluru and all the three of us have been entrepreneurs before with an IIT/ISB background. Bala has co-founded multiple startups in Silicon Valley including Snapfish [sold to Hewlett Packard], which he helped grow to 100M users and USD 300M in revenue. After moving to India in 2007, he volunteered for UIDAI under Mr. Nandan Nilekani before starting AngelPrime in 2011 [now Prime Venture Partners] where he helped create companies like ZipDial [sold to Twitter], EZETap, Happay, etc.

Kunal [ex Texas Instruments] & Anuj  [ex Airtel & JWT] co-founded Tapstart that grew to 300K users and turned profitable in 2 years. They exited this venture in 2015.

What is the TAM of the consumer debt market that MoneyTap is trying to address ?

Consumer debt is growing fast in India. According to the last available consolidated data from the Reserve Bank of India [RBI],  personal loans – extended by banks grew at 28.7% in 2015 and credit cards grew at 23.6%. But if we look at the actual numbers, there are just 24 million credit cards for a country of 1.2 billion! Middle income customers making Rs. 25,000 per month or more, facing frequent cash crunch for regular needs like education, medical, birth/death, etc. are not serviced by financial institutions today without putting up collateral such as gold.

Large needs, such as buying a vehicle, house, etc. are addressed by financial institutions unlike online and offline shopping. Though the latter often involves very high credit card interest rates of 40% if one doesn’t pay on time. This is the clear unaddressed need.

How different is lending based on Line Of Credit vis-a-vis P2P Lending or taking a loan [any type of loan, personal/housing/education,etc.]

We see the following major  differences

1. Once a credit line is sanctioned with an upper limit, one can decide any amount of money from that limit and choose to withdraw only that specific sum from the credit line. So, if there’s an approved credit line of say Rs. 3 Lakh, one could withdraw a small amount like Rs. 5,000 or Rs. 50,000 and so on.

In contrast, a typical personal loan would force one to take the entire Rs. 3 Lakh in one shot, even though the need for money is spread over a period of time.

2. Interest would be charged only on the small amounts borrowed and not on the full Rs. 3 Lakh. Thus, if amounts of Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 50,000 are borrowed separately, then one would only have to pay interest on the total of Rs. 55,000 and not on the entire amount of Rs. 3 Lakh sum. This would have made a world of difference to a person’s monthly cash flows and overall financial condition.

The obvious contrast with a typical loan is that interest would be charged on the full Rs. 3 Lakh amount from day one. Usually a person has no choice in this scenario.

3. In most cases, the flexible borrowing options in a credit line come with the convenience of deciding payback periods for the separately borrowed amounts. Thus, for an amount of Rs. 5,000 borrowed from the credit line, one could choose to repay in 2 months and pick a longer tenure for the amount of Rs. 50,000, say anywhere between 12 months.

In contrast, a personal loan tenure would be fixed upfront with little or no flexibility in most cases. The advantage of a credit line is that as soon as EMIs are paid back, the credit line gets replenished automatically and one can continue the cycle of borrowing and repayments without needing to apply gain.

The infographic also explains how a credit line differs from a conventional loan:

What are some of the data points that MoneyTap uses in order to check whether an individual is creditworthy to be approved as a borrower on MoneyTap ?

Firstly, an individual needs to qualify the MoneyTap eligibility criteria mentioned below:

  • 23 years and above age
  • Salaried individuals with minimum salary of 20,000 pm.
  • Credible KYC documents
  • Residents of Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Bharuch [will be launching in other cities soon]

Secondly, our partner bank check the creditworthiness of the applicant based on their credit history and thereby the applicant is approved/ disapproved basis all the steps. Once approved, their credit limit is set according to their credit history.

Few years back, there was huge wave about MFI’s (like SKS Microfinance), in 2016~17 the wave is around fin-tech sector (NBFC’s), what are your thoughts about the Fintech space in the coming years ?

Fintech will see significant growth and innovation in the next few years. Innovations like IndiaStack and deregulation in the form of GSTN, payment bank licenses and demonetisation along with a massive governmental push to move payments to digital will spur a significant growth in multiple areas in finance.

[L to R] MoneyTap founders – Kunal Verma, Anuj Kacker and Bala Parthasarathy

There is a general question with borrower, what happens if they are unable to pay an EMI on time/not able to return the money. How is the lingering question of Credit Risk taken care of ?

The same consequences of not paying one’s credit card bill or bank loans apply in this case as well. The Reserve Bank of India has nominated 4 credit agencies [e.g. CIBIL] that track an individual’s financial credit scores. If one does not repay or delay the repayment, our partner bank will automatically report it to these agencies, which will record the information. This can lower the borrower’s credit score.

Once an individual’s credit score is affected, they will not only lose MoneyTap access, but all future loan applications will be negatively impacted. He might not be able to get loans easily to buy a house, a car or a two-wheeler or get a credit-card, as all the lending institutions in the country check with these agencies before approving any loan. The bank might also initiate legal recourse to recover the money from the individual.

Can you please share some insights into the min/max loan that a person can avail on MoneyTap, interest rates, pre-closure charges, association with RBL Bank and any other details that would come in the mind of a personal availing a short-term credit

MoneyTap enables consumers to get instant credit from partner banks at the tap of a button on the app. Credit Line, a facility that was only available for businesses until now, is now being made available to consumers. The ‘Credit Line’ means that the bank will issue a limit of up to INR 5 lakhs, without any collateral or charging any interest. Against this limit, using the MoneyTap app, consumers can borrow as little as Rs. 3000 or as much as Rs. 5 lakhs and repay it as EMIs from 2 months to 3 years. The interest is paid only on the amount borrowed and the rates can be as low as 1.25% per month. The limit also gets automatically replenished as soon EMIs are paid back.

Any salaried employee can download this free Android app and in a few minutes, using a patent-pending Chatbot interface, provide all the information typically required by banks. The app securely connects with the banking systems to give them not only an instant approval but also a credit limit, depending on individual credit history.

The RBL Bank is the launch bank partner of MoneyTap. RBL’s technology enables MoneyTap to provide instant decision and instant access to money, 24/7, irrespective of holidays. Though all actions are initiated on the MoneyTap app, per RBI guidelines, all financial transactions such as billing, repayment or withdrawals will directly be with the bank using secure APIs.

As an added convenience for shopping needs, a ‘MoneyTap RBL Credit Card‘ is also provided for the user. This is a regular MasterCard Credit Card that is accepted at all locations and for all card purchases – offline and online.

According to your data, which is the biggest category where customers have opted for loan based on Line of Credit/MoneyTap ?

Our Top-3 categories are Wedding spends, Household related purchases and Education.

Currently MoneyTap is available only for working professionals, any time-line or plan on when you plan to open up this avenue for entrepreneurs, SMB’s, freelancers, etc.

As of now our only target is to expand our customer base among the salaried class. We have lowered the minimum salary limit for eligibility from Rs. 25,000 per month to Rs. 20,000 per month. MoneyTap now  is also available for people staying in shared accommodations.

Normally Banks & other financial institutions take couple of days~weeks for KYC, how does technology [behind MoneyTap] ensure that the entire process of validation of credit-worthiness of an individual is expedited ?

The first step in our evaluation process is to understand the person’s credit profile. We are able to do this under 7-minutes on the MoneyTap app that you can download for free from the PlayStore. After that, qualified applicants who have their Aadhaar card and updated mobile number with Aadhaar, can eSign their documents so that absolutely no paperwork is required.

We are able to do this because of our advanced technology as well as the increasing adoption of Aadhaar and IndiaStack.

MoneyTap is currently present in how many cities in India ?

MoneyTap is currently present in Bangalore, Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar, Anand and Bharuch.

Are there are any RBI guidelines regulating the app based businesses [based on Line Of Credit] in India or to put it the other way round, is there a requirement to regulate lending based on Line Of Credit in India ?

Lending, whether they’re on an app, website or physical branches is regulated in the exact same way. There must be a bank or NBFC that meets all of RBI criteria. MoneyTap also meets with RBI from time to time to provide inputs so that the regulators can draft appropriate policies.

What are some of the things that a borrower needs to keep in mind while opting for repeated loans on MoneyTap [or for that matter any medium offering loan based on Line Of Credit] ?

Whether it is MoneyTap or not, basic rules of finance that we learnt from our parents and grandparents apply. Borrowing money to tide over medical emergencies or invest in things like education are good. Buying and spending things beyond the ability to pay it back will always have a bad ending.

In case of Loans, interest rates vary from Bank to Bank and are also dependent on external factors like market volatility, etc. can you let us know whether the interest rates are fixed on MoneyTap or whether it is like a normal loan [where for certain number of years interest rate is fixed and later it is variable] ?

A borrower has to pay interest only on the funds he uses. At the time of withdrawal, he can choose the terms of repayment, which can be anywhere between 2 months and 3 years. The repayment tenure he chooses will determine the EMIs.

The interest rate is equivalent to market rates for any ‘personal loan’ with zero collateral or security. It can be as low as 1.25% per month depending on the partner bank and the credit profile of the user.

Who are some of the competitors of MoneyTap ?

MoneyTap is the first credit line app in India. Until now the concept of credit line was present for traders through money lenders. We have introduced the concept for consumers for the first time. There is no competition that we see at present.

2016 was a tough year for startups [especially from funding point of view], how according to you should entrepreneurs deal with such adverse situations ?

Grin and bear it. Markets are always cyclical and the sky high valuations backed by even higher expectations were bound to come back to earth sooner or later. This is actually a great time to get excellent talent who are not overpaid and build great businesses.

Can you share some tips for building an effective team for startups [especially the initial core team].

There are three big rules:

  1. Hire very, very smart people. You can’t substitute intellectual horsepower with anything else. And give them a lot of autonomy.
  2. Smart people are rarely easy to work with. The ‘brains-premium’ is worth paying, up to a point.
  3. If and when they get disruptive or if you made a mistake in hiring, quickly let them go. It’s better for both parties in the long term.

How important is it for early stage startups to pivot their business model [in case things are not working out as per their plan] or when is the right time to pivot ?

It is critical. But the problem with Indian entrepreneurs is not in recognizing the importance of pivoting. It is the execution of a pivot. They typically just add on the new business and keep the old one. That’s a ‘khichadi’ strategy, not a pivot strategy.

After demonetisation, there has been a huge demand for payment apps [including UPI], do you see that trend working in favour of apps like MoneyTap [that offer different services compared to e-wallet apps].

Absolutely. We are not a merchant or consumer UPI app like others. We are in the business of providing credit. UPI is a terrific way for our customers to take money out and pay back without the hassle of net-banking, etc.

Bala’s earlier venture Snapfish was acquired by HP, what according to you should entrepreneurs look for when there is interest [from other companies] for their startup getting acquired [and not acqui-hired].

Again, there are three rules for selling your company:

  1. Good companies are bought, not sold. In other words, if you are actively out there selling your company, you will have to settle for peanuts.
  2. You should always have multiple parties engaged, not just have one buyer.
  3. Sell on a high note-when the company is doing great, potential buyers will extrapolate to value your company at an even more glorious future.

As per your entrepreneurial experience, when should an entrepreneur look out for external funding ?

When they really don’t need the money. It’s always the best time!

Some books that you highly recommend for entrepreneurs

There are lots of good books. The two I recommend are, ‘Zero to One’ by Peter Thiel and ‘Hard things about Hard Things’ by Ben Horowitz.

Some closing thoughts for our readers!

Entrepreneurship is not easy and not for everyone. But it is addictive and some of the most creative moments in your life will be during this journey. And there is no other [legal] way to have a huge financial windfall besides running your own company.

We thank Mr Bala for his time and sharing valuable insights with our readers! If you have any questions for Bala about MoneyTap, Fintech, scaling up, etc., please email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com or leave your question in the comments section.

|In: Interviews|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Market research plays a critical role in the life-cycle of any business since it helps in gathering new customers and retaining existing customers. Also, collating important facts [and working on feedback] from customers helps businesses to stay ahead of the competition and deliver a WoW value 🙂

Surveys come in very handy in order to gather feedback, brand awareness, understand customer’s buying patterns, insights into business expansion [derived from the data captured via the Survey]. It can also be used to investigate the characteristics, behaviours, or opinions of a group of people [Source]. In a nutshell, surveys are an effective tool for any business since they help companies with customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and other related areas.

Entrepreneur Hamid Farooqui wanted to address this problem by offering customers with comprehensive, feature-rich and modern online survey maker with beautiful templates.

Today we have a chat with Hamid Farooqui, Co-founder & CEO of SoGoSurvey about the startup, online survey business, how companies can effectively leverage data from surveys, marketing, etc. So, lets get started with the Q&A…

Every idea is born out of a problem, can you please let us know how did you come up with the idea of SoGoSurvey ?

In old License Raj India it did not matter if your customers liked the car you sold to them. It did not matter what your customers thought of the after-sales service for the fridge they purchased from you. You were running a monopoly business. You would mumble something like, ‘The customer should be so excited to get his car delivered so quickly – just 4 years from the date of booking!‘

Similarly, employers did not care about the job satisfaction of their employees because the general thinking was that the employee should be happy to have a job in the first place. But post-License Raj abolition in 1991, things have been slowly changing. And in the last 10 years, things have just turned around 180 degrees. Now consumers have a choice of products-cars that can be purchased and delivered within a day, electronics and appliances with so much choice that it’s hard to figure out which one to buy.

In every category of product there is a lot of choice for the consumer and companies need to ensure total customer satisfaction or risk losing many customers due to negative publicity on social media and other avenues. We came up with the idea of measuring satisfaction using online software and thus SoGoSurvey was formed.

Can you share some details about the team behind SoGoSurvey.

I founded SoGoSurvey along with my elder brother, Suhail Farooqui. Together we bring expertise as well as experience to the table having previously founded K12 Insight, which offers cloud-based solutions to enhance communication between educators and community members, and MouthShut.com, which is India’s most successful consumer review site, considered a pioneer of the internet revolution in India.

Today, more than 70 employees constitute the SoGoSurvey team.

What is the Total Addressable Market [TAM] that SoGoSurvey is trying to address ?

We cater to small, medium, as well as large businesses that need to conduct different types of surveys such as Employee Satisfaction Surveys, Customer Satisfaction Surveys, Employee Engagement Surveys, and others to check the pulse of their customers or to know the state of their employees’ satisfaction with the company.

What are some of the standout features of SoGoSurvey vis-a-vis other competitors in the market ?

We compete with a few other players in the online survey space. Our USP is to offer a really powerful, highly user-friendly online survey software at a super-low cost. When it comes to online survey software, users have had two difficult options:

a. The affordable, low-end, low-power solution, and
b. The more powerful solution that breaks the bank

We saw a need for a tool that would be high quality but for a low cost, and that’s how SoGoSurvey was born. And that’s not all. It comes with training and extensive support that existing customers are raving about. We’re changing not just how you collect feedback in a secure, collaborative setting, but also how you fundamentally view feedback from customers, employees, and other stakeholders. Our solution is easy for the beginner and powerful for the expert. This is what makes us stand out with the competition in the space.

As far as features are concerned, here are some of the top differentiating features of SoGoSurvey that set us apart from the competition.

What is the revenue model of SoGoSurvey [Freemium/Premium] and what are some of the features that enterprise customers of SoGoSurvey get as compared to standalone users ?

We follow an exciting subscription-based freemium model. The customers can use our survey tool by signing up for a free trial account and use it for real work and then upgrade to the paid packages, if and when they need advanced features or to reach a large number of participants.

Advanced features such as Google Analytics Integration, Exporting Data to SPSS, Switch Invitations, Custom-Branded Survey URL, and Merge Surveys are a few of the options our Enterprise customers are entitled to.

How does your team ensure the authenticity of the survey results and what sort of technologies are used to ensure there are no fake reviews, etc.

Responses are collected to surveys in real time and they get updated in the tool immediately. There is no bias or tampering involved in the response collection process. Restrictions based on cookies or IP address can be set on public links, plus single-access-use links help to avoid inappropriate usage. Finally, once all of the data is in, we can also run a report by IP address to ensure that no one’s stuffing the ballot.

Hamid Farooqui, CEO of SoGoSurvey. Image Source – Business2Business

Since Surveys are more about ‘Decision Oriented Results’ i.e. Decisions are taken based on results obtained from the survey(s), how does the back-end logic of SoGoSurvey ensure that the organization takes the correct decisions based on those results ?

SoGoSurvey’s powerful reporting engine provides in-depth analysis and facilitates decision-making for both an organization’s clients as well as internally. First, embedding logic in the survey design ensures that participants are only asked relevant questions, resulting in the most accurate data possible. Then, reports such as Advanced Frequency, Assessment Summary, and Statistical Report help in viewing the collected data from different dimensions, giving a different perspective to problems and coming up with feasible solutions.

Set conditions and apply filters to drill down even further on results, leading to even more actionable data for specific groups and items. We know that results matter and that people are collecting data for a reason. SoGoSurvey uses these high-impact needs to prioritize features in its annual releases.

Can you please list some of the existing customers of SoGoSurvey [including SMB’s] and why startups should prefer SoGoSurvey over other survey softwares ?

Currently we cater to a lot of Fortune 500 companies as well as top educational institutes in the US. To name a few, EBay, Swiggy, Citibank, UNICEF, Marriott, IBM, HP, and FedEx are already our customers. Individuals and organizations prefer SoGoSurvey since we offer a powerful tool at a reasonable price. More details about the pricing can be found here

How many languages are currently supported by SoGoSurvey ?

SoGoSurvey currently supports 38 languages. To mention a few, we have Arabic, Bahasa, Bosnian, Burmese, Chinese, German, English [UK], Spanish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Malayalam, Russian, Tamil, Thai, Urdu, etc.

Does SoGoSurvey provide mobile based dashboard for viewing/editing/analysing survey results ?

We do not provide a mobile-based dashboard to view survey results, but our reports can be shared with colleagues to share dynamic, real-time results no matter your device. Plus, all of our surveys, forms, polls, and assessments are mobile friendly. They render beautifully on mobile and tablet, as well as computer screens as they are optimized to let respondents participate from any platform or device.

Any plans of coming up with SoGoSurvey SDK where developers can build software that can make use of SoGoSurvey’s features, data, APIs,etc.

SoGoSurvey is SaaS-based survey software used to design and deploy surveys and later run reports. We do offer API integration to users to integrate our tool with the systems they are already using.

Can you take us through the funding aspects of SoGoSurvey ?

SoGoSurvey has been funded by family and some very close friends. The total investment in the company is about 2 million USD. We have not needed extra funding after the initial angel round as we started to see good revenue coming in by the second year of operations.

Can you share some survey creation tips so that it drives maximum results i.e. customer satisfaction KPI’s enterprises need to use while using surveys ?

Taking a survey is not a core piece of work for most and hence participant engagement is the most important thing to keep in mind while designing a survey. Here are a few tips:

a. Keep the survey short and avoid displaying progress bars, page numbers, or question numbers.
b. Use branching and question display logic to make sure only relevant questions are presented to the participant
c. Use data pre-population and piping in surveys and mail merge in email invitations to personalize the participant experience.

Couple of blogs by SoGoSurvey for more information on this topic can be found here & here.

How according to you has the internet has changed over the post Web 2.0 era and the impact social, digital, mobile, NLP, AI, etc. Have created in today’s era ?

One of the biggest changes has been user participation. Content, ideas, and information are all capable of flowing from site owner to site users. A good example of that is Wikipedia, where anyone can edit or contribute. One of the most significant changes is Software as a Service [SaaS], which developed APIs to allow for automated usage.

The trend has been shifting to collaboration and an emphasis on feeling a connection, resulting in the need for more applications to seamlessly work together. Social channels emerged with an emphasis on online communities that called on their users to add value through commenting, uploading images or files, sharing, and linking to information.

Your views on Funding – Bootstrap/External funding and when according to you should someone look out for external funding.

To fuel faster growth to the next level, we may consider venture capital investments in the future. The idea is to take funding from a VC who, along with money, brings expertise and experience to our company to fuel the growth further.

Some closing thoughts for our readers

It’s an exciting time to be involved in this industry. More than ever before, people are talking and smart organizations are listening. We are happy to be part of making these conversations happen and giving customers the data they need to make smart decisions. With the rapid pace of change, we are always looking for feedback, too, and we are always taking action to better meet the needs of our customers.

In our new release, in May, we will roll out many new features our customers have asked for. Feedback really does make a difference, and we are glad to have our customers working with us to ensure we deliver the best product at the best price.

We thank Mr Hamid for his time and sharing valuable insights with our readers! If you have any questions for Hamid & his team about the market, pricing of SoGoSurvey, SoGoSurvey for SMB’s, etc., please email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com or leave your question in the comments section.

|In: Interviews|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

If you are in India, you would have definitely visited Big Bazaar at least once and experienced a chat with the cashier asking you to signup for a Loyalty Card. Whether it is in India or elsewhere, shoppers love discounts and they often shop from a place [offline/online] that offers them maximum discounts. Though we love discounts, according to a study, Indians are most demanding, yet loyal customers globally. What if customers are rewarded for their loyalty to a brand via Loyalty Points that can be redeemed across different partners in various verticals like e-commerce, food, travel, etc. 🙂 Sounds interesting, ain’t it ?

Image Source – LoyalZoo

According to published customer research reports, the most preferred form of rewarding loyalty is through ‘loyalty points’ that a customer accumulates from transactions, and their fungible nature makes them universally acceptable across the network of partner brands, of a multi-brand loyalty program [Source]. In India, PAYBACK is formidable player in the multi brand loyalty program market.

It offers its members multitude of benefits over traditional, stand-alone customer loyalty schemes. It has over 50 partners including affiliate brands participating in the PAYBACK Network across categories in-store as well as online [Source].

Importantly, PAYBACK Partners are mostly market leaders in consumer segments covering daily needs, ranging from food to travel and entertainment. With such a varied portfolio of partners, PAYBACK Members can earn points on everyday shopping and redeem them for attractive rewards, at their preference.

Today, we have a discussion with Mr Gaurav Khurana, Chief Marketing Officer of PayBack India about the PayBack program, Market Share, overall loyalty programs market, competition, etc. So let’s get started…

Tell us about PAYBACK program ? How was the company conceptualized ? What was the idea behind PAYBACK ?

PAYBACK, the largest loyalty program in Europe entered Indian market in 2010. Today it is India’s largest multi-brand loyalty program offering its members a multitude of benefits over traditional, stand-alone customer loyalty schemes. With over 50 in-stores and online partner brands, the program has a wide reach covering nearly 70% of everyday consumer spend categories ranging from groceries, travel, entertainment, apparel and more.

PAYBACK enables consumers to collect and redeem loyalty points with a wide range of relevant partners across formats using a single card or even their mobile number on the move. The brand has received an overwhelming response in the country with over 60 million customers already associated with the platform and growing by the year.

PAYBACK entered the Indian market via acquisition of iMint, what are some of positive’s that came out of this acquisition [apart from customer base, please talk about local know-how, etc.]

The transition post-acquisition into the Indian market was smooth, iMint being a strong brand with multiple partners and a large member base. Also, with iMint being the established player in India and on other side PAYBACK adding a huge benefit to the existing business and introducing international expertise, with a massive global partner network resulted in a consolidated ecosystem in loyalty space. This move added more value to member & partners, making the rewards and loyalty sector accomplish new heights in a such an exclusive business model.

Who are your partner brands across the retail industry ?

PAYBACK is multi-brand loyalty program with more than 50 online and offline and affiliate brand partners across a diverse kitty of categories. Brands range from fuel leader HPCL, to banking partners ICICI Bank, American Express, daily needs partner Big Bazaar, travel portals; Makemytrip and Tripadvisor, apparel brands; Central, FBB, Brand Factory, Rare Rabbit, entertainment portal; Bookmyshow, online portals; ebay, voylla, naaptol, electronics and Home Décor brands; eZone & Hometown & affiliate partners like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Jabong, Myntra just to name a few. The network is growing at a very fast pace.

Mr Gaurav Khurana, Chief Marketing Officer-PAYBACK India

How much market share does PAYBACK have in the Loyalty cards segment ?

We are currently one of the industry leaders in coalition loyalty space in India. PAYBACK has been the only successful brand in India to build a diverse partner portfolio and over 60 million members already associated with the platform and is growing continuously.

Apart from online partners [like Flipkart, Shopclues etc.], how much does offline partners contribute to the overall revenue of PAYBACK.

Our major chunk of the business is contributed from our offline businesses. Our partners are renowned brands in this section and they play an essential role in this business, with a 70% revenue clocking in from offline, we can safely say that this our main line.

Our online business is fast gaining momentum in India, as a growing economy, the digital boom has increased the business here, we are at a 30% currently. PAYBACK have been working with large offline partners like Future Group, HPCL, ICICI, these brands have been associated with us for a long time.

How and where does PAYBACK help customers and retailers by using data analytics ?

PAYBACK Platform help retailers in manifold ways:

  • We integrate our solution with the existing POS/ERP infrastructure
  • We capture customer data to the last mile [basket & product level data]
  • We run in-depth analytics driven by multi-dimensional view of spend & usage patterns
  • We enable retailers to gain real-time insights into customer behaviour and propose ways to engage and retain
  • We provide integration with the PAYBACK rewards database
  • We personalize multi-channel communications

The insights are used for targeted engagement campaigns through a multi-channel ecosystem; E-mailers, SMS, web, social media and so on. These enable retailers to plan interventions throughout the customer life-cycle and plan retention and engagement activities instead of a single-minded one for all approach. This business intelligence [BI] is relevant specifically in cases of banking and retail industries which move a high volume of data and need to create much sharper offerings in order to create differentiation in the competitive landscape.

As part of the retention strategy at each retailer, various experiential offerings are also built in into the transactional ecosystem to create a distinction which may include home delivery, separate queues, variable benefits, privilege access, etc. at pre-defined retail outlets. For PAYBACK apparel and fashion is the biggest segment, followed by grocery. This segment sees high value in loyalty programs as it ensures customer stickiness. Further advanced analytics help determine customer behaviour and retailers are able to customize programs for each of their customer segments and also engage inactive customers.

Can you share some of the competitors of PAYBACK in India?

We are currently one of the industry leaders in the coalition loyalty space in India. With over 50 in-stores and online partner brands, PAYBACK has been the only successful brand in India to build a diverse partner portfolio and over 60 million members already associated with the platform.

We continue to benchmark ourselves against our own potential and targets. We need to invest in our capabilities to ensure we keep pace with the changing demographic, technology and evolving needs of our customer base.

Please share some interesting trends observed by PAYBACK in terms of consumer behaviour?

We see a huge change in consumer dynamics, with a large scale shift from offline to online consumption of goods & services and a change in demand of the categories retailing online. The new age customers tend to be quite experimental in nature and we are seeing more movement in new and unconventional categories like Furniture, Health and Beauty care, Apparel and Groceries as opposed to traditional online categories of books and consumer electronics.

In online world, personalization of experiences is the key to purchase consideration while segmentation with location considerations is critical to offline retailers. Among the factors that are driving retail choices, in additional to end prices and delivery experience are the trust in the retail brand, good returns policy, depth of offerings and loyalty incentives. Shoppers are increasingly valuing digitally enhanced in-store experiences or web channel experiences, easy check-in and check-out experiences and consistent omni-channel customer engagement which are increasingly influencing purchase as well as purchase location decisions.

Moreover, we do see an increasingly ingrained value consciousness among consumers fueled by the open discount models but also the fact that customers are willing to go an additional mile to draw more benefits in their day to day purchases.

Each Loyalty card company offers some unique value proposition , how does PAYBACK ensure to stay ahead of the competitors ?

PAYBACK is India’s largest coalition loyalty program and has been successfully adding a substantial customer base to their wide spread network. It provides many advantages over traditional, stand-alone customer loyalty schemes restricted to a single brand or company. The power of PAYBACK stems from amalgamating loyalty benefits from many attractive partners namely, using one single card, members earn loyalty points when they shop at a wide range of merchants and brands – offline and online.

PAYBACK has been the only successful brand in India to build a diverse portfolio of partner brands both in-store and online with options to earn and redeem points and avail rewards. Importantly, all PAYBACK partners are mostly market leaders in consumer segments covering every aspect of the consumer life ranging from daily needs, fuel, travel, home-care, shopping to entertainment.

As a result, members are able to accumulate a large number of points quickly. A coalition of strong partners united on the common PAYBACK platform also multiplies redemption opportunities. The combination of rapid accumulation of points and their easy redemption for desirable rewards is what makes PAYBACK so attractive. Other benefits include discounts on purchases through points earned or through coupons and exclusive special offers. Shoppers love these unrivaled features, because they simply get more value for every rupee spent.  All this has helped PAYBACK stay ahead of the market as a specialist in building coalition and adding value to both the partners and consumers alike while contributing to the growing loyalty market in India.

What are your future/expansion plans ?

We are seeing a healthy rise in the loyalty transactions over the past few years in India. More real-time and personalized experiences delivered to the customers have been the actual reasons behind this upsurge. Understanding this scenario, we aim to:

  • Continue to acquire new partnerships
  • Focus on adding value to our existing network of offline and online partners
  • Continue to innovate and offer a rewarding experience to our members
  • Educate shoppers today on the advantages of loyalty points and how best to utilize them

The idea is to grow our network through our initiatives as driving loyalty, engagement and customer experience is the future of customer acquisition and retention.

Closing comments for our readers on Loyalty Card market landscape.

In India, loyalty transactions have been growing consistently over the past few years due to more real-time and personalized experience being delivered to the customers. With the advent of new age businesses and technological capabilities, there has been remarkable change in consumer behaviour and their affinity to brands and offers. The demographics are changing and majority of new age people are having higher retail spend.

From fuel, apparels, entertainment, travel, financial services and daily needs all these categories are leading to tangible retail spend. In such a scenario, coalition loyalty program would be game-changer as it offers a diverse portfolio of partner brands in-store and online, with options to earn and spend points, and avail rewards. Loyalty programme which consolidates the reward system will go a long way in ensuring customer stickiness.

We thank Mr Gaurav for his time and sharing valuable insights for our readers! If you have any questions for the PAYBACK team about the program, impact on retail segment, etc., please email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com or leave your question in the comments section.

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If there is one Bollywood movie that gave serious travel to it’s audience, it has to be Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara where three friends travel to Spain for a bachelor trip and as expected the trip turns out to be fruitful for all of them 🙂 For Nishchal Dua, an avid traveller and entrepreneur, that ZNMD moment struck in the year 2016 when he travelled across India & three other countries.

That ZNMD moment made him thinking as to ‘Why be bound to one location even though you have the freedom to travel & move around‘ This is the thought that gave birth to The Remote Life which is on a mission to get more & more people out of their cubicles and into the real world as the team behind the idea rightly believe Work should not come in the way of travel.

The Remote Life was brought into implementation in December 2016 with the simple mantra ‘Travel the world, work remotely and meet awesome people‘. Today we have a chat with Nishchal Dua, Founder & CEO of The Remote Life where we discuss about his entrepreneurial journey, how travel can benefit entrepreneurs/freelancers, etc., nuances of the program, marketing, etc.

So let’s get started with the Q&A…

How did you come up with the idea of The Remote Life ?

I spent the greater part of 2016 travelling across India and to 3 other countries. During this time, I met a lot of people, shared stories and experiences and realized how travel is that one thing that almost everyone wishes for but are not able to do it. And the constraints are not financial but societal. It was during my trek to the Mt. Everest Base Camp when Remote Life started taking shape during discussions with Nitin, Luke, Emma and Chinmoy.

Can you share some details about the team behind The Remote Life

I am a serial entrepreneur and I have travelled extensively. My first company was incubated at IIM-Ahmedabad but soon went sideways and had to be shut down after multiple pivots. From those learnings I started Amicus Shopping Assistant and it was acquired in early 2016. I have worked with MakeMyTrip and Amadeus-both are leading travel companies.

What is the target audience for The Remote Life and some of the countries that are listed as a part of the program ?

The people most keen on joining The Remote Life are entrepreneurs and freelancers who have a stable income as well as the independence to work remotely.

The itinerary currently includes Indonesia, Cambodia & Thailand. We would be expanding to other regions very soon.

Can you walk us through the financials of the program and how it can help entrepreneurs ?

It is possible to join the program for as little as $1100/month and that covers one month of accommodation, office space, food & experiences. We also include visa, insurance, local sim card & airport pickup & drop.

For entrepreneurs specially we have dedicated workshops on Digital Marketing, basics of technology, how to get PR, personal branding and mentorship. Additionally we also have meetups with local entrepreneurs and those across the globe to widen the network and allow ideas to flow.

Any particular reason, there is no mention of Investors [who can join entrepreneurs for The Remote Life] as it might also resulting in funding the entrepreneur’s idea ?

We are open to the idea but not promoting it actively. A constant feedback from the investor community is that it is not very easy for them to work remotely for a month and they would love to join for a couple of days and interact with the entrepreneurs. Also, ‘getting funded’ should not be an entrepreneurs goal.

Can you share some numbers, as to how many entrepreneurs/freelancers/targeted audience have signed up for the program ?

We have received nearly 1200+ sign ups on our website and shortlisted 220 applicants. These 220 applicants will be called by our team to discuss their plans and post that we will finalize the participants.

How much has your experience in Amicus resulted in shaping up the idea of The Remote Life ?

Everything we do leads up to what and how we approach a problem in future. Yes, my experience with Amicus helped a lot in how I think, plan and execute. The mistakes I make now are very different from the ones I have already made with Amicus.

Off late, a lot of startups are moving away from Tier-1 cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, etc. to places that are not predominantly IT driven? Won’t this affect scaling,hiring,etc. w.r.t the startup

The problem with most first time entrepreneurs is how they have only read success stories and interviews and make business decisions based on that. You don’t need to scale or hire unless you have a clear value proposition and business model. Most of the startups can easily be built by 3~4 people in a room with multiple skills between them. I don’t see the point in spending 3~4 hours a day in Bangalore’s traffic and pollution when there’s very little to be gained from it.

Can you name some of the competitors of The Remote Life ?

HackersParadise is doing great. They have built a community of software developers that travel the world and work on cool projects remotely.

How do you ensure to keep the costs of The Remote Life in-tact (without compromising on the experience] ?

I have travelled extensively and built friendships on the way. It’s because of this that I have partners across multiple countries with whom we have exclusive tie ups to ensure the program remains economical. In fact, we are almost 40% more economical than HackersParadise.

What is the funding status of The Remote Life ?

It is entirely self funded. We are not actively looking for investors but love feedback 🙂

2016 was a tough year for startups [especially from funding point of view], how according to you should entrepreneurs deal with such adverse situations ?

I believe it was a really good year. Lots of startups shut down and many more struggled to raise funds forcing them to focus instead on trivial issues like customer acquisition and restructuring the business model.

Can you share some tips for building an effective team for startups [especially the initial core team] ?

Don’t build it. If you go out to hire people for your core team then you’re doing something wrong. Just look at your speed dial or Whatsapp for the people who are closest to you and can be trusted with life. Those are you co-founders. Core team should be about trust and not skill. For skills, you can always hire people.

How important is it for early stage startups to pivot their business model or when is the right time to pivot ?

There is no right answer for this. Startups work because they pivoted, fail because they pivoted and it is only in retrospect that you know what the right time to pivot was.

Your earlier startup was acquired, can you share some tips that can help entrepreneurs who are looking for getting acquired/acqui-hired ?

Focus on one thing. Just one. Is it your user base, your revenue, technology or team? Pick one, make sure you kick ass in that segment and approach the right people with that pitch. But remember your one clear value proposition.

We thank Nishchal for his time and sharing valuable insights for our readers! If you are a freelancer/entrepreneur/travel freak and have the itch to travel (as well as network), head on to Travel programs by The Remote Life If you have any questions for Nishchal Dua & his team about the program, entrepreneurship etc., email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com

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CNN International hosted the second edition of Asia Business Forum 2017 on 13th February 2017 in Bengaluru, which since last year has been an exclusive platform for leaders across the region. Around 200 business leaders came together to assess India’s position in a turbulent global economy, the event attracted a lot interest amongst business and technology leaders. Asia Business Forum 2017 coincided with the start of the Indian government’s ‘Make in India Conference’.

Speakers at the event included Richard Quest, CNNMoney Editor-at-Large and anchor of Quest Means Business and Kristie Lu Stout, CNNNews Stream anchor will lead discussions with star speakers including EkStep Chairman and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, Air Vistara CEO Phee Teik Yeoh, Spicejet Chairman & Managing Director Ajay Singh, JetSetGo Co-Founder and CEO Kanika Tekriwal, and viral YouTube star ‘Rickshawalli‘.

Some of the notable sessions included India at 30,000 Feet-Exploring the world’s fastest growing aviation industry and Digitizing India-How technology is transforming the world’s biggest democracy.

CNN Asia Business Forum Panelistswith Ms Kristie Lu Stout on extreme right

Fellow blogger Jogesh Midha interviewed Kristie Lu Stout, CNN Anchor and host of News Stream on the lines of Social Media, Technology trends, entrepreneurial culture in India, etc. Below are the edited excerpts of the interview.

What has changed about the Technology Business & News Business since the last 15 years?

We have seen the rise of social media with Facebook being the pioneer of social media. It has impacted Retail, Political campaigns, businesses, etc. So arguably social media has been the biggest game changer both on the technology as well on social front. Big proportion of audience referrals to CNN come from Facebook and our job as journalists has become much meaningful because of it.

What are the technology trends of 2017?

It has to be Artificial Intelligence (AI). Last few months we have seen AI been able to out-bluff the best players in Poker, it has taken jobs away from real human beings. In fact in Japan, number of insurance claim workers lost their jobs to AI. AI is incredible!

However with technology advancements comes the ethical challenges, what happens when AI takes over jobs. This is the same issue that Elon Musk of Tesla raised a couple of months back and there lies the fundamental debate-How do you incentivise learning for children who know that they really do not have to learn since the computer does a better job there but there is still a reason why need to learn Math, Science, etc.

Electrification of transport, clean energy, human computer interface and brain implants are some of the trends that might evolve in 2017.

What are some of the Prons & Cons of social media, especially from the angle of journalism?

Good thing about social media is that you are able to engage with so many people across the world. Dark side is online bullying, cyber harassment and identity theft. Fake News spreads like wild fire primarily due to social media. I recently interviewed the founder of David Mikkelson, Snopes that has been in the business of debunking fake news since last 20 years and he told me that Fake News syndrome has been around since centuries but with social media, Attention Economy has grabbed the attention since it is all about CTR’s.

Your comments on the entrepreneurial rise in India, how do you compare the startup culture here vis-a-vis Silicon Valley?

The secret to success of Silicon Valley has been the access to the brightest minds that come from some of the best universities in America. In India also the emphasis has been on education especially IIT’s that have been the pioneers and many of the entrepreneurs are from IIT’s.

Impact of Blogging, YouTube and other mediums on traditional journalism?

Video has become the new killer feature especially with the advent of YouTube and Facebook Live. Many media companies including BuzzFeed are investing heavily on Video Content and video is what CNN has been doing since many years!

The solution to responsible content [or journalism] is not regulation but education via media literacy programs for consumers so that they can identify fake news and prevent sharing of fake news.

There is a highly recommended course Making sense of the news that every digitally literate person should take up in order to make sense of what we heard or read. Prevention of spreading of fake news is a joint responsibility of the media consumers, media houses, journalists, etc. and this is very important for the rising Social Media generation.

Your views on initiatives like Startup India, Digital India, etc. and it’s impact on the nation

Couple of weeks back when Apple CEO Tim Cook was in India he made it clear that India is where the action is taking place. Overall there are lot of opportunities, especially in Manufacturing in India. There is lot of excitement about India even though there might be a decline of the number of H1B visa holders [due to the bill passed by the Trump Administration]. H1B is always in demand since there is lack of skilled engineering talent in the USA and hence it requires engineers from countries like India. Decline of H1B visa holders might work in India’s favor as it could result into Return to India dream/Reverse brain drain 🙂

How serious is cyber security in today’s changing era ?

Some people can argue that cyber-security swayed the US elections, looking at the allegations of Russian Hacking, Wikileaks, etc. There is a lot to be lost in case of political security. We only hope that the world leaders and the policy makers are digitally literate. World leaders should be digitally savvy enough to understand the dangers posed by Cyber-security threats.

Enough has not been done in the awareness about cyber-security and there needs to be more discussions in organizations about Phishing, Digital & Cyber security, etc. Lot of work still needs to be done in strengthening the security of networks. The hindsight is that sometimes it is more about convenience and that which is the primary reason why most of us continue to use Google instead of Duck Duck Go, though we are aware that Google knows a lot about us. There is always a trade-off between right to privacy vs right to convenience. Unintended consequences of technology resulting in misuse & abuse of technology is the biggest threat to this evolving world of technology.

We thank Kristie Lu Stout for her time and hope that our readers enjoyed the interview…