ValueTag aims to become the Google Shopping of India. Will it?
E-commerce’s arrival in India was a harbinger for price comparison sites and tools. As e-commerce grew in India, the price sensitive Indian consumer also saw many price comparison options such as Junglee, MySmartPrice, PriceBaba, BuyHatke, PriceDekho etc.
One more player in this segment is Copperpix’s ValueTag. With the objective of making shopping convenient while enhancing the shoppers’ experience, Value Tag presents a tri-platform experience - mobile, browser and in-store price comparisons.
ValueTag app is presently available on Android and as a Chrome add-on, Firefox extension or Safari extension. Value Tag icon shows up on the top of all products that users browse on online shopping sites. Just a tap on it will get the entire list of comparative pricing at competitor sites, in the same window, along with their respective reviews. ValueTag also has a barcode scanner capability. Users can scan the product barcode from their mobiles and get the best prices for products at various online platforms.
Copperpix, the parent company of ValueTag, is founded by Anubhav Gupta, Sapna Mittal and Nitin Mittal. Anubhav is an engineer from IIT Bombay and has an MBA from University of Texas, USA. He started his career with Motorola and has worked in different roles in engineering, product marketing, sales and business management. Sapna also finished her Masters from University of Texas and has worked with Apple for the last six years as senior software engineer. Nitin is an avid marketing professional and has worked in product marketing in diverse sectors such as manufacturing, services, banking etc.
The transition from a corporate career to an entrepreneur has been an amazing experience for Anubhav. He says, “I have learnt that with time you get better with time management. Also, it may seem easy to start a company but it is not easy to manage it and make it a success. I have more respect for entrepreneurs now than ever before.”
Speaking of the value proposition of ValueTag, Anubhav says, “Users spend a lot of time finding the best deal and coupons when we buy a product online or in-store. 27% of shoppers abandon their purchases because they want to compare prices before buying. ValueTag works automatically while users browse to find them better deals. Consumers can experience the same shopping convenience on their Android phone and tablets and also when in store. Overall, our goal is to save users money and time on whatever they buy.”
ValueTag is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA USA, with an India office in Noida. It is funded by angel investment from USA and the founders are currently not interested in raising more money. Anubhav shares that the primary challenge for him was to hire the best people in the industry and to align everybody to the company’s vision and keep them motivated to move forward with the same passion. He adds that creating product awareness is the task on the table at present.
App usage on smartphones is still limited in fields like e-commerce and this can pose a difficult situation for ValueTag. ValueTag sees Junglee in India and Nextag, RedLaser (acquired by eBay) and Milo (acquired by eBay) in the USA as its main competitors. But Anubhav strongly believes that ValueTag is the upcoming Google Shopping of India.
Are consumers always looking for the cheapest option? Or do they become brand loyalist after some successful transactions with one e-commerce site? What do you think?