Bizporto, Product Search Engine that connects Buyers & Sellers

Every small business struggles to catch up on sales and market visibility. Pune based entrepreneur, Suresh Salunkhe, enables SMEs in generating business volumes through his venture, Bizporto. Swati Maheshwari finds out how, for YourStory.in

What is the concept behind Bizporto?

Bizporto basically is a product search engine which helps buyers and sellers in connecting with each other to form a win-win business relationship - effortlessly. Our aim is to bring every small business on the online platform by offering them a cost effective web solution and later give them business enquiries to prosper their sales.

What is your business model?

At Bizporto, we bring small businesses on our portal by offering them a website space at a very affordable price of Rs 1500. By doing this, we are removing the entry barrier for them to start doing business online. We also provide them a Backend ERP solution ‘bizkontrol’ to control their day to day business activities like purchase, sales, account, tax management and we also synchronize their offline store with the web. Through this system, whatever changes happen at the store can be showcased online in real-time. We also promote the listed businesses to generate enquiries for them. Under this service, we have three different packages to choose from, based on the client needs.

How do people benefit from Bizporto?

Bizporto offers a very cost effective web solution to small businesses to expose themselves on the online platform and hence helping them to get business enquiries. Also, by using our backend application, they can take control over their day to day business activities like purchase, sales and account management. The solutions are so easy to use that even a very new start up can scale up his business from the very first month.

What made you start Bizporto?

Earlier I led a trading firm in the engineering domain. It was then that I could closely see the issues faced by small and medium sized business owners. Lack of funds, knowledge, trained professionals and bandwidth are the most commonly faced challenges. Small businesses cannot afford setting up offices at different locations neither can they afford to hire business development teams. Understanding these challenges led to Bizporto, which allows SMEs to grow their businesses online. Through Bizporto they can reach thousands of buyers and get ready enquires for their business. Bizporto also provides a platform for buyers to look out for products and search for local suppliers.

Is this your first entrepreneurial venture?

No, I have another venture which is into trading of Industrial hardware. It started in 2008 and is running successfully.

What was the biggest learning as an entrepreneur?

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My biggest learning as an entrepreneur is that in any business, the team is of the utmost critical value. What kind of team you have will play a major role in your long term success. Also, as an entrepreneur, one should have faith in one’s dreams, team and the product. Many a times, success comes at last.How do you promote your startup?

Currently we are promoting our startup by using online as well as offline medium. We also rely on PR, listings, back link submissions, social media and the blog. We also actively participate in trade shows.

What is your success mantra?

Select the best team. Offer the best product at a reasonable price by understanding customer need. Relationship Management with customers. Do things differently.

What are your future plans?

Currently we are operating in 7 cities including Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik, Kolhapur, Vashi, Sangli and Nagpur with a client base of around 10,000 and an employee base of 60+. We have plans to expand our business into 13 more cities by the end of this year and reach pan India in the coming 3 years with a turnover target of over Rs.500 Cr. Also we will be coming up with more unique and cost effective solutions for small businesses in future.

Check out www.bizporto.com to know more! Share your thoughts on this story by writing to us at [email protected]