Taking kirana stores and super markets online via mCommerce: Jiffstore
The rise of mobile has been one of the biggest developments and space for entrepreneur in India. Looking at this, we launched MobileSparks last year to give a platform to rising mobile startups (second edition is around the corner). What this mobile wave does is that it puts the power of technology in the hands of the masses.
There have been multiple players in various areas in eCommerce and this boom came back in 2011. It is now proven that online is a good channel for any seller but there in still apprehension in the minds of people in terms of the return on investment. For smaller stores and supermarkets, the opportunity is huge and this is where Jiffstore has positioned itself.
Jiffstore is an m-commerce platform which empowers small retail stores & supermarkets to reach out to their customers in a better way. Customers can place order in 3 simple steps and get their order delivered. For the shop keeper, Jiffstore opens up the world of analytics, new age marketing techniques & customer engagement all through his mobile. The payment mode is via a monthly subscription model.
The company has been founded by four people- Satish Basavaraj, Aswin Ram, Shameel Abdullah and Sandeep S- professionals with a cumulative experience of 20+ years in the field of mobile, internet and Analytics. The company was also undergone an accelerator program at TLabs and is currently operational in 25+ retail stores in Bangalore.
One of the barriers for such a solution to scale really widely is the need for kirana walas to be technology savvy enough to use an application on a smartphone. "Our target as of now is the get the supermarkets and retail stores in metros and Tier 1 cities to start using this," says Satish post which they can think of further expansion. The retail store themselves are used as a distribution channel as well because the store owner is happier if he gets orders directly via the net instead of taking orders on phone and co-ordination each time.
"The response has been really encouraging from both parties and especially the store owners. The word has started to spread and that is how we're getting new requests as well," says Satish. The application is available on Android and iOS and each retailer who has implemented the solution is seeing at least two orders on an everyday basis.
Download the apps here and if you're a store owner, you can sign up for getting a Jiffstore. And for discussion on everything mobile and startups, don't miss out on MobileSparks.