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While logistics is turning out to be one of the biggest challenges for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a> companies across the country, a Bengaluru-based <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a> <keyword id="138263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> is trying hard to tap into the rural customer base. 
 Meet <keyword id="2919909" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="StoreKing">StoreKing</keyword>. Founded by <keyword id="2920244" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sridhar-Gundaiah">Sridhar Gundaiah</keyword> in 2012, the company has harnessed the power of vernacular languages to introduce <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a> to over a million villagers in the last three years. 
 
How it works: 
StoreKing approaches small kirana shops to mobile recharge outlets in villages. The retailer has to pay less than Rs 10,000 to install the StoreKing kiosk in their shop. These tablets come with the pre-installed company app. It is currently available in Tamil, Telegu, Goan, Kannada and Malayalam. 
 
Once installed, the villagers just have to select the category, the product of their choice and click on ‘buy’. The shopkeepers assist shoppers, and in return earn around 10% commission on each sale. 
 
Once the online order is placed, the customer pays the shopkeeper and receives a bill. A confirmation message is sent immediately on the customer’s mobile. The product is delivered to the shop the very next day, and the customer collects it. 
 
Operations: 
StoreKing has its warehouse in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Bengaluru&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Bengaluru</a>, and promises to deliver all items within 48 hours. It uses the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=FMCG+distribution&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">FMCG distribution</a> channel to deliver goods. The minimum order requirement is Rs 500. 
 
Over 17,000 rural shops across west and south India are connected with StoreKing, with South India alone accounting for 4,500 kiosks. 
The startup plans to expand its operations to the rest of the country soon. 
 
Expansion Plans: 
The company has raised multiple rounds of funding to the tune of around $6 million from a Luxembourg-based VC firm called Mangrove Capital Partners. It hasn’t raised any money since 2014. 
 “I hope to reach 500 million people by the end of the next couple of years because I know there is no way a <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> or an <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> can reach the interiors like we can,” Sridhar said in an interview. 
 
The startup is looking to expand to Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in the next couple of months. 
 
Image Credit: Indiatimes

This startup is helping Amazon and ShopClues reach a million Indian villagers

The metro cities enjoy the luxury of sitting at home and buying things online. While most of the online sellers claim to reach all customers across the country, there is certainly a big gap that keeps people from smaller towns aloof from the trend. The result is a major loss for online sellers who lose out on the customers who prefer buying from physical stores. Last financial year, Ken <keyword id="15509" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Research">Research</keyword> has reported, only eight metro cities have generated major sale online besides 3,133 Tier II and Tier III cities including 1,233 rural hubs. This is a clear indication of the potential that smaller towns posses when it comes to online sales. But then there is something that is keeping these places remote from the major sellers. Bengaluru based tech start up <keyword id="3510995" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShopX">SHOPX</keyword> intends to shift this ecommerce dominance from just a small percentage to the overall retail pie, the Indian mass market. The basic aim of SHOPX is to enable every town in India to shop online. In an exclusive chat with Business Insider Amit Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder of ShopX, said how the market dynamics in smaller towns work. What made them come up with the idea? Research indicates that the middle-income mass market in India is not comfortable speaking in English and majority of them are not comfortable shopping online. The general population of Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, will consider the suggestions of their kirana store owner before making a purchase. Trust and comfort are two factors that affect buying decisions. Technology and the ‘human touch’ becomes a solution to this problem- small retailer can become the point of contact not just for purchase but also for delivery of products. Since its inception in 2015, SHOPX has grown in reach, distribution, and engagement with retailers across 10 states and 220+ towns in Tier 1, 2, and 3 cities across India. Over the years, SHOPX has grown with 45,000+ retailers across <keyword id="6364822" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="South">South</keyword> and West India. Due to the increasing demand of premium brands in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, SHOPX has consolidated a wide range of products in various categories, such as <keyword id="34523" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="fmcg">FMCG</keyword>, mobile phones and accessories. One such example is the launch of <keyword id="6354606" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="iPhone">iPhone</keyword>s on the technology platform in January 2017. They sold more than 300 units of iPhones, out of which 70 percent of the shipment is iPhone 5s. SHOPX is backed by strategic investor, <keyword id="44604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nandan-Nilekani">Nandan Nilekani</keyword> and mentors including Jagdish Kini [ex- CEO, <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword> (<keyword id="2465548" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="South-Region">South Region</keyword>), Managing Director, Gillette India], and Pramod Varma [former Chief Architect, UIDAI Aadhar Project, CTO Sterling Commerce.] <div type="image" title="uoVLSxCa" msid="58577154" hostid="261"></div>
 Uniqueness The SHOPX app is disrupting the traditional retail ecosystem with a differential approach. It enables the retailer to offer a better experience to their consumers. The benefits for the retailer are low investment, zero stocking, and increase in income opportunities. SHOPX enables retailers to earn 30-40 percent more than the traditional retail model. SHOPX offers various digital services like mobile and DTH recharge, bus and flight booking, utility bill payments, SHOPX Suvidha (lending service only for SHOPX distributors) along with a wide range (more than 50,000) of physical products in categories like FMCG, mobile phone and accessories, fashion etc. Localise Last Mile Delivery We have launched last mile delivery (the last leg of the logistics cycle where parcels are delivered to the end customers) to address the challenges of scaling up logistics and supply chain. Instead of relying on national logistics providers (who tend to be expensive and often slow in last mile), ShopX does its last mile delivery through its local partners. This allows faster speed, lower cost, and more reliable delivery. While there is a stiff competition from market players like Just Buy Live, StoreKing, SnapBizz and Amazon Udaan Sharma is quite confident of the game. Availability 
 Consumers can access the SHOPX app at 45,000 retail outlets who have partnered with us. More than 50,000 products are available on the SHOPX platform along with various digital services like mobile and DTH recharge, and travel ticket booking. We have easy order and return policies to provide consumers and retailers a hassle-free shopping experience.

This startup is enabling online shopping in small towns just like in the metros

After eCommerce firms, now the online wallet and payment companies are trying their best to reserve a space for themselves in the promising Indian market. Almost every other day, we get to hear a lot about these companies’ new initiatives for wooing customers as well as retailers. And now, companies like <keyword id="6357120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PayTM">Paytm</keyword> and <keyword id="143842" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mobikwik">Mobikwik</keyword> have gone a step ahead and joined hands with local kirana stores to expand their arms into semi-urban and rural areas. These are the areas that are considered as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/E-wallets-will-actually-be-a-burden-for-the-banks-not-a-boon/articleshow/47984502.cms">underserved by banks</a>. 
 
According to a recent Economic Times reports, these companies are offering attractive rewards and are motivating customers to convert their money into wallet money at the local kirana stores. The idea is to get rural clients. Penny Gillespie, research director for electronic and mobile commerce at Gartner, USA says, “Rural clients are important to digital wallet suppliers for the market size and need for convenience. 
 
Enabling these rural clients also increases the appeal of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/You-might-soon-be-able-to-shop-up-to-Rs-25K-via-mobile-wallets-Paytm-asks-RBI-to-raise-cash-limit-for-the-same/articleshow/48110055.cms">digital wallet</a> to merchants and increases the number of payment transactions that are processed by gateways and PSPs, which is how gateways and processors make their revenue." 
 
Amit Lakhotia, Paytm vice-president of payments also shared similar thoughts. He said, “The idea is to primarily promote adoption among users who are reluctant to use digital payment methods or are unable to access them.” 
 
On the record, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Digital-wallets-becoming-popular-among-consumers-reveals-RTI/articleshow/48233920.cms">online wallet and payment service</a> company, backed by Chinese eCommerce biggie Alibaba has recently partnered with Hyderabad-based <keyword id="2411000" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="NumberMall">NumberMall</keyword> to pull at least 15,000 kirana stores in its network as cash points where users can easily top-up their Paytm wallets. 
 NumberMall founder and CEO <keyword id="3032679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kiran-Kumar-Gali">Kiran Kumar Gali</keyword> says, “Users who come for topping up their wallets are mostly students who do not have bank accounts, are active smart phone users and rely heavily on rewards and cash-back from the wallet for online purchases.” Gali further informed the media that the tie-up is a month old. 
 
Payment wallet Mobikwik had recently announced a similar tie-up with assisted ecommerce player StoreKing, which installs kiosks in retail and mobile recharge stores in rural areas across southern India. 
 
"We are trying to understand the usage pattern for customers in rural areas and to ease converting cash into wallet money. We are working on a model in Delhi and Mumbai, which will be soon launched in other cities where users can click a button on the Mobikwik app and get their wallets recharged on payment of cash to an agent at their doorstep," said Mrinal Sinha, COO of Mobikwik. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Mobikwik+">Mobikwik </a>has 20 million wallet users while, Paytm has 100 million wallet users. 
 
"We are currently running a pilot in Bandra (Mumbai) with 30 kirana stores to accept payment through the Citrus Pay wallet. In case of large retail chains, the adoption of wallet to pay is low due to the cumbersome process," said Jitendra Gupta, founder of Citrus Pay. 
 
Gillespie said digital wallets have the capability to exclude banks if the wallet accepts cash payments for reload. 
 
Image: paytm.com

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This startup is enabling online shopping in small towns just like in the metros

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