Does a software product bring significant advantage to the daily operations of a tier 3 Indian city retailer?

Yes, it does! Somewhere in the remotest corner of Maharashtra, a pharmacy retailer relied his money on a SaaS product to ease his day-to-day medicine supply business, starting from inventory to customer satisfaction. Onboarding this software product has eased so much of his store’s operations that he is now able to remotely manage the store from anywhere just from his vendor created smartphone application. Another critical problem that got addressed by the software deployment for the retailer is the ability to employ lesser-skilled workers to manage his store.

In another instance, a small-time supermarket chain owner in a semi-urban area of South India trusts his software application so much that he can plan setting up of new stores in just 1 month which otherwise took 6 whole months. This proves that we are now in an era where MSMEs are in need of a software that can do much more than just accounting and billing but rather automate the majority of the operations and also bring transparency in the financials, which has now been given increased impetus by the acting government.

As the retail businesses are in the cusp of disruption, the restaurant industry is also closely catching up with advancing technology. Traditional restaurants are witnessing a shift in consumer behaviour with the rise of cloud kitchen and online delivery platforms. Let’s not forget that the GST Council has approved the introduction of ‘E-invoicing’ for business to business (B2B) transactions from January 1, 2020. This, all the more, sets the ground for MSMEs of all nature to adopt the practice of digital accounting solutions that ease operations.

Consumers too, on the other hand, expect personalized experiences, product availability and standard services not only in the physical store but also on all channels including e-commerce platforms and market places. Due to evolving customer behaviour and changing industry landscape, MSMEs can no longer operate in a silo; they have to connect and collaborate across channels using ERP solutions.

Making all the software necessities a possibility for MSMEs is GOFRUGAL – the company that is making ‘Collaborative Commerce’ a reality for MSME Retail Sector.

The Kumar Vembu-led cloud ERP company, GOFRUGAL is proving that technology disruption can have a significant impact in the MSME sector and it is possible for small-time Kirana store owners or restaurant owners even in tier 2, 3, and 4 cities to exploit connected technology and reap its benefits.

GOFRUGAL is playing a very critical role in the digital transition that is underway for the MSMEs. Traditional MSME retail and restaurant businesses face challenges to design, evaluate and choose the right software solution. They can neither afford consultants nor go for proven global solution providers without knowing the outcome of the same. They are in need of a solution that they can experience before they can buy and confidently grow their business.

Taking to this demand, and tapping into the $13,238 million cloud-based ERP market with its newly aligned ‘Easy suite’ of products for traditional retail, restaurant and distribution and businesses, GOFRUGAL plays it right. The company aims to empower neighbourhood small stores and restaurants to collaborate with the ecosystem to focus on market expansion and large customer acquisition. The company intends to break the misconception that traditional retail and small restaurant businesses need to spend more on expensive software, trained talent, expensive upgradation, maintenance and security issues to go digital. They offer a quick-to-implement, easy-to-use, intelligent, affordable, integrated solution, one that does not require technical expertise to implement and integrate with marketplaces, e-commerce, payment, and banks. GOFRUGAL admits that a retailer could spend anywhere as less as Rs 500/month on the software to many lakhs suitable to the needs of the business.

Kumar Vembu, CEO and Founder of GOFRUGAL, is in the opinion that the owners of physical-only stores realize that they will be obsolete in the current digital era. At the launch of the company’s suite of products and a digital store, Vembu said, “MSMEs are all eager to serve their customers in the channels of their choice and to make it happen, they are looking for the right technology partner. To win in the highly competitive market, MSMEs need a solution that will help them run their business with the least skills, minimum staff, 100% accuracy and reliability. With online-to-offline (O2O) collaborative business model retail, restaurant and distribution businesses can increase their customer acquisition by 15-20%.”

He further said, “Our team is single-mindedly focused to enable traditional retail, restaurant and distribution businesses to build a ‘Smart Platform’ that could make Collaborative Commerce a reality. GOFRUGAL’s new Easy suite of products focuses on ‘Experience Simplicity’ as the mantra. We offer solutions that are secure, comprehensive, open and affordable. Having successfully piloted across key customers, we are all set to scale up by minimum 100% year on year.”

GOFRUGAL’s ‘Easy suite’ of products include RetailEasy, ServeEasy, and ManageEasy for Retail, Restaurant and Distribution businesses respectively. Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of Retailers Association of India launched the company’s first of its kind experiential digital store using advanced technologies like AI and ML for the traditional retail industry.

While unveiling GOFRUGAL’s digital store Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of Retailers Association of India, said, “The traditional retail market, to co-exist with the modern trade, are undergoing an identity shift to look modern and vibrant. However, technology has never been affordable or user-friendly for them to adopt. I believe technology players like GOFRUGAL with their differentiated easy to use product suite can help millions of small merchants across India to strengthen and grow their business. In addition, I appreciate and congratulate Kumar and his team for their efforts to formalize the Indian retail space that is still majorly driven by small business owners and traders. I hope, we can see more Indian traders collaborating with the Amazons of India and expand their business operations.”

As these comprehensive set of business solutions to micro, small, and medium enterprises tailor-made for Indian markets take shape, it is evident that modern accounting and bookkeeping practises including POS, payment and salary distribution, and inventory management will lay the path for a cashless economy and fulfil the dreams of digital India.