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Tag: Alok Chawla

  • Kiko Live crosses 100,000 fulfilled Kirana orders on the ONDC Network

    Kiko Live crosses 100,000 fulfilled Kirana orders on the ONDC Network

    Mumbai: Kiko Live, a SaaS solution for neighbourhood stores and a Seller Network Participant on ONDC Network, has successfully unlocked a major milestone for local kirana stores and retailers on the back of ONDC Network. Kiko Live recently achieved a major milestone of processing over 100,000 total orders on the ONDC Network.

    Since its onboarding on the Open Network in December 2023, sellers on Kiko have witnessed significant business growth. From 30-40 orders per day just 3 months ago, Kiko Live is now consistently seeing 2500+ orders per day.

    Kiko works directly with Kirana stores to digitize their business. 13 million Kirana stores in India generate over $800 billion in annual business, yet most of them do not have a digital footprint. These sellers continue to depend on orders received over call and Whatsapp for their home delivery business which constitutes over 10% of their business — that’s an $80 billion plus Kirana led home delivery business that already exists today, in spite of availability of Quick Commerce.

    Quick commerce at under $4 billion is a small fraction of the Kirana home delivery business even today. Kiko Live helps sellers build their digital storefront on ONDC Network and helps them give their store customers an online experience.

    Selling online had been challenging for small retailers in the past. The few who tried, struggled to maintain high inventory fill rates i.e a customer may order 5 items but only receive 3 due to stock-outs. This led to poor buyer experiences. Kiko Live has been able to address this for the retailers, helping them build a thriving business on the ONDC Network. Some retailers are already receiving over 300 orders a day within a couple of weeks of going online.

    By leveraging the ONDC Network, Kiko Live has made it easier for small stores to onboard and sell online. A key accomplishment achieved by Kiko Live is enabling high fulfillment rates by the retailers, with sellers achieving 99% order fill rates to date. The app has also focused on a low-cost model of hyperlocal fulfillment.

    These efforts have led to order cancellation rates of less than 1% and repeat buying rates that are now crossing 30% of all orders.

    Kiko Live success is attributed to their easy to use tech, and their operational efficiency that invests efforts in training retailers, and doing neighborhood activities to promote their sellers and build their business in the early days. Sellers receive handholding till they start receiving 10-15 daily orders. Even after that, remote operations support takes over, assisting sellers till they are able to operate without support.

    ONDC MD & CEO T Koshy said, “ONDC Network is helping take digital commerce to every corner of the country in an open, inclusive way that empowers all stakeholders. By creating a level playing field, the Open Network allows small, hyperlocal retailers like Kirana stores to leverage technology, drive new sales channels, and grow their business in ways that was not possible before. We are happy to see Kiko Live’s growth in a short span of 2 months. Facilitating high fulfillment rates and quick deliveries, it has unlocked the potential for thousands of neighborhood Kirana stores to thrive in the digital economy.”

    Kiko Live co-founder Alok Chawla said, “We celebrate Kiko’s meteoric growth journey, starting with 30-40 orders a day in mid-December 2023, and now helping retailers drive 2500+ orders a day through ONDC Network in just over 3 months. We continue to grow aggressively month on month, from 10,000 orders in January to 40,000 orders in February 2024 and we plan to close March 2024 with over 70,000 orders. We have already helped retailers successfully process over 100,000 orders on ONDC Network and  plan to help retailers process over 1.5 million monthly orders before the end of FY25.”

  • Gizmobaba ventures into offline retail

    Gizmobaba ventures into offline retail

    MUMBAI: Gizmobaba.com, a portal for all wacky gizmos recently launched their first physical store in Mumbai in reaction to customers seeking for physical demo of products.

    Gizmobaba founder Alok Chawla stated, “This is the first step into offline retail; we will further expand after evaluating the customers’ response.” He further added, “We believe, in India, people love to go to the store and get a feel of the product, see how it functions and if it really does look good. Additionally, a physical store allows greater reach especially among people who are not comfortable with an online payment or return options. ”

    Talking about the further expansions of the offline stores, Chawla said, “We are soon coming up with SIS retail formats and we are targeting multi-brand gadgets stores / departmental stores inside which we can set up Gizmobaba’s mini stores. We see a huge potential in hybrid model of business. On one hand online dimension of the business helps us reach out to infinite customers however offline will complement the online as it enforces the value of the brand in the minds of our customers, and buyers will trust the brand more if they see it offline as well as online. Therefore, we look for franchise out the offline stores as well.”

    The company plans to roll out five to eight more outlets in 2015. Also, they expect to have an equal number of franchises ‘Shop in Shop’ outlets across the nation.  Gizmobaba ensures a perfect customer experience at their offline store. Before a customer buys any product they witness a complete demonstration of the product given by the tech experts available at the store. They have installed a screen showing videos and demos of their product.

  • Gizmobaba joins hands with Franchise India to get a national presence

    Gizmobaba joins hands with Franchise India to get a national presence

    MUMBAI: Gizmobaba – Portal for innovative gadgets and gizmos – is looking for rapid expansions. In order to expand its national penetration, the portal has joined hands with Franchise India, one of Asia’s leading franchise and retail management consultancy.

    By partnering with Franchise India, Gizmobaba is aiming to cross the penetration phase and get into the fast track growth phase. Gizmobaba.com was established in 2012, looking at fulfilling the needs of Indian consumers looking for the latest innovative gadgets and gizmos. Parallel to electronic industry growth, ecommerce has emerged as one of the biggest platform to sell gadgets.

    Gizmobaba managing director Alok Chawla exults: “The brand has aggressive growth plans and intends to approach a standardised and benchmarked franchise strategy – A sustainable format for future growth that eases out operations, and ensures faster growth and a large brand presence. Thus, we have approached the business through a standardised franchise strategy on the basis of industry norms.”

    Franchise India chairman Gaurav Marya asserts: “Considering the ‘Gizmobaba’ business model and the Industry, we have strategized a Franchise approach, UNIT Franchise which is a feasible option at this growth phase and the approach of Multi-Unit Franchise will be considered at the penetration phase of newer markets. Property should be ideally a Kiosk at a low rental place, but visibility factor should be considered.”

    He further added, “We feel there exists high opportunity for the fantastic innovative products in the given segment offered by Gizmobaba and there is a shortage of such concepts which are customised as per end consumer needs. However, the model is most suitable with the franchise owned and franchise operated model targeting the tier-II and tier-III cities in the initial phase.”