Suhas Gopinath had become one of the world’s youngest CEOs at the age of 17 by founding Globals Inc. From the beginning, he has always vouched for the fact that despite the rising trend of online shopping in India and across the world, brick and mortar (physical stores) are here to stay and will never fade away. Keeping this in mind, he has recently launched ShopsUp, a location-based shopping app that has been developed by his Bengaluru-based company HyperKonnect Technologies Limited.
He feels that online fashion and apparels is something which has not yet taken off in the e-commerce space due to the strong touch and feel factor attached to it and that is where he aims to cash in first through his app. The app will help shoppers, especially the millennials who are tech savvy, to discover and shop at local as well as retail stores by making their experience more personalised and rewarding. This comes at a time when online shopping is catching up amongst millennials equally fast.
The interesting aspect is that after one downloads the app and walks into a store, one is rewarded with around 20 shots (rewards) just for walking in. If a person purchases something at the store, he will get more shots. These shots can be instantly redeemed for a free movie ticket, cab ride, spa, gift vouchers and more. ShopsUp has partnered with Uber for exclusive offers for users to take rides for their shopping runs.
The app will also have the ability to help the buyers in finding the right products and stores near them. At the same time, the app will recommend to the user what, when and where to shop. All this will be made possible by the use of analytics. The app will also analyse the buying pattern and the behaviour of the buyers. The app uses ‘beacons’ based on the bluetooth low energy and location request technology. On a walk-in, the beacons send a bluetooth signal to the mobile phone of the customer and if he is close enough to the store, rewards him with shots. ShopsUp is using a fast search engine for brands and stores that finds relevant search results quickly. Currently, the company has tied up with around 400 stores in Bengaluru and gradually wants to take it to other metros especially the NCR and Mumbai markets in the next few months.
“Brands will need to buy shots from us. The app will utilise mobile as a platform to provide brand and retail partners with complete visibility into a consumer’s decision and incentivise the shopper’s journey from discovery to sale, with visibility and metrics that justifies consumer awareness, brand and product engagement, unit sales, and ROI. We believe that the right offers delivered in the right context and right place can drive business for both organised as well as local retail establishments. We are investing in analytics to offer solutions to our partners,” said Gopinath.
This Bengaluru based startup is funded by an initial seed funding of $1 million and is in the process of raising further capital to bring in more innovation in the app. Anand Sankeshwar, Managing Director at VRL Logistics Ltd and Yang Shu, former Huawei Technologies President and CEO of Taojinjia have invested in ShopsUp and also mentor the team. Ever since the launch, the company claims to have had 10,000 downloads.