m.Paani, a Mumbai-based startup which enables neighbourhood kirana stores to compete with modern retail through a customer loyalty programme and digitisation, is looking to grow its small retailer partner base 20-fold in three years, a top official said.
Currently the company is catering to half-a-million customers with more than 5,000 retailers mostly in Mumbai and Pune, the official added.
“Our ambition in the next two to three years is to have 1,00,000 retailers and at least three to 5 million consumers,”Akanksha Hazari Ericson, founder and CEO, m.Paani said.
The startup’s neighbourhood loyalty program rewards consumers with m.Paani points when they shop with local retailers across categories. It also works with retailers to achieve business growth by ‘digitising, optimising and maximising’ their engagement with existing and new customers.
“There is a massive move towards digitisation and modernisation which the local retailer is struggling with. And there is a lot more competition with respect to e-commerce, organised format and modern trade. I believe the future of retail in India is the modernisation of unorganised retail because no one can provide better service than your local retailer including the efficiency of fastest delivery,” she said.
“We need to completely transform the hyper-local retail experience as per consumers’ needs to be personalised, hyper-local rewarding and data-driven. What I can do with Amazon, I should also be able to do with my local kirana,” she said.
On the retail side, the company is building the first AI-driven growth solution for MSME retailers. “We want to bring these small retailers into, what we believe, is the retail experience of the future; which is a fully digital relationship with their consumer,” Ms. Ericson said.
She said an intelligent system can be introduced where products at a kirana can be replaced once it is finished, either through a picture or real-time notification.
“We also work to ensure that the retailer gets increased business from existing consumers, to get them to transact more frequently and spend more,” she said.
“As all retailers are on a single platform and consumers are earning the same points everywhere, we accelerate new acquisition because based on a retailer’s store and hyperlocal market, we cross-promote non-competing stores as they are happy to share customers, which leads to business growth,” Ms. Ericson, who was born in Pune, grew up in Hong Kong, studied & worked in Europe and U.S. said.
She said Jio and GST have a helped a lot. “With Jio I could build an entire product for retailers on the smartphone via an app and they didn’t care about data consumption cost anymore. With GST, every shopkeeper started buying a computer for filing and billing and I could leverage that and build a software for them even on the PC, to manage their stores more effectively,” she said.
“I have been with m.Paani for two years, I have seen more than 15% growth in my business. They promote my business and offers online and offline. They run regular campaigns which my customers like. m.Paani has provided me with service support and I am very satisfied with them,” said Manoj Rajput owner GD Rajput store, Sagaon, Dombivali East.
“After joining m.Paani I have seen that my customers not only do their monthly grocery shopping with me but also all their small shopping regularly. They have become loyal to my store,” said a shopkeeper associated with m.Paani.
