The Ample Opportunity
We know that India is the third largest internet market after China and USA. With a majority of thriving businesses migrating from the world of e-commerce to m-commerce (yes, it’s happening) to suit the consumer’s needs; it’s time for the SMEs to wake up. Coming up with a smart product and marketing it online is not enough to sell them anymore, you will also have to come up with a smarter marketing strategy.
There is ample opportunity for exhibiting your ideas in the online world. But the amplitude and reach of your ideas comes at the cost of a little technical and market analysis strategy. Mobile Commerce has become the new face of e commerce in recent times. One of most potential reason of advent of this trend is the drastic increase of internet access via smartphones and mobile devices. Mobile service providers now not only provide the facility to make a voice call via the service, but also provide extensive internet services, letting the customers access the online world via powerful handsets.
Keeping all the factors in mind, mobile commerce is likely to be a game changer and experts opine that m-commerce would contribute up to 70 per cent of their total revenues. The e-commerce companies will tailor their sites for mobile devices and improve customer experiences accordingly. Shopping online through Smartphones has gained traction and industry experts believe that m-commerce is likely to contribute up to 70 per cent of total revenues of online retailers.
While working with numerous mobile and e-commerce platforms the founder and CEO of Hippo Innovations, Mr. Rajiv Kumar, realized the void between the existing platforms. He was unable to find an E-Commerce platform that was designed for mobile devices and thus felt the need to develop a mobile commerce platform that could tap the potential of booming mobile commerce industry. Utilising all his experience in building platforms and frameworks, he focussed on providing a future ready yet an affordable m-commerce solution that could benefit the SMEs and took advantage of the recent technological innovations. Thus was born StoreHippo, incepted with a clear aim to help SMEs and individual entrepreneurs to effectively set up their portals without any technical difficulty.
It’s a giant leap for the Industry !
StoreHippo is the brain child of Mr. Rajiv Kumar, a company envisaged to help SMEs and individual entrepreneurs to create and launch their online stores. However, he felt SMEs faced a few limitations like the technical knowledge to find the right solution, right time to market, which is directly reflected on the cost.
Storehippo is focused on providing a future ready yet an affordable m-commerce solution that is having its roots based in advantage of the recent technological innovations. In the year 2013, Rajiv founded the software Mystore.in which was renamed as StoreHippo and officially launched in January 2014.
Powered with features like Cash on Delivery, Integrated Logistic Partners & Payment Gateways, Mobile Sites and Apps, Marketplace Integration, Multivendor feature, customized options, beautiful themes and SEO rich tools, StoreHippo fulfills the need of every online retailer to create seamless stores. The company has been successful in launching web stores for a number of its clients.
The man behind the Storehippo
Rajiv Kumar is an industry professional with a diverse working experience spanning across 17 years in top-notch global IT companies like Oracle, E-Trade Financial, HCL Technologies and Waterfall Mobile since 1998. He has been the pillar of strength behind several strategic business initiatives and displays the innate ability to shape new ideas, nurture long-term relationships and address some of the biggest challenges in the e-commerce industry. After analyzing the pulse of the industry, Rajiv’s has steered a technology leap for the company by offering the m-commerce technology for the clients.
His focus on innovation and R&D has helped the company to deliver some exceptional products to the clients, so much so that the company has received accolades from the most tech-savvy clients.
He personifies the company’s commitment to build solutions that deliver a phenomenal performance and lead to a high customer satisfaction. The strong leadership capabilities of Rajiv Kumar have benefited the company immensely and it has grown by leaps and bounds. His focus on continuous skill development and the importance of building a strong corporate culture has brought forth efficiency and productivity at all levels.
“The success of any company lies in the satisfaction of its clients.”
Rajiv strongly believes in this statement. Utilizing all his experience in building platforms and frameworks, coupled with his effective leadership strategies StoreHippo has bridged the gap between the SMEs and their requirements. The Storehippo team, a team of talented 45 is currently dealing with clients from all the major cities in India, and from different industry verticals as well like jewellery, garments, fashion, interior, property, grocery, etc. They take care of all aspects like cost and time and also provide full technical help, so that the online retailers can focus only their core business and forget about the rest of their troubles.
The challenges faced and the excitement
Given that every company has its own set of challenges faced, especially in a new and fastbooming industry like m-commerce, the story of Storehippo is a unique in its own way. The main challenge has been that most of their clientele could not differentiate between old and new technologies. People had difficulty understanding why they had a technical edge over others and thus they had to handhold some of their clients initially.
Another challenge initially was to keep pace with the ever-evolving technology and develop a system for future growth. After a few iterations they are currently developing at a faster pace, with seamless web stores equipped with evolving technologies to cater to demands of the clients. They have to convince the clients that they do not need any technical knowledge to create their online stores. While creating mobile apps, they also have to ensure that the apps are optimized for various types of mobile devices.
They consider product development in itself as an exciting journey. Though the journey is full of hard work, they are quite eager to solve the customer’s problems. They have evolved from a SAAS based DIY platform to a mobile ready platform which is capable of developing any kind of app. This progression of the company from being an e-commerce platform to m-commerce ready platform for development of mobile apps in tune with current trends must be really quite exciting.
The Technical Edge
The primary edge is that they provide complex services in a simplified manner. Owing to their expertise in technology and e-commerce and by spreading the cost of development of the e-commerce across multiple customers, they were able to offer at a competitive and affordable price.
The business model introduced by Hippo Innovations will not only help these SMEs to promote their business idea, it will help them to reach the next level by assisting them in their respective fields. The ‘Beyond E-Commerce’ capability of StoreHippo has made it a preferred choice for startups who do not want to be limited by only e-Commerce platforms.
“You have to run, in order to stand still”
Right since its inception the company had been pushing ahead with aggressive growth plans by offering mobile applications for online stores. Today, they are on the threshold of growth and have incorporated mobile commerce and provide mobile apps for online stores. Their highly flexible and scalable mobile e-Commerce platform combined with cost-effective technology helps to design and build online stores which perfectly meet the requirements of entrepreneurs. At this pace, they will be your one touch shop for fulfilling all technical and marketing needs. Along with looking for funds from investors, they are also exploring the option to partner with the sellers on a profit sharing model.
So, why waste time? If you have an idea to market or invest, Storehippo is your one touch shop for all your needs, be it the technical edge or the customer effectiveness, they bring it to you at exclusive prices.