'Our Aim Is To Provide Simplistic Yet Satisfying Solution In The Repair And Maintenance Market'
Founded by Snehanshu Gandhi and Gaurav Shrishrimal, TappMe.com is not only a Service Provider but an initiative to mold the unorganized repair industry into an organized one. Older of the two co-founders, Gandhi is behind the strategy of the company. Being an entrepreneur since his college days, his zeal to create something new has become far more fierce. Both Gandhi and Shrishrimal tell BW Businessworld that they have been able to make TappMe a leading Home Repair and Services Brand.
Edited Excerpts:
Most start-up venture starts from a founder’s personal experience. What inspired you to establish tappme.com?
The idea of Tapp Me was born not because of one, but two incidents that we faced in our day-to-day lives. Whenever my tap was broken or AC wasn’t working, the biggest challenge was to find a reliable technician. With a population of 1.2 billion people, still finding a proficient technician who I could trust to walk in to my home and do repairs without inflating the prices was a tough ask. This is what led us to build a platform where a user can hire background checked technicians at fixed rates, removing the hassle of walking through markets to find a local technician.
The second problem we encountered was when we worked towards solving the first problem. The labourer’s working as technicians in homes and factories were not given any trust or respect. The owners and managers would often mistreat them and finding work on the daily basis would be difficult for these technicians to even make ends meet. These people are the foundation of the society and without them, no house would be functioning properly. We aim to generate employment for these workers so that they can have an identity and a source of earning a better livelihood which will bring them up in society.
What major problems is your business coming to address in the lives of your target customers?
The repair and maintenance services segment is largely unorganized where customers are facing challenges in accessing timely quality services at reasonable prices. Another major hurdle that customers experience are concerns over safety and trust when letting a stranger in to their homes.
On the other hand, the technicians are facing a challenge in finding regular work and earnings due to absence of organized opportunities. Being in the unorganized sector, the technicians are not given respect and trust that they should receive from the customers. We are addressing all these challenges by providing a one stop solution for maintenance services through technology intervention (addressing the access & safety issues) and skill development of the technicians (addressing the quality and standardization issues).
What are the unique solutions you are offering to users? How many users till date?
Our aim is to provide a simplistic yet satisfying solution to both the B2B and B2C sectors in the repair and maintenance market. Tapp Me thrives on its robust technology system, customer support team, and project planning to ensure smooth execution of every single service and provide a streamlined experience. We offer complete interior solution for commercial places including finest carpenters for all woodwork, glasswork and false ceiling installations. We also provide professional verified painters, electricians and plumbers to support the complete interior solutions project including proper supervision on-site for ongoing projects to ensure high quality standards where that deadlines are met. So far, the response to our repair maintenance solution has been immense with over 22,000 registered customers; over 54,000 bookings. Also, we have over 300 technicians and we are witnessing 50 per cent retention of old customer on a month-on-month basis.
What resources are at your disposal that can enable you to create the unique solutions you have in mind to offer your target customers for their problems?
Tapp Me has along the way built a team of talented and highly energetic people who are just as excited to solve the dilemma that is faced in the unorganized home repair segment. The company has an in-house tech team that aims to crack the online market in emerging cities by designing real-time dashboards and booking systems for a smooth experience to customers and workers within Tapp Me. We have also built an experienced team that is dedicated towards large-scale projects to up the level of trust and quality that our services can offer. Our customer support team plays a tremendous role in making sure that we achieve the highest customer satisfaction level. This team manages each day-to-day booking and is always available to the customer to ensure each service is complete without a hitch. What completes the company are the technicians. These experienced technicians are the face of the company and are proactively working with us to improve the conditions for both themselves and the users who generally struggle in finding a solution to their maintenance problems. It’s a win-win situation for both in the end!
What are the major benefits to customers that comes in contact with your business?
With Tapp Me, the customers are getting a service which they have generally lacked in emerging cities; one destination for all home repair services with verified technicians and fixed prices. An experience with Tapp Me includes instant booking ability through call, website or app. A user can create a booking for slots at any time of the day. We promise trained, experienced and verified technicians at your doorstep within an hour including free inspection and no visiting charges for assisting the customer in identifying the problem. Plus a 15-day warranty for customers to ensure satisfaction and build trust between the customer and the provider. In case of B2B jobs, we provide the following we have a standardized rate card for every repair job. For B2B jobs, a proper estimate is shared with the client based on thorough inspection.
What kind of investment you have made? Is it Seed Capital?
It is a seed capital. For the next round of funding, we will be looking for Series-A capital.
Are there investors? How much you have raised so far and what is the future plan?
Yes, there are HNI Investors for this initiative with undisclosed amount. Although the need for liquid capital for such an initiative is a never-ending process, as of now the organization is operating well with the current funding. We shall look at raising capital once we expand ourselves to other emerging smart cities
What are your plans for widening and deepening market share?
Home services business in India is a $15B to $100B opportunity depending on what all services are considered under this. The major focus has been on metro cities for most companies working in this space but emerging cities hold a bigger opportunity. We feel that 60 per cent of the market share lies in emerging cities such as Patna, Jaipur. We plan on bringing our solution to users in Chandigarh, Lucknow, Indore and other similar cities within the next few months. The potential for beauty services, drivers on demand and cleaning among others is immense. We plan on exploring these opportunities down the line and adding them to the basket for a larger variety of options for users. Along with customers, our aim lies on fostering job opportunities for 1000 technicians by 2017 end as well. With a larger workforce, we can cater to a larger audience while bringing benefits to both parties.
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