Technology For All Retailers
Offline retail is forever threatened by online retail. The fear that stores will disappear is a matter of concern to local vendors. Shopster was created on the assumption that stores will always exist and with time become more intelligent in assisting customers. Easyrewardz Software Solutions which created the toolkit, believes that a synergy will prevail between the online and offline stores.
When the pandemic hit, Easyrewardz Software Services stopped generating revenue, which is when Shopster was created. Shopster catered, not only to large retailers, but also to small and local vendors during the lockdown, by reaching out to delivery apps and asking them if they were willing to pick up items from warehouses and stores and deliver them to customers. The toolkit thus kept these small stores and vendors in business during the crisis.
API and CRM
In a landscape littered with small vendors, Easyrewardz wrote a software just for them with integrated application programming interfaces (APIs). The APIs enable the company to capture customer data when purchases are made. The data provides information such as clothing sizes, food preferences, payment methods and mobile numbers.
The data provides insight to customer preferences, which in turn helps create customer profiles, make predictions and better target potential buyers. This way the software helps brands discover customers better and make optimised offers.
The customer relationship management (CRM) data ensures seamless communication between customers and sales staff, facilitating a bridge between the brand and the customer. Despite the lack of physical contact, the concept of connect between the store and the customer remains.
Conversational Commerce
The use of a chat service and buying is conversational commerce. Shopster began using WhatsApp as a medium for stores to connect with customers. Shopster is digitising the offline economy for 80 per cent of the business still comes from offline stores and vendors.
Shopster enables customers to reach local stores through digital communication without having to visit them physically. The difference between conversational commerce and ecommerce is that the latter takes at least two days to reach a destination, but the former takes just about four hours.
The Outlook
Currently, Shopster is trying to build intelligence in CRM to see whether it can become an expert system that is as intuitive as an application and can aid a CMO or a marketing manager. The aim is to see if enough intelligence can be built into CRM to create a better marketing system. In its first year, Shopster contributed to 13 per cent of Easyrewardz’ revenue . The company witnessed a 60 per cent increase in revenue in March 2021 over March 2020, of which 20 per cent came from Shopster.
Shopster, being a chatbot platform and not an ecommerce site, is setting a new trend in the market for customers and vendors. However, Easyrewardz Software Services Cofounder and CEO, Soumya Chatterjee points out that multiple players are required in any domain and Shopster is only doing its part.
