Insights success the 10 fastest growing retail companies 2016

The way of business solutions
Hari Menon
Co-founder & CEO
SEPTEMBER 2016
www.insightssuccess.in
BigBasket:
India's Largest Online Grocery Store
Emerging Technologies
and where do we stand
as a Start-up Nation in
Global Market…
Beware How We Treat Our
Employees during
a Slowdown . .
Employees have
Elephant Memory . .
Trends that are
Driving e-Commerce
in India
Bricks and Mortar Stores
Redefining Online
Retailing
Executive Talk
Peaks & Valleys #Hashtag
Challenges Retail Industry
is Facing in India
Behind the Scenes
Employees during
a Slowdown . .
Employees have
Elephant Memory . .
Leader’s Thought
Executive Talk
Emerging Technologies
and where do we stand
as a Start-up Nation in
Global Market…
India's Largest Online Grocery Store
BigBasket:
THE
10
RetailCompanies 2016
THE
10
RetailCompanies 2016
Leader’s Thought
Peaks & Valleys Behind the Scenes #Hashtag
Fastest GrowingFastest Growing

s retail market is not uniform in India, especially in terms of
Afulfilling needs when it comes to give preference to luxury.
Also Indian market is less mature than European market
where consumers seek fulfillment through experience. The needs of
the Indian luxury consumers are fulfilled by very few players. Huge
potential is lying in this segment as the market is still untapped.
Hence, in order to target them better, it becomes very important to
delineate the needs of the Indian consumer.
In India, to be a successful retailer, it is necessary to gauge the
mindset of the luxury consumer and their financial potential. To tap
the huge potential of the diverse market, localization of luxury
global brands is mandatory. Understanding the characteristics of
luxury product market and accordingly developing the brands is the
prime goal. And it has been seen in India, limited accessibility to
luxury is a barrier to its growth and acceptability.
For high-end merchandise, an insatiable appetite is fueling a boom
in luxury spending. From expeditious cares to extravagant shoes,
companies are cashing in on the new business of bling.
Flabbergasting new shopping trends and unpredicted gender twists
are propelling big luxury brands to newer heights. A new class of big
spenders is out in full force, where women are spending like men
and men are shopping like ladies. Beyond this role reversal, there is
also a new class of shoppers who spend a lot and are setting the
luxury world on fire. Now, consumers are demanding and getting
extraordinary service from premium brands which are flocking the
high streets.
In a nut shell, based on convenience and customization, luxury
products can be marketed more rather than the product itself. The
marketer needs to focus more on selling larger quantity for mass
products. And it can only be done through better pricing, larger
channels of communication, multi-channel distribution and through
attractive offers.
Editorial
Luxury Retail is the
Darling of
High Spenders
Charlie Gupta

,6
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Co-designer
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Business Development Executive
Ketan,Savitri, Pooja,
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Co-Editors
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Corporate Ofces:
September, 2016
Amol KambleArt Editor
Picture Editor
Business Development Manager Manisha Priya
Sonal Burghate
Managing Editor Charlie Gupta
Visualiser Harmeet Singh Ramgharia
Marketing Manager Karishma Joshi
Alex Noel
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Musna Mony

Challenges Retail Industry
is Facing in India
CXO Standpoint
Redefining Online Retailing
Trends that are Driving
e-Commerce in India
Content Page
Cover Story
Big Basket: India’s Largest
Online Grocery Store
Emerging Technologies and where do we
stand as a Start-up Nation in Global Market…
Beware How We Treat Our Employees during a
Slowdown . . .Employees have Elephant Memory . .
32
Behind the Scenes
#Hashtag
Peaks & Valleys
28
20
38
22
8

Channelplay: India’s Leading
Channel Management Company
C-SQUARE: Controlling Your
Business Anytime, Anywhere
Discover Dollar: A Revolutionary Technology
for Stopping Leakages and Overpayment
iStreet Bazaar:
Re-Engineering Retail
LOGIC ERP: Scaling Up
Your Retail Business
NextOrbit: Mitigating
Your Retail Out of Stock
3634
3026
2418

Hari Menon
Co-founder & CEO
BigBasket

India’s
Online Grocery
BIGBasket:
LARGEST
Store
Every entrepreneur’s journey, when retold with the benefit of hindsight, can throw up valuable lessons
on several aspects of managing a business. However, many such stories often tend to simplify the
hardship that is entrepreneurship. The journey is often seen as a set of events that shaped up the
venture to what it is today; but in reality, it is much more complex than that. There are several
unexplained events, day-to-day challenges that often get left out in such narratives and most
importantly, the role played by the team members in executing a strategy is often overlooked.
The Journey of a Maverick
Having said that, when an entrepreneur looks back at his or her own journey and asks the question “what could I have
done better?” it gives a whole new perspective to the narrative. One such story to share here is that of a serial
entrepreneur, Hari Menon, Co-founder & CEO of BigBasket.
Born in 1963, Hari is an alumnus of BITS-Pilani and started his career with ORG Systems, subsequently moving on
to work with many of the best and respected names in the country. Prior to starting BigBasket, Hari along with the
founding team of BigBasket had co-founded Fabmart, one of the pioneers in the e-commerce in India and its physical
extension, Fabmall. And before venturing out with BigBasket and Fabmart, Hari was the CEO of ‘Indiaskills’, the
Vocational Education Joint Venture between the Manipal Group and City & Guilds (UK), as well. A lesser known fact
is that Hari had also served as the Country Head at ‘Planetasia’ which was one of the first Internet services businesses
in India, and had begun his career with ‘Wipro’ as a Business Head in the Infotech business.
Pitching the Idea
In December 2011, Hari co-founded BigBasket with a vision of setting up India’s largest and finest online food and
grocery company. BigBasket is owned and operated by ‘Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt. Ltd.’ with operations

having commenced in 25 cities in India. It delivers the
entire range of groceries, fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh
meat, dairy products, breads, processed foods, toiletries,
personal care products, gourmet foods and a wide range of
household products. Their range has about 18,000 products,
which includes a wide range of private labels sold under the
BigBasket brand like Royal, Fresho, Happy Chef, etc. As
of now, BigBasket is a purely internet based company and
does not have any brick and mortar stores.
Indelible Moment
Hari got a call in July 2011 from his colleague and co-
founder, Sudhakar, thanks to K. Ganesh reaching out to him
on a potential opportunity in the online grocery space. It
took exactly 2 to 3 minutes for him to say yes. The sheer
joy of having to do a startup again, together with the same
friends from the earlier journey and in the same grocery
space was fantastic. And that was the beginning of many
memorable experiences that followed.
Ideology of BigBasket
BigBasket allows you to walk away from the drudgery of
grocery shopping and welcome an easy relaxed way of
browsing and shopping for groceries. Discover new
products and shop for all your food and grocery needs from
the comfort of your home or office. No more getting stuck
in traffic jams, paying for parking, standing in long queues
and carrying heavy bags- get everything you need, when
you need, right at your doorstep. Food shopping online is
now easy as every product on your monthly shopping list,
is now available online at bigbasket.com.
They are India’s best online food and grocery store. With
over 25,000 products and over a 1000 brands in their
catalogue, you will find everything you are looking for.
Right from fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Rice and Dals,
Spices and Seasonings to Packaged products, Beverages,
Personal care products, Meats- they have it all. One can
choose from a wide range of options in every category,
exclusively handpicked to help you find the best quality
available at the lowest prices.
Approaching the Latest Trends
The online grocery business is fast becoming a mainstream
retail channel. And in the next 4/5 years, one will find at
least two or three large multi-billion dollar companies in
the country. As the leader of the company, Hari is pretty
sure that big basket will be one of them. He also believes
that the largest online grocery companies will be as large as
the physical retailers that they have today. This is
happening rapidly because for one, customers are adopting
it as a mainstream channel. They are already seeing it as
their market shares are as high as physical grocery retailers
in the top metros. And that trend will take an even stronger
foot over the next few years.
Ourobjective is to provide our
customers with the nest possible
grocery shopping experience.It has
always been our endeavour to deliver
complete of greatquality“products with high availability and at
competitive prices
“to you a range

Green Basket
Being green is part of the culture at BigBasket. An offline
grocery store requires stocks to move from a regional
distribution centre to the individual stores, and then
someone from each family has to make multiple trips to the
store to do their shopping.
Supermarkets consume a lot of energy for lighting, air-
conditioning and powering their refrigerators and freezers.
They bypass these, bringing products to you straight from
the wholesaler to your doorstep which cuts down on a lot of
carbon emissions generated by the traditional supply chain
and also reduces the number of cars on their roads.
BigBasket minimizes the use of paper and plastic bags
while delivering their products, rather all products are
delivered in crates which are taken back and reused. Their
fruit and vegetable trays are recyclable and they request
their customers to return them so that they can reuse them.
Crossing the Hurdles with Confidence
One thing that hasn’t changed much is the inefficiencies in
the supply chain. However, this is a universal challenge;
there are three specific challenges that are unique to the
e-format:
People: 70% of their employees are blue collar workers.
Getting the right people at the right time is obviously an
ongoing problem; in addition, retaining them is also
becoming a tricky problem. As the catchment dries up, they
now go to smaller cities to hire them and provide them with
affordable housing in the city of operations. This helps a lot
in retention.
Perishable Items: Sourcing, storing and handling fresh
produce is one end of the problem; the other end is that
fresh produce comes with an inherent problem of lower
shelf life leading to high wastage. As a Co-founder, Hari
thinks that they are one of the few in the world who are
doing this well, with only 3% overall wastage. Their main
focus has been on reducing the time between harvest and
consumption. They are also committed to build a
sustainable organic F&V and staples ecosystem.
Perception: An online grocery is relatively new to the
customer-inducing trial especially for perishables is a
challenge. They have learnt that offering guarantees such as
a no questions asked return guarantee on any product

reduces the risk perception in customer’s minds and makes
it easier to induce trial. The other lesson that they have
learnt is that customer’s response to a well-designed
product - in the case of grocery delivery this means offering
a wide range of products, offering convenient delivery
options, offering competitive pricing and providing a
consistent user experience.
Main Triggers of Growth
In 2016, BigBasket is currently at 40,000 orders a day. The
main triggers for them would be customer’s need for
convenience and superior service, technology, digital
connectivity and a more cohesive e-ecosystem.
The Customer Base
To enhance the customer experience, BigBasket is in the
process of making a transition to a larger warehouse, one
which will allow them to stock a much larger range, thus
improving availability and also allow them to move
towards offering you same day delivery anywhere in the
city. In addition, they are enhancing their technology back-
end to do a fully automated picking process linked to real-
time stock availability. This will allow them to make their
order pick process error free.
During this transition period, BigBasket is consciously
reducing their capacity to handle orders to ensure that they
do not fall short of their commitment to deliver all their
orders on time. As a result, over the next one week, one
may see that slots are not available next day. And also ﬁnd
that some products may be out of stock during this
transition period. They expect to stabilize their entire
process within the week and to resolve all issues related to
availability and also increase their capacity by then.
Delivery Areas
BigBasket currently offers their services in Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Delhi-Noida, Mysore,
Madurai, Coimbatore, Vijayawada-Guntur, Kolkata,
Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar, Nashik, Lucknow-Kanpur,
Gurgaon, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Nagpur, Patna,
Indore and Chandigarh Tricity city limits.
Roadmap to Flourishing Future
In the coming years, it is believed that the largest online
grocery companies will be as large as the physical retailers
that they have today. This is happening rapidly because for
one, customers are adopting it as a mainstream channel.
They are already seeing it as their market shares are as high
as physical grocery retailers in the top metros and that trend
will take an even stronger foot over the next few years.

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Bringing Retailing
to the Fore
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016
n today’s evolving consumer centric environment and burgeoning competitive market, it is imperative for
Imarketers to adopt a highly customised communication strategy where the channel medium is determined on the
basis of the product and its demand.
To swim through the tide and reach the other side, it is necessary for retailers, in fact for any industry to adopt a
customized marketing channel strategy specifically for both luxury and mass products. The marketing for both the
segments are like parallel streams originating from the same river, as they are different in terms of their brand identity,
positioning, attributes, target market, and brand building process.
In this issue of Insights Success Magazine, be sure to check out the cover story where ‘BigBasket’ allows you to walk
away from the drudgery of grocery shopping and welcome an easy relaxed way of browsing and shopping for
groceries. Discover new products and shop for all your food and grocery needs from the comfort of your home or
office. No more getting stuck in traffic jams, paying for parking, standing in long queues and carrying heavy bags-get
everything you need, when you need, right at your doorstep.
Furthermore, while flipping the pages of Insights Success Magazine, look at the gigantic aura and the brand universe
associated with the retail industry where companies are contributing in making a name for themselves right next to
behemoths. BHAWAR GROUP, C-Square Info Solutions, ChannelPlay, Discover Dollar, Ezzego1, iStreet Network,
LOGIC ERP, Next Orbit, Vinculum Solutions are the companies which have been catalogued in the Insights Success
Magazine endeavour to deliver a complete range of great quality products with high availability and at competitive
prices.
Insights Success Magazine has collated the above list of fastest growing retail companies, certainly having marketing
strategy for luxury products which needs to be highly customised as per the individual so that sense of brand universe
is paramount.
Insights Success Magazine has covered and presents you ‘The Fastest Growing Retail Companies 2016’, after
shortlisting a long list of retail service provider companies where mass consumer products are manufactured with the
purpose of selling huge quantity, hence they have all the basic concepts of marketing involved so that the reach is
greater.

Management BriefCompany Name
Discover Dollar helps retailers to discover hidden proﬁts &
capture overpayments by analyzing all data sources.
Channelplay is a leading Sales Force Automation, Shopper
Marketing & Channel Management company in India.
Sundeep Holani
Co-founder & CEO
Channelplay
channelplay.in
C-Square is the leading solution provider of enterprise-resource-
planning (ERP) software & business intelligence (BI) tool for the
pharmaceutical industry in India.
Sripal Bachawat &
Sajith Thattalath
Directors
C-Square
csquare.in
Discover Dollar
discoverdollar.com
Subrahmanya Rao
Founder & CEO
Pradeep Malu &
Lakshya Malu
Founders
iStreet Bazaar
istreetnetwork.com
istreetbazaar.com
LOGIC ERP
logicerp.com
Swarndeep Singh
MD
LOGIC ERP is providing robust & comprehensive solution for
distribution chain and this is powerful solution for Inventory,
Scheme & Discount, Claim Settlement, Batch Controlling,
Pricing, Taxation Account & Finance etc.
NextOrbit
nextorbit.com
Kishore Rajgopal
Founder & CEO
NextOrbit is a cloud-based product that uses data sciences driven
recommendations to Predict and Mitigate Retail Out-of-Stock.
iStreet Network Ltd. is an Internet and Retail Catalogue
company.
Sanjay Bhawar Lunked
Founder & Director
BHAWAR GROUP
bhawar.com
Bhawar is one of the largest distribution house, DST & logistics
provider for fast moving consumer goods in India.
Ezeego1
ezeego1.com
Neelu Singh
CEO & Director
Ezeegol is your online travel agent that offers you a one stop
travel shop for cheap ﬂight bookings, online hotel reservations,
holidays & package tours, car rentals, bus tickets, cruises &
more.
Vinculum Solutions
vinculumgroup.com
Venkat Nott
CEO & Founder
Vinculum is a software company enabling the eCommerce
ecosystem with powerful SaaS based products for Multi Channel
retailing.
Big Basket
bigbasket.com
Hari Menon
Co-founder & CEO
BigBasket (Innovative Retail Concepts Private Limited) is
India’s largest online food and grocery store.
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

In the retail marketing industry, there is no clear leader
and no great company. Companies that have not done
focused evaluations of the vendors in this industry will
increasingly do it because the spending share on this
segment will become big. When that starts happening, the
good companies will see more growth while the smaller
ones will have to either get better or disappear. And this
industry will see more organization and some clear leaders
will emerge. Channelplay is one of them.
Channelplay’s Raison D’etre
Selling..... Everyone seems to hate it. People hate being
sold to, and most sellers also only seem to do it grudgingly.
Yet, every single person in the world makes a living
because things get sold. It might be done in a better way.
Channelplay exists to help people sell better. When people
sell better, customers have pleasant experiences, sellers
have better careers, their companies have richer
shareholders, economies do better and countries progress.
Channelplay is a retail marketing company that helps its
clients sell more effectively. Within four years of existence,
it has become one of India’s leading retail marketing
companies and currently serves the world’s top mobile and
PC brands. It is a leading Sales Force Automation, Shopper
Marketing & Channel Management company in India.
Managing over 5000 field staff, and working with over 60
clients in diverse industries, they’ve learnt from the
challenges of delivering high-performance solutions.
Inception Story
It was in the year 2006 that the terrific trio squad of
Sundeep Holani-CEO & Co-founder, Tushar-Co-founder
and Suhas-Co-founder incorporated Channelplay Limited.
These three did their MBA from IIM Calcutta. They always
wanted to start a business together.Sundeep had around 4
years of retail IT consulting experience and have spent most
of his time in the US and China where he got to learn how
retail works and how IT is implemented in retail.
Suhas and Tushar had worked for some of the biggest
names in consumer products and services in India. While
this trio took jobs from campus, they frequently shared
business plans and discussed opportunities. Of all the plans
discussed, Channelplay took off!
Services Proffered by Channelplay
Channelplay has 5 verticals within which they operate. In
the first one, they do Advocacy directly, for this they have a
large team of sales representatives who represent brands
and position themselves inside the stores; these can vary
from big brands like Croma, Reliance Digital etc. to small
mom & pop stores in markets across the city.
Channelplay:
India’s Leading
Channel Management
Company
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016
18 || September 2016

Another service that drives advocacy
in a way is their Training and
Development service; in this
Channelplay provides extensive
training to the employees recruited by
the retailers themselves. They ensure
that they are capable enough of dealing
and selling off their brand’s products.
Thirdly, they provide Visual
Merchandising (VM), already catering
to around 15000 stores in the country,
their team of VM experts visit the store
and ensure that maximum brand
visibility is attained. This can be done
by ensuring the proper arrangement of
stock, deployment of collateral in the
form of posters, danglers etc.
The fourth thing Channelplay does is
Mystery Shopping & Audit. They have
their Retail Intelligence Vertical, in
which they do retail audits, mystery
shopping, wherein a person would go
to these outlets, announced or
unannounced, like a shadow-customer.
This enables Channelplay to analyze
their shortcomings and performance.
Lastly, it is Experiential Marketing,
where they do activations, events,
promotions etc., making the brand
visible outside the store environment,
enabling the foot-falls to raise which in
turn becomes the fulcrum for the other
4 services.
Uniqueness of Channelplay
Channelplay is one of the few
professionally managed companies in
the space. Its large footprint of over
5000 employees, revenue of around
150 crores in various cities across India
gives their 60 clients unparalleled
reach. Channelplay is also at the
leading edge of technology
implementation to drive efﬁciency and
transparency in its services.
Channelplay can be rated as among the
best in the world in technology
implementation.
Future Outlook
Channelplay is focused on the Indian
market, at least for the next couple of
years. There is a lot more they want to
do to bring operational and process
excellence before they increase their
geographical footprint. On the revenue
side, things are growing satisfactorily,
and they would like to keep the
momentum. The long-term plan is to
be India’s best and biggest, and to be
listed on the NSE.
www.channelplay.in
““We aim to be one of
India’s best
channel management
companies
so that we can
provide meaningful
work experiences and
growth opportunities
to our people,
and deliver great
value to our clients
Sundeep Holani
Co-founder and CEO
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016
September 2016 || 19

Indians are known for their ‘street smart’ economic
mindset that enables them to find solutions to
impregnable challenges despite the constraints.
This is the similar ‘innovative mindset’ which is making
Indian entrepreneurs embrace analytics, digitisation, and
technology to develop platforms and deliver services and
products to the end customer creating a new online buying
behavior.
In the context, India’s retail opportunity is substantial and
affected by several factors such as the rising standards of
living, hyper-connected young population, upwardly mobile
middle class, the explosion of social media platforms,
deeper internet penetration, and increased smartphone
penetration. So, a significant growth of e-Commerce is
expected in the next two years.
Gaining Momentum of Government Initiatives
The Government of India has been active in leveraging and
embracing e-Commerce digital platforms to transform and
organize traditional offline markets such as those of
agricultural product. The Government has launched an e-
commerce platform to link the farmers with the vegetable
markets of various states to sell the agro commodities. Also,
flagship initiatives such as Start-up India, Digital India,
Skill India, and Innovation Fund are contributing to the
growth of the e-Commerce industry.
Increase in the Internet Penetration
The e-commerce industry in India has been growing with
the rise in the internet penetration due to major
improvements in the telecom infrastructure. While the 3G
and 4G services are making a way into India along with
declining data tariffs, internet data spend is growing
significantly. Even when India ranks the lowest in Asia in
Trends that are
Driving e-Commerce
in India
Peaks & Valleys

internet speed, the data rates in India are 3 times cheaper
than in the US and 2 times cheaper than in China.
Government schemes such as a National Optical Fiber
Network (NOFN) can significantly increase the internet
penetration in the rural communities as well as provide a
means for e-Commerce companies to tap the huge market
potential there.
Growth in Smartphone Adoption
Smartphone growth has been massive over the years and is
expected to exhibit more growth in the coming years. The
smartphone’s adoption in India is propelled by several
factors such as low prices due to high competition, ease of
accessibility to content, and prevalence of internet enabled
services. According to a report, India has the highest share
of globally 41% of mobile based e-Commerce sales. Almost
70-75% of the online traffic of e-Commerce sites come
from mobile phones, the leading e-Commerce companies
stated and thus higher revenues are coming from mobile
applications like 50% for Flipkart while 70% for Quikr.
Evolution of New Payment Solutions
Cash on Delivery (CoD) has been the most popular mode of
payment for Indian e-Commerce transactions. Cash
transactions result in high administration cost even for the
e-commerce companies. Hence, to address these challenges,
new digital payment solutions are evolving. Further, the
Indian government’s initiative has extended banking
facilities through the ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’ scheme which has
added over 110 million debit cards thereby providing these
customers access to electronic payments. The electronic
wallets have been launched and also digital payment
products from traditional banks for faster transactions to
ease the payment process in e-Commerce.
Partnerships of Logistics Space with Hyper-local
Companies and India Post
Customers are getting next-day delivery of products. Due to
the challenges in terms of return orders, higher standards of
customer service, and handling huge volumes of delivery,
the industry has seen the rise of several third-party logistics
service providers that handles last-mile deliveries. There is
an increasing number of partnerships of e-Commerce
companies with the third-party logistics service providers in
order to reach mainly in tier two and three cities. Also
leading e-Commerce players have their own logistics arms
for enhanced customer experience and for greater control
on deliveries.
GST to Enhance the Growth of e-Commerce
GST is expected to enforce a single comprehensive indirect
tax regime that will be applicable across on the supply of
goods and services across all states. The implementation of
GST is expected to include the service tax, central excise
duty, and additional customs duty at the central level and
CST, VAT, and entry tax at the state level. It will enhance an
operational efficiency of the e-Commerce industry in the
many ways like the transparency and simplification of taxes
across the borders in India, elimination of the incidence of
double-taxation, and improvement in the efficiency of the
supply chain.
The e-Commerce is changing the lives of millions, but there
are also a number of people who prefer offline shopping. If
e-Commerce is to make a huge impact in the coming years
then these trends will definitely affect the business.
Peaks & Valleys

s kids, we were always curious to know ‘do
Aelephants really have a strong memory’ and ‘do
they really remember / recall their experiences
throughout their life?’; many of us believe it’s a YES
because we have witnessed how the ‘Chain around their
legs’ makes them domesticated.
Humans are also no different from them, we grow up to be
what we are based on our past experiences.
The last 18 -24 months hasn’t been easy for either the
employers or the employees as the organizations have
initiated quite a few steps to cope with these tiring times.
While some of them are quite justiﬁable & ethical but at the
same time quite a few of them are irrational which have
caused more damage than doing any good.
Nobody debates on the ‘tough calls’ as they are the need of
the hour but I guess most of us would agree that the
approach adopted to get these done are something which
could have been more sensitive and careful. For arguments
sake, how do we pass an unpopular decision’s information
(Organization or through someone else) or who passes the
information (Leadership or someone unknown) etc.
For example, it would probably be easy for an employee to
go back to the families and share sensitive news like losing
jobs, pay cuts, freeze of bonuses, no perks etc. in a planned
& proactive manner at his / her pace, rather than reading it
through newspapers ﬁrst and thereby not being ably
equipped to answer family and friends when probed.
If we have to summarize Employees experiences, they
would range from ‘shocked’, ‘disbelief’, ‘feeling cheated’
to ‘feeling completely helpless’ etc. None of the above
experiences are something which anyone would like to
recall or cherish. So what has triggered these experiences,
predominantly we can consolidate into three reasons.
Leadership Vacuum
Employees have always believed that their leaders would
lead from the front, in normal times or in crisis. But many
of them woke to rude reality that these leaders were either
too shy to discuss these matters in open or be available to
clarify on the actions initiated as the crisis grew.
‘Leadership based on convenience’ is something which has
never been and will never be popular among employees.
Lack of Maturity in Policy Management
To add to this confusion & chaos was the HR outlook
towards People Policies. For example, what is rational to
have all those weekend ‘Biryani’ parties when times were
good or take away something precious & critical like late
night dropping by ‘taxi’ in name of cost rationalizations.
The Way We Communicate, Matters
When we can communicate in an open-hearted one to one
discussions why do we take the route of emails which are of
non-Personal mode. We all have experienced that non-
personal communication only heightens the crisis and don't
act as softener because invariably they leave the
interpretation of message to the reader and don't give an
option of clarifying.
Cut Cost, NOT CONVERSATIONS
Cutting cost is a vital component of survival and there is no
denial to it. But cutting conversations is something which
we all can avoid for sure. Now is the time for more ‘Open
Houses’ and ‘Town Halls’ than ever. Now is the time for
Open Hearted Discussions and Confessions. Now is the
time for investing TIME rather than divesting time away
from employees.
Where is the WAR CRY?
Critical times lead to confusion and chaos and the best way
Employees during a Slowdown . . .
Employees have Elephant Memory . .
Leader’s Thought

to resolve them is to build momentum and singular focus
among all the employees. The best way to do so would be
by identifying one Big Target / Goal and build a war cry
towards it.
Lead by Listening
Leadership across the broad from the CEO to Managers
have to spend time with the employees not so much in
explaining the rationale behind the decisions but in listening
to them and clarifying the apprehensions and
misconceptions they may have.
It is important & critical to note that the anger is not so
much about ‘what’s happening’ but ‘the way’ it is being
handled. The anger may subside if we only agree to be
transparent to them and treat our employee as ‘rational &
matured adults’ and not with kid gloves.
Believing that they have ‘short memory’ and they will
forget and forgive us as soon as we announce the next
biryani weekend party is deﬁnitely a bad idea.
About The Author
K Srinivas Rao, Chief Strategist and Partner, is a human
capital strategist with the expertise of 23 years across
Human Capital Value Chain. Prior to The Strategist, he was
heading Strategy - HR at Satyam Computer Services.
Formerly, he held management roles at various levels in
CATS (Computer Associates-TCG), Baan Info Systems,
Ernst & Young, Videocon International.
An avid writer and guest speaker on the subject of Change
Management and Human Capital, he wrote 5 books under
the “101 Smart Ideas Series” published in 2015, “Managing
HR Issues in a Merger” - published in the Handbook of
Business Strategy 2002,“Whispers of a Devil in an
Angel”,“Principles and Practices of Management”. He also
co-authored a book titled ‘Unconscious Leadership
Conspiracy’ and has published more than a dozen articles in
International & National Publications.
Mr. Rao holds dual Masters’ degrees and attended Indore
School of Social Work, where he topped the class of '93 and
later pursued Masters in Military Sciences. Currently, he is
a Research Scholar at XLRI Jamshedpur and a visiting
faculty at ISB and IIM Indore. He was awarded “HR
Leadership Award” in 2008-09 by Employer Branding
Institute and Super Achiever as HR Professional in 2006 by
Indira Group and Fun & Joy Institute.
K Srinivas Rao
Chief Strategist & Partner
The Strategist
Leader’s Thought

C
-Square with its ability to create advance
technology solutions, which bridge the requirement
gaps, has emerged as the leading solution provider
of Enterprise-Resource-Planning (ERP) software &
business intelligence (BI) tool for the pharmaceutical
industry in India.
Artisans behind C-Square
Sripal Bachawat & Sajith Thattalath, Directors of C-
Square come from a pharma background. Sripal started his
career as an Operations Manager in a Pharmaceutical
Distribution company which gave him the deep knowledge
of the demand side business of Pharmaceuticals in India.
Sajith, being the technical person has been providing
Pharma solutions for the past 26 years. The synergy of both
these founders has resulted in solutions tailor-made to the
requirements of the Pharma industry in India.
Their first solution was PharmAssist, which is positioned
for Pharma Wholesalers. The major concern for Pharma
wholesalers in 2002, when they started C-Square, was
exercising process control on a distribution business where
the volumes are high due to the high number of brands in
each company's portfolio. This added a dynamic situation
every time as the number of batches in circulation kept
increasing. Reverse logistics was another area where they
ensured clean process discipline. The process adherence
was essential keeping in mind the tenets of the Drug Rules
in India.
Exclusive Services Proffered
Go Green SFA (GGSFA) is the cloud-based sales force
automation tool designed to improve the effectiveness of
the medical field force with access on the go with both
mobile and web interfaces. The solution has been designed
specifically for the medical field force in India, giving them
easy to use data capturing pages, ensuring higher
acceptance levels and thereby enabling the decision makers
to take proactive measures in the very competitive and
fragmented Pharma sales and marketing industry in India.
GGSFA is currently having more than 25,000 users and
trusted by over 60 companies.
Go For Plus (Go4+) enables stakeholders, internal
customers to access the required information at a click of a
button. It streamlines and integrates multiple functions and
systems into one solution and gives total visibility and
control of operations. Simple yet powerful, Go4+ serves as
your primary business management application. No more
duplication, inefficient data entry, and reconciliation
bottlenecks. Go4+ is used in over 430 C&Fs across India.
PharmAssist(PA) is their oldest and most mature
application for the distributor segment of the Pharma supply
chain. In volume driven revenue seen in distribution,
ultimate control at all the employee touch points in the
work flow is the hallmark of a mature specific business
application. PharmAssist not only offers all this but also
removes human intervention in reports and statutory
returns. C-Square has more than 500 PA customer base
across India.
Pharmsoft is the widely accepted and copied solution for
the standalone pharmacies. It offers ease of use and also a
360o view of the customer eco system. It also incorporates
the digital CIMS which helps the user to get a deep dive
view of the myriad brands in the Indian Pharma market.
They have more than 3600 installations across the country
for Pharmsoft.
C-SQUARE:
Controlling Your Business
Anytime, Anywhere
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

Eco Green is the flagship brand for the
retail chains and also functions as an e-
commerce engine. Eco Green is an
ERP which can be deployed for
distributed enterprises and has a depth
of user profiles which encompasses the
front end POS user to the warehouse
manager and the picker. It also has a
fully functional accounts and finance
functionality.
The Clientele
C-Square is attaining new heights of
success and transforming their dreams
into reality and satisfying their
customers by providing solutions
which act as force multipliers to the
Pharma demand side business players.
Secondly, focus on sales with
concentrated actions and concerted
response consistent with the need of
the market. And lastly, provides
solutions which are customer centric
and scalable with the needs of the
business.
Future Perspective
C-Square is making big strides in the
e-commerce segment with apps for
both the B2B and B2C. Pharma
Industry is a brand driven market with
over 70000 brands. This results in
inappropriate stocking, making the
journey of shoppers quite complex.
Besides, the insufficient stocking of the
key fast moving brands creates friction
of non-availability of essential drugs.
This raises the need for creation of
advanced technology solutions to
bridge the requirement gaps.
Offering an e-commerce ordering
platform (B2B) that gives the stock
positions of the supplier in real time is
what is going to set them apart. Other
than this C-Square is actively involved
in apps to ensure patient adherence to
the drug regimen. This is another area
where more activity will be seen as
health care providers have realized the
power of the mobile as an aide.
““
Sripal Bachawat & Sajith Thattalath
Directors
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016
Our biggest
marketers are our
own customers.
They speak for us
and we consider
ourselves as their
partners
in progress

Discover Dollar:
A Revolutionary Technology for
Stopping Leakages
and Overpayment
Retail Industry is mostly affected by leakages and
over-payment. This has been absolute nightmare
for merchandise managers and management where
significant portion of Gross Margins were lost due to over-
payment and under receipts. But Bangalore based fast
growing startup Discover Dollar Technologies Pvt. Ltd
have developed cutting edge technological solution to
effectively overcome problems of over-payment and
provide real-time analytics.
Discover More with Discover Dollar
Discover Dollar helps retailers to detect and resolve
overpayments, missed discounts and un-recovered vendor
incomes. Their powerful algorithms can scan through all
available data sources including unstructured data like
emails and contracts and notify relevant people in
organization about potential overpayment and resolve it by
just a click of a button.
Backbone of Discover Dollar
Subrahmanya Rao (Subu), Founder & CEO of Discover
Dollar Technologies is a dynamic young professional with
extensive knowledge in Retail, Merchandise and Recovery
Audit Industry. Prior to Discover Dollar, Subu had startup
in Education space and worked for Atlanta based company
where he was involved in recovering multi-million dollar
over-payments made by Retailers. He also has an MBA
from SDM-IMD in 2010 and student entrepreneur during
his graduation.
Subu was the only delegate representative chosen from
India for prestigious TiECon 2015 in Silicon Valley. He was
also a part of NASSCOM's “Innotrek” delegation to Silicon
Valley, where brightest Indian startups with global ambition
are taken to San Francisco to meet the best startups,
founders and investors of Silicon Valley.
As a founder of the company, Subu has developed a break-
through solution which can detect & resolve over-payments
made by retailers in real-time. Over the period of his career,
he wore many hats as a Founder, Analyst, Auditor,
Developer, Architect, Marketer, Manager, Mentor and
Strategist. Subu is also very keen on learning new
technology & trends. As a result, he has ability to solve
complex problems by applying concepts from multi-
disciplines. As an Individual, Subu is highly motivated,
creative and quick learner. He not only has big ideas, but
also has passion & ability to execute. Subu always look
forward for challenging assignments where he can apply his
skills and learn new things.
Services Proffered by Discover Dollar
The dynamics of retail is changing at a very fast pace. The
change is demanding new way of looking at old problem.
Discover Dollar is here to help their clients in gaining new
insights to client's merchandise operation. With Discover
Dollar solutions their clients will be able to see Vendor
Profitability, Margin distribution across categories, Vendor
Compliance, Spike Report, Target GP to Actual GP, Margin
Shrinkage Report, Bill Back Allowance Report etc. And
with this analytics successful retailers will drive value and
enhance profit in sustainable fashion. Their services
include:
Recovery Analytics: They recover overpaid amount to
vendors due to various reasons like system error, process
error, human error, policy change and more. They get into
deeper insights to achieve sustainable profits.
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

Merchandise Analytics: They help
retailers with their valuable insights
into retailer's merchandise
procurement, profitability and margin
analysis, vendor performance and
many more custom reports. This will
essentially help their customers to
make better negotiations and deals
with the vendors.
The Customer Base
Discover Dollar (D$) had built robust
revenue leakage capturing product but
had difficulty reaching out to large
customers especially Fortune 500s.
Target provided an opportunity to D$
to validate their product through its
accelerator program. D$ got its first
customer and now reached out by
multiple Fortune 500 for implementing
solution.
Discover Dollar helps corporations
discover more profits and cash flows
by identifying revenue leakages and
overpayments by analyzing various
data sources includes emails &
contracts.
Discover Dollar’s product was
validated during Target Accelerator
Program and is now used by Fortune
500 retailers to capture multi-million
dollar revenue leakages including
Target Corporation which is second
largest discount store in United States
after Walmart. Discover Dollar has
helped to save more than $50M of
revenue leakage to be captur
ed in right time which is
commendable.
Awards and Recognition
Discover Dollar’s solution was
awarded globally “Top 5 Most
Innovative Solution” by SAP in
Florida. Their solution is sought by
Fortune 500 Companies with multi-
billion dollar revenue. They were part
of Target Accelerator and have Mr.
Shibulal (ex-CEO Infosys) and Mr.
Lalit Ahuja (ex-CEO Target India) as
mentors. Also, they were part of
Wharton Business School’s Case study
“Technology & Entrepreneurship in
India”. Brightest undergrads from
Wharton Business School and IIM
Bangalore have interned with them for
consecutive two years. Discover Dollar
is featured among ‘Emerging 20 Retail
Software Companies by CIO Review
2015’.
Subrahmanya Rao
Founder & CEO
““$1 Million
is lost
for every
$1 Billion in
Sales by
Retailers
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

Redefining Online Retailing
rop in a profit of retail, closure of stores, the
Demptiness of the malls are proclaimed that the
internet is taking down another industry yet. In
contrast with the past, Brick and mortar stores are appearing
in the yellow pages. Recently, the Census Bureau delivered
a data report showing that online retail sales surged 15.2
percent between the first quarter of 2015 and the first
quarter of 2016. The data report shows that only 0.8 percent
of retail sales transformed from offline to online between
the beginning of 2015 and 2016.
In the past decade, some online companies in the US have
announced its physical existence to better market their
products, increase online traffic and sales, and forge closer
customer relations. At the same time, Amazon includes
specialty and clothing stores like Casper Warby, Birchbox,
Parker, and Bonobos.
This movement also shines back the broader industry
essentials over the multi-channel retailing, where Retailers’
prime focus was just to provide the products to their
customers with a seamless experience be it online shopping
through a desktop or at a traditional retail store.
For an instance, Macy’s and Nordstrom, invest an estimated
$6.4m and $4m in paid search records for the highest
thousand attire related keywords in the first quarter of 2015,
as per the study from L2 Inc, a research firm, tracks digital
brands.
As per the L2 report, Clicking on an online site is not
appropriate to the highest-placed search ads, with little
room for differentiation. Which ultimately means, the ads
which have been running for a long time, have high
rankings, and a high impression share in highly competitive
markets. The report describes “evolved retailers”, online
merchants that have opened brick and mortar storefronts.
What was the reason to do this? Actually, they want to
create awareness among the customers and make them safe
in the area of retail marketing. Also, for its vendors and
personal products like jewelry, clothing, and eyewear
selling the material as per the request of their customers’
needs.
Many of the offline forays have come up with a trail attempt
shop just before announcing their new innovative stores
especially in high-profile shopping areas such as SoHo
neighborhood in New York, Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
And, as per the response they have enlarged their stores
rapidly.
“The big benefit of the flagship stores is that they’re terrific
marketing vehicles,” opined Jason Goldberg, who is the
Senior Vice-President of Commerce and Content at digital
agency Razorfish. “Not only do those stores tend to be
economically successful on their own but they generate a
huge lift in incremental shopping to the online store.”
Even talking about Warby Parker, they have built a popular
brand by selling fashionable, elegant eyewear frames for
#Hashtag

just under $100. In 2010, three years later, they have started
their online flagship Soho and today, the company has
twenty stores countrywide, also aiming to plan twenty more
to add in this year.
Dave Gilboa, Co-founder and Co-chief Executive of Warby
Parker stated the company stores which have been open at
least two years are already profitable. “We also see a halo
effect where stores themselves become a great generator of
awareness for our brand and drive a lot of traffic to our
website, as well and accelerate our e-commerce sales,” he
further added.
At the same time, other e-tailers have started their
showrooms which are emphasized on the basic essentials.
This technique enables customers to size and sample
products while lessening real estate and other traditional
retail value. Bonobos, one of the best-known brands for
menswear, adopts this technique, and its 20 other stores
allow its customers try on clothing while orders are
available online with the home delivery option. Also, one
point because men agreed with it, while shopping at the
store they were unnecessary compelled by the shopping
bags.
“This supported our idea of using Bonobos.com as the
place to fulfill orders, so we didn't have to worry about
stocking inventory in a location and we could focus more
on the customer experience,” stated Erin Ersenkal,
Bonobos’ Chief Revenue Officer.
And the result was Bonobos’ stores gained twice profit just
because of its online approach.
Likewise, Blue Nile, a jewelry e-tailer, has opened its first
standalone outpost in the Roosevelt Field mall on Long
Island. As per Harvey Kanter, CEO of Blue Nile,
Consumers are denying to buy online just because they are
not being able to see and touch and feel the product.
As compared with other e-retailers categories, jewelry still
has less penetration online, stated Kanter. Venturing offline
is a way to motivate the vendors for its higher growth.
Since June, Blue Nile has seen a rise in traffic and sales in
the area around its first Long Island location. Now, they
plan to open their other three to four Webrooms in this year.
However, Claude de Jocas, research shows on the L2 study,
stated the advantages of economies of scale could result
into some more locations added. “Some are also beefing up
their physical retail teams with senior-level hires,
suggesting aggressive expansion plans are in the works,”
she added.
If talking about Amazon bookstore, this is linked to its site
closely. In Amazon books there is a list of titles displayed if
the customer wishes to select books in a particular field.
These books are detailed with the users’ reviews and
ratings. Each and every book is displayed face-out with a
barcode to look at the price using its app. Also, the outlet
allows people test drive its devices such as the Kindle e-
reader and Fire tablets.
Today, Retail is evolving with great products and services.
In other words, flexibility is the key by which retailers can
follow their customers and improve their products as per
their requirements. In coming decades, let see how the
shopping and buying experience will changed in each retail
category.
#Hashtag

Technology is transforming business world over.
However, its India story is a bit different. India is
the second most populous country in the world and
still e-commerce (non-travel) has touched ~3 percent of the
population and less than ONE percent of Retail. India just
doesn’t adopt technologies and processes the way they
operate elsewhere around the world. Few inherent reasons
like a reach, education (know-how), trust etc. prompted us
to innovate and adapt the eCommerce process for India
India and we created iStreet Bazaar” says Lakshya Malu,
co-founder of iStreet Bazaar.
The Trailblazers
Pradeep Malu and Lakshya Malu are the Co-founders of
iStreet Bazar. They have been selling products from clip to
car ONLINE since 2007. And their biggest online
consumer auction of selling a car for over Rs. 30 lacs is still
a benchmark in India.
Pradeep is an Entrepreneur and a Chartered Accountant,
received several recognition for his work and recently he is
a recipient of ‘Business Leader of the Year 2015’ award
from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Lakshya graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from Boston
University, USA. After graduating he returned to India and
has been working on various eCommerce projects since last
5 years. He conceptualized and executed the concept of
Internet Retail in India which has now taken a shape and
called ‘iStreet Bazaar’. His mission was to build
technology and process whereby common people of India
can benefit from the same. He has worked on several
projects at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New
York, Cyber Materials LLC, Boston etc.
The Journey
While narrating the inception story of iStreet Bazaar,
Pradeep accentuates, “Few years back, when my office
assistant Yadav asked me an advance of Rs. 2,000 to buy a
mobile handset. He said he liked a particular handset and
that was available in the nearby mobile shop for Rs. 1,900
as against the MRP of Rs. 2200.”
“I suggested him to wait for one more day to get a better
deal.”
“I searched the model online and to my surprise, the same
model was available on one of the websites for Rs. 1,250. I
bought him that and saved huge money for him,” says
Pradeep.
“Yadav was very happy as he was able to buy a mobile
handset which he liked the most and saved Rs. 650. And a
couple of more such instances made me think, how the
benefit of technology can reach 100 crore common people
of India,” opines Pradeep.
Lakshya heard this story and suggested to build a
technology and a process to be able to take this benefit to
the common people of India. They created a concept of
Internet Retail store, which is a fusion of online-offline and
would re-engineer the existing Retail formats like Mom &
Pop store, Modern Retail and eCommerce.
iStreet Bazaar:
Re-Engineering
Retail
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

Pitching the Idea
iStreet business model is a fusion of
online (eCommerce) and offline retail.
The objective of iStreet Bazaar is to
use technology to empower the local
store or the local entrepreneur and in
turn give access to huge product &
service choice to every common
person of Bharat.
They are setting up ‘iStreet Bazaar’-
India’s first Internet Retail Store Chain
across India to take benefit of
eCommerce to smaller towns and
villages and even to common people of
metro cities. It would give the common
man the benefits, comfort and joy of
shopping thru the Internet. iStreet
Bazaar through its world class platform
and network stores offers thousands of
products and hundreds of brands at
extremely competitive prices so that
customers in smaller towns and
villages can easily buy products which
otherwise won’t be available in their
area. iStreet Bazaar eliminates
payment related issues that arise when
transacting online.
In Trend- Buying ‘Online’ in a trend
which brings in geo & price parity.
They evolved ‘iStreet Bazaar’ where
anyone, literally anyone, can buy
products of their choice at the best
price. The objective of iStreet Bazaar is
to enable every common person to buy
what he / she wants with ease and at
great online prices. iStreet Bazaar also
puts a face to the online transaction
since the customers will be transacting
at a store with a person behind the
counter. This increases the level of
trust that is necessary for any online
purchase.
In the Indian scenario, this definitely
becomes a big advantage for the stores
since trust is one of the key factors in
the adoption of eCommerce. They
started the project in January 2014 and
in just 30 months, they have created
over 5700 stores across Western India
with over 1.8 million transactions
nd
during its 2 year from just ~40,000
transactions in the first year registered
a growth of over 4500%. It’s growing
and its one of the top 10 fastest Retail
companies in India.
Certainly, it is a great Indian story. It’s
a true Indian project impacting every
India-especially, common people of
India. It is one of the top 10 fastest
Retail company which not only
growing but also Re-Engineering
Indian Retail. In time to come, when
fusion retail or Internet Retail is talked
about globally, iStreet Bazaar shall be
the first name which has been able to
simplify eCommerce for the common
people of India.
““
Pradeep Malu & Lakshya Malu
Founders
Our objective is to
enable every common
person to buy what
he/she wants with ease
and at great online
prices so that they
save money – paise
bachao, life banao
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

The Indian Retail industry is one
of the top five retail industries
in the world and has emerged
as the most dynamic and fast-paced
industry. It accounts for over 8 percent
employment and around 10 percent of
India’s GDP.
The Indian Retail Market is expected
to nearly double by 2020 from 2015.
But there are some challenges the retail
industry is facing in India.
Indian Consumer
A decade ago, the Indian consumer
used to save most of his income and
purchase the bare necessities. The
Indian consumer was satisfied with
only necessary requirements. There
was no place for unnecessary needs
and luxuries.
But that time has gone. The Indian
consumer has gone through a
remarkable transformation. And now
the consumer is armed with higher
income, credit cards, desire to improve
the standard of living and exposure to
the shopping culture of the west.
Multiple malls, supermarkets and
organized retail with a variety of
products are fueling the needs of the
Indian Consumer.
Young Shoppers
India has a young population and it’s
very large in number. The internet and
television have made an impact on the
mentality of young consumers. The
generation is earning money at a very
young age, and it is a lot, big thanks to
BPO and other avenues of employment
that cater to students in college and
schools. As a result, they are ready to
spend most of their income on apparel,
electronics, and accessories.
Higher Incomes
A number of employment opportunities
have emerged due to liberalization. Job
prospects in the country are looking up
because of the expansion of domestic
corporations and entry of a number of
multinationals. As a result,
consumption and income are projected
to increase quickly over the upcoming
year that sets the stage for promising
and exciting retail market in the future
in the country.
Urbanization
Growing urbanization in the country is
also responsible for the changing
consumer mentality. The local
population gets converted from net
savers to the net spenders, as
urbanization is spreading beyond the
major cities which are consistent in the
both developed countries like USA,
UK and developing countries like
Thailand and Malaysia.
No Money, No Problem
A huge expansion has been taken in the
financial sector. Credit cards and short-
term loans were difficult to access a
decade ago. But the scenario is no
longer the same. Short-term loans and
credit cards have become easily
accessible.
Flexible financing options, credit card
reward schemes and all other common
lures are tempting the Indian consumer
to shop. From a home to an
automobile, the loans are freely
available. The big-ticket items that
were previously within the reach of
consumer only after the years of saying
are easier to buy.
Several international retailers are
trying to invest in India to leverage the
strong demand of Indian consumers. In
the coming years will evolve as a
mature and larger market, but to
happen so, investors need to consider
all the challenges which retail
marketing is facing.
Challenges
RETAIL
INDUSTRY
is Facing in
INDIA
Behind the Scenes

LOGIC ERP:
Scaling Up Your
Retail Business
Today, it is mandatory for any retailer looking to
scale up business to know their customer, know
their market, and work out the back-end first and to
have the right people in the right place. Retailers face the
unenviable task of operating in a fragmented market. And to
top it, they have to deal with other operational challenges
such as poor supply chain infrastructure, restrictive foreign
direct investment policies and complex tax regimes. Thus
said, having seen the positive impact that organized retail
has on its economy, India is making more room for the
industry to grow.
Surely, organized retail is not at its infancy anymore and it
is now time for players to take their business to the next
level by scaling up their operations. And, for a successful
scale up of operations, it is essential for the retailer to make
sure that there are certain checks that they run like
understanding consumer needs, determining objective and
assessing capability to build a strong back-end.
Company That Understands the Market
Before plotting an expansion plan, a retailer must assess his
market opportunities with maturity. Headquartered in
Mohali, Punjab, LOGIC ERP Solutions is one such pioneer
in this industry providing the best solutions in the form of
ERPs and Vertical-specific Software & Applications that
bridges the gap between stores & headquarters, thereby
making it easier to access real-time data & information
across various stages. Equipped with a fleet of
exceptionally skilled and qualified hands of professionals,
the company has its own operational facility, branch offices
and associated partners in every metropolitan cities of
India.
Flamboyant behind LOGIC ERP
Swarndeep Singh, MD of LOGIC ERP Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
is the trailblazer behind the company’s growth. Swarndeep
post graduated from Ajmer University. Since the inception
of LOGIC ERP in 1993, he guided the company’s expertise
in providing integrated ERP Software, Retail & POS
Software to thousands of customers till date, helping them
to meet their business goals.
Solutions LOGIC ERP Proffers
LOGIC ERP’s assorted range of software is developed for
diversified laterals and fields in a business. Instead of a
generic one-size-fits all solutions, their portfolio includes
Industry-specific, Vertical-specific and Module-specific
ERP Software applications that are comprehensively
available under an array of LOGIC Solutions.
ERP solutions developed by LOGIC are characterized for
its flexibility and scalability to aide in business growth of
the customers in the time ahead. Cost-effective solutions
that are designed for specific needs and verticals, help mid-
sized to large business ventures to address issues, review
business performances and assist in making strategic
decisions to thrive in the markets.
LOGIC ERP’s Mantra
Justifying the LOGIC Mantra, the solutions and services are
focused to Inspire Markets and Aspire Businesses. Over the
span of twenty progressive years, LOGIC ERP, as a
company, carved the forte of best in industry with at-par
business solutions for their customers. They take pride in
establishing the trust of esteemed clients and partners and
share the joy of success and achievements with the entire
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

fraternity associated with LOGIC ERP.
The Client Base
Innovatively, the company is rendering
its expertise to most of the big players,
commercial houses and top business
brands of Retail, Apparel & Footwear,
Pharmaceutical, FMCG, Electronics &
Telecommunication, and many other
verticals. One of their striking stories
speaks about their zest to accomplish
that has never been achieved before.
Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd. has huge
network of over 350 POS in multiple
locations across India. They needed to
be technologically supported for day-
to-day technical & functional
problems.
Additionally, they wanted transactions
of all PoS to reflect at head office for
MIS, maximum or less than an hour
old transactions of retail stores. They
implemented LOGIC’s Online
Reporting Solutions and Auto Report
Mailer to manage their warehouse and
head office operations and
conveniently warded-off the worries of
sales team that needed sales & target
reports and ledger of franchisee &
channel partners on the move.
LOGIC ERP has successfully resolved
concerns of other retail clients like
Killer, Gini & Jony, Portico, Red Tape,
Red Chief, Numero Uno and many
more.
Other concern addressed is the
requirement of both books of accounts,
i.e., Indian accounting format and
foreign books, which was successfully
implemented to their clients ‘Calvin
Klein’ and ‘French Connection’. Their
in-house workforce of professionally
experienced teams always aim towards
result-driven practices, attention to
needs and real-time communication.
Trustworthily, LOGIC has never
ignored the security of the most
important asset of their client i.e.,
‘Data’. The servers are robust and
coupled with the best security software
to ascertain intrusion-proof protection.
However, for ERP on Cloud, company
strictly adheres to non-disclosure
policy. Advancing with their ‘On
Premises Model’, the data will now be
available at the customer’s end.
Moreover, the company is all set to roll
out a new dimension in data security,
where, every customer will have their
own admin panel to manage their data
and password policy.
Mr. Swarndeep Singh
MD
““We focus on our
core products
Web POS &
Distribution, Omni
Channel Retailing,
Merchandise Financial
Planning &
Assortment
Analysis and
Auto Replenishment
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

Founded in 2014, NextOrbit is a cloud platform to
predict and mitigate Out-of-Stock in Retail. This
platform produces on-demand, daily and weekly
predictions of SKUs which will be going out-of-stock by
store location, date, and time. It provides alerts about the
quantity by which the store ordering needs to be updated.
NextOrbit is headquartered in Frisco TX with its product
development center in Bangalore, India.
Services Proffered by NextOrbit
The NextOrbit platform enhances the operational
effectiveness of a Retailer’s merchandising and planning.
This platform helps discover and service latent demand.
The primary feature of NextOrbit is a granular
understanding of out-of-stock of each item, at each store
every day.
NextOrbit predicts out-of-stock enabling a Retailer to take
proactive action before losing sales and impacting the
customer experience. The store allocations created by
NextOrbit enables right-stocking of products to meet full
price customer demand, no more and no less.
The demand forecasts created by NextOrbit, especially for
the fashion industry, enable procurement/manufacturing of
the right quantity of each product to maximize full price sell
through, and minimize markdowns. The early warning
signals of their fashion platform enable the Retailers to
understand how a new product is behaving. Their OOS
(out-of-stock) alerts enable store staff to effectively
replenish store shelves in a way to meet customer demand.
The Transformation Artist
Kishore Rajgopal, Founder & CEO of NextOrbit,
represents the spirit of enthusiasm, perseverance, and
inspirational leadership to build startups that impact
businesses and society.
Kishore holds a master’s degree in Industrial Management
and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering both
from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India.
Kishore understood the power of Data Sciences and
Predictive Analytics to transform the way businesses run.
He saw the endemic problem of out-of-stock in the Retail
Industry. As retailing is all about creating the “moment of
truth” so all the efforts in creating the moment of truth are
of no use if the product is not available on the shelf or on
the website when the customer needs it. Kishore and the
team crafted the algorithms and models to predict when an
item will go out-of-stock. This enables retailers to be
proactive in merchandising their products on their shelves
or their websites.
Understanding and addressing a lost opportunity and latent
demand is critical for retailers, now more than ever. Kishore
believes that retailers can enhance same-store-sales by 4-
10% by mitigating out-of-stock. The opportunity for
fashion and apparel Retail is even larger. Critical to the
NextOrbit is the cloud platform that crunches not only data
from the retailer, but also external variables such as local
events, holidays, weather, and growth of the local economy.
Kishore sees NextOrbit growing like a bamboo tree. The
company wants to build foundations that too rock solid
NextOrbit:
Mitigating Your Retail
Out of Stock
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

platform with successful onboard
clients. The company wants to obtain
testimonials. And according to
Kishore, a typical testimonial will be
like:
“Because of NextOrbit and a
supportive team we have improved
same store sales by 12% and enhanced
full price sell through to 90%. Their
diagnostic helps us to understand the
extent of the lost opportunity we were
sitting on. Their OOS alerts make us
get the store shelves with fewer staff.
Yes. It is not as if US retailers have less
staff. It is just that they do not have
data-driven tools to help them in the
job of replenishing shelves-a boring
but most important work”.
Once the foundations are building,
Kishore just wants to see the company
growing and scaling rapidly.
Strength and Forte
NextOrbit is headed to creating a
unique category. They believe that the
genre of the product they are
envisioning does not exist today.
Creating a category requires leading
with thought leadership, working
closely with academia, creating a
global brand and a brand that creates
pull demand. They see themselves
creating IP, being written about in
well-known publications and obtaining
patents.
The Clientele
Most Retailer systems focus on
transaction execution. The intelligence
element is often weak. The biggest
beneﬁt that NextOrbit’s clients see is
improved customer experience and
loyalty. Clients often see a same-store-
sales improvement of between 4 to
10% and store inventory reduction of
5-10%. And on a continuous basis,
NextOrbit ensure optimal operations
and foundations for scaling Retailer
operations.
Future Perspective
As the CEO of NextOrbit, Kishore sees
NextOrbit becoming a cloud system of
record for most Retailers worldwide.
The synergy arising from such a
situation will be tremendous, and the
value created will be shared by all
parties-Retailers, CP brands and others.
Kishore created the change by leading
from the front, constantly in touch with
clients, understand true client needs,
ensuring that it gets baked into the
platform and most of all are to hire and
inspire a good team.
Kishore Rajgopal
Founder and CEO
““Our goal is to infuse
enormous intelligence
and data-driven into
demand planning,
merchandising,
allocation,
and shelving
operations
The 10 Fastest
Growing
Retail Companies
2016

The entire human history and anthropology is full of
evidences as to how intelligent human beings have
given rise to new technology and how they utilized
that new technology to further our chances of survival. The
technological development has reached such a phase now
where human survival is something which is taken for
granted. The enormous size of human population is a
testimony to that fact. If it wasn’t for the newer drugs and
equipments and procedures we would have still been dying
of minor diseases like diarrhea. This is just one example as
to how deep an impact the new inventions and
technological developments have had on human life at
large.
Technology, of its own accord, cannot reach the millions
and millions of human beings. It needs some assistance
from another aspect of human interaction i.e. Economy. In
today’s parlance Economy and Market go hand in hand.
The Market forces have been instrumental in the spread of
newer technologies to the grass roots. The combination of
these two factors has had a humongous impact on our
individual, social, political and personal lives.
But this wasn’t the case if you travel only a few hundred
years back. The current phase of technological and
economical development could be traced back to the period
which is famously known as ‘Industrial Revolution’. It
started in the late 18th century Britain and spread to the
various parts of the world. The parts of the world which
could garner these forces in their favor are currently known
as ‘Developed Countries’. The so called “West” with capital
‘W’ is the single word to describe them. Honestly speaking
the rest of the world is still catching up with them.
So where does India stand in all of this? We are a
developing country and currently among the emerging
economies of the world. The tag of “Developing country”
means we are among those who are still catching up with
the developed world. But the tag of ‘Emerging Economy’
gives that much of a positive outlook about our future
prospects.
Now keeping this larger picture in mind we can now
discuss as to how Indian entrepreneurs can make it big in
the Global arena. Last year was hailed as a year of Start-ups
for India. With the change of political guard and a new
found optimism of “Achchhe Din” young Indians have
indeed come forward with their skills and courage in the
business arena. It would be a bit too early to reach a
judgement about the viability and success that these start-
Emerging Technologies and
where do we stand as a Start-up
Nation in Global Market…
Emerging Technologies and
where do we stand as a Start-up
Nation in Global Market…
Executive Talk

ups will have in the long run. We need
to give them some time before they can
establish themselves in the market,
domestic as well as global!
However there is this undeniable trend
among these start-ups that not many
among them are based on Inventions or
something Substantially New. What I
mean by ‘Substantially New’ is
something which can have a Global
impact. Something which might
fundamentally change the way we do
things. The period of Industrial
Revolution is abound with such
examples. For example, Telephone
completely changed the way we
communicate with people. And if
telephone seems to be an example
from the distant past then we can
consider Internet and Mobile
technology which has further
fundamentally changed the way we do
things. None of the Start-ups that have
come up in the last year in India show
such a promise. Unfortunately most of
our Start-ups are kind of Imitation
ventures. For example, online
shopping websites like Flipkart,
Snapdeal. They are the ideal
representatives of the Indian start-ups
although they are more than a few
years old now. There are limitations to
such ventures because as soon as
domestic market is opened up to
similar players in the global arena (e.g.
Amazon) there is always a chance that
our smaller fishes will be swallowed
up by the bigger ones.
To be fare to our young generation of
entrepreneurs they do have all the skill
sets and leadership qualities to make a
huge impact in the global arena. Our
young minds are fed with the same
knowledge about how to run a business
as do those in the West. Our business
schools are imparting quality
knowledge to its students which can
help them become great business
persons of the future. So problem of
Indian Start-ups does not lie in the
qualities that the individual
entrepreneurs possess but in lack of an
organized effort at a national level to
do well in the extremely competitive
global economy.
An organized effort at national level
means a synchronized, complementary
and harmonious movement of the
major players in the country’s
economy i.e. the Political will,
Research and Development efforts and
the Market forces. Research and
Development should give our young
creative minds enough incentives to
explore and come up with new
inventions rather than make do with
‘The Jugad’ method which is a
buzzword of today’s young generation.
These new technological inventions
will then require the assistance of
market forces in order to penetrate the
grass roots of our domestic as well as
global market. The abundance of
political will in last couple of years has
been a major advantage that the young
entrepreneurs can make the most of.
In absence of this organized effort our
Indian start ups are facing competition
from an organized research and
development industry of the Western
world which is well supplied with
finances from the transnational private
players which are hungry for more and
more profits. The already established
industrial giants have the capacity to
eat our young start ups in absence of
new inventions. No matter how good
the managerial skills and leadership
qualities the individual might have,
there are limits to what they can do
alone.
This opinion may smell of an IP
professionals bias towards Research
and Development but if we turn some
pages of history then this bias might
well be justified.
Suneet B Sabale
Owner & CEO,
Brainiac IP Solutions.
Executive Talk

Insights success the 10 fastest growing retail companies 2016

Insights success the 10 fastest growing retail companies 2016

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