This post discusses the differences between traditional businesses and digital businesses. It also talks about the types of business models that come under these two forms of businesses.
Managing a business is both challenging and interesting. It’s not like your 9-5 government job where one reaches the office at or before a particular time, does some mundane tasks, and then wraps up for the day at a fixed time. With business, everything takes a different turn. Inherent risks and the constant need to pacify customer requirements float in the business owners’ minds.
A traditional business setup has a physical presence, and it serves people locally by providing services or products through brick-and-mortar stores. In case of a digital business setup, people sitting in any corner of the world can scroll through the web and avail the company’s services and products.
Difference between Traditional Vs Digital Business
What is Traditional Business?
Organizations such as restaurants, agencies, and anything resembling an office-setup fall in this category. Traditional business-oriented organizations usually sell products or services through stores.
A traditional business serves customers in exchange for monetary compensation. It works on CAPEX and OPEX. While such organizations focus on profit generation, a few of them—non-profit organizations—work for customers without expecting profits.
Types Of Traditional Business Models
Various types of business models used in traditional business are:
Manufacturer
The manufacturer business model utilizes raw materials to create products that are then sold in the market. This type of business model involves the assembly of pre-manufactured items. The products are either directly sold to the customers in what’s known as B2C model (business to customer), or to another business unit in the form of B2B model (business to business). Automobile manufacturers are an example of B2C model, and wholesalers follow the B2B model.
Distributor
A company in the distributor business model buys products directly from the manufacturer. The company then sells the procured products to consumers or retailers.
Retailer
A company following the retailer business model purchases products from the wholesaler/distributor. It then sells the inventory to the public. Brick-and-mortar stores fall in this category.
Franchise
In this setup, the company buys the franchise of a very successful brand and promotes the brand’s services/products to the general public. The franchise segment is a popular way to build awareness across geographies.
Traditional And Digital Business Model
What is Digital Business?
Digital business is the modern form of business, a significant deviation from the established norm. This model leverages technology for value creation & addition, thereby giving an entirely different customer experience.
The umbrella term includes both digital-only brands as well as traditional businesses that use modern-day innovations. Prominent examples of digital businesses are Uber, the cab-owning service which allows the user to book cabs online, Disney+Hotstar, and Netflix (video streaming service).
Types Of Digital Business Models
Types of the business model used in digital business are:
Basic
Small businesses fall in this category. With a small presence on digital platforms, such ventures rely on traditional marketing methods like direct mail and print advertising.
Intermediate
A level where small businesses employ tools like websites with basic functionality; these sites don’t have e-commerce or mobile rendering capabilities. Other factors like listing in online directories and third-party marketplaces play a major part here.
Advanced
Advanced websites with mobile app versions or e-commerce abilities are used by digital businesses in this category. The reliance on Social media engagement is quite significant. Video conferencing, SAAS apps, etc. are part of the toolkit.
This model is the epitome of digital business. Such ventures have high social media visibility, have little or no physical presence (as in brick-and-mortar stores), and engage with customers extensively through the internet.
Traditional Business V/S Digital Business
Traditional v/s Digital Business
There are various differences between traditional business and digital business which are listed below:
The traditional business model requires more capital than its digital counterpart. The former needs place, furniture, transport, staff, and other utilities. Digital businesses are cost-effective in this aspect.
A business unit following the digital approach is convenient for customers in terms of the flexibility offered in the variety and cost of products (consider Amazon’s extensive product catalog). In the traditional setup, rigidity is a major issue. As a result, consumers are now inclined towards shopping online.
The digital business model is yet to achieve perfection when it comes to real-time customer experience. For example, you can’t try a mobile phone before purchasing it from Amazon. You rely on customer reviews and the specifications listed on the website. This obstacle is overcome in the traditional business model.
Online businesses tend to have a larger digital market spend than their old-school counterparts. Traditional businesses diversify marketing strategies to attract customers from both local areas and online demographics. But their reach is relatively restricted to digital businesses.
Digital businesses work 24/7 and overcome both geographical and timing barriers. You can carry out online purchases in the middle of the night from anywhere in the world.
Organizations based on the traditional business model have restrictions on when and where they function. Timings are rigid and customer service isn’t flexible either. There are exceptions where few traditional business operates 24/7, but those are limited in numbers and function in select locations only.
FAQs
What is the difference between traditional business and digital business?
A traditional business setup has a physical presence, and it serves people locally by providing services or products through brick-and-mortar stores. In the case of a digital business setup, people sitting in any corner of the world can scroll through the web and avail the company’s services and products.
Why is online business better than traditional business?
Digital businesses work 24/7 and overcome both geographical and timing barriers. You can carry out online purchases in the middle of the night from anywhere in the world. Traditional business has restrictions on when and where they function.
What is traditional business?
Organizations such as restaurants, agencies, and anything resembling an office-setup fall in this category. Traditional business-oriented organizations usually sell products or services through stores.
What are traditional business models?
Types of Traditional Business Models:
Manufacturer: The manufacturer business model utilizes raw materials to create products that are then sold in the market. This type of business model involves the assembly of pre-manufactured items.
Distributor: A company in the distributor business model buys products directly from the manufacturer.
Retailer: A company following the retailer business model purchases products from the wholesaler/distributor. It then sells the inventory to the public. Brick-and-mortar stores fall in this category.
Franchise: In this setup, the company buys the franchise of a very successful brand and promotes the brand’s services/products to the general public. The franchise segment is a popular way to build awareness across geographies.
What is the difference between traditional and non-traditional business?
The major difference between traditional and non-traditional business are:
Traditional
Standalone stores, retail spaces in malls, and any other type of place that houses a usual location for a given franchise fall under the category of traditional businesses.
Non-Traditional
Non-traditional businesses conduct most of their operations over the internet. They might have a few physical stores but these are generally for resolving customer issues and function as a point-of-contact.
What are the types of ECommerce Business models?
Four Traditional Types of Ecommerce Business Models are:
Today, a huge number of startups are setting their foot in the industry and are conquering the world with their innovative ideas. These startups follow different types of business models. A business-to-business startup, commonly known as a B2B startup, is a huge thing in the market these days. The whole idea of a B2B company is to establish a business that caters to the needs of other businesses. According to a report, 85% of B2B marketers say lead generation is their most important content marketing goal.
However, running a B2B startup is a tough task as owners of such businesses need to look for suitable clients who require the goods or services that the company is offering. Moreover, generating B2B leads for your startup can become a hectic job and cause excessive levels of frustration. So here is our B2B marketing strategy. It will help you to generate B2B leads for your startup and proceed with their work strategies.
Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing mainly involves the vending of one company’s products and services to another company’s products and services. The goods could be used for the production of some other goods, for reselling it to the consumers or could be used in the general operations of the business.
Pre-requisites for a Business-To-Business Marketing
B2B marketing requires products for other companies. You should not just start off without even a rough idea in your mind. This will only lead to unproductive outcomes and will take you nowhere. The first thing that one should do is think about the product, its merits, and its demerits.
Several questions should come to your mind before finalizing anything.
Is my product beneficial for the company?
What would be the gain that my product/service would provide to the clients?
How much will my product/service help the clients to earn?
What are the main advantages of my product/service that make it better than the others in the market?
What efforts can be made to improve the quality of the product/service?
What is the price structure of a similar product in the market?
Conduct a thorough analysis of your products and services. Customer feedback is the best way to do this.
10 Ways of B2B Lead Generation for Your Startup 2022
Diversity
All buyers of a B2B company will have different needs and wants, so an entrepreneur must make sure that their content addresses all the needs and demands. The content should fit the shoe and not be focused on just one thing to attract buyers from all around the globe.
Stand Out
The capabilities of a startup are judged by the content that is posted on their blogs or social media websites. Hence, this content needs to be attractive with infographic inputs and strategically placed to allow buyers to find them easily. Moreover, it gives a boost up to the startup showing true data in their content which makes them trustworthy.
Pricing
It is not a common practice to post prices on the company’s website as it hinders the chances of getting many opportunities, but if the prices are not posted, most of the queries would be to know the cost but not generally buy the services. Posting prices would decrease useless traffic and allow more room to focus on potential customers. Furthermore, the pricing strategy should be decided with a thorough competitive analysis for breakthrough performance.
Relationships
Having a healthy relationship with the client’s company is extremely important for the business to flourish, thus, building a good connection will allow the business to grow through word-of-mouth marketing. Although, word-of-mouth has a different approach it has always had a high conversion rate.
Marketing
Marketing is the best way to generate leads. In today’s technology-driven society online marketing is the major contributor to an increase in sales. Services can be marketed depending upon the needs of various buyers using social media platforms, blogs, or a well-developed website. Creating an email database to send occasional newsletters to potential buyers helps in boosting the business. In other words, email marketing is a great tool to generate B2B leads for the business.
Sign up forms
Sign-up forms for the company website should not be very long as that irritates buyers. The easier the signing up process the more potential buyers will sign up and add to the business. They should contain the basic details like name, email, phone number and address but not a whole lot of information that can be asked in later stages.
Optimize the Landing Page
The homepage of the company’s website or the social media profile should be SEO-friendly. Articulating content that would attract people. Make your content in such a way that it is displayed clearly on top Google searches. Most people do not go to the second page while searching for something on Google to make sure that the website comes in the first page in Google searches related to the keyword.
Have a Q and A section
Have a FAQ section, which is clearly visible on the website, to answer the most common queries on the website for people to properly understand the services. Ask present clients about the issues they may have faced while registering on the website, collect the information and create a questionnaire with answers by the team.
Buy Leads From Various Platforms
Startup owners can also buy leads from various online platforms that are selling them. There are many sites that provide quality leads with accurate information. B2B companies should collect as many leads as possible from these sites to help them in progress.
Hire
Owners can also hire a company that specializes in lead generation or hire freelancers that can generate leads and do promotions. Hiring freelancers residing in different countries can be profitable and will help in getting leads from various different countries. It is also inexpensive in nature and provides a quality result to generate B2B leads for your company.
B2B Success Stories on Social Media
Approximately, 69% of the Indian B2B marketers agree, social media is one of the major tools to engage potential customers. Statistics regarding the success of lead generation for B2B companies using social media marketing are quite high. B2B buyers are much more attracted to brands that have a strong social presence. They prefer the companies to present the information via social media.
Some of the successful social media campaigns implemented by a few companies are:
iYogi
iYogi being a technical support company faced many difficulties in generating leads and creating brand awareness for its new service; Digital Service Cloud. The company chose LinkedIn to focus on the key areas of interest and target audience. The campaign was a huge success and helped to achieve 62% of the follower base in the duration of just three months.
Deskaway
The company chose Twitter along with paid media and Adwords for the purpose of selling its web-based team along with the project collaboration software. Product announcements, news, and blogs were shared on a continuous basis and thus, generating leads.
Conclusion
The above two examples show that social media is really an efficient tool for B2B marketers. It not only helps to increase brand awareness on a huge scale and target a bigger audience but also establishes a company as a thought leader. The company gets to connect easily with the clients and the prospects. Good relations are built with the people who can influence the industry. Social media and email marketing also trigger word-of-mouth conversations and help in optimizing the conversions for B2B companies. Keeping these important points in mind shall go a long way for B2B companies in creating a huge client base and gaining success in their business proceedings.
FAQs
What are 4 types of Marketing Strategies?
Four types of marketing strategies are:
Market Penetration Strategy
Market Development Strategy
Product Development Strategy
Diversification Strategy
What are the four types of B2B Markets?
The four basic categories of business customers in B2B markets are producers, resellers, governments, and institutions.
Is Amazon a B2B OR B2C?
Amazon is both business-to-business B2B and business-to-consumer B2C.
I’m sure you know that your customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the price you pay to convert a lead into a customer. And for most companies, that’s a pretty huge expense. According to a 2017 CMO survey, businesses spend over 11% of their total company revenue on marketing. The CAC metric is important to two parties: companies and investors. The first party includes outside, early-stage investors who use it to analyse the scalability of new Internet technology companies. They can determine a company’s profitability by looking at the difference between how much money can be extracted from customers and the costs of extracting it.
The other party interested in the metric is an internal operations or marketing specialist. They use it to optimize the return on their advertising investments. In other words, if the costs to extract money from customers can be reduced, the company’s profit margin improves and it makes a larger profit. In this article, you will get to know about some CAC benchmarks for different industries.
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Basically, the CAC can be calculated by simply dividing all the costs spent on acquiring more customers (marketing expenses) by the number of customers acquired in the period the money was spent. Consider a SaaS company that spent $125,000 on sales and marketing in a month, including salaries, commissions, ad spend and trial support. 50 new customers were signed up during the same month. In this case: CAC = $125,000/50 = $2,500. Congratulations! You’ve calculated your CAC.
But here’s the thing: knowing your customer acquisition cost is fairly meaningless if you’re not comparing it to the lifetime value. You want to see a LTV three times higher than your CAC.
Balance between CAC and LTV
A higher ratio than 3x means you could actually be growing faster if you invested in the right channels. Anything lower than 3x means you need to be exploring these options for either growing your LTV or lowering your CAC.
How to calculate & Track Customer Acquisition Cost
Customer Acquisition Costs by Industry
Customer Acquisition Cost by Industries
Customer acquisition cost varies across industries due to a number of different factors — including, but not limited, to: Length of sales cycle, Purchase value, Purchase frequency, Customer lifespan, and Company maturity. Here’s a rundown of average customer acquisition cost by industry:
To many, Google Ads is still the most effective ingredients in their digital marketing mix, allowing you to widen your reach and promote your product to millions of users. In terms of averages, CPA is lowest in the auto industry, which acquires new customers at only $33.52 a head, while the tech industry spends a whopping average of $133.52.
Cost per Acquisition for Facebook Marketing
CPA for Facebook Marketing
In marketing circles, Facebook is considered the most important platform for both B2C and B2B businesses. In fact, the social platform already has 80 million business pages online – and numbers don’t seem to be slowing down. There are more stats, of course. 78% of Americans discover new products through Facebook and 30% of marketers believe it has the highest ROI of all digital ads. As for average cost per acquisition numbers, education gets a big bang for its buck by paying only $7.85 per customer, in contrast, of course with tech’s $55.21.
One of the most common B2B lead generation channels is email marketing. On average, a lead from email marketing costs $53. On the high end, a lead can cost around $72, and on the low end, around $33.
If you’re a B2B business that targets medium to enterprise-level clients, LinkedIn advertising can be incredibly effective. On average, a lead from paid LinkedIn advertisements costs $75. On the high end, a lead can cost around $99, and on the low end, around $51.
A Good Customer Acquisition Cost varies by the industry and tactics used. But a good way to benchmark your CAC is by comparing it to Customer Lifetime Value (also known as LTV). It is said that an ideal LTV to CAC ratio is 3:1. We hope these cost per acquisition averages assist you in making better marketing decisions in 2020.
FAQs
What CAC means?
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the cost incurred to acquire a new customer.
What is considered a good CAC?
A ratio of LTV/CAC greater than 3 is considered good.
How do you predict CAC?
CAC is calculated bydividing marketing expenses by the number of customers acquired in the period the money was spent.
What is average customer acquisition cost by industry?
Average customer acquisition based on industries are:
Auto rickshaws are an essential medium of transportation in India, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. However, the sector is still unorganized. Owing to this, auto-rickshaw drivers have been frequently spotted sitting idle, while many commuters have to face inconveniences finding auto-rickshaws. To fill this gap, Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal founded Jugnoo in 2014.
Jugnoo is India’s largest technology-driven on-demand auto-rickshaw aggregator, which connects riders with safe, reliable, and convenient auto-rickshaws with just a few clicks. Here is a detailed company profile of Jugnoo, complete with all about Jugnoo, its Founders, Funding and Investors, Business Model, Revenue Model, Name and Logo, Marketing Campaigns, and more.
Jugnoo initially started as an on-demand auto rickshaw service and introduced various user-friendly features to make it easier for users to book a ride. In 2016, Jugnoo introduced Jugnoo Bot, which allowed Facebook users to book a ride through Facebook Messenger, Jugnoo’s website, or its Facebook page. Jugnoo also offers a Multilingual interface for drivers, with over eight languages other than English.
As Jugnoo started gaining popularity as an auto-rickshaw aggregator, the founders leaped and launched various new services. The other services offered by Jugnoo are –
Dodo deliveries – It enables vendors to deliver goods to their customers. Dodo deliveries is now renamed as Jugnoo Delivery.
Flight map – It is a comprehensive routing solution, that solves travel salesman and vehicle routing problems.
Fatafat – Hyperlocal deliveries like food, grocery, veggies. Fatafat was shut down in October 2015. The service was launched again in Chandigarh in May 2016, after acquiring SabKuch Fresh.
Menus – The company had earlier launched Jugnoo meals. However, it was closed down in October 2015, and in 2017 it was re-launched as Menus. Jugnoo Menus has brought onboard popular restaurants and outlets like Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway, Baskin Robins, Super Donut, Burger point, Rolla costa, Copper Chimney, Marky Momos and Dhaba.com
AskLocal – The AskLocal feature of the Jugnoo app will not only provide local information but is also a platform where the users can ask questions, give recommendations, and share content. It is a geolocation-based platform and is operational across all locations covered by Jugnoo.
Jugnoo – Industry Details
A study conducted by EMBARQ India has shown that there are around 50,000 auto-rickshaws in the tier 1 cities of India. Again in tier 2 cities, there are approx 15,000-30,000 auto rickshaws. The concept of the auto-aggregator is quite new in India. However many newbies, as well as leaders like Uber and Ola, have entered the autoaggregation sector.
Jugnoo was founded by Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal in 2014.
Jugnoo Founder- Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal | Success Story of Jugnoo
Samar Singla
Jugnoo co-founder, Samar Singla is an alumnus of IIT Delhi, graduating with a BTech degree in Physics. Before this company, Jugnoo, Samar also founded Click Labs. He also has been a researcher at the University of Maryland and IBM. Singa has also contributed as a scientist at CERN, Geneva. His mission is to change billions of lives with the help of technology. Samar is now the CEO of Jugnoo. Besides Jugnoo, Samar is also serving as the CEO of JungleWorks. Founded in 2015 by Samar Singla, JungleWorks provides a complete technology stack for businesses.
“We don’t want to compete with these gorillas (Uber and Ola). We are currently following the Cockroach approach: Our focus is on survival, not winning. Also, we focus on growing in spaces where there is no competition” – Samar Singla, CEO, Jugnoo.
Chinmay Agarwal
Jugnoo Ex-Co-founder and COO Chinmay Agarwal, is also from IIT Delhi. He pursued a Master’s in robotics from the University of Genoa and was a scientist at Smart Cane. He was also the Co-founder of Click Labs along with Samar. Chimay also has a patent of Methods and applications for altitude measurement and fusion of user context detection with elevation motion for personal navigation systems.
In the beginning, Jugnoo’s founders, Samar and Chinmay were unaware of the major influence they were about to make on the daily lives of the common commuters and the auto drivers. Initiated with a casual attitude, soon they realized the situation was way more challenging than anticipated.
Jugnoo is Samar’s third venture, after Prodigy Foods, which he exited in two years, and started SaaS technology solution provider Click Labs.
The company has 400+ employees currently. Samar stresses the need to keep the employees motivated. He feels talking to the employees, being transparent, and aligning with them for the long term is truly beneficial for the company.
Jugnoo – The Idea and Starting Up
Samar observed that the major issues in the auto transport network were the obstinately uncooperative attitude of the auto drivers, unavailability, and unreasonable charges. The idea was to tap the potential public transport medium in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, i.e., the auto-rickshaw, so the public can hail it by using the mobile app, and the auto drivers can save on the waiting time; a concept similar to the taxi services like Ola. Jugnoo auto app was introduced on all the major platforms in smartphones such as ios, Android, and Windows. Users can also book Jugnoo rides using Jugnoo’s Facebook bot.
Jugnoo – Name and Logo
Jugnoo means firefly. According to Samar, the word Jugnoo is related to nostalgia and happy memories. When people see a Jugnoo auto with a sticker of the brand, it becomes easier for them to remember the Jugnoo company. The name, thus, has a recall value.
Jugnoo Logo | Success Story of Jugnoo
Jugnoo – Business Model
Jugnoo has ventured into different businesses in both B2B and B2C segments. While it started operations in the B2C segment as an auto aggregator, Jugnoo also launched other B2C services like ‘Fatafat‘ and ‘Menus‘.
Jugnoo forayed into the B2B segment with, with B2B logistics service, ‘Jugnoo Delivery‘ and comprehensive routing solutions, ‘Flight Map‘
As regards the auto aggregator service, pricing for Jugnoo autos differs on a city-to-city basis. The strategy is to be the most affordable A-2-B transport option for the app users in that city. Some cities have a base fare + per km + per minute charge, some cities operate on meter fare. You can check the rates in different cities by downloading the app and searching for the cities. The fare is displayed in the bottom bar.
Jugnoo – Revenue Model
Jugnoo charges a commission back from the drivers. The commission rate is 10% of the ticket size in most cities. It runs a number of incentive schemes for the drivers, this again is based on the stage of maturity in a city and the engagement level of the drivers.
It is trying to build efficiency in the market where the final income of drivers through Jugnoo should increase to significantly more than what they were earning on the road and the customer gets a predictable and cost-effective medium of transport.
For food delivery, the company charges merchants a commission and pays the auto drivers for delivery.
In the initial days, Samar and Chinmay themselves met the auto drivers and explained the concept of the company. Convincing them to integrate technology into their routine work was quite a challenging task. Besides, for making the Jugnoo app familiar to the target customer, the app was launched at PECFEST of PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh. Also, free rides were provided to people in Chandigarh.
“The response was phenomenal and gave us the initial kick, to begin with” – recalls Samar.
Jugnoo – Marketing Campaigns
The marketing strategy of Jugnoo is simple; the company makes the customers and drivers its promoters. Jugnoo has tapped the dual capacity of home delivery and on-demand availability of public transport. The company is growing exponentially in major metros by forging a strategic alliance with partners that adds to its potential customer base.
Jugnoo also made a media presence by making Saumya Tondon, a well-known TV and films actress its face. According to Samar, Jugnoo has benefited a lot from word-of-mouth publicity. Jugnoo runs user referral programs and social media campaigns to attract new customers. The company has stayed in buzz with news like enrolling the first female auto driver, crossing 10k rides per day in Delhi NCR, backing series B funding even after the shutdown of Fatafat and Jugnoo Meals.
Jugnoo has raised a total of $16 million funding in 4 rounds from 8 investors. Funding details of Jugnoo are-
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
Apr 18, 2016
Series B
$10 million
Paytm
Jun 5, 2015
Series A
$5 million
Snow Leopard Technology Ventures
Apr 20, 2015
Seed Round
$ 1 million
–
Jan 20, 2015
Angel Round
–
–
Jugnoo – Growth
Since 2014, when Jugnoo has been founded, the company saw numerous milestones achieved with the passage of time. Here’s a glimpse of some of the prominent ones:
The company has completed 29 million rides to date
Jugnoo has footprints in over 120 Indian cities
The company boasts of having 8 million users
It now has over 0.1 million drivers onboard
Jugnoo – Challenges
In Samar’s words, the initial Jugnoo challenges, which could be attributed to the demography of the tier 2 locations, were the reluctance of the drivers to use the technology and to break the mental barriers of the customers and introduce new ideas.
The two other major hiccups in the otherwise seamless journey were Jugnoo Fatatfat, which did home delivery of custom orders from stores within the city to customers. It was launched in March 2015 with an idea of in cashing the auto network, however, it was shut down after being operational for eight months. Also, Jugnoo had to close down Jugnoo Meal in October 2015.
However, the company later re-launched Fatafat and launched Jugnoo menus. Team Jugnoo stands by the bumpy rides and says that they have chosen to be careful rather than keep investing in something which out returns us a loss. All this while they used less than half of their reservoirs and concentrated on growing as a lean and productive unit.
Jugnoo has a great market presence in the arena of Auto rickshaw aggregators competes with startups like mGaadi, TeleRickshaw and AUTOnCaB’s. However, the concept of Jugnoo is unique as it focuses only on auto rickshaw space.
Jugnoo is the only startup company in India to focus exclusively on auto-rickshaw space. Hence, our market is different and much bigger than the other players in the industry. Also, we are an aggregator in the true sense. We believe in leveraging existing supply rather than creating a new one.
Jugnoo – Partners
For expansion and enhance customer base Jugnoo tied up with a travel search engine called Ixigo, a personal assistant application by the name of Helpchat (Tapzo), a public transportation information mobile app Zophop, an app with meta-search platforms to compare modes of transport on the basis of price called Oye Taxi and Scoot.
The payment gateways like Paytm and Mobikwik have digitized payments for Jugnoo. Punjab National Bank and Piaggio provided the drivers with easy funding options. Collaborating with connoisseurs from the industry like Anand Prakash also made Jugnoo shine brighter.
Jugnoo – Acquisitions
Jugnoo has acquired three companies to date (November 2023). The company acquiredSabkuch Fresh, a logistics services firm that delivers groceries, and hence expanded its services to grocery and fresh meals, food delivery from a choice of restaurants, payments, and deliveries. It acquired Yelo previously in July 2015. In July 2016, the company acquired taxi aggregator BookMyCab, which operates in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad and is licensed to operate in Delhi.
In FY 2017-2018, Jugnoo’s revenue doubled to Rs 11.7 crore from Rs 5.14 crore in FY 2016-2017. While Jugnoo’s losses came down to Rs 16.34 crore in 2017-2018 from Rs 17.39 crore in 2016-2017.
Jugnoo – Achievements
Put together, some of the major achievements of Jugnoo are-
It established itself as the leading auto-rickshaw aggregator company of India, with around 40,000 people transacting per day.
The company has developed customer-centric services such as B2B deliveries, Food grocery, and meal delivery using auto-rickshaw, which is a unique business idea.
The startup has come up with the latest technologies like Jugnoo Bot which allows the customer to hail rickshaw from any platform, Flight map which aids the drivers in planning the routes to save time and fuel, a multi-lingual interface for drivers and AskLocal, a hyperlocal geo-location-based feature that helps users to stay connected and share content.
The company is constantly exploring new avenues. It has launched its services in diverse fields like 3D printing with Printo, end-to-end field force management solution Tookan, real-time customer support app – Fugu, workflow automation tool – Bumbl, and geo-analytics technology – Data Loops.
The company has been able to attract funding from biggies like Paytm and Snow Leopard Technology Ventures. Jugnoo raised a whopping $16 million in external funding.
It has more than 12000 autos registered with it.
The startup is operating across 120+ cities.
It has a registered user base of over 8 million.
In April 2018, the company started operations in Singapore, it had to close down in August 2018, owing to challenges it faced while recruiting drivers in Singapore. However, Jugnoo tied up with Singapore’s local aggregator app Kardi. It is providing technical expertise and engineering support to Kardi.
Jugnoo also affirms to have an international presence in Trinidad and Tobago, Sri Lanka, Bermuda, Panama, Mombasa, Oman, Congo, Nigeria, Indonesia, England, UAE, and the US.
Jugnoo – Conclusion
Undoubtedly, Jugnoo has improved the wage scenario for auto-rickshaw drivers as well. A Jugnoo driver earns about Rs 70-80 per trip on average. A dedicated driver earns up to 25k per month and this is possible by optimized usage of their time, live know-how of best paths they could take to reach the destination, and of course less bargaining.
Team Jugnoo does not favor perks and considers them as a sign of weakness of their business model. In India where approximately 30 million auto rides are taken and Jugnoo is currently involved in 0.1 % of it, hence there is a huge potential to be exploited. The startup aims to extend its services to the remotest corners of the country. Also soon it aims to become a major international player.
Jugnoo – FAQs
What is Jugnoo auto app?
Jugnoo is a Chandigarh-based e-taxi or ride-sharing platform that focuses on the aggregation and ride-sharing of auto-rickshaws.
Who are the founders of Jugnoo?
Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal are the founders of the Jugnoo app.
What is Jugnoo model?
Jugnoo works on a ride-hailing model that earns from the commissions of the rides through its app.
If you’re a developer, you know how hard funding and traction are to come by. Most software startups try crowdfunding and fail — they’re doing it wrong! To crowdfund your app, and supercharge your business, let’s look at what works, what doesn’t, and get started right! It’s no secret that the crowdfunding industry is booming. It seems like every day you hear about an exciting new startup crushing their campaign goals and launching their company via Kickstarter or Indiegogo.
Despite the rapid growth of SaaS crowdfunding platforms and campaign successes, crowdfunding is still a foreign concept to most. As such, let’s briefly explain the mechanics and guidelines for a more solid foundation before exploring launching crowdfunding for software startups or SaaS crowdfunding.
In its simplest form, crowdfunding is getting others to finance the creation of a product, project, business, or work of art. It’s extremely advantageous for entrepreneurs and eliminates the overbearing upfront costs that stop most startups before they begin.
Why SaaS Crowdfunding Has Been So Successful?
With the advance and expansion of e-commerce, individuals are shopping locally less, now being able to buy anything with the click of a button. This has democratized the consumer–business relationship because customers have a far greater choice.
With the power to choose, consumers are opting more for small startups and more personal connections. Hence the explosion of Crowdfunding SaaS. Furthermore, backers prefer to be early adopters, people who get the product first and are actively part of the startup’s success. In addition, entrepreneurs who were once unable or unwilling to pursue financing can now cut the risk and crowdfund instead.
Crowdfunding for software startups seems the perfect platform to launch an app or software product. Unfortunately, non-tangible products are poorly received. This stems from the origins of crowdfunding because crowdfunding was originally conceived as helping creative people create that which could never exist without funding.
Crowdfunding SaaS your next business venture can be a fast and relatively easy way to raise money. However, you should know which type of crowdfunding is best for your business and what it requires. Here are the most common types of business crowdfunding:
Equity Crowdfunding
The most traditional type of funding in this list is equity crowdfunding. You sell a piece of your business to an investor or groups of investors and they provide you with the funding (capital) to move your business forward.
Donation Crowdfunding
If you’re a nonprofit or local business, donation-based funding might work for you. It simply requires you to create a campaign asking for donations for your business. The money is donated, and there is nothing to repay.
Debt Crowdfunding
Also called “marketplace” funding, debt crowdfunding is when business owners borrow money from other individuals, instead of from a bank. You borrow at a set annual percentage rate, and loans are often structured similarly to those of a traditional business loan.
Rewards Crowdfunding
This is likely the most well-known type of crowdfunding. Made popular by sites like Kickstarter, funders are offered products, services, or other gifts in exchange for a set donation amount. For example, if I’m trying to fund my dog walking business, I might offer one hour of puppy snuggles to anyone who donates $50. For those donating $100, I might offer one hour of puppy snuggles plus a free grooming session.
INDIEGOGO offers both live crowdfunding campaigns and a marketplace for innovative products. It’s helped entrepreneurs raise over 1 billion dollars for more than 650,000 projects. Acquire starter capital and find out quickly whether your idea has legs with INDIEGOGO’s “global network of early adopters.”
And with this platform, you don’t have to stop raising money at a specific time. There are no fundraising targets or deadlines. Plus, you can apply equity, offer securities, revenue sharing, and even cryptocurrency sales.
INDIEGOGO charges a 5% platform fee for all projects. If you’re raising money for a cause, you won’t pay a dime on Indiegogo’s sister platform, GoFundMe.
Kickstarter
Kickstarter for SaaS
Kickstartercrowdfunding helps artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, and other creators connect with the resources to bring their ideas to life. Since its launch in 2009, the company has helped 15 million people pledge $3.7 billion to successfully fund more than 143,000 projects. Funding is all or nothing, so you must meet the goal you set within the allotted time or everyone gets their money back.
It’s free to create a project on Kickstarter, but if it’s successfully funded, Kickstarter for SaaS applies a 5% fee to collect funds. There will also be processing fees between 3-5%.
An Experiment is a platform funding scientific discovery. From dinosaur fossil excavation to the historical study of medieval monasteries — Experiment backers will fund it if it “pushes the boundaries of knowledge.” The fund project scientists themselves, so there’s no overhead like the 50-60% that comes with a university grant.
It’s free to start a project, but once you receive full funding, the Experiment charges an 8% platform fee plus payment processing fees between 3-5%.
LendingClub provides personal loans up to $40,000 and business loans up to $300,000. LendingClub is not a bank. They connect borrowers with investors. In exchange for solid returns, investors purchase Notes that correspond to fractions of loans. LendingClub screens borrowers and facilitates all transactions. It is one of the best startup funding websites.
For business loans, get all your capital upfront, one-to-five year terms, no monthly payments, and no prepayment penalties. They recommend their loan program for large, one-time expenses. LendingClub also requires you to be in business for 12 months or more, have at least 50,000 in annual sales, no recent bankruptcies or tax liens, and ownership of at least 20% of the business.
Expect an origination fee of between 1.99 and 8.99% and total monthly payments per $10,000 borrowed of between $227 and $955 with total annualized rates of between 9.77% and 35.71%.
Crowdfunder
Crowdfunder
Crowdfunder is a community of 200,000 entrepreneurs and investors offering equity crowdfunding — which allows entrepreneurs to sell shares in their company to accredited investors. Their network of 12,000 VCs and angel investors has helped startups of all kinds raise money (Over $150 million) from Pre-Seed to Series A.
Crowdfunder offers Free, Starter ($299/month), and Premium ($499/month) plans – each with a variety of services, from document storage to personalized support.
Patreon
Patreon SaaS
Patreon allows artists, musicians, writers, and more to get paid by running a membership business for their fans. Providing a meaningful revenue stream, fans pay you a subscription amount of their choosing in exchange for exclusive experiences and behind-the-scenes content. Over $350 million has been paid to creators, and the average patron pays a monthly fee that’s more than most consumers pay for Netflix or Spotify.
Patreon SaaS takes 5% of successfully processed payments. There’s also a payment processing fee each time a payment is processed (usually batched at the beginning of each month). You can also expect payout fees charged for moving funds from your creator balance to your bank or PayPal account.
“Raise money for anything,” no raise requirements or startup fees involved. That’s what it says on the Fundly homepage. They fund everything from personal health needs to politics and even trips. Create a page, manage your campaign from the Fundly app, and use Fundly’s Facebook OpenGraph integration to maximize your reach. There’s no minimum amount to raise to keep your funds, payments can be withdrawn within 48 hours of the donation, and automatic transfers can be arranged.
Everyone pays a platform fee of 4.9% plus a credit card processing fee of 2.9% and $.30 per transaction (depending on your country).
Conclusion
The rapid growth and success of crowdfunding are only going to continue. Up to this point, most software startups have failed to take advantage of this growing movement. So, try out these crowdfunding platforms in India and find out which one works the best for you. Please let us know your views in the comments section.
Fundable is a crowdfunding platform that focuses exclusively on helping entrepreneurs and startup businesses to find funding. Businesses can participate in two types of crowdfunding, exchanging either rewards or equity for funding.
How do I start a crowdfunding platform?
6 Easy Steps to Create a Crowdfunding website:
Find a Crowdfunding niche as every new Crowdfunding website/platform is dedicated to a niche.
Use Crowdfunding technology (Search for the right technology that you want to use for your Crowdfundingwebsite).
Connect the payment gateway.
Add the content.
Launch the platform.
Market the platform.
What is Equity Crowdfunding?
Equity crowdfunding is the process whereby people invest in an early-stage unlisted company (a company that is not listed on a stock market) in exchange for shares in that company. Previously only wealthy individuals, venture capitalists, and business angels could invest in startups.
What are examples of crowdfunding?
Examples ofsuccessful SaaS crowdfunding sites:
Kickstarter.
GoFundMe.
LendingClub.
Indiegogo.
How much does it cost to use Patreon?
Patreon SaaS Lite takes the same financial cut as Patreon’s existing service: a flat 5 percent fee, plus the cost of payment processing. Pro and Premium are more expensive: Pro has an 8 percent commission, and Premium has a 12 percent one, with a minimum fee of $300 per month.
What is Patreon used for?
Patreon is used by YouTube videographers, webcomic artists, writers, podcasters, musicians, adult content creators, and other categories of creators who post regularly online. It allows artists to receive funding directly from their fans, or patrons, on a recurring basis or per work of art.
When someone goes to a website to look for information, they have two options. One is to pick up the phone and speak with a customer service representative to get answers to their questions, and the other is to use the online chat facility. The majority of individuals favor the second route since it is quick, simple, and hassle-free.
But have you ever thought about where this help comes from? That is the person on the other side of the table who has all of the answers to all of the questions and concerns? Well, it’s not a human, but a chatbot, as most of you are probably aware.
Chatbots are becoming more and more popular every day. They’re a godsend for businesses that offer chat services on their websites. Furthermore, as new AI (artificial intelligence) technologies emerge, chatbots have grown more efficient and advantageous to organizations.
Bots are proving their mettle once again with the latest features, such as language processing skills, built-in algorithms to assist learning from patterns to enhance their knowledge, and so on.
Bots are computer programs that execute tasks that would otherwise be performed by people. They collect data and use the information to make the interface more instinctive and intelligent, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI).
Chatbots are computer programs that simulate human dialogue. They respond to the queries of the users. Every command is met with a positive response.
They might be either utility bots or informational bots. Users can get important information from information bots, while utility bots accept commands and reply.
How do Chatbots work?
Natural language processing, or NLP, is the technology used by chatbots. It is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science concerned with the interaction between humans and computers.
Three classification methods are used by chatbots to function.
Matching patterns
Bots utilize pattern matching to classify texts and provide appropriate responses for consumers. The pattern’s standard structure is AIML or Artificial Intelligence Markup Language.
Neural networks (Artificial Intelligence)
With the help of weighted connections created through multiple iterations during data training, neural networks make it easier to determine output from input. Every sentence is split down into different worlds, and each word is finally used as an input for neural networks.
Algorithms reduce the size of classifiers and provide more manageable structures. The reductionist approach is the name given to this method. In a nutshell, it boils down to reducing the problem to a simple answer.
Algorithm
Algorithms reduce the size of classifiers and provide more manageable structures. The reductionist approach is the name given to this method. In a nutshell, it boils down to reducing the problem to a simple answer.
Chatbots have risen to prominence in recent years as a result of their capacity to streamline a variety of marketing procedures. By offering fast solutions to clients’ questions, these clever automated messengers speed up the process of certifying sales leads.
According to a Harvard Business Review study, organizations that do not respond to leads in five minutes or less risk losing them forever, emphasizing the necessity of giving prompt responses to your clients.
Chatbots are still a relatively new concept, and their enormous potential is sometimes missed. B2B enterprises account for 58 percent of all websites with a chatbot.
Given that chatbots were previously utilized significantly more frequently by B2C enterprises, this is a fascinating finding. Because of this rising usage, there are several significant advantages to using a chatbot in your B2B organization. Continue reading to discover more about the causes for the recent development in the chatbot market, as well as how B2B companies are beginning to see the value that chatbots can bring to their online presence.
The Struggle for Convenience
Let’s face it, no one wants to sit around for hours on end waiting for a response to a query. As technology advances and clients migrate to more convenient customer assistance options, customer care phone lines are slowly becoming obsolete.
Chatbots have begun to appear on a variety of social media sites, including Facebook Messenger. Customers will be able to have faster and more seamless customer service encounters as a result of this. They may gently go on social media and get a solution to their question in a matter of seconds.
These bots are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, although most customer support representatives are not. It might be unpleasant for a consumer to wait for a customer support representative to come online and reply after regular business hours, especially if the question is urgent.
Keeping consumers waiting can result in them leaving their company elsewhere, resulting in a significant loss of revenue. As a result, users and organizations alike have found chatbot availability to be one of the most tempting features.
Consistency is essential
Customer service consistency is an aim for almost every B2B company. When two consumers ask the identical question of a customer care professional, they should always get the same answer. This establishes client trust and ensures that customers are never misled.
When it comes to human customer service representative, you can give them all the same training, but their responses will always be slightly different. That’s understandable; after all, they’re humans, not robots, and it’s human nature to make mistakes now and then. At the end of the day, it’s an ineffective system for businesses to use, which is where chatbots come in.
Technology is becoming more intelligent
Eliza – Worlds First Chatbot
In 1966, an MIT professor created the world’s first chatbot. Although this bot could only answer simple questions, it was a significant technological advancement. Over 50 years of research and development have gone into making chatbots the extraordinarily intelligent computers that they are today.
In many circumstances, it’s difficult to determine whether you’re interacting with a chatbot or a real person, and technical advancements will only make it more difficult. These sophisticated computers are programmed to recognize keywords and respond accordingly.
These systems have progressed over years of engineering to the point where they can precisely mimic the human brain’s speaking patterns and mental processes. These chats are nearly comparable to those with real customer service personnel due to their human-like language and ability to pick up keywords.
The Budget-Friendly Alternative
Every company wants to save money wherever it can, thus cost is a major consideration in the assimilation of chatbots. You should anticipate paying somewhere between $500 and $2500 for your chatbot, depending on its sophistication.
Chatbots may have a high initial cost, but their ongoing costs are quite low, making them significantly less expensive than hiring an entire staff of customer support professionals.
Chatbots may cut operational costs by up to 30%, according to Chatbots Magazine, so it’s easy to see why so many B2B companies are making the move.
The advantages that chatbots may give for your B2B company are unrivaled. Chatbots can be a very fantastic tool for you and your business if you are ready to make the initial investment. Chatbots may help enterprises streamline procedures and build long-term relationships with website visitors, thus their popularity is only going to expand.
FAQ
Which platform is best for chatbot?
Lobster by EBI.AI, Chatfuel, MobileMonkey, Aivo, ItsAlive, Imperson, and Pandorabots are some of the top chatbot platforms.
What are the two types of chatbots available?
There are two types of chatbots, rule-based and AI chatbots.
How are chatbots used in business?
Chatbots improve customer service by being available 24/7 and replying to queries in no time.
On 24th August 2021, Flipkart Wholesale which is the digital B2B marketplace of the E-commerce giant Flipkart Group announced their upcoming credit programs that will help kiranas manage their working capital requirements and grow their business.
These credit programs are said to include Easy credit in partnership with IDFC FIRST Bank along with other well-known Fintech institutions. These credit offerings aim in solving the problems of the kiranas in India and boost businesses with the help of advanced technology.
Another advantage of these initiatives is that kiranas can avail credit just within two minutes and at zero cost, via end to end digital onboarding. These industry-first credit programs are designed especially for over 1.5 million people which include kiranas, retailers, hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, offices and institutes, among others.
Flipkart Wholesale is the brainchild of Flipkart which is an E-commerce Giant. Flipkart Wholesale is an upcoming online B2B marketplace that was launched in September 2020. The platform has been designed especially for making business easier for the kiranas, retailers and small business owners. The company aims at helping people with their everyday business by using innovation and advanced technology.
It also wants to simplify B2B e-commerce in the country so that it becomes more convenient for the customers of kiranas and small businesses. With Flipkart Wholesale, customers will be allowed to buy a huge variety of quality products at good margins. With this platform the customers can also get speedy product delivery, convenient order returns directly from the shops.
Flipkart Wholesale will also allow its customers speedy delivery options and an easy order tracking facility to keep it transparent. Besides Theses facilities it also offers paperless credit facilities so the kiranas and retailers can fulfil their business needs when they are low on finances, which is extremely helpful during the difficult times of the Covid 19 Pandemic.
Flipkart Wholesale is currently aiming to help kirana stores in more than 2,700 cities across India. So far, the platform has seen a steady growth of 17% especially from January to June 2021 as many kiranas have started using the platform.
The aim of Flipkart Wholesale Credit Programs
According to Adarsh Menon, Senior Vice President and Head, Flipkart Wholesale,
“Our key goal at Flipkart Wholesale is to make business easier for kiranas and retailers and boost their growth journey. We believe our new credit plan is tailored to solve local challenges that kiranas in India face and will help them manage their cash flow and improve their purchase experience on our platform, thereby ensuring that the benefits of digitisation trickle to the entire B2B retail ecosystem,” Adarsh Menon.
Commenting on the association, Amit Kumar, the Head-Retail Liabilities and Branch Banking of IDFC FIRST Bank said that, the country’s kirana stores account for more than two-thirds of India retail market space. He also added that the traditional trade is now evolving in terms of retail formats and business models. This is why the bank wanted to contribute to the growth of this segment and help kiranas scale up its business.
The main benefits of Flipkart Wholesale are that their clients have an access to a wide range of value propositions which include quality products, easy ways to order & return, fast delivery, order tracking, and the best margins on all products. The credit programs are allowing credit lines from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh including an interest-free period of up to two weeks.
Besides that, the initiative will also help kiranas get an advantage of flexible repayment options via cash, online transfers and even instant refunds if the order is cancelled. The platform will also keep an account of the credit balance and bills of the kiranas.
Flipkart Wholesale logo
Competitors of Flipkart Wholesale
Flipkart Wholesale was launched in 2020 but already has competitors such as Amazon Pay and Udaan. Amazon Pay is also providing kiranas and retailers with small loans and is said to have already empowered more than five million stores and small businesses with its digital payment features.
Features such as Amazon Pay’s QR (quick response) code have become popular because many small and medium businesses are using it. Udaan is a Bengaluru based E-commerce startup that has also come up with features such as UdaanExpress and UdaanCapital which are designed for kiranas. These options help kiranas with logistics and lending capabilities and have already grown 30 times in AUM over the last two years.
Flipkart Wholesale is the brainchild of Flipkart which is an Ecommerce Giant. The platform is an online B2B marketplace that was launched in September 2020.
What is the Flipkart Wholesale Credit Program?
Flipkart Wholesale credit programs will help kiranas manage their working capital requirements and grow their business.
What are the benefits of the Flipkart Wholesale Credit Program?
The main benefit of Flipkart Wholesale credit programs is that it is allowing credit lines from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh including an interest-free period of up to two weeks.
When was Flipkart Wholesale founded?
Flipkart Wholesale was launched in September 2020.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the Websites.co.in
There’s no mystery in the fact that in today’s world, online presence is the face of the organization. However big and small a firm is, websites and digital media marketing are of utter importance to them. To help businesses get discovered online and attract more customers from all over the world, Kartik Raichura founded Websites.co.in in the year 2017.
Websites.co.inis one of the world’s easiest and instant Business Website Builder Platform that makes it extremely easy for a business owner to create a digital footprint of his business.
With the vision to empower India’s 63 million-plus micro and new businesses with online visibility, discovery and customers, Kartik started the journey with India because if something works for India, it by default works for the world.
Indian business owners know that “online jaega, toh dhandha aaega” but they struggle with the complexities of existing service offerings.
With a mobile-first approach, this venture has made the platform so easy that even a school kid or a grandfather can make the business website. Indian business owners know how to install apps and use WhatsApp, Facebook, and Youtube. They can upload status updates, add friends, play videos, and send messages. This platform is created in such a way that if one knows how to use the basic smartphone features, one can easily use the platform and grow the business online.
Furthermore, websites.co.in have also been selected by the early-stage startup mentorship program of Facebook, FbStart, in 2017. This association also helped the government-recognized startup to raise credits close to $40,000 along with other free tools and services from Facebook. Amazon, UserTesting, Dropbox, and MailChimp are some other partners from over 30 companies that are there with Facebook.
All in all, the idea is to empower the world’s 200 million micro-businesses with an online identity that’s easy for them to manage. This platform puts the world’s businesses noticed by customers globally and online. Websites.co.in’s journey so far is certainly one among the most inspiring SaaS success stories. Read on to know more about this Mumbai-based SaaS startup that is helping millions of small business owners in taking their businesses online.
Websites.co.in is a SaaS platform that enables businesses to get an active online presence within minutes using their App or Web dashboard. This application was featured as the “top-grossing business application” on the Google play store at the 1st position.
Websites.co.in logo
There are 200 million Microbusinesses in the world, 51 million in India but 68% of them don’t have an online presence. Digital SMBs grow profits up to twice as fast as offline SMBs. However, 35 million businesses in India are lagging in the digital movement. The World’s Micro businesses need some sort of online identity.
This app or web dashboard that websites.co.in offers, is designed to empower the business owners to quickly create business websites, update them and manage content on their website on the go in a hassle-free way.
The client only has to push content on the website and this platform completely takes care of the technology stack, custom domain name, SSL certificate, hosting, auto-SEO, auto social media pushes, statistics, business inquiries, e-commerce, dynamic responsive mobile-first themes, etc.
KartikRaichura and Dhaval Mehta founded Websites.co.in in 2017.
KartikRaichura and Dhaval Mehta- Founder of Websites.co.in
Websites.co.in founder and CEO Kartik Raichura, is a business post-graduate from Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai. Kartik is a serial entrepreneur, a TEDx speaker and an angel investor.
During his teenage years in 2004, he founded ManagementParadise.com – World’s leading social learning platform focused on management education. He started his company when he was 19and kept at it for more than a decade. As one of the top 10 educational portals in India, it has served over 100 million visitors and created a user base of 1 million + members and growing.
Kartik is a ‘Star Young Entrepreneur Award’ recipient by the Indira Innovation Summit 2013 and his company was among the top 100 startups to work for in 2014. He was felicitated as as one of the Top 100 MARKETING TECHNOLOGY INNOVATORS in 2018 by WORLD MARKETING CONGRESS and TOP 100 INNOVATIVE LEADERS in 2017 by World Innovations Congress.
In 2019, Kartik was felicitated with the prestigious Karmaveer Chakra award and Rex Karamveer Chakra Global Fellowship for impact contributions in getting micro businesses of the world visibility through Websites.co.in and education equilibrium through his past edtech startups by the United Nations & iCongo.
Websites.co.in Team
Websites.co.in cofounder, Dhaval Mehta, has been in technology industry for over 13 years. After dabbling with several software solutions worth millions as an employee, he started his own infotech solutions company and kept at it for over 7 years. He has delivered projects for Fortune 500 companies and SME’s from different fields across the globe however his heart lies in helping SMBs grow their business – be it web, software or app. After successfully exiting his past SaaS startup focused on healthcare, he took the plunge to join Websites.co.in and champion digital movement for micro businesses of the world.
Websites.co.in – How was it started?
“I had been on the lookout for an idea that has a large target addressable market and is in the unorganized sector that had a potential technology disruption play. Technology has been a challenge for me personally in my previous startup.” Kartik on the idea that built this venture.
Kartik Raichura- Websites.co.in CEO
Kartik came across several business owners, who would inquisitively always ask him, how they can take their business online, and always be fascinated by the opportunity.
“Ideally, getting their business online has been a Pandora’s box for a large business population in India and he wanted to solve this challenge with simplicity. That’s how the idea of assisted instant websites built-in front of the client was born” quotes Kartik, Founder & CEO, Websites.co.in
To start with, the team only build an MVP and took it to the market to achieve a product-market fit. Kartik would himself do telephone calls to random business owners from online business directories, introduce himself as a consultant and set up a physical meeting with them. The services and product offerings developed and evolved from consultative conversations the team had with their clients. The prime focus in the first six months was to deliver on the promise of instant websites that get SMB’s online, get them more visibility, more customers and more profit.
As seen for most startups, the first 100 users were founder-driven.
“As the founder, I diligently and shamelessly demonstrated the product to just about everyone I could. It isn’t uncommon to say that I used to take up OLA and Uber Pool cabs to and fro from office just so that I could demonstrate the product to my co-passengers.” Says the founder fondly.
Websites.co.in – USP and Innovation
The whole idea behind Websites.co.in is based on the fact that the internet is an empowering tool for the world’s business owners and this venture is going to pass the toothbrush test for this audience.
“Our startup will be used at least 2 times a day by these business owners as an enabler.” Says the founder
Websites.co.in’s USP is that unlike other website builders, who charge before you can take the website online, Websites.co.in puts the website on the internet immediately as soon as the users fill up a few basic details about their business. They also get a 30-day risk free trial and can try out all the features of the platform. If the user is convinced and wants to upgrade to one of the premium plans, they can go ahead and purchase an affordable subscription plan of their choice.
This platform is available in 98 world languages and can collect payments from 190+ countries. The team is striving hard to create a world-class “Made in India” SaaS platform with a vision to empower micro-businesses and business owners globally.
Websites.co.in – Business Model and Revenue Model
Websites.co.in is a Freemium model. It gives the users a 30-day free trial of the platform. Post which if the customers choose to continue, they have to upgrade to a paid premium plan. The pricing bit is a little trickier as a user from a third world nation will not be able to pay the same price as a business owner from a developed country.
For this reason, this platform maps the purchasing power parity according to geographies and dynamically come up with a pricing that is best for that particular location.
Websites.co.in – Funding and Investors
Websites.co.in got pre-seed funding at the ideation stage itself. Before Kartik had an MVP or even a corporate bank account, he had commitments from a few angels. This confidence shown by his early investors was a real boost.
“I did knock many unknown doors too but the conversions from known friends and their network came in pretty quickly.” Kartik, Founder & CEO, Websites.co.in
Here are some key growth highlights of Websites.co.in:
App downloads per day- 2500 +
Total App Downloads – 300,000 +
Total Reviews – 2000+ reviews
Ratings – On an average of 4.5 stars out of 5
Paying customers – Paying customers from 49 + countries.
Websites.co.in – FAQs
Who is Kartik Raichura?
Kartik is the Founder & CEO of Websites.co.in, a SaaS platform that enables businesses to get an active online presence within minutes using their App or Web dashboard
What is Websites.co.in?
It is a SaaS platform that enables businesses to get an active online presence within minutes using their App or Web dashboard.
When situations turned worse for most of us due to the Covid-19, and all of us were restricted to our homes with few hopes of breaking the chains and going out, EaseMyTrip managed to sail past the hurdles and made their stock market debut on March 8, 2021.
The journey wasn’t an easy swim on calm waters though!
Covid-19 has turned the tables for all of us and on almost all occasions, it has been for the worse. The period of the pandemic has seen everything including layoffs, pay cuts, dissolution, and liquidation but in the midst of all these horrors, EaseMyTrip, led by the brothers, Nishant Pitti, Rikant Pitti, and Prashant Pitti, launched its Rs 510 crores initial public offering (IPO).
After the co-founders diluted their 25 percent stake, they were set to issue shares worth Rs 510 crore. The company stated they were oversubscribed by 159 times, which put forth a demand of around Rs 44,881 crore. The total valuation of the company stood at Rs 2,040 crore during the IPO, as per the reports.
Prashant Pitti, one of the co-founders of the company made it clear that EaseMyTrip has never been a company that heavily stressed on marketing. “The company was profitable and growing. It felt like a good fit for the IPO”, added Prashant.
Each share was sold at Rs 187 during the IPO, which is now trading at Rs 230. The shares of EaseMyTrip have thus generated around 23% profit for investors within just two months.
EaseMyTrip was successful in making a business of Rs 4,204 crores in the previous financial year. The EBITDA of the company for FY20, as per Prashant, was Rs 49.8 crores, and that for nine months of the financial year 2021 was around Rs 43.4 crores. It was towards the end of 2020, in the month of December that the company’s overall cash or cash equivalent raised to Rs 208 crores from Rs 148 crores in March 2020.
According to Prashant, the company has listed 17 percent of the share amount above the premium, which is still consistent.
Why was this feat hard for EaseMyTrip to achieve?
EaseMyTrip is a company that drives its sales through its wide range of travel booking services including flight booking, booking of hotels, and processing visas. For a company that is based on the travel and tourism industry, the coronavirus pandemic was surely an uphill journey more than ever. However, according to the company, they have been frugal, curtailed a lot of things, went wise with several others, and aimed for the bigger goal to pull off such a feat!
EaseMyTrip Profit
How did EaseMyTrip manage to achieve this feat?
The growth that EaseMyTrip showed during the pandemic might seem unprecedented to most of us but it is simply a result of a lengthy effort for days, months, and years.
EaseMyTrip made a breakthrough in the market
EaseMyTrip, the brainchild of the Pitti brothers was started by the idea of helping people go about their travel bookings seamlessly and bringing parity to the whole booking process.
Back in those days people exceedingly relied on the booking agents to make their booking possible, and ultimately ended up paying more to them. In one such flight booking made by the father of the co-founders, the Pitti brothers discovered that their father paid more to the agent than the actual prices online. This incident led to the launch of EaseMyTrip in 2008.
The Delhi-based online travel agency initially aimed to ensure that the travel agents would receive the same prices and commissions as they did from the other similar booking websites.
Furthermore, they also ensured that the customers would also stay in this loop and would receive the same prices from the booking agents. Moreover, the team also wanted to build a software as a service program that would serve as an easy-to-use webapp that would make travel bookings hassle-free.
While the travel booking agents initially had to pump in some money with each airline to avail of the bookings, they received only around 3-4% commission. However, EaseMyTrip, on the other hand, came up with the idea of letting the travel agents book for any airlines against an initial deposit of Rs 50,000 and allowed a 5% commission on the same. This helped them effectively reduce their capital expenses and increase their profit margins.
Bootstrapping their way forward
As soon as EaseMyTrip was launched, the founders decided to raise money to start with their company, however, the market was found unfavorable soon after that. EaseMyTrip focused on a B2B market, which was something unique in the market that was already full of B2C companies like MakeMyTrip and Cleartrip. This well made EaseMyTrip a competitor to the already established online travel companies and also left bootstrapping as the only option left.
EaseMyTrip bootstrapped their business success as a B2B company, and soon entered the B2C market offering the facility to avail their services without any convenience fees.
Countering the Covid-19-induced adversities
Though EaseMyTrip was a running business well before the pandemic struck the markets, waddling through the pandemic was difficult for any business, and EaseMyTrip was not an exception. However, the company had to win over the situation anyhow, which they managed with the help of some laudable efforts from their end.
Rising up to the dizzying demands
As soon as the lockdown was announced, the government decided to resort to extreme restrictions on traveling, including a dead stop of both the railways and domestic and international air travel.
This resulted in multiplied call volumes. EaseMyTrip also had to abide by the work from home culture and resorted to WhatsApp messages to tackle the overflow of calls, which were then responded to by the executives one by one.
This not only boosted the goodwill of the company during these testing times but also helped in keeping things on a budget.
Early refunds policy
Deeming that the people are scared as well as scattered all across the country, EaseMyTrip decided to refund the money of their customers on a priority basis, even before the airlines refunded them their money.
This immediate refund policy was something really unique and positive responses came pouring in from all around the world in favor of EaseMyTrip all around the social media platforms, which further increased their reputation and added to their credibility.
Wise advertisement campaigns
As soon as EaseMyTrip absorbed the positive vibes, they thought it fit to come up with a unique advertisement campaign on social media, titled “Saath Laakh Crore ka Kharcha”.
The sole motive of the advertisement was to share the message that the Indians spent around Rs 7 lakh crores annually for their vacation. Therefore, they can easily avail of their bookings via EaseMyTrip, which is a 100% Indian company with huge benefits.
For this advertisement, EaseMyTrip had to reach out to 5-6 celebrities but the responses that the company received were overwhelming!
Discounts were curtailed
After the lockdown was lifted for the air travel, EaseMyTrip soon found out the pulse of the customers and discovered that they weren’t much concerned about the discounts and were only looking to make their trips possible. Therefore, the company reduced their discounts and managed to draw in the one percent commission that they received after negotiating heavily with the airline companies.
No pay cut policy
Payment deductions were on a rise with the COVID-19 and are always silent blemishes to a company. Therefore, EaseMyTrip ensured that they would not adopt such practices even if they had to shed some of their total strength. They reduced the total number of employees from 450 to 370 in the first wave of the coronavirus spread but they haven’t opted for any further reductions or pay cuts since then.
The Future Ahead for EaseMyTrip
“People travel for work, leisure, and to meet extended family. All this has stopped now, but it will restart”, going by the words of Sreedhar Prasad, Advisor, Analyst, ex-KPMG, and ex-Kalaari Capital.
Conclusion
The travel and tourism industry happens to be one of the worst affected industries post-Covid. However, the industry would soon rise and will be among the first set of booming industries.
FAQ
Who is the Founder of EaseMyTrip?
Nishant Pitti is the founder and CEO of EaseMyTrip, the company commenced its operation in 2008.
Is EaseMyTrip profitable?
According to a Motilal Oswal, EaseMyTrip is the only OTA in India to have a good net profit margin over the last three years.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Froogal.
In a time when rising customer expectations have forced businesses to think on their feet and expand their services beyond the traditional shopping experience, a platform that can drive loyalty programs for consumers is a must for every business. To exploit this idea into a successful startup, Jeevan Chowdary and Harshit Harchani launched Froogal in 2017.
Froogal mainly operates in SaaS, more specifically – Customer Experience, Customer Loyalty, Marketing automation, Customer Experience, CRM & Data Analytics, Automation, Marketing, Digital Transformation, Feedback Management, Business Intelligence tools.
StartupTalky interviewed Froogal CEO Jeevan Chowdary to get a better understanding of this Hyderabad based startup.
Froogal is a Omni-channel cloud based Customer Loyalty & Engagement Platform and has been a pioneer in delivering multiple consumer oriented Industries to build Customer Centricity by modernized and personalized interactions with Consumers to drive incremental Revenues.
Froogal.ai is a customer loyalty programmed management platform, which provides customers with aspirational rewards that are customized and goes beyond traditional cash rewards.
Froogal’s main range of products include:
Customer Loyalty & Management.
Customer Experience Management.
Customer Analytics with predictive and data-driven Insights.
Engagement Marketing with advanced automation techniques via SMS / Email / Push
Notification and Social Media etc.
Offer Engine with Mobile Marketing tools, Referral Marketing tools.
There are also a few more flagship products in the stream:
Froogal Seamless– It helps businesses adapt to omni channel marketing strategy i.e. Creating an ecosystem for business to enhance their sales channels across web, mobile, etc.
Froogal Consumer App– Froogal Consumer App is “World’s #1 Digital Loyalty Wallet”. It helps consumers digitize all their reward cards at one place, while it allows consumers to go cashless and with much other value
All in all, Froogal helps companies develop loyalty programs that can drive repeat business as well as build a community of loyal brand advocates by building the bridge between brands and customers at every stage of the customer lifecycle. It drives revenue for brick and mortar businesses by collecting critical customer data, then using it to deliver automated, personalized marketing campaigns that drive real ROI. Froogal acts as an intelligent tool for a CXO business, automating most of the marketing needs.
Froogal focuses on knowing, retaining every customer and ensuring customer loyalty. The company offers a SaaS-based product in different packages like (Starter, Growth, Professional, and Enterprise) targeting the different sizes of customers across SMEs and Large Enterprises both.
Froogal works with the aim to help businesses and customers build a relation for life because it is very important to understand the target audience in business and if a company does that right, it is on track for success. The basic idea is to address the pain points faced by millions of Brick-and-Mortar businesses across the globe and turn them successful. In other words, the motive is to help clients grow into an affluent firm with distinctive & considerable improvement in performance by retaining their customers.
Some major USP of Froogal are –
Most Loyalty Programs target only mom-and-pop stores, but Froogal targets successfully both Mom-and-Pop and big Chains.
Froogal has got More Advanced Loyalty Systems overcoming the traditional ways where the Strategy plays a key role in making it more contextual & emotional for the customer to retain and engage. It is one of its kind built with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Froogal took over the Omnichannel way at every module where Customers engage with Business and makes it seamless for customers to redeem rewards, complain and engage through any channel.
Deeper Analysis & More Intelligent in Personalized Marketing- Froogal Consumer App (App that Digitizes One’s Reward Cards at One Place).
Froogal offers cost-effective packages for various businesses and helps businesses achieve higher ROI.
Froogal- Founders and Team
Jeevan Chowdary and Harshit Harchani are the Founders of Froogal.
Jeevan Chowdary and Harshit Harchani | Founders, Froogal
Froogal founders Jeevan Chowdary and Harshit Harchani are alumni of IIIT Hyderabad, and the idea to start their own business was there in their minds while they were still in college.
“We were working on a project for a while and when we graduated we decided to kick off our own product. My co-founder has been very supportive and the belief we have in each other and the same morale we share and our product has got us here today.” Jeevan quotes.
As regards division of responsibilities between the founders, Jeevan Chowdary is currently operating as the CEO of Froogal and takes care of the entire business operations, sales, and marketing.
Froogal CTO, Harshit Harchani takes care of the entire Technical development of the product.
Froogal currently has 50+ employees.
Froogal Team
How was Froogal Started?
Customers are the inspiration here. While working on the very first project, during their college days, Jeevan and Harshit got a chance to work with a variety of stakeholders across many industries, especially small businesses. Both of them quickly realized that while different sectors of the market have different needs, no one, in particular, had focused on what would help small businesses flourish keeping in mind their limited operation management, lack of familiarity with technology, lack of access to expertise and marketing and most importantly budget. After talking to more than 500 such businesses they realized that they were not happy with the value of existing products and then at Froogal, they set upon this journey to provide the best value to businesses of various sizes, while working hand in hand with them at every point.
“From ideation to prototyping to customer endpoints we brainstormed solutions with our customers to enhance the value proposition, dig into real problems and develop a product which solved the real day to day problems they face with a minimal cost, along with which the rejection of dejection, and with perseverance, we showed in making it perfect and frugal for the business owners.” said Jeevan on the ideating stage of the venture.
Any businesses share the same end objective i.e., to generate greater revenues in a cost-effective way and delivering good customer experience and service. So is the name Froogal which is obtained from the word Frugal.
Froogal – Startup Launch
The first launch of the Froogal product happened with a customer. Once the team had the first Pilot deployment, they worked closely with them, wearing all hats to iron out all issues and proactively providing solutions to streamline the process. Since the revenue stream is generated through subscriptions and no other strategy, experience for the customers is paramount and the team leaves no efforts in that end. They realize that the product and the experience they provide speaks for itself and are happy to rely just on word of mouth for their promotions.
Froogal – Business Model and Revenue Model
The Froogal business model follows a SaaS business model. It works on a monthly subscription model, and its pricing ranges from 2500 per month – 15000 per month per location. Subscription charges varies based on the size and the business requirements along with other managed services for brick and mortar businesses, and also depending on the different models and segments.
Froogal – Startup Challenges
“Technology has been a passion for us. And necessity is the mother of Innovation.” Jeevan
While running their very first project, Jeevan and Harshit got a chance to meet a lot of different business owners from different industries especially in the SME segment. Every business certainly has problems in managing their operations or marketing due to lack of either technology, expertise or budgets. What intrigued this duo was that every business owner wants to excel in their own business at the low-cost model and they took that as a challenge and explored how technology can help drive revenues by simplifying and automating most of their needs at an affordable cost.
Froogal – Funding and Investors
Froogal has raised funding worth $ 1 million in pre-series A in December 2019. The information about the angel investors remains confidential.
Besides having offices in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai in India, Froogal also has an office in the USA.
Froogal is currently serving 350+ clients, including brands like ‘Cream stone’, ‘Thickshake Factory’, ‘BIG C’, ‘LOT’, ‘Over the moon’, ‘Pista house’ and ‘Biryanis and more’
Froogal – Conclusion
Froogal offers a one stop solution platform that provides end to end technology to understand, retain and engage your customers through omni channel digital strategy, leading to deeper and data driven relationship with your customers. They have an expertise team focusing strongly on unique mix of Strategic Consulting, Creative, Operations support services driving you with actionable intelligence that can help drive incremental revenues and optimum profitability.
Froogal – FAQs
What is Froogal?
Froogal is a customer loyalty programmed management platform, which provides customers with aspirational rewards that are customized and goes beyond traditional cash rewards.
Who are the Founders of Froogal?
Jeevan Chowdary and Harshit Harchani are the Founders of Froogal.
How does Froogal make money?
Froogal follows a SaaS business model- It works on a monthly based subscription model, and its pricing ranges from INR 2500 per month – INR 15000 per month per location.
How much Funding is raised by Froogal?
Froogal has raised funding worth $ 1 million in pre-series A in December 2019. The information about the angel investors remains confidential.
