In Doddaballapur, a small town 50 kilometers outside Bangalore, is Vignesh’s tiny provision store. Customers queuing outside the narrow aisles rattle off items off the list. Placing all the items in the bag, Vignesh takes the opportunity to suggest new products from his new SHOPX app for a lady customer to try, and she takes the offer. “I’ve been coming here for the past 10 years”, she says, paying her bill of INR 700, “and with SHOPX I can shop online, but buy offline. It’s like having a mall inside my neighborhood retail store!”

It’s the new thing in town: you go to your nearest store - whether its telecom, kirana or any other format, and use the SHOPX app to do online shopping. Hundreds of stores in the small town are now “SHOPX enabled”, and each of them are now effectively upgraded to a top-class mobile store, a FMCG shop, a travel agent, a bill payment point, a recharge point for DTH & mobile recharge, all done through a unified app. SHOPX calls this model “digital offline”, and it could potentially become the next big thing in a country like India: larger than Amazon, larger in fact than the entire eCommerce industry in the country.

Vignesh inherited the general store from his father 20 years ago and is now slowly handing over the business to his son. “Over the years we've become like family to most of our customers and that's why we offer them services that large supermarkets and online websites will not," the kirana store owner said. Like many general stores, it is a business built on a reputation for reliability of service and trust, one earned over generations.

There are 12 Million, or 1.2 Crore “mom-and-pop” stores like Vignesh’s general store all across India. It’s an amazing network that reaches every corner of the country: a rich existing infrastructure available within walking distance of every corner of India. It’s the largest number of stores anywhere in the world, and also the highest per-capita density of stores anywhere in the world- 1 for every 100 people!

The question that SHOPX asked is: why can’t we built a uniquely Indian business rather than copying western models which only approximately work in India? And why can’t we build a large e-commerce network in partnership with this massive pre-built infrastructure of millions of stores, all of whom have the ability to accept cash payments, be a trusted ordering point, take delivery of parcels, offer credit to their customers, and carry out customer service in the local language?

Their value proposition of trust and convenience is unbeatable compared to modern retailers. SHOPX realized that small retailers can be the future of modern retail. Vignesh says,“SHOPX has transformed my business in every way. Consumers can even buy mobile phones on the shopping app as the demand for smartphones and feature phones like Xiaomi, In Focus, iPhones is really high. Within the first three months, there was a 10 percent increase in my income from selling mobiles, mobile/DTH recharge and bus bookings.” This has contributed to his son’s college education and better healthcare for his family, as he banks on SHOPX and carefully earned consumer loyalty to keep him in business.

The Idea that Transformed the Retail Landscape in India

Every single eCommerce brand is looking to tap the same 40 million tech-savvy crowd in metros. This model, copied from the West has taken the retail industry by storm. But we need something that is built for India. We have 1.2 crore retailers in India, each of them have about 1000 customers. Each of these retailers can become a touchpoint for digital interaction. To make a difference to the Indian economy, Amit Sharma and Apoorva Jois launched SHOPX in 2015 to enable eCommerce to the 400 million middle income mass market in India. “Comfort and trust are crucial for interaction with a digital interface. Small retailers can solve these problems as they can talk to the customers in their native language, he can be a payment point, a point of delivery, which solves the logistics problems and a trusted human interface to a digital platform.” says Amit.

Within 24 months of its launch, SHOPX has empowered 45,000 retailers in 230 towns across 10 states in the South and West of India; serving more than 4 million consumers. With the digital offline model, SHOPX aims to provide access to eCommerce (as against the current 50 million active internet buyer base) through its retailer network.

SHOPX offers innovative ways of bringing large global brands within the reach of Indian consumers in every corner of India

World-Class Customer Experience

Srinivas, another small mobile retailer in Chikkaballapur, selling feature phones saw the demand for aspirational brands such as iPhones from customers. Because of high procurement costs, he was unable to tap the opportunity and fulfill the needs of customers. At this time, SHOPX stepped in to help him. With prompt delivery through last mile delivery network and continuous support from the sales and customer service team, he was able to enhance the reach and availability of iPhones to customers. He recorded an outstanding response from selling 18 units of iPhone 5s in a month. His earnings increased by 5% and he became the trusted retailer in his town to sell iPhones.

“In a context where relationship-based selling is still popular, SHOPX offers innovative ways of bringing large global brands within the reach of Indian consumers in every corner of India,” Amit adds. SHOPX also offers digital services like mobile and DTH recharge, bus/flight booking, utility bill payment, SHOPX Suvidha (loan disbursement service exclusively for SHOPX distributors) along with a wide range (more than 50,000) of physical products in categories like FMCG, mobile phone and accessories, fashion, amongst others.

SHOPX has introduced strategies that enables retailers to deliver the best shopping experience to their customers. For a unique shopping experience, challenges pertaining to surface logistics is addressed with improved logistics efficiency. SHOPX ensures last mile delivery by tieing up with local partners resulting in faster speed, lower cost, and more reliable delivery. The Indian economy that comprises a potential 12 million retailers and 60 million direct family members stand to benefit from increased income opportunities that SHOPX provides.

“We are partnering with brands across categories, so that customers in Tier-2, Tier-3 towns can access a diverse portfolio of 50,000+ products in mobiles and accessories, fashion, and home products. We are also helping brands to reach geographies beyond their existing network. We made it possible for Apple iPhone to reach strategically selected 27 towns that could not be serviced by large online retailers. Similarly, for InFocus, our dynamic distribution reach and collaboration has helped the brand operate efficiently in 60+ retailer cities and drive profitable growth,” Amit adds.


The Future of SHOPX: Roadmap to 2019

To become a billion dollar company by 2019, SHOPX believes there is a very straightforward path. The focus is to achieve unit economics profitability, business wide, while still addressing a US$20B+ market space. In the next two years, there will be international debut and expansion of operations to the North and East of India.

“We will ensure relentless consumer focus and increased personal interaction with consumers, by digitally connecting 1 million retailers and 100 million consumers through the SHOPX technology platform,” Amit mentions on a positive note.

SHOPX is always looking at new ways to innovate technology so that retailers are ever-ready to go head-on with new business challenges.

“It is easy to expand and not focus on fundamentals. We are building a robust network of retailers across the country and beyond, on the right foundation. To take the next leap and grow by 100X, we are focusing on building a great product with technology innovation.” concludes Amit.