bengaluru p mahendrans muthukani stores in chennais villivakkam is like any other kirana store but with a slight twist if you were to enter his shop you will find an led screen showing various offers and also a custommade tablet to generate bills and keep accounts of customers muthukani stores is one of the many kirana stores across the country that have embraced technology so as to engage better with the customer even as a bunch of startups such as snapbizz applicate and goodbox exploit this largely untapped space through retailer only or consumerfacing apps we are trying to disrupt the biggest space of retail business in india much bigger than the size of all ecommerce put together the potential and scale of opportunity is huge considering that 90 of the 500billion retail market is still being serviced by these small retailers said ranjeet kumar founder and chief executive of applicate it solutions whose product trade gini is targeted at retailers the retailer app connects the kirana store to various authorised suppliers of brands helps them keep a track of the inventory generate bills decide various offers based on suggestions and updates the retailers on prices schemes and offers we give the retailers a custommade tablet a printer a scanner and a wireless led tv the tv can allow brands to connect to the customer at the point of sale images keep popping on the screen the retailers can earn money out of this too one can now give printed bills and also connect with the customers through smses said prem kumar ceo of snapbizz according to the startups the entry of technology brings down transparency issues and creates a levelplaying field before if there was an update from the company only say 30 of retailers would get to know said kumar we even have a helpdesk to address all issues and connect to the brand directly for any queries we are also working on bringing in more languages bengalurubased goodbox offers a consumerfacing app integrated with mobikwik payment gateway and caters to even local restaurant brands and government agencies like bengalurus electricity board bescom other than the local grocery stores our apps backbone is a chat platform which is a connect between the customer and the retailer the app user has options of my list and near me where they can have a record of all the items they buy and see all the merchants near their location respectively said abey zachariah cofounder and ceo of goodbox the business model of these startups revolves around taking a cut from the suppliers and companies for visibility or raising money through subscription the kirana stores are welcoming technology as it makes a difference in their daily lives by j vignesh et bureau published on jan 28 2016 at 0814 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your