Empowering E-commerce

Retailer: In order to make Martjack a one-stop solution, what kind of features do you provide in it? 

Nitin Padamwar (NP): We provide a 360 degree solution that caters to all the requirements for building and managing a digital commerce (e-commerce business). In terms of features, we provide capabilities ranging from managing digital catalogues, the website itself, managing orders, promotions, customers, etc. Overall, the biggest advantage of our solution is that retailers or businesses can use the entire set of capabilities at their end without requiring any specific IT expertise.

Retailer: What kind of a technological infrastructure is required at the end of a retailer to make avail your solution? Is there enough scope for scalability to match the retailers’ ever changing demands?

NP: There is no technology infrastructure required at the end of the retailer to use our solution since it is

a completely managed and hosted solution provided by us.

Being a cloud hosted platform, it is a completely scalable so the retailers  can scale up as required. This is the reason why we are able to cater to the needs of small retailers as well as enterprises with the same platform solution which can be scaled up as per the requirements, both in terms of features as well as performance. Our complete technology is built and managed by us on top of Amazon’s Web Services, which is one of the leading cloud infrastructure providers across the world.

Retailer: Are there any security issues for retailers since Martjack is a hosted application? 

NP: The biggest advantage with a hosted solution like ours is that managing security becomes easy. We have a centrally managed system with no external access to our software or hardware systems other than access by consumers through the online stores. Retailers’ data privacy is absolutely maintained and we use state-of-the-art security systems to ensure complete security for retailers using the platform.

Retailer: How is the e-tail business doing in the country currently?  Is it going to pose any threat to the traditional brick and mortar stores in times to come?

NP: E-tail is doing very well and especially, given the growth in the sector in the past couple of years, we would say that it is an aggressive growth period for the sector.

E-tail does not pose any threat to traditional brick and mortar stores. In fact e-tail is a complementary channel that every brick and mortar store can use to increase their reach. A large number of retailers in India are already using the channel and are benefiting from it. So,

e-tailing is actually a competitive edge that retailers can get to expand their consumer reach and grow their business.

Retailer: Where do you think the e-commerce is ahead of brick and mortar stores, and where do you think they’re lagging behind?

NP: We should not compare

e-commerce and brick and mortar business as competing channels but are complementary channels.

E-commerce enables a number of capabilities and scenarios, which are otherwise not possible in the brick and mortar world and this is the reason why retailers are now becoming increasingly aware and active in terms of their digital channels.

Retailer: What are the futuristic solutions for e-tail? 

NP: The future of e-tailing, as we envision it, is in the experience of “Shopping Anywhere” which is a combination of experiences across the Internet, mobile, social and physical channels. With the information intense capabilities, in terms of pre-purchase research, ability to find the best products and purchase from anywhere, e-tailing is definitely supplementing brick and mortar retailing by making the consumers informed, connected and ready to buy anytime from anywhere.

Retailer: Tell us something about your R&D initiatives? Who are your present clients in the retail vertical?

NP: We are working on a number of R&D initiatives, especially across e-tailing supply chain simplification, mobile commerce, social commerce and personalised shopping.

We have over 700 retailers who use our platform including brands like Odyssey, Olive Telecom, Mebaz, Neeru’s, HCL Infosystems, Being Human Watches, Gitanjali Group, etc.

Retailer: How do you make the retailers aware of this platform, Martjack? How has been the response like?

NP: We use a number of outreach channels including emails, events, direct mailers, online advertisements as well as print advertisements along with blogs, partner initiatives, etc to increase awareness about MartJack.

Given the turnaround and uptake that we are getting, we believe the response has been simply phenomenal. Now, retailers are realising the power of digital channels and are quick to identify our leading solution, MartJack, to help them build an effective digital presence.

Retailer: How much is retail contributing to your overall turnover?

NP: Retail, directly or indirectly, contributes to almost 100 per cent to our turnover