Retail is the single biggest opportunity for digital signage: Rafeeq Mohammed

The ongoing trend of digitisation has surely changed the nature of retail trade in the country. With offline retailers aiming to give a head-on to eCommerce, technology is backing it up to bring back that lost consumerism. In this highly competitive environment, brick-and-mortar retailer wants no stone unturned to strengthen its core competencies.

Nusyn Digital, a technology solution provider for retailers strives to provide solutions that showcase form, function, interaction and aesthetics to a retail business leveraging its high-end software and applications that make traditional shopping a never-felt-before experience.

Speaking about the same with Retailer Media, Rafeeq Mohammed, CEO, Nusyn Digital shares the sketch of his journey towards digitally transforming traditional retail in India. He also explains about his plans towards the helm of his company.

Please share your background. Your education and whether entrepreneurship was something you always wanted to do?
Computer science degree with an MBA, specialized in strategic marketing, product development and e-banking, in the banking industry for over 16 years prior to making the transition to DS. Not from a family business background – but always felt the need for more flexibility / freedom in decision making… am a fast mover/ adopter.

How was the idea of your start-up conceptualized? What is the need you are addressing in the market?
Started during a casual chat during a family holiday – this was a time when IT / IT services / dot come was booming. Why not do something when everyone else is doing this around you. I was exposed to the concept of DS during my bankingstint – and felt that this was a solution that would be very interesting for india. 

Share the till date journey of Nusyn Digital Solutions
4 cousins started “digi4” that was conceptualized as a website development company with 2 full time staff in the back room of our house. While 3 of us were working, 1 partner took up the responsibility of managing the company. In 2006 started as a “var” to Scala – DS global leader. The first few years were tears as the market was too nascent, no knowledge of DS, had to create opportunities, essentially selling software. Some very large wins with airports in Hyderabad and delhi catapulted the growth phase. We slowly moved from being a software seller to a solution provide and now a “digital experience” provider. We are the leading providers of this solution in India.

What is the business model of your firm and what sectors of retail do you cater to?
We focus on being a “Total Solutions Partner”. As retail changes up its business model, new cool technology arrives on the scene - this changes the very screen media business that we are in. This creates new business models that are taking advantage of the vast changes in technology upon the world - anything from how we connect and shop.

Within the retail scenario, we primarily target the Malls, High-Value Brands orProduct Stores and Retail Chains.

Share with us the latest trends and future runway of the industry
The evolution of digital signage over the past decade has been swift, as technology has advanced and marketers have embraced the advantages of replacing static signage with compelling digital counterpart. Recent innovations such as large format touch screens, facial recognition technology, and near field communication (NFC) promise to further fuel the growth of this rapidly developing market.

What are the key trends & drivers of DS Industry?

- Innovations

- Content to get more importance

- Experience, engagement and interaction

Who are your target consumers? Could you please share how you have detailed your consumers?
We can deliver customer-centric solutions’ in virtually for any environment, including retail, healthcare, manufacturing, education, transportation, hospitality, and more. As digital signage implementation can a strategic business decision, are prime consumers would be decision-makers and we believe a top-down approach works for the DS market.

What is your current distribution in Brick and Mortar space? What are your future distribution plans?
We are in a verge of developing different kind of solutions that would cater to Brick & Mortar space. By leveraging on varied technology platforms we have developed our own proprietary Web Solution that is simple as plug & play. Keeping in mind the market needs, this platform gives the consumers the economical edge.

How well is the response from eCommerce
Retail is the single biggest opportunity for digital signage – but specialist e-commerce firms could soon muscle in on the market for screens in stores. But on the other hand, ecommerce industry themselves bank on digital signage implementations for their logistics management, corporate communications, and their brand promos.

What potential you see wearable industry has in tier II and III cities?
The driving factors for the growth of this market include consumer preference for sophisticated gadgets, increasing popularity of smartwatches and wrist bands, increasing growth prospects of next- generation displays and integrated consumer wearables, increasing popularity of wearable fitness and medical devices, and growing popularity of Internet of Things. Especially in India, we have bigger market to cater in the Tier II & III cities.

What has been your A-ha Moment in the business? (The high point)
Winning the airport projects and the latest retail burst

What has been your biggest challenge so far in scaling -up? How are you addressing it?
Our biggest challenge was to take our offerings from just hardware and software to a complete package solution. Our focus is on productization of our solutions that is also customizable to any industry. Customereducation and consultancy helps us address this.

How do you see growth scenario is this business? What are your future scale-up plans?
Digital signage has a huge scope and certainly seems like the right step towards the direction of understanding the needs of the customer better. It has found to be extremely effective in increasing the footfall, generating inquiries, improving brand awareness, reducing perceived wait times, improving operational efficiency and most importantly, making store/offices visit a fabulous experience. Thus, delay in the adoption of digital signage will not be a wise move.

We have plans to diversify the industry by leveraging on the technology platforms. We recently had a breakthrough in launching digital solution on WebOS platform. In near future, we also have assertive plans to innovate our offerings on Android and Windows platforms.