The cost of signing up new customers and the small business of retaining him or her is increasing by the day. Corporates are constantly looking at ways to cut cost and time to reach the customer. As the retail landscape in the state evolves with malls being set up and options increasing, competition has certainly increased.
Magsons, the retail outlet has been a constant on the retail landscape for well over two and a half decades. The business has evolved considerably since the 90’s when Kirit Maganlal established his first outlet. Today, he has moved online with Aaram shop and is using their app to generate sales.
Mr Maganlal said “We have given people the option to either contact us through the website, on phone in or the app. We are the only people on the Aaram shop app in Goa. It is early days still with regards using the app to generate sales. If we have around 30 home deliveries then just two orders in a day are due to the app. People I believe are not comfortable because they have to also I suppose scan through the entire list of products available and make a choice. During a phone call all they have to do is inform the executive of what is it they want and it is delivered. Senior citizens, in fact, like to place orders via whatsapp, who sometimes even click photographs and forward it to us instructing the executive to send it over. 75% is via the phone while the rest though the desktop.”
Smita Kini, CEO, Virtual Web Servers Pvt Ltd, one of the first in Goa to start designing website in the State said companies here were now seriously considering an app as a platform to interact with interested individuals.
Ms Kini said “When I started 20 years ago it was a battle going around trying to convince people to have a website but now everyone is aware of the uses of platforms like an app to communicate with various audiences. We have small business owners in Goa who are looking at the possibility of using an app to generate business. The interest in apps started around 4 to 5 years ago and the small business owners are in the loop with regards the benefits and the challenges. They are aware of the costs but they are still interested.”
The average cost of a customised app depending on the degree of complexity can vary anywhere between something as low as Rs 45,000 and well over Rs 1 lakh. She said, her company had created bespoke apps for a fleet management company and was currently developing one for a district Lions Club unit.
Ms Kini said “Goans are very open to new technology and are now willing to pay money for it. People want customised apps and yes it is a niche market without a doubt. In a couple of years it will be considered normal to have an app in Goa.”
The App Annie reports that in 2015, the mobile app industry generated a whopping $41.1 billion in gross annual revenue worldwide and that this figure will rise to $50.9 billion. Gross annual revenue is projected to exceed $189 billion by 2020, though the figures differ somewhat between researchers, the overall picture is that the market is far from saturated. According to another Forrester statistic, there is a huge gap between leading companies that regard mobile devices as a catalyst to transforming their business and companies that consider mobile devices to be just another development channel. As of early 2016, only 18% of companies surveyed were in the first category. This number is expected to pass 25% by next year.
Consumers are evolving more rapidly than businesses. Today, the mobile Internet has clearly become a necessity for many users.
India has the potential of growing the app market size to USD 3.5 billion in the next 10 years. The e-retail market in India is also expected to rise from USD 5 billion in 2015 to over USD 130 billion by 2025. With regards Goa, the numbers certainly dwarf but there is without doubt a substantial market. Anay Kumar who also developed apps for 5 years in the Goa market said the market was certainly developing but taking its own time.
Mr Kumar said “We have created apps for the pharmacy industry to talk to the retail trade, the final user so to speak. However when it come to payments, the app does not have an online payment platform. Payment is accepted face to face.”
More companies in Goa he said were looking at apps but it was all in a preliminary stage. In the past he said they had clients who wanted to track the movement of goods from the godown to the final destination. Today in Goa, he said, there were several companies looking for such platforms but they were in the preliminary stage. There was an online store in Porvorim he said that delivered vegetables and fruits in that area and people were placing orders on whatsapp. People, he said were slowly but steadily being won over by the idea. He felt in five years, companies in Goa would not think twice before requesting him or others to develop apps for them.
