ShopsUp, a location-based shopping app launched yesterday enables shoppers to discover and shop at local as well as retail stores. The developers of this app say that shoppers can make more personalized choices as the app offers features for consumers to discover boutique stores around their neighborhood as well as stores at popular malls and shopping streets including brands such as Van Heusen, AND, Adidas, Pepe Jeans, Raymond, Allen Solly and more.
Company sources say that ShopsUp is pioneering its ability to reach young Indian millennial consumers with smartphone and influence their behaviour while shopping and discovering stores. India is second largest smartphone market in world in terms of users and increasingly consumers are turning to mobile to discover and research fashion trends and discover exciting consumer items . ShopsUp will utilize mobile as a platform to provide brand and retail partners with complete visibility into a consumer’s decision and incentivize the shopper journey from discovery to sale, with visibility and metrics that justifies consumer awareness, brand and product engagement, unit sales, and ROI. ShopsUp aims to bridge the gap between offline and online shopping behavior with the help of its technology and drive more footfalls for its retail partners by offering shots (rewards) for activities like walk-ins at retail partners, shopping at retail partners. The shots can be instantly redeemed for a free movie ticket, cab ride, spa, gift vouchers and more. ShopsUp has partnered with Uber for exclusive offers for users to take rides for their shopping runs.
“Indian millennials want to be rewarded for their window shopping as well as actual shopping behavior and marketers want to capture these moments as and when they happen. ShopsUp’s innovative technology and use of analytics allows us to partner with top brands and local boutiques and provide them with customized solutions that dramatically differ from existing options available for retailers,” said Suhas Gopinath, Co-founder and CEO at ShopsUp. “We believe that the right offers delivered in the right context and right place can drive business for both organized as well as local retail establishments, and we are investing in analytics to offer best of the breed solutions to our partners,” further added Gopinath.
According to IBEF, India’s retail market is pegged at USD 672 billion and growing at 25% Year-on-Year. PwC’s Total Retail Survey data further states that many consumers still desire a physical interaction with a product and the preference for a physical store as an element of both researching and purchasing, especially for categories such as Fashion, Furniture, Jewelry, etc. The report stated that about 40% of respondents use their smartphone in-store for product information. This integration of physical aspect of shopping combined with digital platform will be key inflection point for modern Indian retail sector that is poised to cross the US$ 1 Trillion mark by 2020. The Bangalore -based startup is funded by initial seed funding of US$1 Million and is in process of raising capital to build innovative company that bridges the gap between online and offline shopping. Anand Sankeshwar, Managing Director at VRL Logistics Ltd and Yang Shu, former Huawei Technologies President and CEO of Taojinjia have invested in ShopsUp and also mentor the team.
For Indian millennials shoppers, ShopsUp app is available for free download on Android bit.ly/Shopsup. iOS version will be rolled out in few weeks.