How SnapBizz is making your neighbourhood kirana cool again 

Although there are many applications that have been launched in the market to buy groceries online, most of us still prefer visiting the kirana stores to buy quality groceries like rice, dal, cereals and many more goods. It is because we get to examine them and choose the best ones. To help these kiranas stay afloat amidst competition from bigger supermarkets and also help them strike better deals with big brands, entrepreneur Prem Kumar launched SnapBizz — which provides small shops with a cloud-connected billing machine that's futuristic. They also give consumers real-time promotions of various brands in the market using an LED TV in the shop. 

When we asked him why he launched SnapBizz, he says, "In 2011, when Qualcomm was trying to capture information about consumer behaviour, they needed an entrepreneur who can work personally with these shop owners to understand consumer psychology. I drew a business plan for them and they trusted my strategies. Thus, I started the first branch of SnapBizz in Mumbai."

SnapBizz has features like Snap Inventory where the shop owner can keep track of the inventory through digital records and manage credit accounts online for loyal customers and also send text messages about offers

Initially, when they stepped into the market with the POS billing machine, there were a lot of challenges. He says, "There were shopkeepers who sold some goods that they had packed themselves and it was difficult to capture this data. Some were still conventional and they worried about not knowing how to use the technology. My team personally approached each shop owner and made them understand how to use it."

Explaining how the app works, he says, "We transform the store into a virtual supermarket and connect the shop owner directly to consumers, brands, distributors and wholesalers. Instead of putting up posters of brands to promote their offers, we thought we should provide a TV that can display the brand as it catches the consumers' attention quickly. In addition, we give them a tablet with our software, a scanner, a thermal printer and free data for a year."

SnapOrder is a customised mobile app in which customers can directly place their order with the particular Kirana stores

Prem has plans to expand the business to other countries also. "Many countries in the Middle East are interested and have come forward but we want to study the retail market there first," he concludes.