Iksula is an e-retail strategy consulting and solutions company that helps our clients to set up and manage their online retail business. In a chat with SME Channels Samarjeet Singh, CEO & Founder, Iksula, talks about the ecommerce business.
Since you started out how has the Indian market matured or transformed?
When we started out in 2007 there was only Ebay, Indiatimes and Rediff. Flipkart was in the nascent stage, but today they changed the nature of the ecommerce business through the quality of service over the years. At the same time, mobile based internet has grown internet user base 7 times from 50 million to 350 million-in last 7 years. It was a potential opportunity then, today it’s a very big opportunity and we are really excited with this change and getting ready with our solutions for this bigger and expanded market.
What all solutions or offerings you have in your portfolio?
Iksula is an e-retail strategy consulting and solutions company that helps our clients to set up and manage their online retail business. We design and execute e-Retail strategy for our clients through e-commerce technology, performance marketing focussed on converting consumers, generating product and content and also running e-commerce operations for brands.
How are you helping ecommerce and SMEs in building their brand imagery online?
As ISG, (Iksula Solutions Group) we have been focused on enterprise clients- we have helped top retailers like Tesco, Big Bazaar, Mobile store and brands like French Connection, Vero Moda, Only, Orra, and many more. Two years ago we announced our partnership with Big Commerce to facilitate SMEs to go live with their online stores and making good progress on this partnership.
The improvement in the ease of doing business in the country has led to a mushrooming of entrepreneurs in the country. And of course it’s an encouraging sign but do you think business should be treading cautiously and just not rush in?
The entrepreneur scene in India has completely transformed. The transformation has taken place due to two trends: availability of capital and a new generation ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge. New age entrepreneurs should dream as big as they can, that’s their only chance to make a mark in an already cluttered market with established players. The established players in a few verticals and sectors need to be looking at the E-com opportunity and adapt. For the other verticals where the penetration is slower, it makes sense to go with the tried and tested approach till the penetration increases.
Established businesses however cannot deny that they if do not adopt a digital strategy/approach, it would be very difficult for them to maintain market shares in their respective businesses.
How many clients have you signed up and what are the plans for the future?
Iksula has been growing 100 percent year on year since our inception. We have been acquiring the top e-retailers like Snapdeal, Yatra etc as well as retailers and brands like the Mobile Store, Future Group etc. We have also realized that brands need a different solution and have launched a managed services business by the name of INCOM enterprise which runs online retail operations for brands. We have an aggressive goal and Iksula Solutions Group will quadruple in the next 4 years, while we are looking at growing the INCOM business by 10 times its current size in next 4 years.
