Within 6 yrs, global ops to form 25-30% revenue: GoFrugal CEO

Chennai: The Enterprise Resource Planning Cloud company is keen on tapping opportunities across businesses in the micro, small and medium enterprises space. “Every year, TN revenues contribute Rs 15 crore or so, which we would like to double within the next two years,” says Vembu.

Retail, be it restaurants or distribution, offers tremendous growth potential, Vembu says, pointing to regional food package manufacturers being an ideal customer segment.

As per him, the market is fragmented but since technology is highly “democratised,” a la smart phones, Vembu foresees niche target segments for his end-to-end solutions, be it software ERP, store or backend processes. “Our focus is on value creation by engaging minimum people, as the segment that we serve sees 80 to 90 per cent attrition. So, with minimum skills, how business relevant reports can be generated, that would eliminate inaccuracy of data, remains our forte.” It will aid the digital transformation of firms, he says.

GoFrugal with a customer base of 30,000, aims to add 500 customers a month. Interestingly, Gujarat, Andhra, Maharashtra, NCR and Karnataka garner similar or more business than TN. “We have presence in every state and city in India,” Vembu says, adding their solution meets the varied needs of small, independent stores as well as chains.

The entrepreneur is confident he is ahead of competition at least by two years, as every layer of retail (from pizza to a coffee shop, with 25 different versions of food) has been analysed, enabling it to serve 60 verticals. “It has taken us 16 years to master this, as this is not a cookie cutter product. We have to sit with merchants and understand, so that the attempt to modernise retail can help the businesses to be positioned uniquely.” In five to six years, Vembu believes 25 to 30 pc of the revenue would come from global operations. “We are presently in 75 economically-challenged markets, as there is unbelievable headroom for growth,” he says, highlighting the price disruption possibilities.

Typically, the annual revenue per store is $3,000 to $5,000, whereas the average GoFrugal customer is billed Rs 9,000. So it is competition between serving a customer at $4,000 a year versus $120.

“We have been frugal. We launched digital solutions that not only differentiates the product but also on the price front. We can provide solutions at $400 per year, which is 3.5 times the price we are getting in India. The biggest value addition for us is since we cut our teeth serving the Indian market, the most demanding market in the world for software products, we are able to be profitable in serving the global market,” he signs off.