The retail sector has become the fourth largest sector in India in the last decade, which is the first choice of investors with a huge market size that employs about 1.2 billion people. In the past four years, the growth rate of the market is consistently around 60% and the percentage of people working in it is also increasing year after year. The boost in the digital economy has created endless opportunities in this sector as today, the smallest business can afford digital connectivity, etc.
In this scenario, to cater to the digital needs of small and medium-sized retailers, Rise Retail and Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd. offers an innovative digital platform that can transform their businesses.
Under the strong and visionary leadership of Founder and Director, Mr. Ajay Prasad, Rise Retail and Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd. team of highly skilled professionals is making hard and smart efforts to empower retailers in SMEs and MSMEs
Brief us about Rise Retail and Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Rise Retail and Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is focused on enabling small and medium-sized retailers with consumer engagement and process management tools through its digital platform. For a retailer, this results in strong customer engagement, enhances repeat transactions, and stronger brand recall in customers’ minds and for customers an enjoyable purchase experience – A win-win proposition for both retailer and consumer.
What were the initial challenges you faced?
Since Rise Retail and Payment Solutions focused mostly on first-time users, tech adoption was the biggest challenge with MSME. Continuous training and a user-friendly interface helped us penetrate the segment.
Which was that point that triggered the growth of Rise Retail and Payment Solutions?
For us “Easy to use and affordable” factors played a key role in enabling growth. Another ecosystem catalyst was the digital India movement. In the last 6 years, we have seen a gradual change in retailers’ approaches towards prioritizing customer engagement.
How have Rise Retail and Payment Solutions graphs changed since the foundation? Can you share a few statistics?
Rise Retail and Payment Solutions is still at an early stage yet deeply rooted in its core market (Maharashtra, India). Over 1000 retailers are onboarded onto our platform and they are actively using various modules offered by us. We approached the market very differently, starting from only a consumer loyalty module to a holistic and integrated 11 modules comprising store process management and analytic tools. With the value ad in the product, we kept improving our pricing.
What is the reason behind Rise Retail and Payment Solutions’ long-standing success?
Our success lies in our mission statement. Rise Retail and Payment Solutions is committed to improving MSME in terms of sales, consumer engagement, brand recognition and making them efficient in business management. As time goes, our retailers have more faith in us and they are more engaged with us. In phase 2, we are very soon going to enable retailers with payment solutions to accept payments with ease.
What are the products/services Rise Retail and Payment Solutions focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?
Our offerings provide solutions to retailers in consumer engagement, new customer approach, efficient store management. All these are delivered using a digital platform that provides, billing, inventory, CRM, consumer loyalty platform, etc. Each of the modules is defined as per the need of the MSME, simple to use, web and mobile compatible, affordable pricing, and strong customer service approach makes us stand apart from other players.
First they ridicule you, then they fight with you and then you win over them.
Mahatma Gandhi
How do you decide to take Rise Retail and Payment Solutions a step further in terms of your products/services?
As mentioned earlier, we are in process of launching payment solutions under our umbrella. The existing product has two versions. The Basic caters to all the segments and enables consumer engagement and the advanced one has category-focused process solutions for the retailer. The Former gives are horizontal reach and the latter gives category penetration depth. Our offering additions will not only help us open up to newer categories/ segments but also provide better engagement depth with the existing retailers.
Is there any new addition to the list of products/services? Anything exciting you would like to share?
At the store level, we have a lot of ambitious plans to bring in solutions in the future to transition our point of presence at a retail outlet from a cost point to a revenue generation point for a retailer.
Can you please brief us about your professional experience?
I am a management graduate with 21 yrs. Of professional experience. I have worked with various MNCs in leadership roles in the SME and payment processing domain. As a business head, I have brought growth for the business that I handled professionally before venturing into Rising Retail.
What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey?
It has been a very challenging journey full of learning experiences. Rise Retail and Payment Solutions is a bootstrapped company and we are always focused on building up a fine balance among the key business drivers i.e., acquisition cost, productivity, and pricing. Since we have achieved this, the growth is just a function of how fast you reach out to customers through various channels. Making yourself relevant every day is the key to establishing yourself in such a competitive market.
How do you look after your employees? What makes your team unique?
Rise Retail and Payment Solutions works very closely with its team. You cannot achieve success without your team. Our focus is to develop leadership skills in each of the team members and prepare them for a larger role with growth. Together we share pain and happiness, which involves them with our mission. We ensure that we always create better growth opportunities for our employees.
Is there any special experience with your clients you would like to highlight?
Since we are engaged with MSME, many incidents are heart-warming and heartbreaking too. Our motto on the ground is to educate them on tech-enabled product usage to improve business. For us, it is secondary whether their preference for the same is Rise Retail or any other brand. Creating a new market is a tough challenge and we have been doing this successfully.
One person, who you admire the most?
It is difficult to share one name. We learn through various facets of life. People I admire are from various stages, from entrepreneurs, actors, sportspersons, political heroes, etc.
Whose business story do you find the most inspiring?
Two names that are building blocks for me are Tata business and Infosys. Tata for holding their brand trust and value delivery for so long and yet standing tall and Infosys for making every dreamer an achiever who could think of achieving such a scale if we keep moving on with the right thought, action, and intent.
Constant vigilance- a need or a strategy? Please share your views.
The ecosystem is so volatile and fast-changing that vigilance is a must to have. The span of bringing in change in an organization is shrinking day by day.
It’s a rat race out there. How do you cope with that?
Rats are everywhere, you need to decide whether you are going to be one of them or make them run behind you. We being a thought-driven team, continuously keep evolving ourselves. We firmly believe that Tech and product are just one of the propositions among many other which you take to the market. That is where differentiation comes from. Rats run for short goals and horses run for a much longer and larger goal.
