StoreHippo has come a long way from its humble beginnings as an IT solutions provider to being India’s leading Mobile Commerce Ready Platform for online stores. What started as an idea to leverage the SMEs and fledgling entrepreneurs translated into a resounding success in the E-commerce sector. Close on the heels of the E-commerce boom, came its richer cousin, m-commerce, took the world by storm and revolutionized the online scenario. StoreHippo foresaw the potential, hopped the M-commerce bandwagon and hasn’t looked back ever since. Let’s reflect upon our journey so far…..
The onset of mobile commerce era
We know that India is the third largest internet market after China and USA. With a majority of thriving businesses migrating from the world of e-commerce to m-commerce (yes, it’s happening) to suit the consumer’s needs; we feel it’s time for the SMEs to wake up. Coming up with a smart product and simply marketing it online is not enough to sell products anymore; you will also have to come up with a smarter marketing strategy.
There is ample opportunity for exhibiting your ideas in the online world. But the amplitude and reach of your ideas comes at the cost of a little technical and market analysis strategy. With the emergence of new and powerful Smartphones, it has become easier to look for new possibilities in the e commerce domain. It is in this onset that m- commerce has engrossed the sector. Mobile service providers now not only provide the facility to make a voice call via the service, but also provide extensive internet services, letting the customers access the online world via powerful handsets. Mobile devices have penetrated at an increasingly fast pace and are emerging as the biggest platform for sales for online retailers in India, and also all over the world.
Keeping all the factors in mind, mobile commerce is likely to be a game changer; experts opine that m-commerce would contribute up to 70 per cent of their total revenues of the retailers and the e-commerce companies will increasingly tailor their sites for mobile devices and improve customer experiences accordingly.
Sensing the Ample Opportunity
While working with numerous mobile and e-commerce platforms, Rajiv Kumar -the founder and CEO of Hippo Innovations (parent company of StoreHippo) realized the void between the existing platforms. He was unable to find an E-Commerce platform that was designed for mobile devices, and thus felt the need to develop a mobile commerce platform that could tap the potential of booming mobile commerce industry. Utilizing all his experience in building platforms and frameworks, he focussed on providing a future ready yet an affordable m-commerce solution that could benefit the SMEs and took advantage of the advanced technological innovations. Thus was born StoreHippo, incepted with a clear aim to help SMEs and individual entrepreneurs to effectively set up their portals without any technical difficulty.
StoreHippo- A giant leap for the Industry!
StoreHippo is the brain child of Rajiv Kumar who felt SMEs faced a few limitations like lack of suitable and flexible technology and to find the right solution, and more importantly the right time to market, which is directly reflected on the cost. StoreHippo is focused on providing a future ready yet an affordable m-commerce solution that has its roots embedded in the recent technological innovations. In the year 2013, Rajiv founded the software Mystore.in which was renamed as StoreHippo and officially launched in January 2014.
Powered with features like Cash on Delivery, Integrated Logistic Partners & Payment Gateways, Mobile Sites and Apps, Marketplace Integration, Multivendor feature, customized options, beautiful themes and SEO rich tools, StoreHippo fulfills the need of every online retailer to create seamless stores. The company has been successful in launching web stores for a number of its clients.
The man behind StoreHippo
Rajiv Kumar is an industry professional with a diverse working experience spanning nearly two decades in top-notch global IT companies like Oracle, E-Trade Financial, HCL Technologies and Waterfall Mobile. He has been the pillar of strength behind several strategic business initiatives and displays the innate ability to shape new ideas, nurture long-term relationships and address some of the biggest challenges in the e-commerce industry. After analyzing the pulse of the industry, Rajiv’s has steered a technology leap for the company by offering the m-commerce technology for the clients.
His focus on innovation and R&D has helped the company to deliver some exceptional products to the clients, so much so that the company has received accolades from the most tech-savvy clients.
Rajiv Kumar, CEO & Founder
He personifies the company’s commitment to build solutions that deliver a phenomenal performance and lead to a high customer satisfaction. The strong leadership capabilities of Rajiv Kumar have benefited the company immensely and it has grown by leaps and bounds. His focus on continuous skill development and the importance of building a strong corporate culture has brought forth efficiency and productivity at all levels.
Our philosophy
“The success of any company lies in the satisfaction of its clients,” - Rajiv strongly believes in this statement. Utilizing all his experience in building platforms and frameworks, coupled with his effective leadership strategies StoreHippo has bridged the gap between the SMEs and their requirements. The StoreHippo team of talented 45 professionals is currently dealing with clients from all the major cities in India, and overseas from different industry verticals like jewellery, garments, fashion, interior, property, grocery, etc. They take care of all aspects like cost and time and also provide full technical help, so that the online retailers can focus only their core business and forget about the rest of their troubles.
The challenges faced and the excitement
Given that every company has its own set of challenges faced, especially in a new and fast booming industry like m-commerce, the story of StoreHippo is a unique in its own way. The main challenge has been that most of their clientele could not differentiate between old and new technologies. People had difficulty understanding why StoreHippo had a technical edge over others, and thus they had to handhold some of their clients initially.
Another challenge initially was to keep pace with the ever-evolving technology and develop a system for future growth. After a few iterations, StoreHippo is developing at a fast pace, with seamless web stores equipped with evolving m-commerce technologies to cater to demands of the clients.
StoreHippo considers product development in itself as an exciting journey. Though the journey is full of hard work, they are quite eager to solve the customer’s problems. They have evolved from a simple DIY platform to a mobile ready platform. This progression of the company from being an e-commerce platform to m-commerce ready platform for development of mobile apps in tune with current trends is quite exciting.
The Technical Edge
The primary edge is that StoreHippo provides complex services in a simplified manner. Owing to our expertise in technology and e-commerce, and by spreading the cost of development of the e-commerce across multiple customers, we are able to offer our services at a competitive and affordable price.
The business model introduced by Hippo Innovations (parent company) will not only help SMEs to promote their business idea, it will help them to reach the next level by assisting them in their respective fields. The ‘Beyond E-Commerce’ capability of StoreHippo has made it a preferred choice for startups who do not want to be limited by only e-commerce platforms.
The Path Ahead
Right since its inception, the company has been pushing ahead with aggressive growth plans by offering mobile applications for online stores. Today, we are on the threshold of growth and have clients in United Kingdom, Dubai (U.A.E.), Australia and even the not-so-common but promising geographies like Myanmar besides India.
StoreHippo is one touch solution for fulfilling online needs of the entrepreneurs. Along with looking for next round of funds from investors, the company is also exploring the option to partner with the sellers on a profit sharing model. So, why waste time? If you have something to sell & don’t know where to go, StoreHippo is there for you.
Read more about our story at http://techstory.in/storehippo
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