by Sohini
Bagchi
E-commerce is
becoming a thriving market in India. To meet the increased customer demand and
remain profitable, online retailers are seeking a strong IT backend so as to
keep their business running, round the clock. It is here that open source ERP
provider, Openbravo, sees a huge opportunity. In an exclusive interaction with
CXOtoday, Sunando Banerjee, Channel Business Manager, APAC & middle East,
Openbravo discusses how the company’s open source ERP platform can give an edge
to online retailers and why India remains one of the key markets for Openbravo.
Open source ERP
advantage
On how
e-commerce players can benefit from the open ERP, Banerjee says retailers face
unprecedented challenges in meeting consumer expectations, along with
competitive pressures. While consumers want to be shop through multiple
channels, online, mobile devices, through catalogs and in-stores and expect a
smooth experience as they switch between channels, this often adds new layers
of operational challenges for brands, such as management of customer data,
inventory levels, product information and so on.
Ensuring secure
transactions is one of the main concerns for online shoppers is another
challenge for e-commerce players. However with a strong ERP backbone, retailers
have a plethora of opportunities in the e-commerce space, he states. “They can
integrate the online channel to increase market reach, use physical stores as
local warehouses, facilitate convenient paying process such as buy online and
pay at the store or buy online and pay on delivery will help generate sales and
increase customer satisfaction.
The open source
factor plays a decisive key here. “We felt that smaller retailers don’t have
the IT budget to either hire a person to work on the ERP and making the
required modifications. So we had to offer a platform that was flexible enough
which is possible only by making it web based and open source. “Ours is
therefore a community based offering that is free, and those needing more
services can opt for our professional product,” he says.
India, an
important market
Banerjee states
India is an important market for the company, particularly keeping in mind the
huge SMBs in retail. Many of them sell online and require a cost-effective,
agile and flexible ERP platform.
The basic idea
behind starting Openbravo was to make ERP simple for retailers, says Banerjee.
Our solution is designed such that it allows e-commerce players to have an
integrated system that can be easily customized to manage all their operations
including procurement, inventory, production, sales, accounting and finances,
etc.
Apart from the
cost advantage, mid-sized e-commerce companies can escape from vendor lock in.
We also offer localization of software to various Indian languages while
supporting internationalization with the multi-currency and multi-language
features.
Web and mobile POS
The company has
also come up with web and mobile POS. Banerjee states today, the customer
experience extends beyond the virtual store. With the advent of social media
and Mobile technologies, retailers can get connected to their customers
anytime, and from anywhere.
“Adopting a
flexible and mobile web POS platform offers interactive customer assistance,
faster search for products based on customer preferences, thereby, optimizing
store operations and providing an enjoyable customer service,” he notes.
Road ahead
Currently we
have witnessed over 3 million downloads and 1,000s of organizations use our
solutions every day, informs Banerjee, adding that all its solutions are
available in the cloud or on premise and are distributed through global
partners.
The company has
offices in India, Mexico and Spain and is now planning to tap the Asia Pacific
and Middle East markets more aggressively. With a strong YoY growth in India,
Openbravo is aiming at the next level of growth - working on new technologies
and markets, sums up Banerjee.
Source: CXOtoday.com
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