Sangeetha Chengappa Ratan Tata-backed retail tech start-up Snapbizz has partnered with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank to launch new digital solutions for 3 lakh Kirana stores over the next 12 months.

Since its inception in 2013, the Bengaluru-based start-up has transformed 13,000 kirana stores across 110 cities into ‘virtual supermarkets’ with its Android/Windows-based cloud platform solutions. The partnerships with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank place it on track to aggressively expand its kirana footprint from the current 3,000 stores/per month, a top executive told BusinessLine .

Snapbizz said its solutions allow kirana stores to carry out store operations efficiently. It provides store owners with their very own consumer app to acquire new customers and service existing customers better.

Its solutions integrate kirana stores via the cloud with FMCG brands, distributors, wholesalers, financial service players and e-commerce firms (B2B and B2C), empowering store owners to get wider access to assortment, better pricing, more promotions, access to financial services and reduce working capital requirements.

“There are 10 million kirana stores in India and people realised the importance of these stores during the lockdown, when they stepped up their act and made sure groceries and other staples were available to consumers, with very little help from outside. We have been in conversations with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank for a while, but the momentum picked up post-Covid,” said Prem Kumar, CEO, Snapbizz.

How the banks gain

“Our solutions will add a lot of value to the banks in the form of helping them digitise kirana stores, integrate the bank into the kirana ecosystem, which has consumers on one side and suppliers on the other, create sticky merchant current accounts, enable digital payments for stores and offer them credit, too. The $500-billion kirana market presents a huge addressable opportunity for banks. Banks will also acquire new stores to which they can offer our solutions,” said Kumar.

Snapbizz data reveal that the average basket value of kirana stores which was ₹600-700 pre-Covid increased to ₹900-1,000 after the lockdown and has now stabilised at ₹700-800. Kirana stores’ new customer acquisitions are up by 18-35 per cent and their overall sales is up by 30-40 per cent. “As a result of our work with Kiranas during the lockdown, we are receiving a lot of inbound interest from investors in India and abroad and are in talks to raise $20 million to fuel our expansion across the country” said Kumar.

The start-up has raised $14 million to date and is backed by Qualcomm Ventures, Jungle Ventures, Blume Ventures and Taurus Value Creation, among others.

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