Rajesh Kumar Subramanium is an ex-Amazon and ex-SAP product and software developer with a rich experience of 15 years in the industry. He led a team at Amazon that built applications for consumer facing electronic products such as Kindle and Alexa. Currently, Rajesh leads the product development of Ghoshak.
Hemanth used to open his store every day with the purpose of spreading happiness through his customised gifts offering. It is a small shop on the streets of Chennai and the primary source of earning for him. But then, the Pandemic hits, and the world goes under lockdown for an uncertain period. The fight against the virus starts, and so does the battle for earning a livelihood for many.
Many small and medium sized business owners will resonate with this story. When the uncertainty looms, everything seems dark and gloomy. No one saw the Pandemic coming, businesses worldwide have been impacted, and SMBs are among the ones that have been hit in the gut. The impact was and still is enormous, but the people’s resilience all over the world has been commendable. The never say die attitude still instills in us, but everyone needs a helping hand to sail through the storm. Ghoshak is a Saas-based platform helping more than 50k merchants to run their business digitally. The ascent in online business is requesting a change in conventional business strategies today. Small business owners are overpowered with online media and advanced media alternatives. Ghoshak assists independent ventures going digital and conducting their business efficiently through smartphones without putting resources into PCs, printers, and barcode readers. Thus, saving a lot on the overhead expenses.
The Pandemic has changed the norm for most independent ventures. Furthermore, to quickly track their business recuperation, SMBs have progressively transformed to digitisation stage. The reception of digital channels has increased from 29% for small businesses before Covid to 47% in November 2020, as per a Crisil overview. For a business to transition from brick and mortar to a complete digital platform can be challenging. They need a seamless and ready-to-use platform to conduct their daily business operations, including billing, inventory, order taking, running offers & reward points, among others. Ghoshak’s technology is built in a way that a merchant can take his business online in just a few minutes. It is a ready-to-use platform that costs less than the cost of having monthly tea.
Studies show that more than 75% SMBs perceive that going digital is essential for their business and survival in the long run. There is sufficient proof to show that a company’s growth is directly proportional to digital adoption. Fortunately, SMBs in India get this and are quick to move forward with online adoption and digitize their everyday processes.
We have witnessed a lot of budding small businesses during the pandemic. People are pivoting to secondary and permanent sources of income after the effects of the lockdown. This had led to a rise in many home bakers, jewelry artists, fast fashion, ceramics and pottery, home decor, and lifestyle-led small businesses. Therefore, SMBs are crucial for the country’s economic growth as they contribute to nearly one third of India’s GDP. Digitisation is the only way for the SMB sector to rebound to their full potential.