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Technology The Match Winner!
Intencity, a Pune-based exclusive video game store, has expanded its business and boosted revenue by 40 per cent, using online store solutions.
"Winners don't wait for chances; they take them!" This is the spirit that drives Intencity, an exclusive video game store. Starting with a single store in Pune in March 2007, the company went on to dabble in the online retail sector in 2009, to boost business. Today, Intencity Extreme Gaming caters to clients across India, offering an exhaustive range of electronic products, gaming consoles, games and related accessories. Last year, the firm's revenue was Rs 1 crore. Technology, the team acknowledges, played a big role in the young company's growth.
"All aspects of our daily lives are connected to technology, so why not our business? Realising that technology is an indispensable part for a growing business, we embraced IT right from the firm's inception. Technology has played a major role in our growth. We started off with basic inventory management solutions and now cater to clients nationwide through our Web-based solutions," says Prashant Thakkar, partner, Intencity Extreme Gaming.
The technology
"To keep a tab on our everyday business, we decided to go in for a retail point-of-sale solution." Prashant Thakkar, partner, Intencity Extreme Gaming
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Intencity's first step towards technology was taken when it adopted a retail point-of-sale (RPOS) solution in 2007 to manage trading, inventory and accounts. "As we decided to expand, we needed a complete retail solution to manage our outlets. We needed to keep a tab on our everyday business. We decided to go in for a RPOS to manage stocks, inflow, outflow, accounts, etc," says Thakkar, who opted for the RayMedi RPOS solution from GoFrugal Technologies (www.gofrugal.com).
The RPOS solution helped Intencity optimise inventory management by matching supply and demand in a cost effective way. There were specific requirements pertaining to the gaming business. For instance, the RPOS solution made provisions to add up additional descriptions for the games in the master document. Further, it had a provision to link cross-sold products, making inventory management flexible.
"Through smart reports, the solution provided a lot of analytical data on customer behaviour, helping the team take quick and timely decisions. For instance, the 'fast moving and slow moving products' feature allowed the company to track the hot-sellers and then decide on stock purchases, make offers to boost slow-moving products, etc," says Kumar Vembu, founder and CEO, GoFrugal Technologies.
The online world
After Intencity established a strong foothold in Pune in 2009, it wanted to spread to other regions in India through the Web, by means of an online portal. "We constantly received business queries from other parts of the country and felt that our business needed to go online. The profile of our products was such that even in a conservative market like India, people wouldn't hesitate to order online," says Thakkar. Thus, Intencity opted for GoFrugal's RayMedi Online Store (B2C) to conduct business over the Net.
"After surveying many solutions, we finalised on RayMedi, primarily because its solutions were easier to integrate into our present set-up (POS). Also, the firm had been our IT partner from the beginning, so we knew the team would understand our needs better," says Thakkar.
But were there any added benefits after setting up the online store, especially considering Intencity's online presence at gaming forums? Though active participation in forums was the first window for Intencity to reach out to customers on the Web, the online store helped the firm channelise resources, giving it a better focus and a revenue-generating model for the online business.
Expansion: The online store enabled Intencity to expand its reach and grow. In less than a year, the online store increased its revenue by 40 per cent. "We had a tremendous variety of products but real estate space was a constraint, making it difficult to display everything that we could offer. Using the online store, we could share our complete catalogue with the whole world without having to worry about increasing our physical presence," testifies Thakkar.
Adding to this, Vembu says: "The online store helped Intencity expand the reach of its business and dream big. The firm could not only reach more customers but also serve each one better. We also plan to offer integration with social networking and other tools to expand the horizons of Intencity's business."
Cost effective: The online store solution is also very cost effective. It can be deployed on the same server as the POS module, resulting in a lower IT investment. Only a dynamic IP broadband link is needed for an online presence, lowering operating costs. There was another bonus: "The online store has given us exposure and publicity without having to invest heavily in real estate and other traditional mediums of advertising," says Thakkar.
Increased efficiency: The online store solution also offers seamless integration between Intencity's retail business management and online store module resulting in greater operational efficiencies. For instance, one could check the stock visibility while taking online orders, resulting in faster and better servicing of orders. Similarly, its item grouping facility allows sales personnel to create kits for easy ordering.
Improved customer satisfaction: The online store has also helped Intencity achieve improved customer satisfaction. There are loads of consumer friendly features. For instance, a consumer can resume a shopping session with the products added to the cart and left half-way. Reports regarding previous purchase history, pending orders, etc, are also available to the customer. "The online store allows us to showcase product images (thumbnail and larger sizes) to make the choice easier for consumers. Such customer friendly features have resulted in even our regular Pune-based customers ordering from home," says Thakkar.
New online possibilities
Apart from an online store, Intencity uses the digital media for marketing and brand promotion. "We have used Google Ad Words in the past but have found that social networking is more effective as a publicity vehicle. We're quite active on social networks/technology forums like Techenclave and India Video Games that pertain to our line of work," says Thakkar. In the near future, Intencity hopes to enter the mobile business.
Vanisha Joseph, BenefIT Bureau
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