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1. 

   asha chaudhry January 28, 2016, 6:34 am

   hey uttarika, many congrats!! i just love the sound of “Every time I’ve read a post here, I’ve wanted to talk about our latest project and now it’s finally time I can tell you all about it.”

   i briefly went to the site – looks welcoming!

   we’ve just bought an apt in goa so after i’ve sorted the furniture – will check out the home decor for sure!!!

   all the best!

   ps: my sister’s name is uttara so i won’t ever forget your name 🙂

2. 

   Uttarika Kumaran January 28, 2016, 6:55 am

   Hi Asha,

   Thanks! 

   We have some quirky urban home decor stores on our app, so you must download and check it out!

   Here’s the app link again – https://bit.ly/shoplyneapp 

   🙂

3. 

   Vimlesh Gautam January 29, 2016, 2:21 am

   Hi Uttarika,

   All the Very Best for your venture.

   My name is Vimlesh from UserExperior. We are platform helping companies deliver a delightful digital customer experience. We are also part of the Rodinhoods community and from time to time seeking help from fellow Rodinhoods for our venture.

   Our platform allows app developers/product managers/UI-UX designers understand the challenges faced by the users when using their apps. We provide in-app analytics about usability issues, audio-visual feedback about how your users are using your app, user facial expressions to understand how they react when they get an issue in your app or are not able to find what they are looking for. Our analysis helps mobile app based business like yours get customer feedback allowing you to instantly fix issues and deliver a delightful customer experience.

   We are launching our platform very soon and are signing up with pilot customers who will be ready to use our platform, improve their mobile apps and also give us a feedback as to what more would you like UserExperior to deliver. I would be very keen to know your thoughts and hoping to sign up ShopLyne for our pilot programme.

   Looking forward to your response.

   Regards

   Vimlesh

4. 

   Uttarika Kumaran January 29, 2016, 6:54 am

   Hi Vimlesh,

   Sounds like a great project! Especially interested in the audio-visual feedback bit.

   Is there more information that you can share? And is your team based in Mumbai – that would make collaboration a lot easier.

   Uttarika

5. 

   Vimlesh Gautam January 29, 2016, 7:08 am

   Hi Uttarika,

   We are based in Mumbai. I am enclosing a brief introduction about our platform. Let me know if we can get over a call and I would be glad to share with you some more details and then we can arrange for a demo at your office.

   Let me know your feedback.

   Thanks

   Regards

   Vimlesh

6. 

   Vimlesh Gautam February 2, 2016, 2:47 am

   Hi Uttarika,

   Wanted to check if you got the opportunity to go through the details I shared last week.

   We would like to schedule a demo for you and your team sometime this week if it works for you. Let me know your thoughts and if possible we could get over a call to discuss further or address any queries which you may have about our platform.

   Thanks

   Vimlesh

7. 

   Deeti Dave February 2, 2016, 6:42 am

   Uttarika, giving a seller a face is what appealed to me in your idea. As humans, we all strive and crave to connect with other human beings, and you have managed to address this psychological need here. and that is why it’s a great concept!

   A web presence would also help IMHO. Better and bigger product view, product comparison, multiple product in multiple tabs- to name a few important factors that play role in online shopping psychology favoring web presence 🙂

   All the best for your start up!

8. 

   Uttarika Kumaran February 2, 2016, 7:55 am

   Thank you Deeti for your kind words! Yes, we want to create a technology ecosystem that supports the seller-buyer relationship which is still the foundation of nearly 90% of the Indian retail industry today. 

   We agree web presence is important and it is something we would probably have to explore in the future. However, we feel an app enables more of an immersive experience that we want to create for our users, such as the feel of entering stores and browsing, shopping at stores in any location in the city and the element of personalization, which we’ll be focusing on more strongly in the coming months. We feel an app-only experience is important right now to convey the essence of what ShopLyne aims to be. 

   BTW, since you mentioned it, do take a look at how ShopLyne displays multiple products in multiple tabs for seamless navigation. Our app design also emphasizes product image display to pull the user in visually. Would love to hear your thoughts on it. 🙂

9. 

   Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal February 8, 2016, 4:29 am

   A couple of points haunt me

   The FIRST headline I read when I visit your site (online is) BUT DIRECTLY FROM MUMBAI’s BEST LOCAL STORES

   I’m confused – I’ve lived in Mumbai for 47 years (peddar road) and am still trying to think of ONE “BEST” store?

   Sure, restaurants are favorites, but stores? What was ‘functionally easy – a la buying at Akbarallys’ or ‘best for choice  – a la Benzer’ is now passe. Its the web that has PRODUCT FIRST – Store later!

   Why should I bother with STORE first?

   Also, why should content like this appear so early on on your site – https://shoplyne.in/guts-glory-sponsored-by-your-local-store/

   Its very confusing…

   (Sorry for my bluntness)

10. 

    Uttarika Kumaran February 8, 2016, 2:38 pm

    ​Hi Alok,

    Firstly, thank you for creating such a lovely, vibrant community here on TheRodinhoods. We’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback and support from people who’ve read about us here.

    I’m honoured and pleased that you went over our website and gave us your feedback. Let me try to explain what we hope to achieve with ShopLyne by responding to the questions you’ve put forth.

    Why should you bother with stores when the online retail world pushes the product first? Well, simply because these products are stocked and sold by hundreds of thousands of retailers across India, most of whom operate from their physical stores. In addition, it’s only a handful of brands that first launch only some products online. All other products are released in local distributor networks and at local stores before they make their way online, again through your local sellers! But we tend to forget this because there is a complete disconnect between online buying and the vast offline retail infrastructure supporting it. Rather, I’d say we’ve been made to forget this with big e-commerce players spending crores of rupees in advertising pushing their brand names and their agendas, completely sidelining the retailer.

    However, something has changed in recent times, hasn’t it? We’ve got both Amazon and Flipkart suddenly championing the local seller with their heartstrings-tugging advertising campaigns. Meanwhile, the sellers on these platforms continue to stay invisible, bearing overheads like packaging, delivery costs and fraudulent returns on a daily basis, trying to adapt to a marketplace process that’s not even on their side!

    But the point is even the biggest online players are now making attempts at placing the seller first, even if it’s mere lip service at this point. Why?

    You said having a favourite local store is passe. I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. A KPMG report last year stated that of the total organised retail market, online retail penetration is still only 6% and is estimated to reach 14% by 2020. A majority of the Indian population shops locally and will continue to do so for a long time. Apart from catering to this vast market, we believe we’re also relevant to a growing number of online shoppers who feel a lack in the experience of shopping online. They’ve continued to shop from their local stores over the years and have started to compare their online buying experience with it. The current online-to-offline trend ​has been the result ​of tech companies around the world attempting to recreate an online retail experience that is local and familiar. And the recent ads by Flipkart and Amazon​ is​ them reacting to a trend they fear enough to make an entire campaign that claims to address an obviously growing discontent.

    That’s why when hyperlocal delivery apps began to enter the scene in India, consumers openly embraced them because it seemed like something different. But after the initial euphoria, even they have remained just that – delivery apps, some of whom have brought in some measure of curation, but like their online counterparts, have put themselves first.

    ShopLyne wants to focus on the entire retail experience, not just the final purchase and delivery. Anyone who’s ever shopped offline will know the value of buying from one’s local store, the most obvious being immediate delivery, trust, assurance of product quality and the post-purchase service – all of which boils down to the essential human connect. We’re in the process of handpicking stores that are not just local businesses, they’ve become an integral part of the local communities where they exist.

    While big online marketplaces relegate the local seller to the role of a trader, in our experience, we’ve found them to be valuable resources of knowledge and expertise, built over years of interactions with their customers. They know about the products they’re selling and more importantly, they know what is right for their customers. We have Arunodaya Stores in Dadar where the sales staff are human encyclopedias when it comes to anything related to crockery and home appliances. On ShopLyne, a user can just call up the store and ask for advice before they buy on the app and get their delivery at home. We also have brand-new stores like The Hap Store, where the owner Prem Punjabi is absolutely dedicated to selling nutritional supplements in a responsible way, offering customized solutions based on his customers’ weight training programme or other fitness needs.

    That is what we mean when we say the ‘best’ local stores​ – these are sellers who are responsible, extremely passionate about what they do and want to serve their customers ​in a more hands-on way.

    Our stores are also the best when judged on parameters such as pricing & discounts, making them comparable to any e-commerce platform, something devoted online shoppers may find hard to believe. On the app, we often highlight products available at our local stores that are sometimes over 50% cheaper than anywhere else online. We have Beauty Palace on our app, an immensely popular Oshiwara-based beauty store that has been ​draw​ing shoppers by the hundreds to its door every day​ for years​ because of its offers.​ But now they have a platform like ShopLyne where they can showcase themselves.

    You were wondering why content like this has appeared so early on our website – https://shoplyne.in/guts-glory-sponsored-by-your-local-store/. Basically, we want to bring the human faces behind ShopLyne to the foreground because that is essentially what we are about. That is why #LoveTheLocal has been created as a platform for telling stories about our local stores and how they contribute to the community in ways that go beyond the mere transaction of goods and services. This is the core idea behind what we’re doing, so we don’t think it’s too early in our journey to start talking about it.

    However, you’re completely right that it can be confusing, especially since there is no introduction to the idea of #LoveTheLocal anywhere on the website. We’ve fixed that now. Take a look – Love The Local

    Hope this helps clear your confusion a bit. ShopLyne is a mobile-only marketplace so it would be great to hear your views on our app as well. Here’s the link – bit.ly/shoplyne

    (Please don’t apologize for your bluntness, our team appreciates it! We would always love to hear more from you.)​

11. 

    Uttarika Kumaran February 13, 2016, 7:21 am

    Hey everyone. Just an update – we got featured in TIA two days ago. Pasted it below but you can also see it here.

    —

    Love your local store, but want to shop online? Now have your cake and eat it too.

    By Paloma Ganguly

    Six months ago, my favorite grocery store closed down. I felt abandoned. I loved its freshly pounded spices and aromatic rice that made all the difference to the meals at home. Then a neighbor came to my rescue.

    She directed me to a hole-in-the-wall, family-run store from where she had been buying for 30 years. There was barely a board to announce its existence. The owner was a grandfatherly man in pajamas who took the grains out of a burly sack, measured the quantity carefully, and poured it into a bag – over a delightful conversation on why I was buying what I was. The stuff turned out to be first-rate.

    Could I ever get the same experience online? Could an ecommerce firm offer me the same knowledge, advice, and warmth that I got from “Lalaji” – a term for many a local shopkeeper in India?

    Yes, if Mumbai-based ShopLyne can help it. A mobile-only marketplace, the app promises to let you buy products you love from the stores you trust.

    “In a city where you are constantly bombarded with brand messaging and visuals, it’s easy to overlook your local stores that actually have everything you need,” says co-founder Amit Mehta. ShopLyne curates these stores.

    It’s a bit of a shopping boulevard. You can get clued in on Mumbai’s shopping scene, and grab some cool deals and discounts. The product categories it lays out include beauty and cosmetics, personal grooming, gadget accessories and electronics, home décor, fitness and nutrition, sports, pet essentials, and stationery.

    But its USP lies in bringing some key features of offline retailing – like trust, familiarity, and sense of community – to the mobile shopping experience. Most importantly, human-to-human contact.

    The startup was founded in October last year by a bunch of advertizing and media professionals – Amit, Deepak Dhingra, Pallavi Dhingra, Malvika Tegta, and Uttarika Kumaran.

    They had launched another product in 2012 called Real Reviews. It was a video review platform where the actual consumer talked about his or her user experience to help other consumers decide what to buy. It is still running, but monetization is tricky because they want to keep the reviews and reviewers authentic.

    ShopLyne evolved from the team’s experience with Real Reviews. Last October, they launched the Android app on Google Play store for a pilot run. Since then, they have been quietly onboarding stores, adding products, and gathering feedback from early adopters to refine the app.

    In four months, the app has onboarded 80 local stores in Mumbai and seen 600 downloads, say the founders. ShopLyne plans to tie up with 200 local sellers in Mumbai in the next three months.

    For the faceless seller

    Ecommerce retail is expected to grow at a rate of 52 percent to reach US$36.7 billion by 2020.

    In this billion plus country, there could be millions of shopkeepers waiting for an opportunity like that. The funny thing is many online orders are sourced from local stores, but the shopkeeper remains an unseen entity.

    “We want to move away from the faceless seller phenomenon that’s prevalent online and give local retailers a mobile platform they can call their own,” says Uttarika, head of marketing communications.

    ShopLyne allows sellers direct contact with buyers. They can upload their own inventory, control the pricing, and manage the orders themselves.

    The company monetizes through a commission of 5 to 10 percent on every sale.

    Its ‘app-within-an-app’ model allows every store its own navigation area for personalized branding and promotion. Users can ‘enter’ a store, browse products by category, and even call up the seller directly in case of queries.

    The startup also offers a way to marry the convenience of online shopping with the pleasures of buying from your favorite store. “We’re essentially a platform where users who’ve been buying from their trusted local stores for years can now order from them through our app,” says Uttarika.

    That’s a good space to be in. For offline is how most of India still shops, even as mobile shopping is set to explode. A KPMG report last year stated that online retail is only six percent of the organized retail trade and is estimated to reach 14 percent by 2020.

    Competition

    But then several local shopping apps are jumping into the bandwagon. There’s Purplista, Scootsy, and Zopper, to name a few. How does ShopLyne hope to stay ahead?

    The founders say unlike some of the others it is not about search and discounts alone. “Scootsy is the closest to us in that it is about curation. However, ShopLyne spans more categories, addresses the needs of a wider audience, and sells everything – from everyday needs to high-value durables,” says Malvika.

    While other local shopping apps coordinate pick-up and delivery between the seller and the buyer, ShopLyne stores manage all orders personally and deliver directly to customers. So if a user orders from a store in his neighbourhood, he will get free delivery under 30 minutes.

    The app is high on design and navigation. A friend raved to me about its localization feature, which helps you choose a store in a particular neighborhood.

    “Sitting in Bangalore, I wanted to order a gift for my friend in Mumbai. So I used the app to find a store in her Mahim West area. I actually picked up a high-quality Sri Lankan spa kit in a shop in her own neighborhood!” she says.

    The app’s ‘Love The Local’ feature showcases seller stories and handpicked products. Take for instance Arunodaya Stores in Dadar, where the salespersons could beat any online encyclopedia when it comes to crockery and home appliances. Or you might love to browse through a 150-year-old store, possibly India’s oldest sports shop.

    Unlike other local shopping apps, users are not limited to a single location while shopping. Orders can be placed at multiple stores anywhere in the city, followed by a single payment on checkout.

    But will they be able to match ecommerce giants when it comes to speedy delivery?

    “Yes, our deliveries are fast, but that’s just a natural upshot of shopping locally. There’s so much more to a local shopping experience that people crave, like personalized service and a sense of community. That is where we want to excel,” says Deepak.

    Editing by Malavika Velayanikal and Kylee McIntyre

    Original post on TechInAsia.

12. 

    Uttarika Kumaran March 3, 2016, 2:04 pm

    

    We went live on the Apple Store today (Mar 03, 2016). Here’s the link. Do take a look. 🙂

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