How Retail Tech Platform Arzooo is Empowering Offline Retailers Arzooo intends to scale the business by investing in technology
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The Indian retail industry is a trillion-dollar economy that is blitz-scaling, accounting for 10 percent of the GDP and 8 percent of employment. The retail industry is fragmented and offline retailers account for 85 percent of the market. Arzooo is playing a pivotal role in uplifting these offline retailers with technology, resolving the many challenges, that were hindering their growth.
The inception of the company dates back to the time that Khushnud Khan joined FlipKart and scaled the Home Appliances category to a fast-growing business. It was during that time that he met with Rishi Raj Rathore, co-founder of Arzooo. Both of them were passionate about the business and wanted to take the power of the internet to the unorganised sector which dominated India's retail sector. They got together to form the company Arzooo which was a revolutionary concept to transform the offline retail with technology. It has been 4 years since, and today, Arzooo is the fastest-growing retail tech platform with over 50,000 retailers running their business on the platform.
Backed by a robust network of 35 hubs and warehouses, today Arzooo Express, the logistics arm of Arzooo, is able to provide speedy delivery to its retail partners. Recently Quick Retail was launched, which promises next-day delivery in metros including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai, with plans to expand pan-India shortly.
Furthermore, they have tied up with Non-Banking Financial Companies and marquee banks such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank to offer corporate credit to retailers through Arzooo Credit. The purpose of this is to provide access to fast, flexible, paperless and collateral-free working capital to retailers through an embedded finance approach.
Arzooo has raised $7.5 million in Series A and $70 million in Series B. With the funds raised, Arzooo intends to scale the business by investing in technology. In the last few years, it has been able to improve the retailer's margin by 15-20 percent and increase its in-store conversion. It aims for a 20 percent market share of the $65 billion dollar electronics retail industry in the next three years.
