SuperK, a rural retail aggregator has raised INR 6 Cr in a seed funding round backed by Strive VC, FirstCheque VC, Ramakant Sharma & Syndicate, Srinivas Anumolu, Director of Platforms & Products Partnership, Facebook, Anand Chandrasekaren, Lalit Keshre, CEO of Groww, Rajan Bajaj, CEO at Slice, Sampad Swain, CEO Instamojo.
Powered by this funding, SuperK (a tech retail start-up) will be accelerating its hiring efforts, doubling down on its technology offerings, and improving its infrastructure. The vision of the company is to empower small-scale retail stores within the country.
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SuperK has managed to expand the take home incomes of their franchise owners. There has been a measurable boost in their earnings and more then 40,000 families associated with the brand have received a positive contribution margin.
SuperK’s Business Model
The smallest towns of India are not aware of what it’s like to shop in a modern retail store, or to walk into a modern supermarket. They do not know what the latest technology driving retail shopping feels like. Even if they want to experience new-age retail shopping, they will have to travel to big cities.
SuperK is thus solving a problem, closing a gap and bringing an unavailable product/service to a consumer who hasn’t known it or doesn’t know they need it. Their consumer base belongs to the smallest towns of India and the company is empowering entrepreneurs from these towns to effortlessly set up and run their own supermarkets. By offering franchises of the SuperK store to budding entrepreneurs from small towns, they have differentiated themselves from other retail tech start-ups. While other start-ups in this sector are offering tools to stores, SuperK is actually creating outcomes FOR the small stores by utilising the technology tools themselves.
It wasn’t easy for SuperK since they spent ample time, one and a half years to be precise, to perfect their business model. It required a lot of tweaking and didn’t come about instantly or quickly. Currently their network is scaling up, expanding, and growing with a target consumer base that includes entrepreneurs and retail shoppers from Tier III, IV, and V towns of India.
How SuperK is helping small towners and aspiring entrepreneurs
SuperK has managed to expand the take home incomes of their franchise owners. There has been a measurable boost in their earnings and more than 40,000 families associated with the brand have received a positive contribution margin.
SuperK’s technology offering connects retail warehouses, stores, and vendors. They also have a mobile app that facilitates this connection. The next big differentiator of the brand is their approach. While pre-established retailers are competing with individual retailers, SuperK is enabling local small-town entrepreneurs to take on large retailers in their vicinity.
They have a very unique, one-of-a-kind business model which can operate with a negative working capital. This sets them apart from other retail chains. The fact that they are unique gives them the leverage to scale at a faster pace compared to other retail chains.
Technology is strongly backing this business model. The company is a provider of a tech-based system and a standard operating plan which anyone can use to set up a store.
SuperK is a franchise store which can be opened by anyone. The franchise owner will be able to manage procurement, marketing, promos, and merchandising for their franchise.
The company also provides an end-to-end operating system for the franchise owners. It allows them to offer standardised low pricing, discounts, cashbacks as well as a digital bill for customers. By the end of 2021, SuperK is expected to reach an annual gross merchandising value of $10M.
What’s in it for me?
The founders of SuperK have brought disruption into the small towns of India and especially a very legacy industry. Their immense experience in retail has enabled them to create this product/service.
SuperK is rebranding the existing small form retail stores by giving them benefits like technology and intelligence. Tech retail start-ups can think of creating a chain of mini supermarkets with a problem-solving edge to the idea because it has worked for SuperK.
Through innovation, you can empower small towns and aspiring entrepreneurs to take on the legacy retail chains.
