What is E-Zippie for small businesses all about?

The portal enables micro-entrepreneurs, small business owners, sole-proprietors and home-preneurs, to quickly and conveniently sign-up for logistics services. It will act as a one-stop shop for logistics services in less than 30 minutes. Also, benefitting Ecom Express, this initiative will help to simplify the customer onboarding process with various small businesses by enhancing user experience and providing more flexibility in terms of service plan and price selection.

E-Zippie will be leveraging the latest banking and identity verification APIs to reduce redundant manual back-end processes and paperwork for smooth onboarding and can start shipping orders instantly. For solving customer grievances, small business owners can submit requests at their convenience through their mobile that will be directed to the concerned department that handles the request without any manual intervention or re-keying of information.

How will E-Zippie prove to be beneficial for small businesses? 

The backbone of India’s economic strength lies on the shoulders of 6.3 million small businesses. With online shopping becoming the norm in the pandemic, robust logistics and digital capabilities will be crucial for the growth of an online small business. What took 10-12 days for a small business to register with a logistic player, with E-Zippie will take less time. 

Moreover, Ecom Express’s delivery network reaching more than 27000 pin codes, will enable small businesses to make their products available to rural and remote places of India and tap the underserved market conveniently. Small businesses can gain direct control of their shipments with maximum flexibility in managing their end-to-end shipment life cycle.

Safe tourism practices to be adopted in the industry other than Bio-bubble 

Kerala’s tourism was not the only one to suffer the blows of the pandemic, according to the Rajasthan Tourism Department, Rajasthan witnessed a drop of almost 60 percent in the arrival of foreign tourists and 70 percent in domestic tourists. 

As per a survey conducted by JLL property consultancy, 11 major cities across the country witnessed a decline of 29 percent in revenue per available room (RevPAR) during January-March 2020. After the virus breakout, travel and tourism will not remain the same as they used to be, but for revival, there is a dire need to implement safe tourism practices to instill confidence in people about safe traveling.

• Introducing cycle trips: To establish social distancing, sightseeing on cycle trips can be implemented. The earlier manner of sightseeing in groups while walking has a high risk of contracting the virus. The travel companies can organise cycle tours for travellers during low traffic hours and following the tour guide on a cycle where they can experience the nearby local markets, monuments, and short hiking locations. This sustainable form of sightseeing has been implemented in Jaipur. 
• Introduce slot bookings: Travel and adventure companies can introduce online slot bookings for activities such as boating, forest safari, kayaking, etc. Travellers will come in the designated time slot to experience the fun in a less crowded environment. 
• Contactless hospitality: The probability of contracting the virus remains high in hotels. Adoption of contactless services by the hotel chains is imperative to establish minimum contact. Hotels can keep digital menus or food ordering in hotels can happen through apps. All communication to reception or room service can happen through chatbots or video chats. The check-in and check-out process can be digitised by scanning the QR code and digital payment will ensure minimum contact. The entertainment and cooling systems in the rooms such as TV and AC remotes to be replaced by virtual control systems. The restaurant lounges also hold a high risk of contraction, where they can install air purifiers. Cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) can be implemented for seamless coordination with the housekeeping staff, assigning staff duties, and adhering to hygiene compliances. 

What lies ahead for the small hotels and travel companies amidst high hygiene and zero contact? 

 Smaller hotels have enough born the heat of lockdowns. Therefore, their growth is critical for the state’s economic growth. As per the data from the Ministry of Tourism, the industry’s collective loss i.e. transport and tourism have been pegged at Rs 1.58 lakh crore. 

The big franchise-type hotels can partner with smaller hotels and travel companies that will empower the small hotels to manage day-to-day operations with the help of contactless technologies ensuring hygiene and social distancing regulations. The state’s tourism industry can revive by targeting the millennials who can work virtually from anywhere and offer highly personalised experiences. 

Online grocery startups jumping the fast delivery wagon

Recently turned unicorn, Grofers plans to reduce the delivery time for groceries from 15 to 10 minutes as it expands its services to 10 cities in India. Similarly, Swiggy’s Instamart is expanding its delivery network to five more cities promising deliveries within 15-30 minutes. BigBasket is looking forward to ramping up its express and scheduled next-day delivery options. Food aggregator platform Zomato with its grocery delivery app is planning to deliver within 30-45 minutes. 

What lies ahead for the online grocery platform to adopt faster delivery?

Online grocery platforms to adopt a faster delivery model will require setting up several dark stores or hubs and should not expect breakeven in the first quarter itself. 

The ticket size will not grow initially but as the grocery platforms strive to offer faster delivery and better customer service the frequency of purchases will grow. It will eventually lower the cost of delivery and spends on customer acquisition thus, building a loyal customer base and repeat business. But initially, huge capital funds are required to invest to build infrastructure and inventory. The online grocery startups can also expect slower expansion due to increased spending on distribution centres and hubs. 

The tech-infused in the wedding business – Wedding Wishlist

Wedding Wishlist is a tech-based platform that offers e-wedding invites for various occasions, invitation gifts, and printed invites, therefore, giving personalised communication to the guests. It has two apps, one of them helps to build a close community with their guests, interact, exchange communication, images, track RSVPs, and more, and the other app helps the wedding organisers/planners seamlessly plan the entire wedding logistics without even needing to log into a system each time. It also offers virtual services such as digital albums, live stream of wedding functions, RSVP manager, post-event website, etc. It makes the wedding planning process hassle-free and manage budgets better.

New trends in the wedding industry

The preventive measures to contain the virus have limited the presence of people in the wedding venues to 50. This has led to disruptions in the wedding industry and unless the infection spread comes to a standstill, below are the new trends that are most likely to be followed:

Mini Ceremonies: For maximising safety, ceremonies are pre-planned with an intimate gathering.

Hygiene and safety: The wedding families are offering the guests welcome gifts as masks and sanitisers. Post function the wedding planners are also making calls to guests to ensure guests are in good health.

The Virtual invite: To save on time, money, and energy, couples are creating e-invites, creating their wedding websites for the digital invitation. 

What lies ahead for wedding start-ups and other small businesses in this glam sham?

The gift registry platforms with a plethora of small to medium-sized crockery brands, jewellery, and most importantly the travel and adventure companies on its platforms will boost their income. With the world now turning into virtual, providing live streaming and other digital services will be imperative to offer convenience to the relatives and friends to view the wedding who are distantly present.

• • Hello natural sugar: Sugar, in the biscuits especially, is being replaced with natural sweeteners and sugar replacers for example – stevia and fructooligosaccharides respectively. Jaggery, date syrup is also being used. Butter in the biscuits is replaced with healthy or soluble fats such as nut butter, seed butter, vegan butter, olive oil, and coconut oil.
    
    
  • Healthy slices of bread: The bakery industry is introducing bread without baker’s yeast as the leavening agent. They are developing healthy bread such as sourdough bread, multigrain bread fused with herbs, protein-rich bread using lactic acid bacteria that improve gut health and are easily digestible.

• • Immunity Boost: Biscuits manufacturers are fusing biscuits with hazelnuts, figs, ginger, granola, pears, banana, turmeric, cinnamon, clove to boost immunity. 

• • New bakery items: Bakers are experimenting with mixing different bread products such as croffle – a new bread snack formed from mixing croissants and muffin is making more customers try it. 

What do consumers want from the bread and biscuits industry? 

Biscuits and bread snacks have been a favourite munching option. As people become more health conscious, they want to cut their sugar intake to a minimum while not refraining from eating them. With the rise of fitness social media influencers emphasising on fitness and minimum calorie intake, consumers, especially the millennials, are seeking bakery products that provide high nutritional value and are fibrous. This is making bakery manufacturers include more nutritious ingredients like oats along with minimal to zero use of artificial colours and preservatives and avoiding high fructose syrup completely.  

What lies ahead for the Indian biscuit and bakery industry? 

The pandemic has forced people to revisit their plates and shift to healthier foods and immunity-boosting foods. As health remains on top of the priority list, people are willing to pay more for additive-free biscuits and bread products. Besides, additive-free, organic bakery products in the market will also show strong demand as people are aware of the side-effect of excessive fertiliser induced crops. 

Recently, FSSAI has limited the use of trans fat limit in bakery foods to 3 percent from 5 percent to prevent the risk of cardiovascular ailments. This will result in biscuits and bread manufacturers looking for fat alternatives such as unsaturated fats to adhere to regulatory requirements.  

What are corporates currently doing in CSR? 

Technology major Honeywell will be investing in deep science startups through a tie-up with SID ( Society for Innovation and Development) -the industry interface of India’s artificial intelligence research and IISC (Indian Institute of Science). It has funded six of SID’s stem cell deep science startup incubators Azooka Labs, Protein Design, PathShodh Healthcare, Siamaf Healthcare, Mimyk Medical Solutions, and HealthSeq Precision Medicine. These incubators focus on healthtech solutions around cancer care and covid sampling and AR/VR platforms to train surgeons and precision medicine. 

Besides Honeywell, tech moguls and e-commerce majors such as Google, Microsoft, SoftBank Group, Samsung, Alibaba, Flipkart, Tencent, Reliance, Times Group, Qualcomm, Intel, Naspers, Target, etc. have been investing in startups either as venture capital arms, family offices or in-house incubators and accelerators investing alone. 

What lies ahead for the startups from this increased funding support under CSR? 

Getting funds in the early stage of funding is crucial for a startup, as the business model and the product is in the testing phase. With the expansion of funds, incubators can directly offer these funds as grants and investments in return for equity. For the corporates, funding in such incubators might help them to recognise talent fit for their company or the solutions offered by the startups can be adopted by the conglomerates and biggies for solving their business challenges, therefore, helping startups earn their first client and help in getting more clients further through recommendations.

Tailwinds for the online gifting industry

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Analytics

Leveraging AI, online gifting platforms are offering customers a seamless experience of gift selection, by asking users to fill in the information regarding gift recipient, occasion, the relationship between the recipient and gift-giver, and budget, The platform using a machine learning algorithm narrows the product options and zeroes down on the best gifting options. It also benefits the company to gain insights about the current gifting preferences and stock more such products.

The last-minute surprises

The ability to deliver delicious cakes, bouquets, chocolate boxes, and customised gifts late at night or midnight is a major factor for its growth. Anyone can now customise the date and time concerning the occasion. Some online gifting platforms have introduced same-day delivery.

Personalisation

The ability to personalise gifts within the click of a button is luring users to opt for online gifting. Products like – T-shirts, coffee mugs, photo frames, choice of flowers for a bouquet can be curated based on personal choices and needs. This makes the industry more consumer-centric.

The tech-savvy individuals

Millennials between the ages of 25-35 are tech-savvy and are caught in a hectic schedule. Instead of brainstorming about what gift to give, the individuals find it convenient to download an app, fill in the relevant details, select a gift among the recommendations and deliver the gift. They prefer the instant one-stop-shop and mobile concept of the online gifting segment for its efficiency.

How are online gifting platforms responding to the pandemic?

Despite facing disruptions in delivery, the online flower and gifting retailer Ferns N Petals, has registered a sales increase of 18 percent in the pandemic. With the world now boxed in a virtual culture, it has introduced a host of innovative virtual gifts that includes musician on video call (musical services of guitarist, violinist, flute player, etc), celebrity video messages, digital caricatures, dance class on call, E-greeting cards, etc.

To help corporates choose the best gifting options in the pandemic without visiting a store, Offineeds.com- a corporate gifting company has begun ‘The corporate gift show’. The video show format resembling Telebrands and Naaptol is an effective presentation of corporate gifting products explaining its features.

What lies ahead for the online gifting industry in India?

In the corporate gifting space, companies are realising the power of employee engagement and brand building, and now with a remote workforce, the surge in demand for corporate gifting will increase.

The local handicraft players can get a boost from the online gifting industry. Online gifting start-ups for more unique gifting options, can add terracotta products, mirror work crafts, wobbly head dolls and Channapatna toys.

Offering digital services of live musicians singing or playing an instrument of the recipient’s favourite song, or live dancers performing will give them an earning opportunity that has largely been hampered in the pandemic.

How does it solve the problem for rural travellers?

When a rural traveller plans his journey, it is not pre-planned. The gap was more highlighted when during the pandemic, they had to interact with multiple operators. For a particular search, the travel app aggregates all the available price options and shows the Travel Union agents the lowest prices they can offer their customers. It provides inventory, competitive prices, and state-of-the-art technology directly from airlines, railways, hotels, trips, wholesalers, and aggregators. It also has the facility for online cancellations and refunds, eliminating the long wait customers usually have to endure.

How Travel Union is an employment opportunity for rural travel agents and small travel agencies?

Rural lodges and small hotels never came under the gambit of online booking. Moreover, the potential 38 million job loss is alarming for this sector to revive. Travel Union will onboard travel agents that will cater to the travel needs of rural customers at every district, block, and gram panchayat level. The travel agents to become a member of the Travel Union need not make any investment. However, if anyone wishes to become an IRCTC agent ID, a deposit of Rs 1199 will be needed which will be refunded within 8 months, making the ID free.

The small travel agents with Travel Union will have access to trains, more than 10,000 bus operators, over 500 domestic and international flights, and more than 10 lakh hotels. The revenue model for rural travel agents is through high margins generated from direct booking options with several travel service partners. It has a dedicated 24X7 customer care that will address the travel agent’s queries.

What lies ahead for the digital travel and hospitality platforms catering to rural India?

The launch of such travel tech platforms for the rural space will provide ample revenue opportunities to the small travel agents that are staring at unemployment. Also, it will give the rural lodges and small hotels an opportunity that has long remained untapped by online travel services. Foreigners, in general, are eager to experience rural India, thus in the future, there might be a chance for the rural travel platforms to ensure safe hospitality and hassle-free transportation for them in rural areas. 

The D2C Business Model of Toothsi

Toothsi provided end-to-end dental solutions for its entire array of products. The manufacturing operations take place in its Mumbai-based laboratory. 

It follows a D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) model to provide customised teeth aligners. It provides in-house services right from dental counselling to scanning to treatment procedures and planning and manufacturing.

Toothsi’s unique products and services

The products are manufactured according to German manufacturing standards to be transparent, tasteless, lightweight, flexible. Each teeth aligner is customised to meet specific dental requirements. The Toothsi aligners do not restrict tongue or jaw mobility and give zero pain. 

They also provide free-of-cost, at-home scanning services by experts. The scans are further evaluated to create a personalised ‘smile plan’ for each customer with detailed digital visualisation to understand the before and after picture of the transformation. The smile plans once approved by the customer goes for payment, and Toothsi home delivers the aligners.

Recent Funding – Toothsi

Recently Toothsi has raised $20 million in a Series B funding round led by Eight Road Ventures, Think Investments, and the Mankekar Family Office. It had earlier raised $5 million as Series A funding in January 2021.   

Future for Dental care or cosmetology startups adopting the D2C model

According to Avendus Capital, the D2C business in India is projected to become a $100 billion market in India. Businesses across verticals such as retail, e-commerce, FMCG are adopting this model for acquiring more customers. Adopting the D2C model can benefit dental care or cosmetology startups by delivering products or services directly to consumers instead of channelising through intermediaries, which is cost-saving and gives convenience.  

Following the D2C route, will help the startups to generate more sales, as they can sell their products and services at lower costs than their competitor by gaining autonomy over the marketing and manufacturing of products from beginning to end.

Factors that can drive the femtech growth in India

Still at the nascent stage, India’s Femtech industry is expected to see new growth. Here are the growth drivers:

Working women voicing more 

As more millennial women join the workforce, they will be breaking the barriers by openly voicing women-related issues in menstruation, sexual health and hormonal changes. Social media influencers such as Dr. Tanaya under the Instagram name Dr. Cuterus are normalising talking about women’s health by openly discussing and busting the myths about sexual health and other women related health problems.  

Innovative approaches

As life becomes more sedentary, the complications in female diseases will rise, for which these femtech startups have innovative approaches that produce a quick diagnosis, hassle-free testing processes, and medical assistance at every step. 

Rise of wearables

Advancements in smart medical devices, apps and tech wearables for women will act as key growth drivers.

Convenience

In the pandemic, people have already realised the convenience of remote healthcare from the general digital healthcare platform. The emergence of femtech startups following the same approach for women will be welcomed

 Sectors where Femtech Startups have the potential to grow

• Cervical Cancer: According to WHO (World Health Organisation) cervical cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer among women around the world. Femtech startups in cervical cancer can leverage smartphones and artificial intelligence to screen for irregularities in the cervix for further diagnosis.
• Breast Cancer: After cervical cancer, breast cancer causes the most number of deaths in women. Lack of knowledge about its symptoms and being hesitant to talk about it results in most women ignoring the disease. Femtech startups, using AI and high-resolution screening, can detect early-stage breast cancer precisely.
• Menstrual health: Menstrual problems consist of – PCOS ( Poly-Cystic Ovary Syndrome), hormonal imbalance and mood swings during menopause. Here, femtech startups can be a woman’s wellness buddy and curate programmes and personalised plans to help them deal with such complications. It can be a one-stop platform for nutritionists, fitness coaches, psychologists and dermatologists.

• Pregnancy care: Entering into motherhood is a huge step for any woman. Femtech companies can cater to the needs of pregnant women by providing proper nutrition and clinical services for pregnant women.

Existing femtech startups in India 

CareMother: It is a pregnancy care femtech startup which offers personalised and remote healthcare for pregnant women to connect with gynecologists. It also provides at-door medical tests with a portable medical kit. 

CervAstra: Cervical cancer develops over a long time, goes unnoticed by the women of developing countries resulting in a high mortality rate. CervAstra is an AI-powered medtech company that detects cervical cancer. It analyses pap smear samples to detect abnormalities in a short turnaround time. The instruments used for detection are portable and will enable women to walk into the nearest primary health centre, get screened and receive reports.

Celes Care: A virtual health clinic for women’s health. They offer medical guidance and information to women through their female doctors specialised in infertility, pregnancy, thyroid, PCOS, weight control, skincare, etc.

Niramai: Offers non-invasive, radiation-free and low-cost breast cancer screening technology Thermalytix.

What lies ahead for the femtech startups in India? 

For femtech startups, the challenge lies in low awareness of such medical solutions. Most families might be ignorant of availing doctor consultations of such diseases online. So, the first step lies in increasing awareness through social media, taking educational sessions in schools and colleges for girls at their adolescent stage. 

Femtech startups into the detection of breast and cervical cancer can do B2B partnering with large public hospitals, healthcare companies, public health entities and NGOs, which have deeper distribution channels for mass screening and awareness campaigns. 

Moreover, femtech startups can also foray into the LGBTQ space to offer mental health and medical assistance to individuals who have undergone a recent gender change operation. They will be experiencing new hormonal changes in the body causing discomfort and anxiety.

 There lies a huge potential in serving rural women that have remained untapped for a long time. Here, femtech startups also need to develop apps in vernacular content and develop a network of assistants who can attend to their problems for pregnancy care. The potential also lies in rural public health centres for offering them femtech solutions.