CEO Insights Magazine

Businesses with the most ability and the highest service quality or product will receive the most customers. However, the reality is that every business must first compete in a popularity contest before competing in an ability contest. People associate visibility with credibility. They will not choose you if they do not know who you are, which is why investing in your company's visibility is an investment in its success. Even the best product might be rendered ineffective in terms of attracting clients if no one is aware of it.

To help retailers expand their horizons by not only enabling them with online visibility but also with solutions to help maximize their store's exposure and connectivity with their customers, Shailendra Awasthi launched LOCOFF as a SaaS platform. In an exclusive interaction with CEO Insights, Shailendra speaks about his entrepreneurial journey and the creation of LOCOFF.

What inspired you to build a SaaS platform to help retailers and standalone hyperlocal businesses?
In 2015, I needed a battery for my laptop and went to an internet platform where the price was really attractive. And I ordered it, and I received my battery within six days. However, when they delivered the product, it was not the battery that fits into my laptop. I returned it and ordered it again, and approximately three weeks passed throughout this process. And I was disappointed and I went down to the market near my place and located a regular store that was providing me a far better discount on the precise thing that I needed. And I got it the same day, whereas I squandered three weeks on an online platform. This sparked the concept that there is a gap where these local shops have a lot of offers but are unable to reach customers due to a lack of awareness. And, even as the world shifts toward digital digitization, these small businesses are unable to capitalize on it. That was the first

time an idea came to me and I discussed it with a few XLRI friends, who stated the idea is good, but it will take a lot of effort from our end. Then we recruited a freelancer to develop our basic app based on our brainstorming discussions. And I went to the market, visited roughly 300 stores, and tried to figure out how this offer would work for them. We received a lot of feedback from retailers on how it should be and what they are looking for in a business strategy that will be profitable for them. In 2020, I met another friend from XLRI, and we explained the idea; he liked it, and he said,'Let's start' and he gave us the first cheque to establish the organization. LOCOFF began its operations in February 2020.

You have 18 years of experience in corporate consulting, business development, and operations. What motivates you as an entrepreneur today?
Primarily, the problem that I saw was that many local and small stores that had a lot of customer engagement were dried out. And, in most cases, what we get offline is far superior to what we get online, and it is also supplied at the best price. Even so, there is a lack of visibility, and I, too, was concerned about this. This sparked an idea in me to explore and bridge this gap, and since the Indian retail business is expanding and is considered a highly unorganized space, we decided help retailers in taking digital leap with our LOCOFF platform.

Can you tell us about the challenges you've encountered in your entrepreneurial journey so far? And how did you overcome those significant problems?
When we first started reaching out to retailers, they were constantly concerned that what we were offering today will be taken away the next day. For example, we say now that we are providing a platform that is driven by them. They would respond that at first, everyone would make the same claim, but that the organization would eventually take over all of the authority. It was the most challenging task to convince

them. The second challenge is that every one believes LOCOFF is an e-Commerce platform, and they are reluctant to sell online. Making retailers understand that this is digitalization and that not every automation equals e-Commerce was also a difficult task. It was a complex and challenging scenario for my team to educate individuals and retailers to understand that being on LOCOFF does not mean you are on an e-Commerce platform; an aggregator platform does not mean an e-Commerce platform. It's all about exhibiting what you offer through a digital medium and reaching out to customers who are willing to buy from you. LOCOFF will lead the next shift in everyone's thinking that when we talk about digitization of stores, it does not always mean e-Commerce or a store integrating with an e-Commerce platform.

Tell us your style of product creation, visions, and scaling the company to help it stay ahead of its peers.
We've had a consistent thought process since day one: we don't want to be a cash-burning corporation. We aspire to be both a profitable and a valuation company. And our mentors have instilled in us that there are only a few names who are purely on the valuation oriented. Then there are the old school enterprises that are both valuable and profitable. Our objective is clear we want to produce value plus revenue. The second aim was to find out how we can assist stores and solve problems. What we discovered is that the moment we began solving market problems, people will begin to approach us and that's exactly what happened; when the retailers or ecosystem stakeholders realized that the problem had been solved correctly, we continued to grow by getting more clients. Currently, what we are doing in comparison to our competitors is filling the voids in the retail market that they have left.

Shailendra Awasthi, Founder & CEO, LOCOFF
Shailendra completed his PGCBM in General Business Management from XLRI Jamshedpur. He is a goal oriented professional with over 18 years of expertise in Corporate Consulting, Business Development, and Operations.