Jahnavi- How does your platform helps in the delivering of the solutions to brands and industries?
Lokesh- So, on spot solutions basically is a very simple platform that tends to work with different brands, their production processes and every thing that they have in place now to avoid a lot of start of issues or any other issue for that matter. Our platform was designed to facilitate most, if not every business, whether they are using in-house ERPs or whatever. Our system integrate very well with ongoing practises across industries. That was number one and now on the side where it comes towards the business of the company side, we are manufacturing these brands and then we actually help them sell their supply chain issue and look for anything that should not be happening. Mostly in the supply chain issues. These could be things like misdirected shipments, their products being sold in a different place than where they are intended to be sold. What happens a lot of time is that a lot of brands tend to ship their products to one location and somehow the products end of competing with themselves in some other location. Different brands have different prices in different areas. Whether in country or the world. On one side, you are charging 5% more than the other side and if they find out about this, every thing becomes a mess so our system actually goes in a level of actually cracking their brands. So that’s what it does and also it. Let’s the company knows if their brands are being sold off on time or not. The magic for on sport solution really comes in many other levels. Where first of all of course the consumers are more aware now especially after Covid. We have all heard the horror stories of fake masks, gloves, et cetera. That has in the end head of business overall to get more focused. So I think at the consumers level number one the consumers is aided by the fact that they can tell you whether it’s real or not. Number two, you can learn about your product information like its prices et cetera depending on the location. At least you know as a consumer, how much it is supposed to cost. For the consumers it is a lot of benefits also depending on the product what they buy. Say a bottle of wine is considered and if the brand gets to know that this is the profile of the consumers, maybe they will start sending them the recipes for the same. And that’s where the whole consumers engagement start happening. There also could be freebies present like giveaways, and what not. So our plan is basically that regardless of what the consumer buys as long as the scan it using on spot solution and get the details, they will get some sort of points. That will be good for something. We are still getting to these kind of tieups.
Jahnavi- What was the major idea behind the company when it was initially started?
Lokesh- Initially, the thought was to put together a system where alpha numeric codes on stickers could be put on products and that could be used through an SMS channel and a confirmation with come back to you. And that’s how we didn’t really start. We filed for patterns in India and USA. Not just on the SMS-based feature, but also the QR code and every thing. I can say that probably we were before time on the whole thought of so much counterfeiting the fake products. After Covid today, people have seen all the fake kind of products like fake vaccines, gloves, et cetera and so it is then so it has come to light in a larger way. We had a big learning curve of course, but the things are looking quite good and we are working with a lot of brands that are global brands at the moment. Pharmaceuticals, lubricants, skin care, hair care. The pharmaceutical side is the big deal for us right now following certain government guidelines that have come in to place. The government is placing India in a better way to have a bigger ground for the pharmaceuticals.
Jahnavi- What are the major points which focuses onto the growth of the business? How do you manage to form this growth plan for your company in general?
Lokesh- So the tougher part of this is the lack of awareness which has been taken care of now. You know educating the companies. In the starting when I had first joined, no company was willing to admit that they had counterfeiting issues which has changed in a huge way now. There was a report which was just released about a month ago.
It said there are roughly about 30% of counterfeit goods across segments. So, our ideal way of pitching this is that ‘hey coke, you are spending x amount of advertising.’ Pepsi will up that the next year but there is still a 30% market share that is what you’re looking at and which could be yours if you would just safeguard your consumers. Now companies have started realising that it should be part of their mandate to safeguard their consumers and that too, especially in the pharmaceutical ground. So not only are you going again ahead and getting benefits from additional sales, but what is happening is that you are also going ahead and protecting your consumers which is really the point of any company. You are also protecting your brand image and your brand name. There are a lot of times when we tend to buy a particular shampoo or a soap and after 2-3 times of buying it again and again we tend to notice some kind of change in it. Well most likely it’s fake. And so the branding of all these years goes out of the window.
Jahnavi- How do you tend to form the strategies for the company?
Lokesh- So essentially, we are looking at different markets and market segments as far as the industries go. Where we need to focus right now and also which we have been focusing on right now is the pharmaceutical industry. We form a growth strategy based on what is happening basically in the marketplace. Pharma is a big segment for us. Lubricants have also turned out to be a big segment for us also. We are working with some oil majors that have issues when it comes down to refilled bottle of lubricants. Imagine putting a Rs.300 bottle of lubricant in your car, and then something happening to your car, because the product was fake. The damage which is present there over time is excessive. Our growth is based on certain key industries that we can focus on for faster growth and that will get us into mostly every industry. Pharmaceutical is a frontrunner at the moment. We are going after these industries before we get to the textiles and the brands in goods and every thing because I feel that these industries are the ones which are really being affected. And the whole point of this is for the people and people are getting affected on use levels due to false and fake products.
It all comes down to a person getting sick from drinking a bottle of water or getting sick from any basic thing in life. You know a fake Nike T-shirt is not going to kill you. Our internal strategy as far as the additional people et cetera or based on those specific markets.
