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As appeared in The Economic Times on 1 November 2016 by Shadma Shaikh

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Inbound investor interest, big pocket deals and increasing revenue have attracted a lot of traction and growth in the number of players operating in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry.

While the success of larger players, including the likes of Salesforce and Microsoft led to startups such as Freshdesk, foraying into the horizontal SaaS landscape, industry growth is also being witnessed in the vertical SaaS domain. As opposed to horizontal SaaS that provides software technology that could be used across different industry domains, vertical SaaS caters to a specific vertical, like hospitality or retail. According to data from Tracxn, over 60 startups operating in the vertical SaaS domain received funding in 2016, comprising 50% of the overall SaaS funding during the year.

“Vertical players in SaaS are opening up markets that were underserved earlier. As the SaaS industry evolves, we see scope for new market makers than just fast followers. While the potential for a market maker to scale in a horizontal space is more, vertical players are also attractive considering the scale of market they operate in. A clear example of this is Zenoti (a startup that provides software solutions to wellness centres),” says Sharad Sharma, cofounder of iSPIRT. SaaS applications that have traditionally addressed broad business functions such as customer relationship management (CRM)or enterprise resource planning (ERP) could be served by an industry agnostic large horizontal player.

However, for specific and critical business needs, of say a large retail player, a vertical player that specialises in retail solutions stands out as an obvious choice. This has led to the success of players like Capillary Technologies and Rategain that specialise in retail and travel sectors, respectively.

Also, a SaaS tool that can be hosted on cloud and accessed across locations, gives more flexibility and uniformity to traditionally offline vertical players. For Qwikcilver, a startup that specialises in gift card solutions for retailers, having a centrally hosted gift-card solution helped manage inventory and records for retail players and gave more flexibility to consumers, thus increasing the convenience of gift-cards.

“The gift-card ecosystem is huge given the complexities of the Indian market. Being a vertical SaaS player, we understand the market well and by providing a SaaS platform that manages a centrally hosted transaction via our platform also enables easy scaling up of a programme,” says Pratap TP, director of Qwikcilver.

Serial entrepreneur Sudheer Koneru’s Zenoti, a vertical SaaS startup that addresses the needs of wellness industry also raised $15 million in August in a round led by Norwest Venture Partners.

Horizontal customisation
While vertical players in SaaS are finding solutions for precise industry requirements, large business serving horizontal players are providing customisation of products to suit varied business needs of enterprise customers.

Delhi-based Wingify that provides web-optimisation tools for online business, uses mass-customisation of products. “While most of our products do not entertain personalised customisation, we rely on configurable environments to make specific feature enhancements or changes,” says Sparsh Gupta, CTO, Wingify.

As appeared in the Times of India on 28 October 2016 by TNN

Digital gift cards, digital meal passes, digital medical and travel vouchers have replaced traditional options with both individuals and corporates taking to these new-age choices with gusto this Deepavali.
According to observers, the city stands fourth in the country when it comes to digital gifting, after Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, and the sector is moving ahead at a fast pace.Speaking about the most availed gifting options, experts for Hyderabadis clothing is top priority, followed by personal accessories and electronics. In other major cities, clothing is third or fourth on the list. “While the average cost of a gift is around Rs 2,000 at the individual level, for companies the average hovers around Rs 5,000,” said Ramki Gaddipati, co-founder, Zeta, a business-to-business-only company that has sold nearly 15,000 gift cards this season.

“All major players in the market are doing very well, like Sodexo, Udio, Zeta and us. All these vouchers have their own USPs, it is more of a matter of personal choice, which an employee or an employer prefers,” said Ankush Gupta co-founder of Cinqo, a digital payments solution company.

In the twin cities there are more than 500 exclusive brand outlets with at least 150 of them making gift cards available. “The figure is higher when compared to Delhi or Mumbai and is at par with Bangalore,” said Pratap T P, co-founder and CMO, Qwikcilver, an end-to-end gift card and stored-value-card solutions company.

While there are gifting options available in categories like sportswear, hospitality, home furnishing, apparel, health and beauty, travel, electronics and baby products, there are also cards which are not brand exclusive and can be used without restrictions.

“Currently there are more than 100 companies in Hyderabad which have been availing these facilities from across players.The figure is expected to grow,” said Smeet Modi, co-founder of Cinqo.

Pratap T P said one of the key reasons for digital gifting catching on at such a quick pace in the city is the influx of NRI professionals who have been exposed to the concept of gift cards. “They bring back the concept and hence Hyderabad is adapting at a faster pace than other cities,” he said.

Individuals who are opting for the digital vouchers meanwhile say its a comfortable solution.

“I wanted to gift something to a fellow colleague as a token of thanks but wasn’t sure what he would prefer. An apparel brand gift card seemed like a perfect option. Its easy to gift and accept,” said P Vaibhav, a pharma company executive.

As appeared in the Business Standard on 23 October 2016 by Priya Nair

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You received a gift card worth Rs 5,000 for Diwali last year, but could spend only Rs 4,500 because the brand was not to your liking. The card is no longer valid. While you did not lose money, inability to use the gift amount can rankle. Now, you can trade or sell gift cards that you have no use for, provided they are still valid.

“On an average, there is a breakage (the unused amount) of three-four per cent on prepaid cards like gift cards because these cannot be reloaded. This happens because sometimes the article you want to buy may fall short of the card limit. In some cases, the retailer may be unwilling to swipe the card below a certain amount. In such a case, too, you cannot use the card,” says Ramki Gaddipati, Co-founder of Zeta, a company that offers online employee benefit solutions.

Due to this problem with closed-end gift cards, a number of merchants are now doing co-branded prepaid/gift cards with other merchants, so the closed loop card can be used at more outlets, says Deepak Chandnani, chief executive officer of Worldline South Asia and Middle East, a payments processing firm.

Sell partly used or unused cards

Earlier, if you received a gift card you didn’t want to use, you would pass it on as a gift or sell it to someone else at a discount. While this was informal, there is now an online platform to do it. Qwickcilver, a gift card technology and end-to-end prepaid solutions company has launched Woohoo a gift card secondary market exchange, the only one so far. This allows consumers to convert their unused or partially-used gift cards to cash by listing these at a price of their choice on the Woohoo gifting app.

How it works: You list your card and mention the price you want. Once verified, you need to give your bank account number and IFSC code. The money is transferred into your account once the card is sold. Usually, it takes two-three working days.

There is no rule on the discount you must list the card. Usually sellers list their cards at 5-10 per cent of the discount. There is no fee for listing, but once the card is sold Qwickcilver gets 10 per cent of the amount as fee. “One reason customers may want to sell their card is if that particular brand is not to their liking. For instance, I have a gift card for Rs 5,000 from a jewellery brand and I don’t want to buy jewellery.

I can sell my card before the validity expires and make some money. Or I get a travel card worth Rs 10,000 as wedding gift and I use Rs 6,000 for buying tickets. If I have no use for the remaining Rs 4,000, I can sell it . The person buying it can use it and get a discount on hotel or ticket bookings,” explains Pratap T P, co-founder, Qwikcilver.

While the seller can list physical cards, the buyer gets only the digital format of the card. So, there is no need to physically send the card. The security is the code on the card, sent to the mobile number and email ID of the buyer. Only gift cards for brands that are managed by Qwickcilver can be listed but this is about 90 per cent of the gift cards issued, Pratap adds.

Choose your card

Zeta offers a digital product that allows receivers to select a gift card, of their choice. The receiver gets an email and a PIN, which show the value of the card and the several brands available. So, if the value is Rs 5,000, you can use Rs 3,000 on Amazon and the rest on another website or even at an offline store. To use digital cards at stores you have to first generate a voucher and share that code at the store’s point-of-sales.

“The giver can also select a list of stores that you want to offer the card for, say, only book stores or only apparel stores,” says Gaddipati of Zeta.

Open-ended vs closed-end

For ItzCash, a leader in prepaid cards, 20-25 per cent of the entire year’s volumes comes in the 45 days during Diwali, says Bhavik Vasa its chief growth officer. “This year digital cards are the flavour. While we offer gift cards of individual retail houses, we find the open-ended gift cards powered by Visa are more popular,” he says.

ItzCash’s digital cards can be used only online but there is no restriction on the kind of transaction they can be used for. They can be used for booking tickets or making purchases. The Visa-powered gift card can be used in any store and both offline and online. However, they cannot be used at an ATM or be reloaded, as the purpose is gifting. The maximum amount that can be loaded is 50,000, which is the limit permitted for pre-paid instruments by the Reserve Bank of India.

“While we do offer gift cards for specific brands, we are seeing the shift towards the open-ended cards,” says Vasa.

Merchants also issue their own gift cards, which are closed-loop and can be used only at their own stores. But they run loyalty programmes through these and it is easier to do a chargeback by putting the refunded amount into the prepaid card, says Chandnani. “Since these are not PIN-based prepaid instruments, ensure that the card does not fall into the wrong hands,” he adds.

A lot of the closed-end cards are similar to gift vouchers and hence cannot be used after the expiry date. Some of these also specify the products can be that bought or not on the particular voucher, says Vinay Bhatia, head – analytics & loyalty, Future Group. “Most retailers in India do not give the option of redeeming the card/voucher in parts,” he adds.
GIFT CARDS ARE POPULAR BECAUSE… 

• They are easy and convenient
• They can be loaded in denominations ranging from as low as Rs 100 to as much as Rs 50,000
• Receiver is free to buy anything of his choice
•     Open-ended cards are universally accepted
•     They can be used for online transactions too