StorePerform to expand in India, China, Apac

Retail chain solution provider awaits doors to open for FDI in retail

StorePerform Technologies Inc, the US-based $14 million provider of software for the retail industry, is seeking to expand its business in India, China and the Asia-Pacific markets.

The company, with its dedicated development centre in Bangalore, offers solutions for managing large retail chains.

Based in Denver, Colorado, StorePerform is led by Srikanth Vasan, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi, who has worked with McKinsey and Microsoft, and has been an 'entrepreneur in residence' at Battery Ventures and Softbank Venture Capital.

StorePerform has till now installed its flagship product "" StorePerform Workbench "" in over half a million retail stores across the US, the UK and Mexico for clients like JCPenny, Lowe's, Menards, Borders and Albertsons.

Having successfully established its presence in these markets, the company is looking at the next phase of growth in developing markets.

Presently, it is working with system integrator in China and Australia, and plans to open its own sales office this year.

Said Vasan, "After establishing our presence successfully in the US, we are in the process of expanding our presence in the markets of India, China and Australia. Just a couple of months ago, we successfully released Version 4.0 of our flagship product at our development centre in Bangalore. The product is presently being deployed in two of the world's largest retail chains in the US."

StorePerform's fully configurable software product "" Workbench "" helps retailers design, execute, monitor and analyse every project in every store as it rolls out.

"Our goal is to be the leader in a new software category for retailers "" Store Execution Management," Vasan told Business Standard.

He said that 'store execution management' helps retailers drive financial performance through better operational execution. Workbench modules help retailers maximise sales, drive down operational costs, improve on-time programme execution and increase employee productivity.

StorePerform, which has raised Series A funds up to $10 million from the venture capital fund, US Venture Partners, is getting ready to introduce its software suite in India.

"We are waiting for the government of India to open up FDI in retail trade so that we can tap the huge retail industry in the country. We are seeking to introduce our product sometime next year," Vasan said. The company, which is working on developing its next product for the retail industry, aims to achieve a turnover of $20 million this year.

He said that there are over 3,000 large retail chains with at least $500 million sales turnover in the world and the company aims to garner substantial business from them in the next few years. The deployment of its product will be viable for retail chains having a size of 50-75 stores.

The company also plans to double the headcount in its development centre in Bangalore from the present 50 to 100 within one year.

Its other development centre in the US employs 20 engineers.

"Presently, India is only a cost centre for us. We want to make it a revenue generating centre by end of next year, when we introduce our product here," Vasan added.