Tag: Mr. Varun Khurana

Business World, News

India’s leading social commerce platform, Otipy reaches Bhiwadi, aims for 10 other tier 2 & 3 cities in next 6 months

Jan 25, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Founder, #Mr. Varun Khurana, #Otipy

Staying committed to delivering fresh produce to end-consumers while also benefiting farmers and women resellers in the process, Otipy, India’s leading social commerce platform for fresh produce managed by Crofarm, has announced its expansion plans. As part of this expansion strategy, the company is planning to extend its services to Bhiwadi, a city in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. It also aims to launch its solutions to 10 more tier 2 and 3 cities like Jhajjar, Sonepat, Panipat, Rewari, Kaarnal, Palwal, Rohtak, etc in the next 6 months.

Over the years, the platform has constantly endeavored to augment its supply chain, to reach more and more people, especially those hailing from the tier 2 and 3 geographies, who haven’t shopped online yet. To achieve this objective, Otipy has been leveraging the social commerce platform and making the process of shopping for fresh produce not only seamless but also rewarding for everyone associated with it.

In its recent survey comprising 1000 Otipy users, the company observed that 50% of its respondents had made their first online purchase through Otipy. 72% of users are aged more than 35 years, while 40% are over 45 years. These users are classified as traditional offline shoppers, who have shifted to online shopping with Otipy. Over 74% of the users have heard about this platform from the WhatsApp groups of friends and family. Currently, India has 40 Cr WhatsApp users and only 10 Cr online shoppers. As a WhatsApp-integrated social commerce platform, Otipy aims to tap into these 30 Cr first-time online shoppers.

With its further expansion plans to tier 2 & 3 cities, Otipy aims to extend its range of offerings to this cohort and give them opportunities to shop and consume fresh produce at the most affordable rates. Moreover, it’s a truism that people develop trust when they do shopping based on each other’s recommendations. The idea is to leverage this element and make Otipy the most preferred platform for shoppers across India.

Commenting on the new development, Mr. Varun Khurana, Founder, Otipy said, “Social commerce has played a pivotal role in bringing customers, especially women, to our platform and leverage it as a tool to shop fresh produce. While we are already catering to over 5,000 daily orders from one lakh customers in Delhi and NCR, we are now focusing on expanding our reach and services to tier 2 and 3 cities, where people are unaware of our platform. Our new expansion plan is completely designed to cater to this audience and help them become familiar with our platform and encourage them to use it more often for all their daily requirements of fresh groceries.”

He further added, “Anybody using WhatsApp can easily use our app for online orders. In fact, we also address problems using WhatsApp only. This makes everything so much easy for users as people across India are already acquainted with WhatsApp and use it regularly, mainly for communication purposes. At Otipy, we are striving to help them understand that our platform is as easy as using WhatsApp. To simplify it further, we are planning to launch new features such as vernacular content and voice recognition on our platform, especially for people who don’t understand English very well.”

Currently, fresh grocery is a USD 200 billion market in India. However, of this figure, less than 1% accounts for online grocery. Otipy aspires to promote this segment by creating awareness around its benefits across people who haven’t experienced them yet. With an in-depth understanding of fresh produce backed by robust technology solutions, not only does it generate earning opportunities for women resellers, but it also benefits farmers and end-consumers through desired payments and fresh produce, respectively. With its latest initiative, the platform reaffirms its vision and takes its services to first-time online users.

About Otipy

Otipy is a B2B2C social commerce platform for fresh produce in India and works closely with reseller partners,primarily women and neighborhood stores. Otipy focuses on-demand harvesting as per predicted demand to keep minimum wastage through state-of-the-art technology used for procurement, distribution and delivery.

 

Business World

Otipy reaches Bhiwadi, aims for 10 other tier 2 & 3 cities in next 6 months

Jan 23, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Founder, #Mr. Varun Khurana, #Otipy

Staying committed to delivering fresh produce to end-consumers while also benefiting farmers and women resellers in the process, Otipy, India’s leading social commerce platform for fresh produce managed by Crofarm, has today announced its expansion plans. As part of this expansion strategy, the company is planning to extend its services to Bhiwadi, a city in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. It also aims to launch its solutions to 10 more tier 2 and 3 cities like Jhajjar, Sonepat, Panipat, Rewari, Kaarnal, Palwal, Rohtak, etc in the next 6 months.

Over the years, the platform has constantly endeavored to augment its supply chain, to reach more and more people, especially those hailing from the tier 2 and 3 geographies, who haven’t shopped online yet. To achieve this objective, Otipy has been leveraging the social commerce platform and making the process of shopping for fresh produce not only seamless but also rewarding for everyone associated with it.

In its recent survey comprising 1000 Otipy users, the company observed that 50% of its respondents had made their first online purchase through Otipy. 72% of users are aged more than 35 years, while 40% are over 45 years. These users are classified as traditional offline shoppers, who have shifted to online shopping with Otipy. Over 74% of the users have heard about this platform from the WhatsApp groups of friends and family. Currently, India has 40 Cr WhatsApp users and only 10 Cr online shoppers. As a WhatsApp-integrated social commerce platform, Otipy aims to tap into these 30 Cr first-time online shoppers.

With its further expansion plans to tier 2 & 3 cities, Otipy aims to extend its range of offerings to this cohort and give them opportunities to shop and consume fresh produce at the most affordable rates. Moreover, it’s a truism that people develop trust when they do shopping based on each other’s recommendations. The idea is to leverage this element and make Otipy the most preferred platform for shoppers across India.

Commenting on the new development, Mr. Varun Khurana, Founder, Otipy said, “Social commerce has played a pivotal role in bringing customers, especially women, to our platform and leverage it as a tool to shop fresh produce. While we are already catering to over 5,000 daily orders from one lakh customers in Delhi and NCR, we are now focusing on expanding our reach and services to tier 2 and 3 cities, where people are unaware of our platform. Our new expansion plan is completely designed to cater to this audience and help them become familiar with our platform and encourage them to use it more often for all their daily requirements of fresh groceries.”

He further added, “Anybody using WhatsApp can easily use our app for online orders. In fact, we also address problems using WhatsApp only. This makes everything so much easy for users as people across India are already acquainted with WhatsApp and use it regularly, mainly for communication purposes. At Otipy, we are striving to help them understand that our platform is as easy as using WhatsApp. To simplify it further, we are planning to launch new features such as vernacular content and voice recognition on our platform, especially for people who don’t understand English very well.”

Currently, fresh grocery is a USD 200 billion market in India. However, of this figure, less than 1% accounts for online grocery. Otipy aspires to promote this segment by creating awareness around its benefits across people who haven’t experienced them yet. With an in-depth understanding of fresh produce backed by robust technology solutions, not only does it generate earning opportunities for women resellers, but it also benefits farmers and end-consumers through desired payments and fresh produce, respectively. With its latest initiative, the platform reaffirms its vision and takes its services to first-time online users.

About Otipy

Otipy is a B2B2C social commerce platform for fresh produce in India and works closely with reseller partners,primarily women and neighborhood stores. Otipy focuses on-demand harvesting as per predicted demand to keep minimum wastage through state-of-the-art technology used for procurement, distribution and delivery.

Business World

Top 5 Agritech startups of 2020 that are uplifting the agriculture sector

Nov 19, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Agribazaar, #Agriculture, #Agritech startups, #Boheco, #DeHaat, #KrishiHub, #Mr. Varun Khurana, #Otipy

The Indian agricultural sector has been the backbone of the Indian economy for many years after independence. While globalization has transformed the country into a much more industry centred economy, the fact that the agriculture domain of the country still commands a respectable position in India is true. Even though, over the last couple of decades, the farming community of the country has been lagging behind in terms of modernizing their agricultural operations and marketing strategies.

The lack of knowledge regarding the best technologies and techniques that can be incorporated in farming has had a massive adverse impact on the performance of the Indian agriculture sector. In the past few years agritech, communities of the country are working towards the development of the agriculture sector and are empowering agriculture space with the technological advancement of this technical improvement in the farming community is leading towards the change in the face of the Agriculture sector.

Here is the list of top 5 Agritech startups of 2020 in India that are uplifting the agriculture sector:

Agribazaar:

Founded in 2016, Mumbai-based AgriBazaar is an online platform that helps connect farmers, traders, banks, enterprises and governments. Modelled on the traditional Mandi system, the startup provides a digital platform for small farmers and merchants to directly sell and buy farm produce without the involvement of middlemen. In this case, the farmers receive payment directly in their bank accounts via e-wallet AgriPay. Apart from connecting the sellers and buyers, AgriBazaar also provides last-mile logistics support. Agribazaar uses AL and ML to offer services such as crop advisory and credit-on-click. Looking forward, AgriBazaar aims at mapping and tagging every farm and ‘becoming the Google Maps of Indian agri-sector.

Otipy:

Otipy, a social commerce venture by Crofarm launched in February 2020 by Mr. Varun Khurana sources fresh fruits and vegetables from farmers across Haryana, UP, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. This makes the platform India’s first social commerce model that connects end consumers to farmers through a community of resellers and gives them the opportunity to earn a healthy commission while handling the last-mile delivery of fresh produce.

The idea behind this platform is to build a scalable, demand-driven and tech-enabled supply chain for fresh produce operating at 35% gross margin. In this process, Otipy aims to help three key stakeholders – farmers, resellers and consumers.

DeHaat:

End-to-end agricultural solutions provider DeHaat is an agritech platform founded in 2012. DeHaat provides a marketplace for farmers to sell produce to large institutional buyers directly without the intervention of middlemen or commissioning agents. The company also provides last-mile connectivity for easy logistics and storage services. Reportedly, DeHaat has assisted farmers on its clientele to achieve a 20 per cent increase in the gate prices. Along with presenting a sellers market, DeHaat uses data science and machine learning technologies to improve production efficiency. Some of its other services include giving farmers expert insights and advisory on choosing the correct crop, soil health, suitable fertilisers and pesticides to be used, the time for harvesting the produce, and more.

Boheco:

Bombay Hemp Company was incorporated in 2013. It is an Agro-based company reimagining the future of Indian agriculture and sustainable living with hemp as their lens. This agritech company harnesses the power of agriculture by advocating Industrial Hemp and its benefits to society. They assist local farmers in cultivating the crop by providing optimum seeds, best practices in cultivation techniques, and innovating Agro-products.

KrishiHub:

KrishiHub was founded in 2016 with an aim to empower farmers through technology, design, and data science. Driven by demand, KrishiHub procures fresh vegetables directly from farmers and delivers them to businesses such as restaurants, canteens, and hostels. The startup uses an AI-powered supply chain to undertake farm-to-doorstep delivery. Use of proprietary algorithms for determining the best route for delivery agents has helped the organisation ensure delivery within 12 hours. Reportedly, KrishiHub has helped farmers reduce their vegetable wastage by up to 25 per cent.

Business World

Otipy empowers women homemakers and professionals in the post-COVID era

Sep 11, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #.OTIPY, #Crofarm, #Mr. Varun Khurana

Otipy, the social commerce venture of farm-to-retail agritech startup Crofarm, is allowing women to earn up to INR 1 lacs per month by collaborating with the platform. Multiple women professionals have lost their jobs due to the on-going pandemic, while homemakers are also facing various financial challenges. Against this backdrop, the company aims to bring huge relief to the victimized people and help them fulfill their financial aspirations even during a crisis like this. 

Preeti Sethi, a homemaker, hailing from Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, recently shifted to Gurgaon and collaborated with Otipy. In her new job role of a women reseller, she earns an average commission of 40,0000 per month with Otipy, thus peacefully running her family without any financial constraints. Similarly, Deepa Singh, an artist and creative director of Art View Studio, was hit hard by the pandemic. She joined Otipy and is now earning pretty well. These stories underline Otipy’s commitment to empowering Indian women through collaborative opportunities and well-paid jobs on the platform.

Mr. Varun Khurana, Founder, Otipy said, “With our Otipy model, we aim to bring more and more women resellers on board, giving them a reason to earn well and live better lives. Collaborate with us and see the results yourself. We already have multiple women homemakers and professionals increasingly joining our platform in the post-COVID times. The pandemic has significantly affected the world, and we at Otipy are trying to convert this crisis into an opportunity.” 

Over the past few years, social commerce has significantly grown in India. Brands are increasingly using this platform to curate, promote, and sell their products to consumers. Social media platforms like Instagram and even WhatsApp are no longer just sources of information or inspiration but have emerged as a marketplace to ignite and facilitate transactions. 

The growth of social commerce in India is attributed to a combination of factors that have redefined the way products are bought and sold online. These include increasing smartphone penetration, low internet costs, innovations like payment gateways and e-wallets, the rise of short-form video-sharing platforms, and availability of vernacular networks, among others. 

Likewise, Otipy is better than other alternatives and online portals due to factors such as affordable price, fresh and quality produce, chemical-free and eco-friendly packaging, etc. In fact, it also serves as an excellent platform for existing women resellers who are currently associated with Amway, Meesho, Tupperware, etc. and enable them to start selling fruits and vegetables from Otipy to their network of customers and boost income in the process.

To know more, please visit – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl2PzUwISoM&t=9s