Chennai: Aiming to ensure small businesses including MSMEs, more visibility and also a platform to compete with national or international players, two experts who worked with Walmart, quit their high-profile jobs and have come up with a unique app – duNOW (pronounced due now).duNOW has a free basic plan that gives businesses a digital store front to display products / services and accept payments 24x7 – the premium plan unlocks all the features of the product and is extremely affordable. With flexible pricing (between Rs.20 to Rs.35 per day) businesses can choose a license that suits their budget.
It is the brainchild of Srivathsan Krishnamurthy and his friend Bharath Balachandran, also the co-founder. Both worked together at Walmart and that’s when they were acquainted with the problems that small businesses had. They decided to make a change and quit their jobs in the USA and came to India to follow their dream. This powerful app with both B2C & B2B functionality does away with the need to have many separate apps and integrates numerous functions into one.
It has been designed after intense research and studies of market patterns and behaviour. This makes it a practical app that is tuned to ground realities. It has all the basic essentials for a business viz., catalogue, payments, digital receipts, conversations, feedback and more. With built-in support for multi-locations; businesses that have presence in more than one geographical location can now take their brand right into the hands of their customers.
Says founder Srivathsan Krishnamurthy, “we put most of the things that you do daily in your business on a mobile device so that you can be hands-on anytime. Now you can see how things are going at your business - no matter where you are.”
According to Bharath Balachandran, in less than 5 minutes digital divide will be history for businesses. “People like genuine businesses. So, we have integrated offline aadhaar authentication at the time of sign up for the businesses to win the trust of customers. Unlike social media apps where fake businesses are widely prevalent duping customers, you can be assured of genuineness of businesses in duNOW.”
Dispenses with servers, IT personnel:‘With life time free upgrades to new features of the product, businesses can now focus on delivering impactful and personalised experiences for their customers and differentiate themselves from the rest and not worry about the hassles and costs of maintaining servers, IT personnel and so on.
This app can work for a wide range of businesses ranging from car and bike dealerships, apartment & resident associations, paying guest accommodations, passenger & commercial vehicle fleet operators, restaurants, hotels, gym and yoga studios.
Educational centres such as day care, after school activity centres, infant care and so on can also benefit. It’s ideal for home-based entrepreneurs such as personal chefs, bakers, handcrafted soap makers, and organic farmers.
Publishers of newspapers, books and magazines will also find this easy and convenient to use. It’s a boon for agencies who are into renting of kitchen appliances, laundry, air-conditioning, tv & entertainment, furniture and bed and so on. Dairies, pharmacies, diagnostic labs, couriers and similar businesses will reap benefits from the advantages offered too.
In the list is also included sports and recreation — academies, tournament organisers, sporting venues, personal trainers, event managers and much more.
