Ticnpic is India’s first Network based Product search which takes into account both e-commerce and local commerce and includes augmented reality to make search easier. It lets you pick any product from any online shopping website and post it on your account and enjoy your own shopping space to compare, share and buy. You can follow people to get connected with new trending products, and to select the best choice for you. In this way you can buy the best product by comparing and sharing, thus making shopping easier.
Pixr8 caught up with Saurabh Gupta, the Operational Manager & Head Automobile Department (R&D) of Ticnpic. Here is the story of Ticnpic –
The Beginning
The founders of Ticnpic had a good background and experience of e-commerce, building of shopping portals and associated processes. The idea for Ticnpic came up as they were looking for a unique idea to make a difference in the e-commerce industry by concentrating on the challenges being faced by the e-commerce industry, like logistics and inventory. And also study problems of the buyers. Are the buyers able to utilise the large inventory, are they satisfied and can they trust the reviews posted on various websites ?
So the idea of Ticnpic came up, which was designed in a manner that products from different portals can be brought on to a common platform to obtain recommendations from our friends, permitting people to comment and interact and in fact create a network of products.
On Ticnpic, you can also see a product you like on the street, click a snap and post it on the platform. The network can offer advice and best price for that product. It works by removing the intermediaries, where people decide what is best for themselves.
What’s Unique About Ticnpic
Ticnpic is a user-created networking platform, where we segregate of local commerce and e-commerce market. Hence, the USP of Ticnpic is that it helps you buy better. It’s a ‘social e-commerce’ platform, where a product is searched on a network. It’s ‘Linkedin’ for products.
Ticnpic is a social platform. It permits research on a product based on a network, better references and comparisons which permit better buying. Once you make a profile on Ticnpic, you can link up with like-minded people who have same interests in products. You can take the URL of the product from different portals and put it on the platform. All details would automatically appear on the page. Or you can take a photo of the product and upload. You can also take a photo of a product from local commerce. The website does image processing and finds the product for you.
At times buyers are not sure if the product is suitable for them. They can compare two products and post them and draw votes from people for better decision making. People who follow you can also advise you on your choice. As Ticnpic is a user-created network, it makes selection easier. The website has unique filters and a unique algorithm makes available the minimum price across several platforms.
Buyers often do a lot of research before buying. Ticnpic enables wider opinion coverage. It researchers reviews, and products and all of these are consolidated at one place. Hence it reduces your research effort. Products similar to the one you are researching are also suggested.
On other e-commerce websites the reviews may be old or not from the youth or like-minded people. On Ticnpic, the feedback from users would be more attuned to you. It also enables local commerce to get on to social network platforms.
Ticnpic makes it possible to create new contacts as well – with your permission of course. You can choose people to follow, with their consent. Anyone who has experienced the product across the Ticnpic platform can comment on your research.
Ticnpic is responsive to sales launched on various e-commerce websites. A part of the functionality, caters for sales and gives the genuine minimum price since our platform researches across multiple platforms. Dynamic algorithms auto-correct to updated price. The current and updated price is displayed. An advantage the buyer gets is that in case a product is at a lower price on a less popular site, even that is picked up by our functionality and the lowest price is listed.
Gathering the Team
The tech part of the website was the difficult part since it was required to be precise and customized to the need of the users. And there was no previous example of such work. Getting a good technical workforce was the first challenge. All of the technical team of Ticnpic have a Masters in their respective fields. They are a self-sustained organization since their inception in October 2013, and it took more than 18 months to reach the desired precision for the technology. As there was no previous reference – it took a lot of time to develop the correct functionality. The team credits passion and patience for their success.
Ticnpic has a team 11. Two of these handle operations and HR and the rest are technical.
The Future
Ticnpic is looking for options of funding but nothing is finalised so far. They hope to conclude a few issues in the next three to four months. They aim to establish Ticnpic as a single point platform where multiple searches converge – to make personal shopping easier. They are also planning to start with local delivery services and want to tap into the local commerce market. Also, in the third year, they look to expand overseas.
Message to the Youth
Their message to new entrepreneurs and startups is that ‘If you have conviction in your idea, don’t listen to others – if you believe in something go for it. Don’t worry about failure – it’s your decision, be proud of it’.
About Author:
Lively, talented, strong willed Arian, Arushi loves to experiment and innovate. A budding marketer – HR enthusiast – DIY artist – music lover – having more layers to her personality than hyphenated definitions can accommodate. Currently, she’s wrapping up her grad at DU and looking at the future with wonder and expectation. A keen explorer who has traveled extensively in India and aims to soak up the rest of the world soon!