Mr.Ankur Goel is a zestful web professional. He demonstrates an experience of 20+ years in the field of IT. He has a very optimistic view of the future. Also, he believes that inspiring entrepreneurs stepping in the business domain are somehow settling.
Incepted in 2014, Zencommerce India works towards providing ideal E-commerce platform solutions. The platform is SaaS-based and user-friendly. Zencommerce India caters to entrepreneurs looking to set up their business depending on the buying/selling activities on the internet.
Professionals willing to expand their business globally through the online store (webshop) & online market can seek Zencommerce’s assistance.
With over 5000 users, Zencommerce India is leading in the domestic E-commerce market, while helping micro to large trading companies operate locally and internationally. Zencommerce is high-rated eCommerce software, it is SaaS-based software which offers more than 250 in-built options where customers can use drag and drop as per their requirements. This eCommerce software is integrated with Messaging apps, Payment Gateway & Logistic companies that gives you hassle-free experience for the customers. Zencommerce has designed packages that are all-inclusive of hosting and domain charges where a customer can upload up to 50000 products; hence, it has been awarded as ‘Best Online Store Platform’ for three consecutive years – 2013, 2014, and 2015.
In Conversation with Ankur Goel, Founder of Zencommerce
What inspired you to start something like Zencommerce?
We live in an internet era today. Thus, we have so many alternatives available for any product and everything is just at our fingertips. After the online presence, physical stores noticed a relative decrease in footfall because the internet world has grown, we have so much information and alternatives available online especially when it comes to the business. When we talk about business, it’s hard to trust any business that does not have a website.
I soon comprehended the essence of the online market and e-store. But the fact that every shopkeeper cannot bear the expenses of having an online store was also lingering in my mind. So, I built a SaaS-based, pocket-friendly eCommerce platform (Software as a Service). Thus, shopkeepers, entrepreneurs, and start-ups can easily afford it – not to forget, even those who have a single product or more than 50000 products to sell.
I started ‘Zencommerce India’ as I have seen how small shopkeepers, entrepreneurs, and start-ups are struggling to do the business beyond territory and restricting themselves by supplying products to a limited area only, and I could sense that there is a lot of potentials and also a need for every business person to take the brand globally, so online shopping plays a very vital role in today’s life.. So, a shopkeeper who decides to run an online store parallely, can make his product available globally as well as get brand recognition (which is equally important in today’s era).
What helps you to stay updated, interested and inspired?
We believe in constant updating and staying up-to-date with the latest technology and business. The world is quickly changing and so are we. With the time we have grown, we have learned from the industry and we have updated ourselves accordingly. This software industry is different, everything is getting digitized but not everything; like small businesses, they are still struggling to earn the profit and that’s why Zencommerce came into existence.
Zencommerce’s motive was to bring small shopkeepers online and that too very instantly; hence, Zencommerce provides e-commerce platforms to those small businesses at an affordable price. We meet different types of clients. We make different types of websites all the time which helps us to stay interested and when those shopkeepers achieve online business success we get highly inspired. (So we have a saying: orders on their e-store inspires us).
Considering the pace at which the SaaS market is growing, how important is it to keep innovating to stay in the game?
Yes, you are absolutely correct, the SaaS market is growing 20% every year since, and it is very much important to keep innovating to stay in the industry. Hence, Zencommerce keeps on innovating the software and Zencommerce always analyzes the needs and requirements of the customers and keeps on updating the software accordingly in a much timely manner along with maintaining the server so there won’t be any downtime for any e-store.
Zencommerce came up with a feature which is called PWA (Progressive Web App) which solves major requirements of the mobile application. The discount coupon mechanism present in Zencommerce is such that one can provide discounts in percentage(%) as well as value (currency). Zencommerce has many amazing features that hardly any other e-commerce platform companies would provide.
What is the one thing that puts your product apart from the crowd?
One thing about Zencommerce that makes it stand different in the market is its Price. Zencommerce provides instant online stores at such an affordable price that anyone in this world can afford, even a startup with a very low budget can afford a Zencommerce solution; hence, we have been awarded as “Most Affordable eCommerce Platform.”
Zencommerce provides budget-friendly inbuilt functionalities; thus, facilitating payment acceptance against the products in their online store. To make the website attractive Zencommerce provided the creative layouts and pool of graphic skins. It enables updating the web stores right from its mobile application, whereas the admin can manage the webshop from their administration panel. With the changing needs of an online store, Zencommerce ensures it continues to evolve and adapt to its customers’ requirements. (the example we all know getting traffic on the website is equally important, hence Zencommerce platform comes along with an SEO in-built tool where one can manage all Title/Meta keywords along with creating custom URL of the page. Zencommerce also offers in-built blog writing which further boosts the traffic on the website.
Is there anything most critical you are working on right now? If so, how are you making it happen?
Yes, Zencommerce believes in constant updating; hence, we are working on two critical but amazing features right now that will help our customers to grow and get success.
First, we want our customers to generate the orders on their webshop so we are working on the area of marketing tools where we can increase the traffic flow to our customer’s online store and also we want our customers to get recognition in the market.
Second, we want our platform to be a multi-vendor platform where a customer can have multiple vendors at a time. Anyone who wishes to become like Amazon or Flipkart this feature is for you.
What is the most interesting thing about your job?
The most interesting thing about my job is I get to talk to different types of people and their businesses. I get to understand their products and their needs, who is their target audience, how do they want to sell their products, what thoughts do they have about their websites, and more. We get a lot of creative ideas from our clients which makes me feel so happy and that’s why I love my job and this industry. Many times after assessing a project requirement, if I see the idea is unique or interesting, then I self story-board the whole project.
Define the work culture of Zencommerce.
Zencommerce is a growing company in the industry. We keep updating ourselves and our services, Zencommerce’s team is very enthusiastic about their work, they’re passionately available for their customers and they deliver their work on time. Everyone works as a team in Zencommerce when a person has workload others help that person to finish the work. Zencommerce people are hardworking and also they have fun in the office. They go on outings or picnic, sometimes they arrange games in the office to balance the work and fun. People in Zencommerce are always available for their customers even after their office hours which makes me feel like I don’t have a team; I have a family there who is not working for me but working with me.
Yes while growing up in this industry we faced a lot of challenges and also we got a lot of opportunities. At the initial stage, it was a tough decision to decide whether to offer the whole software as a single point or offering as SaaS but considering the market and other factors, we finally decided to go for Saas. Another biggest challenge we faced in our initial period was the Price in Indian Market. We had to study the market in India and after analyzing we decided to go for the lowest price with many benefits all-in-one.
Speaking about the opportunity, we got many. Currently, Zencommerce stands in the market with more than 5000 customers globally. We have customers like Jhama Sweets, Unibic Cookies, Mahindra Retail, Espelho Bags and some of the Page3 customers like Nisha Rawal and Karan Mehra.
Where do you see Zencommerce in the upcoming years?
India is a country where most people are not dependent on others when it comes to business or money. They are hard-working yet innovating. Some people open their own business; some can afford a physical store but some are operating their business from home. But as I said earlier, it is difficult to trust a business without a website; hence, we provide instant e-commerce platforms at the most affordable prices which anyone can afford, even a college student can afford our platform. Zencommerce aims to see every business online, even small businesses can expand their reach globally. Zencommerce and its support team is always ready to help you.
SoftwareSuggest empowers businesses to discover top business software and service partners. Our software experts list, review, compare and offer a free consultation to help businesses find the right software and service solutions as per their requirement. We have helped 500,000+ businesses get the right software and services globally. Get a free consultation today!
