CxO of the Week: Mr. Rajiv Kumar Aggarwal, CEO & Co-Founder, StoreHippo

CxO of the Week: Mr Rajiv Kumar Aggarwal is the co-founder and CEO of the SaaS Ecommerce Platform StoreHippo. Kumar is an industry veteran; highly skilled technologist with 20+ years of strong experience in Internet Technologies and E-Commerce. Rajiv founded StoreHippo in 2014 with the vision to build a global SaaS product from India. With customers in 20+ countries and 35+ business verticals, StoreHippo is now a global brand and industry leader in B2B and B2C Ecommerce.

Prior to founding StoreHippo, Rajiv worked as CEO of Manusis Technologies. He was instrumental in several technology products including GDGT, ClassPass, DesignByHumans, RCRDLBL. During his career, Rajiv has held technology leadership roles in multiple global technology companies. These include Oracle, E-Trade, STMicroelectronics, HCL, etc. With CiOL, here as CxO of the Week, he shares insights on the pandemic and the retail industry.

How are you personally dealing with the pandemic? Are there any new activities that you picked?

The pandemic and the lockdown has made us all rethink about so many things. Personally, I am focussing more on building up overall health, managing remote teams, spending time with family, so busier than ever in nutshell.

I picked up music lessons with my sons. It gives us quality time together where I am the student.

What were some of the things you miss while working from home? How did you maximize your productivity while working from home?

Sometimes I miss the regular hustle-bustle of the office environment, the vibrant energy of my teams and the usual bonhomie of everyday socializing. However, the overall productivity is very good as working from home has given more flexibility to arrange, plan and execute things in a more structured way for myself and my teams.

How Covid-19 increased the e-commerce industry? What will the new normal be?

Covid-19 has taken e-commerce 5 years ahead. While e-commerce was already hot and picking up rapidly, this scenario made everyone realize its relevance and need in our modern times. Now even conventional large and enterprise businesses are going online. From SMEs to enterprise businesses all are joining the ecommerce business now.

The new normal will be ecommerce solutions for almost everything be it, heavy industries, education, healthcare, FMCG, fashion or anything you can think of. And technology will play a big role in making things easier and facilitating the next wave of ecommerce 4.0.

Do AI and IoT impact the retail business today? How so?

Yes, AI and IoT are changing the retail business by helping in predictive analysis for better conversions and by offering immersive buying experiences to the customers. It’s all about offering your customers what they want and helping your business by helping your customers choose the best for themselves.

How has automation revamped the B2B and B2C business models?

Automation has made both B2B and B2C business models faster, streamlined, more efficient and more targeted.

What are, say, five reasons why local entrepreneurs should move to "online"?

Gives them better reach, helps them take a lead in the local market while competitors are still stuck with the offline model, easy to be found by customers searching online options, better marketing ROI, chances of becoming a local bestseller is higher with hyperlocal ecommerce.

What are the challenges one faces in driving digital transformation in retail? How to overcome them?

The main challenge is finding the right ecommerce software that not only supports the current business model but can be relied upon for the future. Basically, your ecommerce solution needs to take care of all your selling needs today and in times to come. Also, there is a dearth of solutions that take care of end to end online selling requirements like payment solutions, shipping, marketing, taxation, accounting etc.

To overcome these challenges one should invest time and look for solutions that offer a comprehensive, technologically advanced and mobile-ready solution for retail businesses.

What tech is transforming the retail industry Post COVID-19?

Post COVID-19 retail industry would be driven by mobile commerce, headless commerce along with AI and IoT. While mobile is already the norm, headless commerce is helping personalize customer experiences and giving more customer touchpoints. AI and IoT are offering real-shop like buying experiences to the customers helping them buy better and more often.

Some trends that are here to stay?

First thing, social distancing precautions will be there. And with the conditioning of buying online during pandemics, more and more people will opt for online purchases. So, e-commerce, rather, m-commerce is here to stay. And offering the most seamless buying journey to customers is the key.

Fore previous CxO of the Week, read here.