CustomerGlu Helping Companies Give Customers What They Want
Artificial Intelligence has picked up tremendously over the last few decades, becoming an integral part of the digital world. Several Indian AI start-ups have been able to make a name for themselves in this highly competitive tech space. The market comprises several niches including, retail, computer vision, image processing, and automation. One particular area wherein AI has tremendous scope, which has not fully materialised yet is in improving e-commerce platforms. CustomerGlu is a company hoping to change all that, by revolutionising the way eCommerce businesses run offers that save money while converting more using AI. Here’s a look at what the company does, and how it has quickly grown to become a leader in the space.
Giving Customers Incentives while improving profitability
The company, formerly known as Marax.AI burst into the scene with their SaaS platform named Mars in 2019. The tool was the first of its kind, helping businesses optimise and personalise their discounting budgets. Using Artificial Intelligence, the platform helped companies run the most optimised discount campaigns for their products. It also used a privacy-first model, assisting companies in reaching out to their target audience across niches and devices. The tool nudged customers into completing a transaction or purchase by providing them with the right discount rate based on a budget.
AI-Driven Approach
The Mars tool utilised deep reinforcement learning principles to recommend and allocate the right discount rate for different users. Furthermore, the software allowed companies to improve their overall marketing, purchasing, and discount experience for users. Also, it did all this without intruding or invading user privacy, making it the perfect tool to reach out to larger audiences. The AI engine monitors data points from the user’s cycle, studying their interactions and behaviour. It then gains an understanding of their intent and engages them through a multistep recommendation process – while considering the cost control constraints for the business. The product aims to help e-Commerce companies improve their net revenues while saving money. CustomerGlu does that by allowing companies to do the following:
- Personalise offers, discounts and recommendations on categories, brands, and products for individual users.
- Reduce the cost of Offers by optimising the offer’s budget and the product’s discount margins.
- After initial integration, users have access to a built-in library of Offer UIs for easy application.
The company now uses Microsoft’s Azure platform to run its SaaS platform which enables it to provide customers with the most competitive prices. CustomerGlu received a grant of $120,000 in credits as they are a part of Microsoft for Startups initiative.
Early Steps
The company came to be in 2016, intending to help online businesses solve issues they had related to churn rates. Since then, the company has grown tremendously, aiding the likes of Rapido in optimising their discount experience. The initial team consisted of Prateek Gupta, Raman Shrivastava, and Sumant Subrahamanya. The team has raised their seed round from the likes of Amit Singhal(Former Head of Google Search), SmartStart, and Artesian.VC. The Bangalore-based offer marketing and AI-powered SaaS start-up also has an office in Palo Alto, California. The main mission of the company is to help businesses improve their net revenues while reducing the cost per transaction. By offering users personalised & optimized offers and discounts, the tool helps eCommerce businesses become more profitable.
Funding and Growth
Marax.AI incubated at a start-up accelerator and seed fund named Axilor. Kris Gopalakrishnan and SD Shibulal, who co-founded Infosys were the brains behind Axilor. The rise in the importance of applied reinforcement learning in marketing to connect analytics with automated actions at the segment of one is what pushed the founders to start something like Mars, which helps companies improve profits on every transaction. The tool solves this problem by contextualizing the offers for higher conversions while reducing the cost per transaction.
Clients and Success
In fact, the use of the Mars tool helped DailyNinja(now acquired by BigBasket) reduce churn by around 17%. CustomerGlu is currently in use by a curated set of early adopters like a preventive healthcare app GOQii(Mumbai) to improve net revenue by 10-30%, and cutting costs by 50-77%. Mumbai-based cosmetics e-commerce company Purplle and Jakarta-based delivery service named Sealog are beginning to use the platform.
Investors and Advisors
The company has also raised funds from Amit Singhal(Former Head of Google Search), SmartStart, and Artesian.VC, and are in talks to raise their next round. They also plan on improving their ML and AI model and want to expand their team to scale their company to broader enterprise markets. The firm also receives support and business advice from PK Gulati, who is the Chairman Emeritus and Founder of the TiE Dubai Chapter and Dr. Srinivas Padmanabhuni, who has a PhD. in AI from the University of Alberta, assists the team in improving the design of their Reinforcement Learning engine.
From Marax.AI to CustomerGlu
The four-year-old start-up recently repackaged their offerings and launched under the name of CustomerGlu in March 2020. Since the company’s primary aim is to help e-commerce players improve net revenues while reducing the cost per transaction, the new name seems to ‘stick’ well.
What’s next for CustomerGlu?
CustomerGlu takes care of both budgetary constraints and retention goals. By striking the right balance between optimizing profitability and making offers contextual, the company has proven to be a massive success. By 2021, experts predict that over 2.5 Trillion transactions will occur through mobile devices bringing in revenue worth more than $3 Trillion. CustomerGlu aims to help businesses improve their margins by 10-30% leading to billions of dollars in profit. It will be interesting to see how the company expands, reaching out to more businesses, and helping them give their customers exactly what they need!
Vocal for Local Campaign
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced several businesses to focus on digital growth and expansion. Many brick-and-mortar stores and retail outlets are now taking their business online, and foraying into the e-commerce industry. The Indian government’s push for “Vocal for Local” encourages the sale of Indian products and brands. Therefore, Indian companies now have an opportunity to pledge their support for local industries and accelerate the initiative of Atmanirbhar Bharat, or Self-reliant India. CustomerGlu can work with such e-commerce companies and help them with improving conversions and boosting their ROIs.
By using a plethora of strategies and campaigns like Cart Discounts, Product discount recommendations, Reward, and Activity UI programs the company helps companies drive their profitability.
Being a cinephile with a love for all things outdoorsy, Athulya never misses a chance to chase inspiring stories or poke fun at things, even when the subject is herself. Currently pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, she is someone innately interested in technical and scientific research. Music reviews and op-eds define her as they allow her to explore different perspectives. Though sometimes she thinks she makes more sense playing the guitar than she does while writing.