Luis Fernando and Bruno, from Napp: startup plans to connect physical retail inventory on Google (Napp / Disclosure)
For those who have none online presence, taking the first steps to expand business into the digital world can be daunting. With the covid-19 pandemic, the solution found by many traders and retailers was intermediate, how to connect to consumers via WhatsApp, for example.
Nevertheless, the problem remains: how to put inventory and inventory of a business on the internet and make it available to consumers? Napp Solutions, a startup founded in Leme, in the interior of São Paulo, closed a partnership with Google to try to solve this problem.
Basically, Napp connects to business management integration (ERP) software, which allows organizing retailers’ stocks, and puts that information online. Together with Google, it is possible to display this information in Internet searches, with cards that appear at the top of searches in the search engine.
For example, if a user searches for a specific product, the functionality allows him to show that the product is in stock at a store near his location, instead of directing it to a marketplace or an online store. The idea is interesting for the consumer because it allows access to goods faster than waiting for shipping and freight. For local businesses, there is greater capillarity and the possibility of reaching consumers.
According to Bruno Zenatte, director of operations at Napp, there are more than 800 software connected and the company covers 80% of the retail market in the country. The startup, which started with data collection to generate business intelligence in shopping malls, realized that it could combine this integration and digitize merchant stocks so that there could be sales on other channels, such as Google, marketplaces, B2W and even AliExpress. “We wanted to deliver the strength of online to the physical retailer, so that it would be as competitive as the online one, which has strength for price. Physics has an immediate product ”, he says.
Since the ads are linked directly with business management software, what appears on Google accurately shows whether there are many items in stock. If the units are coming to an end, the ad stops appearing, in order not to provide a bad experience, in which the consumer leaves the house, goes to the establishment and does not find what he was looking for.
According to Luis Fernando Vidigal, CEO of Napp, there are only 8 Google partners in this segment in the world. Napp is the only one active in Brazil and plans to expand operations in the first half to other regions of the world. The startup invested R $ 2 million in the solution and expects the product to represent 35% of the revenue for the next 8 months.
Vidigal and Zenatte even have plans for the long term: the calendar intends to hold an IPO in the USA in 2023, increasing production capacity and structuring an American commercial division. Today, the company has offices in São Paulo, São Carlos, Orlando and opened an operation in Portugal. Currently, Napp is looking for investors for a fourth round of funding.
“Some giant retailers already have this product, but it depends on a very large structure. These are companies like Best Buy, Walmart, Leroy Merlin. We created something simple, in which any retailer can have an ad on Google with his stock showing in real time ”, says Vidigal.
Napp was born as a solution for auditing in shopping malls, allowing to collect and generate intelligence about data from tenants. Being in the middle of this relationship has always been complicated, according to Vidigal, and the solution found was not to take something from someone without giving something in return. “How do we add more value to the shopkeeper? Today we are able to take him to market places, online, to give online and physical purchase options ”, he explains.
