TVS-E to offer retail solutions

N R Sethuraman

Chennai

March 24th, 2008

TVS-E has announced plans to work closely with top retail solution providers
(SPs), across the country under the 'Retail Solutions Provider (RSP) Forum. The
forum is a bid to provide customized solutions for customer, using TVS-E's
hardware and SP's software. Said PB Ganesh Kumar, Senior Manager-Transaction
Products, TVS-E, "The retail segment requires a vertical domain expertise
which is available with retail software developers. It would be ideal for us to
join hands with these SPs and provide retail solutions to address customer needs
together."

Throwing light on the initiative, Kumar added, "Each software is
distinctively different from the other. Offering the right solution to each
customer is the USP of this retail solution forum from TVS-E," informed
Kumar. During the next one year, TVS-E plans to connect 600 towns with this
forum and for this they are looking at appointing retail SPs area wise.

He also said that the retail industry would be a Rs 5,000 crore market by the
end of 2010 and there are enormous opportunities for this forum as the market
grows. "Industries like groceries and pharma have lots of solutions, and a
few players in Chennai have done an extremely great job and pioneered well in
the retail industry. We saw this as an opportunity to use the forum to partner
with SPs and address customer needs," he averred. He also said that the
retail software developed through the forum have been reasonably priced to make
it affordable for automating any retail outlet of any range.

TVS-E plans to initiate a marketing effort for this initiative and will
replicate the same in every town across the country. "With these customized
solutions, we will be able to address any vertical. This move will be a big boon
for the retail industry," Kumar claimed. He added that the large packaged
software providers in the country are not willing to customize even 20 percent
to the needs of users. Through the forum, software providers would understand
customer requirements and accordingly cater to the specific needs of the owner.

So far TVS-E has tied up with 100 retail SPs in Chennai, 85 in Bangalore and
25 in Coimbatore. "There is a joint memorandum of understanding between us
to attend joint marketing calls and customer initiatives. TVS-E has plans to
rope in the local system integrators and retail SPs to drive this initiative to
different places across the country," he informed.