Member Article

Sekel Tech expands into the UK with its hyperlocal, AI powered platform for brands

Sekel Tech, which was founded in Bengaluru, India in 2014, is launching its successful hyperlocal SaaS platform in the UK, reflecting the growing predictions and trends (from Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey amongst others) around the need for marketers to focus on the hyperclose, hyperlocal needs of consumers. Sekel Tech’s “dynamic engagement commerce” platform for national and international brands, helps bricks and mortar businesses generate and drive sales by bridging the online-offline consumer experience of brands and seamlessly integrating the physical and digital worlds.

According to Sekel Tech, hyperlocal activity, marketing and engagement has emerged as a major business imperative for enterprises particularly for those with 100+ locations. Sekel Tech plans substantial investment to rapidly scale up and grow UK market share, establish a London office and use the UK as a base to then extend further into the EMEA region. It points to data such as the UK having recorded a 39% increase in hyperlocal food deliveries over the last three years with a rapid evolution in digital logistics tools and technology as a key reason why it believes the UK market is ready for Sekel Tech.

Sekel Tech provides a single, AI powered, platform that includes the more typical listing management, store locator or reputation management processes (for example Google My Business and reviews) coupled with significant value-add and differentiated services such as location based microsite creation and management (within the brand’s domain), sentiment analysis, lead management, offers and campaigns, blogs and articles, product catalogues and extensive real time analytics across the entire customer engagement.

Commenting on the company’s UK launch, founder and CEO Rakesh Raghuvanshi says “We will put the power and first party data back in the hands of our customers through one cost-effective platform delivering visibility and benefit across five key pillars within the organisation: customers; operational efficiency; technology; people and culture and governance. We look forward to helping UK businesses to get organically discovered and then engage and grow their customers.”

The platform supports brands to win organically across search by distributing and engaging through relevant contextual and personalised content that helps consumers make seamless, informed and efficient buying decisions. Sekel Tech is already successfully working with many well-known brands (including Bridgestone, Goodyear, Grohe, Gulf Oil, Unilever) and companies in sectors such as fashion, lifestyle and electronics retail, automotive, luxury retail, homewares and housewares.

Raghuvanshi adds “For us, an AI-powered SaaS company, we see the UK as the best possible market for retail and we want to have our own offices and team in place to cater to our customers here. UK businesses will now enjoy having a single view and control of all the digital transformation initiatives that are planning to provide a positive business impact on a local level, showing them the impact of every penny spent on digital marketing with real-time insights so they can immediately analyse and take action on their spend.”

Heading the UK operation is newly appointed Head of Business, Mark Walker-Smith who joins with 25 years’ experience particularly in Retail, Automotive, and Financial Services. Immediately prior to joining Sekel Tech he worked for Digitopia, helping the company establish itself in the UK market and managing its business development and previously worked for LTI (Larsen & Toubro Infotech) on heading up new business for UK and Europe.

“Sekel Tech’s ambitious growth plan is based on our analysis that the UK is primed for digital retail disruption, it’s a digitally aware market which is growing rapidly. Organisations are looking to mitigate the business risk of losing their own customers’ first-party data to aggregators and BIG technology” says Walker-Smith.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Samantha Smith .