From finding out the next biggest party in the city to helping you book a tatkal train ticket, Bengaluru-based Supertextnow claims to get all your tasks done within minutes by using chat as a platform. All you have to do is either text or WhatsApp them on 8884455506. To make it more convenient for their users, they are now also available on Facebook messenger so that their users can get their errands done on the go.
Earlier this year, Mathew Johny, Avinash Hegde and Sai Krishna launched their operations across Bengaluru with their new interface that allows users to ‘Chat’ with a virtual task manager that they call ‘Supertext’. “Many Indians have leapfrogged over desktops to mobile phones directly, where chat is the primary mode of interaction. Supertext is automated in parts by personalised chat bots that interact with different vendors, service providers and logistic services on your behalf to provide a seamless buying experience; aggregating existing players in the market that can fulfill your needs,” says Mathew.
Supertext currently offers three services to consumers which are finding various service providers (home services,rescue services and specialists), buying locally available products from stores and restaurants and delivering to you doorstep and booking travel and hotel tickets, all through chat. “We have processed over 10,000 unique customers through our existing platforms and we do between 100-150 requests daily,” adds Mathew.
Mathew claims that they get majority of the requests either post 11 pm or early morning with users texting the Supertext team with a list of errands they want the team to run through. “We are a hyperlocal aggregator of aggregators helping our users access multiple services that enable consumers services 24/7. We once got a request from two girls around 1 am who had just moved in and required mattresses and pillows, we made sure that our vendors were available for this request and we successfully fulfilled their requests,” says Mathew.
According to Mathew they have been testing and collecting data over the past couple of months to understand how consumers use chat for commerce over existing chat platforms such as WhatsApp, SMS and Facebook and are launching a web app and mobile app in December. “We have even addressed a lot of requests in terms of social causes; one such request came from a woman who wanted help finding an NGO because she had a homeless person outside her house on the verge of dying and she wanted an NGO to take him into their shelter. We provided her with the contact number and that was one of our many success stories. Followed by this we started receiving a lot of such requests. We have kids texting us asking us to pick up their books and donate it to charity,” adds Mathew. They will soon be expanding to Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.