Press Room
>Summer 2011 Update
>Two Years and Counting…
There are different ways to measure the age of a company — for example, from when the founder had the original idea, the first dollar spent or the date of legal incorporation. However, the definition we use most is when we received investment because that is when we ramped up our learning via hiring a team, turning protypes into market-ready products and spending every day with our customers. That date was two years ago this month.
While many challenges lie ahead, we’re proud of our accomplishments so far. First and foremost, our product Tiendatek has repeatedly and demonstrably helped our users to improve the profitability of their businesses. As a social venture this goal is core to everything we do. Second, by demonstrating value to companies and other organizations we are deploying phones more quickly and efficiently via new collaborations. As a for-profit company these partnerships help us scale in a repeatable way. Third, our team, culture and processes have fostered any environment where we continuously innovate. As people this makes Frogtek an exciting place to work.
Of course, none of this would be possible without friends and supporters like you so we want to thank you again for the last two years and the many, many more to come.
Tiendatek in the Top 15 of the Ashoka Changemaker’s Competition
We are thrilled to announce that out of nearly 900 entries from 83 countries, we have been selected as a top 15 semi-finalist in the Changemakers competition co-hosted by eBay Foundation and Ashoka’s Changemakers. The top 10 solutions with the most votes will go on to compete for five cash prizes of $50,000 USD each to invest in scaling their idea.
Collaboration with FEMSA Coca-Cola in Mexico Kicks Off
We are now working closely with FEMSA, the largest bottler for Coca-Cola in Latin America, to deploy Tiendatek in Mexico City. FEMSA regularly visits their best retail partners to provide a range of consulting services and negotiate prices and as part of this program they are now offering Tiendatek as a value-added service. To date the feedback from shopkeepers has been enormously positive and we are delivering phones with our software every week to new users.
Customer Spotlight: Using Information to Give More Power to Shopkeepers
Nearly every day we get feedback from our users about how Tiendatek has helped them to improve their businesses and we want to start sharing more of these stories.
In the case of Sara, a shopkeeper in Mexico, one anecdote in particular illustrates how Tiendatek has given her more power when negotiating with suppliers. A couple of months ago a salesperson was pushing a group of products so he could make his own quotas but through the Tiendatek reports Sara noticed that one of these items was not selling well. When Sara decided not to buy this product, the provider got upset and stopped his visits entirely, leading Sara to call his supervisor. The supervisor was so flabbergasted that he came to Sara’s store personally to apologize and assure her that sales visits would re-start immediately (and we hope he scolded the salesman).
This example about the democratization of market data not only empowers the shopkeeper, it also improves the supply chain by better aligning supply with demand and ensuring that products do not simply sit on a shelf collecting dust.
Operations Team Grows in Mexico and Colombia
We have grown the Operations teams in Mexico and Colombia to help roll out Tiendatek as well as provide additional training and support to our users.
Diego Velasquez, Sales Associate (Colombia). Prior to joining Frogtek Diego worked for 12 years in the sales group for Bavaria, the largest beer company in Colombia, where he sold a range of products to micro-retailers in Bogota. Welcome Diego!
Alberto Quiroz, Sales Associate (Mexico). Prior to joining Frogtek Alberto was a technical support engineer for Apple Computer in Mexico City where he worked on a range of customer service projects. Welcome Alberto!
Roberto Carlos, Sales Associate (Mexico). Prior to joining Frogtek Roberto was a Web and database programmer for InterMexico in Mexico City where he worked on numerous client projects and technologies. Welcome Roberto!
>Please vote for us in an Ashoka – eBay competition!
>We just made it to the semi-finals as one of 15 projects selected. From that pool, the 10 most voted will make it to the final, where 5 prizes of $50K will be allocated. So please help us win all this support and recognition for our shopkeepers! It only takes two clicks, using the widget below, or if you prefer it, you can also use this Facebook application or go straight to Changemaker’s website.
>A tribute to the barcode promoter
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Alan Haberman did not invent the barcode but was the chief responsible person for its wide adoption in its current form. He passed away recently and the New York Times dedicated him a glowing obituary:
Today, trillions of beeps later, what was once a novel technology with uncertain prospects is so widespread as to be almost invisible. It informs nearly every aspect of modern life, providing a means for people to buy and sell things, couriers to track packages and airlines to locate (in principle, anyway) lost luggage.
This transformation, industry experts say, is largely because of the work of one person, a supermarket executive from Massachusetts named Alan L. Haberman, who died on Sunday at 81.
Barcodes underpin our prosperous society by injecting efficiency in so many different ways. They have spread worldwide and can be found on almost all the packaged products consumed anywhere.
We take barcodes for granted but there are still millions of shops who fail to benefit from them. Almost 40 years after the standard was set by Mr Haberman, the vast majority of small retailers in emerging markets don’t have scanners. It is a bit of a tragedy, as 80-90% of the products they sell could be scanned and thus better managed.
Hopefully our Tiendatek and other systems from competitors will help bridge this gap and quickly spread the joyful beeps far and wide!
>Wealth creation and Internet usage in emerging markets
>As you can see in The Economist’s chart below, a gargantuan amount of wealth will be added to the economies of the emerging markets in the next few years. China will be responsible for the largest growth but Russia, Brazil and India also make the global top 6. Further down the list, Mexico will be adding a very impressive $200bn by September 2013.
Breakneck growth in these economies is clearly drawing attention from the world’s economic actors. Many of the largest multinationals see it as their next big source of growth. For instance, Coca Cola’s 2020 Vision calls for a doubling of revenues by that year, which would mostly come from emerging markets.
