ETP focuses on Asian retail shops

KUALA LUMPUR: Enterprise Technology Partners (ETP), a customer relationship management (CRM) services provider, aims to take on Asia's retail industry with its ready-made software packages.

Managing director Naresh Ahuja said ETP is targeting medium to large retail enterprises that owns 40 shops and more, with a focus on Asia, which has the world's largest consumer segment.

He believes that over time, Asia will also have the largest retail presence.

"We got 1.2 billion people in China, 1.2 billion in India, another few hundred million in Asean and another few hundred million in the Middle East," he said in an interview with Business Times.

One of the first few software product companies, ETP started in 1990, vastly concentrating on Indian market.

It went international in 2005 and has penetrated 14 countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

ETP focuses on industries such as lifestyle, apparel, fashion, footwear, accessories, luggage, jewellery, health and beauty products, home furnishing and watches.

With an average of 25 per cent year-on-year growth, ETP aims to have at least 60 per cent of retail companies in Malaysia using the ETP system.

This will be done by working with local designers as well as local and multinational companies in the country.

"Malaysian retailers are very forward thinking. There are some excellent local brands here that are coming up. We believe that many of these brands are going to go international," he said.

He expects that Malaysia will not be a market where international brands come and sell but it will build its own international brands across the region.

According to Ahuja, ETP targets to be among the world's top three retail software providers by 2020. This will be achieved by launching its product in China next year and having a presence in the UK and the US in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

ETP software helps the retail industry improve its CRM by providing better customer service, forecast, and promotions as well as supply chain management.