Startup interview: Jose Bonilla, CEO and Co-founder, Chiper
Chiper, an e-commerce platform pitched at the Latin American corner store market, recently made headlines with a $12 million Series A round. CEO and Co-founder Jose Bonilla tells RTIH what all the fuss is about.
RTIH: Tell us about Chiper
JB: Chiper is Latin America’s top e-commerce platform enabling corner stores in the region to grow and thrive.
With over 3,000 customers across Colombia and Mexico, the company has built the largest branded network of digitised corner stores in Latin America. Through our demand driven logistics platform, we provide a compelling customer experience to help member stores make smart decisions to optimise performance.
RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?
JB: Our inspiration is our users - the entrepreneurs and owners of independent stores - that have been fighting against adverse conditions to survive and thrive.
We understand their problems and began offering them new ways to source the products they needed by working closely with them to understand that they need companies like Chiper to improve their purchasing power, their profits, and their quality of life.
RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far?
JB: Our users are transitioning from a traditional way of doing things to newer (and better) options like Chiper.
When we started, there were paradigms around this channel - the traditional companies said that our users were never going to use an app because they were used to buy from a sales guy that goes in every day to their store.
Today, that paradigm that has been overcome by us and our users, who were willing to prove our platform viability and have been signing up in droves.
We are taking this even further by building a system to allow these stores to operate automatically on inventory management. If Uber wants their cars to self-drive, we want the same for stores, allowing these entrepreneurs to concentrate on the most important tasks like customer service and expanding their businesses.
“Our inspiration is our users - the entrepreneurs and owners of independent stores - that have been fighting against adverse conditions to survive and thrive”
RTIH: What has been your biggest challenge/setback?
JB: Like with any other startup, our biggest challenge is to grow fast and have good margins, while still being relevant and building an economic engine at the same time.
We know our users want what we provide, as every day we see their adoption of our platform and increases in orders. This business is about rational buying decisions so you have to fulfil, in an extraordinary way, your value prop to be able to succeed.
RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing the omnichannel retail sector right now?
JB: For many in the sector, the biggest challenge is being prepared to open new channels for users to communicate and interact with your company.
Most big retailers in Latin America are going in this direction, but you can still experience horrible customer service - easy to buy but very hard to solve problems when they happen.
Another big challenge is having efficient, reliable and fast delivery - most retailers right now deliver up to a week later, with some even taking up to a month. Lastly, companies need to understand who their users are and need to implement strategies to treat them according to their needs - users are not an average number.
RTIH: What's the best question about your company or the market asked of you recently by an investor and a customer?
JB: An investor: Why don’t your users buy everything through Chiper?
A customer: How I can increase my sales with Chiper?
RTIH: What can we expect to see from Chiper over the next 12 months?
JB: It is our hope that in the next year, you will see us everywhere in Mexico and Colombia. Store owners are increasingly becoming entrepreneurs who want to remove their main pain points to run their business effectively.
We are going to be working with users to improve their profits and their quality of life. We would become essential for them as well as they are for us. With this rapid growth, relevance and the economic engine, it would allow us to take Chiper anywhere in the world where a corner stores exists.