Qashier Founders Christopher Choo (left) and Franklin Zhao Liang
Singapore-based Qashier has been quite busy recently with the launch of its newest products.
In an email interview with e27, co-founder and CEO Christopher Choo details the new products that Qashier is releasing recently, starting with its flagship smart point-of-sale (POS) terminal Qashier X2 and the lightweight and portable QashierXS.
According to the company, this is a first-of-its-kind POS terminal that combines both POS and payment solutions. These next-generation pieces of hardware aim to deliver Qashier’s newly integrated capabilities on a single, sleek device.
“In addition, we are cementing our vision to champion and support SMEs through the launch of Qashier SME Support Package in Singapore. Open to all Singapore-registered businesses, we will immediately approve eligible applicants and provide up to 53 per cent sponsorship of its POS and payment solutions,” Choo says.
“This initiative will further extend our reach to a wider pool of merchants to help them digitalise their business operations.”
To complete the milestones, Choo has also been named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 – Asia – Finance & Venture Capital (2023).
To understand more about how Qashier approaches growing their business and what is coming up next for them, check the edited excerpt of our conversation with Choo.
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As a growth stage startup, is there any difference in how you approach your business strategy compared to how your company was in its early stages?
In the early stages, it was all about achieving product-market fit as fast as possible. The question we often asked ourselves was: “How quickly can we build a product that serves a deep need in our target market and are our customers willing to pay for it?”
To this end, Franklin and I spent months speaking to hundreds of SMEs across various sectors to understand their deep pain points before consolidating insights and then building and launching the first version of our product, QashierX1.
Now at the growth stage, we’re focused on deepening the product suite, solving a broader set of needs for our merchants, and building scalable and repeatable growth engines to acquire more merchants on our platform.
What is your approach to growing your business?
We believe that merchant success is our success. We are relentlessly focused on the needs and successes of the merchants we serve, helping them achieve their goals by increasing revenue, decreasing costs and streamlining operations. Personally, I also subscribe to the belief in thinking big, starting small and, most importantly, moving fast.
What is your revenue model, and how did you come up with it?
We have two main revenue streams: software subscriptions and payment processing fees. As we are hyper-focused on serving and empowering SMEs, we designed our pricing model so that our services remain affordable for these companies.
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Can you tell us about the profile of your users and how you acquire them?
We serve primarily SMEs in the food and beverage, retail, beauty, events and service sectors. Our merchant acquisition channels include a mix of inbound and outbound sales, as well as a network of third-party referrals and reseller partners.
Which aspect of your business plays a crucial role in helping you build a sustainable company?
My co-founder Franklin and I started Qashier to solve a real-world problem and bring true value to our merchants. We continuously listen to the needs of our merchants to improve both the hardware and software of our platform so that we cater to the evolving needs of businesses in today’s digital economy.
What is the most valuable insight you get when it comes to building a sustainable tech business today?
People are the greatest asset of any organisation. From day one, we were intentional with building a culture that values openness and transparency, empowerment and excellence, and speed and innovation. We are rigorous in our hiring process, and we look out for talented individuals who are strongly aligned with our values and culture.
Today, we have 150 team members in four countries across Southeast Asia, and we’re proud to have built a team that is both efficient and passionate. We would not have been able to come this far without the dedication and commitment of the Qashier team.
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How do the back-to-back global crises affect your business? How do you deal with it?
We pride ourselves on being flexible and adaptable so that we can respond quickly to the changing needs of the market and merchants.
For example, the pandemic hit months after Franklin and I started Qashier. We very quickly transformed Qashier’s platform into one that offered omnichannel capabilities, aligning with businesses that had to pivot to e-commerce. We then introduced solutions such as online and QR code-based ordering, ad delivery platforms and e-commerce integrations, among others.
As the pandemic also accelerated the adoption of cashless and contactless payments, we ensured that our platform allows merchants to accept a wide variety of these payments (such as cards, e-wallets, and BNPL) with just one account.
What opportunities do you plan to seize in the next few years?
We’ve set our sights beyond Asia Pacific (APAC) and look forward to preparing our foray into new markets. Qashier’s unique proposition lies in having a powerful, first-of-its-kind POS terminal that combines both POS and payment solutions, so we are optimistic that we can help the commerce landscape of the future become a level playing field for businesses of all sizes.
As we continue to scale and grow Qashier, we are also keen to explore various ways to give back to the SME community. As such, we started Qashier for Social Enterprise last year to provide sponsorships to social enterprises and NGOs like Don8uri, allowing them to use our solutions for the betterment of their businesses.
We also recently launched Qashier SME Support Package (QSP) in Singapore to bring our solutions to more businesses by offering an in-house subsidy.
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What kind of improvement do you wish to make to your platform?
Launching the new edition of our flagship device QashierX2 and the lightweight and portable QashierXS is just the beginning for Qashier.
We’re working toward creating a fully integrated solution that is device agnostic and that also seamlessly integrates with other commonly used business tools such as HR, marketing, procurement, and more. We envision our platform as one that can help digitalise the business operations of SMEs from end to end.
What is your major plan for the remainder of 2023?
At the moment, APAC will continue to be a key focus for Qashier as we look towards strengthening our position as a trusted, omnichannel commerce partner for merchants. We will also be launching a new suite of software and payment products later this year, so do keep a lookout for those, too.
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Image Credit: Qashier
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