It Is All About Music At OOKA Radio By Amit Chawla

At the ripe age of 40 to pluck and replant yourself as an entrepreneur is more than simply scary. One spends practically whole life in building products, brands companies on someone's behalf. Living dreams of others has an expiry date. Mine hit me in 2017. Decades of seeing every marketplace with microscopic eyes inspired me to dream with open eyes about a concept to encourage retailers. Deep inside I really wished to make a retailer happy again. I dreamt of enabling a retailer to keep his customer connected and joyful with the store and in the store. And in a wink, I transformed into an aspiring entrepreneur.

What inspired you to start OOKA?

A retail outlet should talk, sing and surprise the customer. Hence the idea of an in-store radio as lively as an FM station started to take shape. No jockey, only pure customized music content blended well with store's information, offers and products. In simple words, we decided to give voice to the retail outlet next door musically.

It was indeed a Eureka moment for us and thus OOKA was born. Bitten by the app bug OOKA is actually the acronym for one of its kind app. It is often said the brand pulls you and guides you to walk with it in an instant. I felt it the moment this name. The in-store radio bulb finally switched on and thus OOKA Radio became our life.

Why choose music radio?

Now I realize it was the music radio that chose me. Trying to create USP for OOKA Radio took me behind the retail counters and I was taken aback to see how deep YouTube and pen drives had made inroads. It was then the real picture of an internet radio synchronized digitally to remotely play customized playlists of copyright-free music finally became crystal clear. Retail outlets looked tired and resigned. No one bothered about music. No one thought to create their own playlist & communicate directly with clients & broadcast a happy atmosphere for customers & employees also... an enjoyable workplace for everyone.

What unseen opportunities did you see that may result in making your startup a huge success?

It was here this unprecedented opportunity just embraced me. The market research too revealed that the music industry is growing by 27 % growth YOY and the count of Retail stores /outlets is in billions. Apart from the retail, a huge scope in other categories like Malls, open markets, etc just took over our senses. One of the biggest opportunities that have emerged from the in-store radio idea is the unchartered territory of music promotion. Imagine what magic captive audience of 10 million listeners can create for emerging music artists. Such is the power of in-store radio reaching to nook and corner of our country.

What does success look like for OOKA?

Success for OOKA Radio is when the yearly renewals happen on auto mode. When a mall in Pathankot happily wants OOKA to welcome its customers. When at 6 am on Chandigarh highway Gurbani on OOKA Radio blesses the early travelers and early risers alike. When hundreds of customers coming out from salons, retail outlets, restaurants, open markets, food courts are humming OOKA in-store music. When amazing young singing talent emerges and shines on the OOKA Music platform. Well, most of it we have tasted in a short time and for others, we are working tirelessly and joyfully.

What's the next thing you're working on right now, and how are you making it happen?

Today OOKA Radio is reaching the 5000 outlets mark and the 100 brands milestone. The next target is to capture wall to wall Retail. In other words, the unlimited canvas of single retail outlets is the next OOKA mission. We have set sights to have 10,000 retails outlets under the OOKA umbrella by March 2020 in North India alone.

Who are your biggest competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?

One is the biggest competition in oneself. I have grown on this statement quite religiously. Every month the perfectionist in me is striving to better services, enhance technology, add features, improve the experience and expand the network. OOKA has to think ahead to be ahead of the market followers and the omnipresent pen drives, YouTubers and DVDs. In-store radio or in-store music as a segment is now attracting many players and I feel being innovative and delivering out of box ideas is the key to differentiate yourself. Music promotion by showcasing young singers and new music on the OOKA radio platform is something we are excited and very hopeful to become the game-changer and another pioneering innovation.

How do you manage the duality between driving new business and overseeing daily operations?