Shopmatic, a Singapore-based provider of e-commerce solutions to small businesses and individual entrepreneurs, has merged with Octopus, a Singapore-based company providing retail management solutions to drive omnichannel sales and customer engagement.

According to the two companies, retail businesses require a holistic offline and online digital ecosystem to scale their businesses and assist them in managing their customers, reducing operational costs and increasing revenue. While Shopmatic offers the entire ecosystem for establishing a successful business online, Octopus offers cloud-based retail management solutions to brick-and-mortar businesses. With the new partnership, retail businesses will be able to go online as well as have strong offline touch points.

“Our aim is to continue to cement our commitment to supporting SMEs and entrepreneurs in their online commerce journey, around the world,” said Anurag Avula, co-founder and CEO of Shopmatic. “Through the Shopmatic platform, we have always wanted to democratize the process for any business to go online by making it easy, simple and cost-effective. We strongly believe that there needs to be an integrated consumer journey that allows brands to transparently enjoy the benefits of both offline and online journeys.”

The collaboration will also see both companies expand into newer markets and leverage on each other’s geographical strengths, with Shopmatic’s presence in India, the Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong, and Octopus’ presence in China, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the US. The combined entity will acquire 500,000 customers, generate more than S$2 billion (US$1.48 billion) in gross merchandise volume and S$10 million (US$7.38 million) in revenue in 2019.

“Our merger with Octopus will enhance the offline-online synergy,” said Avula. “Their strength and experience in cutting-edge point-of-sales suite of solutions which has benefitted a variety of businesses spanning the retail, F&B and e-commerce sectors will be of immense value to merchants across the Asia-Pacific region. We see great synergies in the two companies and will be one of the few entities to offer a comprehensive omnichannel offering for SMEs & aspiring entrepreneurs.”

Octopus enables retailers to synchronize inventory, on-board customers through mobile platforms, offer loyalty points and support customer promotions. The solution offers real-time visibility into sales, performance of staff and inventory, enhancing business efficiency.

With the combined entity, online businesses can enhance their e-commerce technology with Shopmatic’s solutions while tapping into the physical retail opportunity with Octopus’ POS solution. Offline businesses can power their stores with Octopus’ suite of retail management solutions and at the same time have Shopmatic’s handholding and support required for online commerce.

“This is a big step for us,” said Ong Whee Shiong, founder and managing director of Octopus. “We have been one of the pioneers in creating retail management solutions and are growing phenomenally outside Singapore with our suite of solutions implemented across thousands of retail businesses globally. We understand that the digital age has brought about several challenges at businesses. It has become critical for retailers to implement an efficient omnichannel retail management system to enhance business productivity – this is where our partnership with Shopmatic will come into play. Together we cover markets spanning Asia Pacific, Middle East and the United States. We believe that online and offline need to coexist for the retail sector and through our integrated solutions, we will be able to provide our clients, and thus, their customers an enhanced, seamless shopping experience.”