The M’sian POS system for beauty and medical providers has grown by 229% – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

[Written in partnership with Supernewsroom, but the editorial team had full control over the content.]

We last contacted our Malaysian Point of Sale (POS) system provider Aoikumo, the startup internalized 15 dental clinics to their new platform, kumoDent within a month.

It was an extension of the brand’s cloud-based solutions beauty, medical and wellness clients, who personally fought in the blockades as a service provider.

In an effort to help the industry, CEO Kevin Nair and his team developed a web store module to help the beauty and wellness industry drive online sales and, at the same time, alleviate their burden.

So after the removal of MCO 1.0, companies that were still running on pen and paper knew that they needed to move online for the future. Subscriptions to Aoikumo rose to a 229% growth rate between 2019 and 2020.

Pay now, use it later

Since the introduction of Aoikumo’s cloud system in 2018, it has been picked up in the beauty and medical industry.

But as the blockades hit the nation, the needs of beauty services changed. Not to be outdone, the brick-and-mortar aesthetic suppliers had to suspend their operations, which damaged their revenue.

Fortunately, through the aforementioned web store, customers were able to sell their treatments online. Although beauty providers may not be able to provide these treatments physically, they can offer a “pay now, use later” promotion.

However, while the web store was a lifesaver for those in the beauty and wellness sectors during the MCO era, they weren’t exactly jumping on the bandwagon.

“The pickup was slow because selling online was a new thing for the beauty and beauty business,” Kevin told Vulcan Post. “But now more and more customers have started asking for our web store.”

This, in turn, has convinced beauty and wellness providers to take digitalization efforts for their businesses, and Aoikumo was ready to serve.

In the last 6 months, Aoikumo has seen an increase in the number of customers in the medical and aesthetic sectors, reaching a total of 2,300 users so far.

Next year, the group will work on integration modules that link to most of Malaysia’s shopping malls. Kevin predicts that this should cut the impact of the loss of physical store revenue.

“We are at around 30% but we expect growth of at least 50%, given the current state of Malaysia and the SEA region,” Kevin said. In our interview, he added that since December 2021, they have exceeded this growth rate with the launch of kumoDent.

Maintain a single platform

Helping beauty providers network online during the MCO was not all Aoikumo did at the MCO.

The team was also building a dental clinic software, kumoDent, after realizing that the existing POS system lacked the crucial features needed specifically for dental clinics.

But despite some differences, the team has kept kumoDent and Aoikumo on the same platform.

Thus, dental clinics can use services such as kumoSan (staff management) and kumoBiz (a lightweight version of the POS system to streamline business operations) in a single application.

After facilitating backend processes for businesses, Aoikumo subscribers reported that they were receiving fraudulent customer complaints.

As the group was developing a solution for this, they realized that they could offer even more solutions to their customers, and so they expanded their services to allow for bookings, advertising of promotions, and so on.

Also a customer app

Aoikumo’s new features were implemented in MeTIME Wellness (MeTIME), an app for customers who can make purchases immediately after finding a promotion in the app. Think Fave, for example.

In addition, MeTIME allows customers to make reservations online, track purchases and treatments, view promotions, and more.

Kevin teased that customers can soon expect to shop through the app and also collect points for prizes. The app for customers is free.

Aoikumo intends to make money through in-app transactions, but in return, it will also help market its customers ’brands and promotions.

To larger lands

After growing so rapidly in providing cloud-based solutions to underserved sectors, Aoikumo has recently secured a place in CIP IGNITE (ii), a funding program that provides grants and value-added support. Cradle Fund.

In addition, Aoikumo was certified as a Technology Solution Provider (TSP) Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDeC) Initiative for the Digitization of Business SMEs.

The platform also recognized it as a Digital Service Provider (DSP) Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (SIDEC).

Under these programs, new subscribers to Aoikumo and kumoDent will receive a 50% subsidy of up to RM5,000.

Following the growing traction, Kevin has no plans to slow down. Now the SEA is looking to capture a larger market around it.

“Instead of managing automated day-to-day operations, we want to focus our business on growing them, leveraging our product and experience as software developers,” Kevin said.

To fully support their customers, the team is updating itself, its platforms and applications to keep up with the changes and demands of the market so that they remain relevant.

• You can find out more about Aoikumo here and kumoDent here.
• Read on for other Malaysian startups we’ve covered here.

Notable image credit: Aoikumo