Zoho launches RetailIQ for physical retailers as it expands vertical SaaS portfolio

Zoho has introduced RetailIQ for brick-and-mortar retailers among seven new industry-focused SaaS offerings. The company said its India revenue rose 47% year on year in 2025, while AI is improving software-development productivity.

— Source publishedWed, 23 Sept, 2026, 15:43 IST·First seen Wed, 23 Sept, 2026, 15:45 IST·Source CNBC-TV18 · Companies

What happened

Zoho launched RetailIQ for physical retailers and six other vertical SaaS offerings, aiming to speed customised deployments. The Chennai-based firm said India

Key facts

  • AI could raise software-development productivity by 4-5 times, potentially up to 10 times
  • Software productivity has already risen about 30%-50% across a product-release lifecycle
  • Zoho launched offerings across 7 industry verticals
  • India revenue grew 47% year over year in 2025
  • Around 90% of Zoho revenue is generated outside India

Why this matters

Zoho’s move into retail vertical SaaS raises its strategic relevance as a retail-tech partner or competitor, particularly for companies seeking scalable, customised physical-store software.

What to watch

  • Named retail customers, store-count deployments and renewal metrics.
  • Availability of India-specific POS, UPI, GST, ecommerce and warehouse integrations.
  • Pricing and packaging relative to Shopify POS, Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, Oracle NetSuite and local retail-tech vendors.
  • RetailIQ adoption outside India, especially among emerging-market multi-location retailers.
  • Evidence that AI reduces deployment time, support tickets or customization costs.
  • Partner ecosystem announcements and implementation capacity growth.
  • Target Indian multi-store chains, franchise operators and regional retailers with preconfigured RetailIQ packages.
  • Build or announce integrations with POS hardware, payment gateways, ecommerce marketplaces, loyalty providers and accounting systems.
  • Use AI-assisted configuration and analytics as a differentiator for lower-cost deployments.
  • Expand retail-specific partner, reseller and systems-integrator certification programs.
  • Package RetailIQ with Zoho's broader suite under outcome-based pricing for inventory visibility, customer retention and store productivity.