Tuesday, May 9, 2023

ONDC: A breakthrough in e-commerce



In the world of rapid growth of technology, digital economy has grown to manifold in the recent times. For a days now, ONDC is doing round in the country, that is claimed to democratize the digital commerce in the country. However, it has been started way back in September 2022 by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT). With the aim of increasing the e-retail penetration in India from existing 4.3% to its maximum potential, it has been brought in. It is similar to that of UPI, which is now being used by Google pay, Paytm, Phone pay and the like, and it is not an app like Swiggy and Zomato. It is available on different platform like- Paytm, Meesho, Magicpin, Spice Money and so on. It is a step towards the end of duopoly of the Zomato and swiggy in food delivery business backed by the government.

Unlike existing digital market where the buyer and seller are supposed to be on the same platform/application to carry out transaction, the ONDC do away with this system and substituted it with the network-centric model, where buyer and seller can transact no matter what application/platform they use as long as they are connected to this open network.

 

What is ONDC?

ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) developed by the government of India to connect restaurants and store retailers directly to its consumers and do away with the middlemen. It has been conceptualized in such a way that makes it stand apart from any specific platform. It aims to make e-commerce more accessible and affordable for users, as several private players are trying to dominate the e-commerce. It is not limited to food delivery aspect rather it can compete with application like Amazon, Flipkart and the like in the coming days.

 

How it works?

Local businesses can be found more easily thanks to the network. Consumers can find a retailer's offerings on e-commerce platforms that adhere to the ONDC's open protocol once they have listed their goods or services there. When looking for a product, a customer can view the seller's location and choose to purchase from a local store that can deliver more quickly than an online retailer. This might encourage hyper-local consumer-to-seller delivery of items like food.

 

What makes it different from Swiggy and Zomato?

It has been doing round because of the prices at which it offers its service and price sensitive market like India it has gained its popularity. ONDC charges a very minimal percentage for middlemen cut, unlike Swiggy and Zommato which charges the middlemen cut from 30% to 35%. Now, the data of the users will be directly shared to the restaurants and retail shops, which was previously only shared to platform/application like Swiggy and Zommato. Unlike Swiggy and Zommato’s delivery executives, with network sellers have to send their own delivery boy.

 

Challenges:

ONDC is in its nascent stage and it is yet to function at its full potential, also it is being expected to get better in coming days. Currently, it is limited to a few cities. The challenges includes are:-

Now, order made on ONDC by customer, the restaurant has to send its own runner which could be difficult in cases of bulk order being at the same by different customers and it might be not able to serve all those, which could be a major drawback of the ONDC. Also, unlike Swiggy and Zommato, it doesn’t provide estimated delivery of time. As the data will be shared with the restaurants and retail shops, it raises issues of privacy of the customers.

 

How to use?

To order food via ONDC you have to go to platforms like Paytm, Spice Money, Meesho and so on. For example to order food on Paytm, you have to follow the following steps:-

·         Open Paytm and click on “search”

·         Search for “ONDC”. You will see a ONDC store.

·         In the store, you will see a list of restaurants and dishes that are available

·         Click on the food that you want to order.

·         Add the address where you want your food to be orderd.

·         Place your order and pay

·         You can also track your order to see the status.

 

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