CoutLoot, an online retailer joins the government’s ONDC platform to democratise online retail

• ByStartupStory     |    November 14, 2022

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a Government of India project to build an open network for digital commerce, has welcomed Coutloot, India’s largest non-grocery retail aggregator for unbranded products.

ONDC is a platform that democratises e-commerce and is open to all users. No one entity has ownership or control over it. With better business practices and more cutting-edge technology, small retailers should also benefit.

Co-founder of CoutLoot Jasmeet Thind stated, “We are partnering with ONDC in an effort to expand our customer outreach. Customers can find us on the ONDC platform starting in December of this year. With product categories like fashion, home, beauty, and personal care, we will launch in two stages: first with sellers and then with customers. The goal is to significantly increase Indian e-commerce penetration.

There are currently 12 million mom-and-pop shops in India, but only 0.12% of them are technologically advanced, and only 4% of the country’s $800 billion retail market is made up of e-commerce.

By going live on the platform, CoutLoot will be able to give seller’s options for being online, allow retailers and merchants to set their own terms and conditions, enable discoverability for buyers and sellers outside of the boundaries of major eCommerce platforms, and give opportunities for small eCommerce players to get around supply chain obstacles, according to Thind. The Coutloot Seller Products will be available on the ONDC platform, giving its sellers access to a larger market. In order to increase buyer involvement and guarantee fulfilment, CoutLoot will make available to buyers any products obtained via the ONDC network if the requested products are not already available on our platform.

By eliminating the agents from the system, CoutLoot, founded by Jasmeet and Mahima Kaul, has been able to successfully connect millions of sellers and merchants with small and medium manufacturers. With the aid of CoutLoot, more than seven lakh small companies and street vendors have increased their consumer bases and profit margins.

The project stakeholders and the ONDC’s vision of promoting open networks for all facets of the exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks will both gain from this partnership, according to CoutLoot.

One of the fastest-growing non-grocery retail aggregators, Coutloot also aggregates wholesale applications to help more than 5000 SKUs choose products from 240 SMEs located all over India. This allows for online commerce. The programme actively assists sellers in locating reduced MOQs (Minimum Order Quantities) and utilising working capital that is more limited. Ameba Capital, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, SOSV, and AstarcVentures have collectively invested over $12 million in the Mumbai-based startup.

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