ONDC to commence beta testing in Bengaluru on Friday

• ByStartupStory     |    September 30, 2022

Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC), a government-backed open protocol network, will debut in beta for public users in Bengaluru Urban on September 30.

ONDC is a private, non-profit organization comparable to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates the UPI platform. ONDC was founded by the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. Approximately sixty percent of India’s e-commerce business is now dominated by two American platforms, namely Amazon and Flipkart.

According to sources, the network has capped the buyer-side fee (charged by seller-side applications) to 3%, while the seller-side commission (paid by merchants) is 10–15%, compared to 25–40% charged by platform-based marketplaces.

There are 16 zip codes in the area that will have access to the app, where they may find a variety of kirana shops, supermarkets, and other food and drink vendors. In addition to these major players, the launch lineup also features a slew of smaller, niche players in the home goods and furnishings space. Domlur, Indiranagar, Murugeshpalya, BTM Layout, JP Nagar, Kammanahalli, Mysore Road, Bannerghatta Road, Hebbal, Koramangala, and RR Nagar will all be served by ONDC during the beta phase.

Customers using applications like Paytm and MyStore may make orders via ONDC, while businesses using apps like SellerApp, e-Samudaay, eVital, MyStore, Gofrugal, GrowthFalcons, nStore, Ushop, Uengage, and Bizom can use the platform to offer their wares. Loadshare and Dunzo will handle the delivery, with other logistics partners expected to go online after testing.

“We have on-boarded 48 kirana stores, mini and huge supermarkets, D2C brands, and five Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands for the beta launch,” said Dilip Vamanan, Co-founder at e-commerce enablement company, SellerApp which is a part of ONDC’s sell-side network. “We understand that if we can make a difference of 10% of our small seller’s revenue or bring them five orders a day consistently, we are making a difference to their business. If ONDC gains the scale of a UPI, the returns will be much higher than the investment,” he added.

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