Intercity deliveries will become a reality for consumers in Bengaluru from next week on the government-backed ecommerce platform Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
ONDC has onboarded logistics service provider Shiprocket and is expanding to intercity deliveries after running pilots within the city.
Walmart-owned e-commerce marketplace Flipkart’s logistics arm eKart is also expected to go live on ONDC next week.
So far, ONDC has focussed on hyperlocal deliveries with Loadshare and Dunzo.
With the expansion, SellerApp will be able to ship the Uttar Pradesh government’s One District One Product (UP-ODOP) initiative’s products to Bengaluru’s customers.
As on October 25, 28 pin codes were active in Bengaluru, from which 1,388 orders had been placed.
Around 70% of these orders were for groceries and 30% for food and beverages. Already, 25 customer complaints have also been raised with the network.
T Koshy, CEO, ONDC, told ET, “Initially it will only be ODOP products which are mostly for home decor that will show on buyer apps like Craftsvilla, Mystore and Spice Money for customers in Bengaluru. Later, as we onboard more sellers in other cities, customers will be able to order in categories like electronics, fashion and apparel and processed food, etc.”
Out of the five buyer apps currently live in Bengaluru – Craftsvilla, IDFC First Bank, Mystore, Paytm, and Spice Money – three apps (Craftsvilla, Mystore, Spice Money) will enable UP-ODOP products in Bengaluru from next week.
Saahil Goel, CEO, Shiprocket, told ET, “We went live a few days ago. The pilot is starting soon with ODOP products. With ODOP, most of our orders will be from UP to Bengaluru and other cities (whenever ONDC starts beta testing for the public there). There are 19,000 unique serviceable pin codes in India, and we are active everywhere.”
“We are the largest (logistics) network in India because we aggregate different carriers, and other partners who have networks. We already power 100 million deliveries outside the ONDC network and are the largest provider to e-commerce merchants in India,” Goel added.
On billing, he said it does not work based on kilometres but on the zone, depending on the city, region, if it is a metro-to-metro delivery, to the rest of India or to special zones like Jammu and Kashmir, or the Northeast.
Billing is also based on the weight of the package, whether it is cash-on-delivery or not, return-to-origin or not, etc. “It is not directly based on kilometres because it is based on a hub and spoke model and transit density,” he said.
SellerApp co-founder Dilip Vamanan said, “By early next week, we are extending capabilities for sellers to be available pan-India.”
Sellers who opt for pan-India viability will be live on buyer apps like Mystore, Spice Money and Craftsvilla.
People in Bengaluru must be able to see a change in the catalogue with ODOP products from 14 districts of UP, which will be extended to products from 75 districts.
These products are mostly made by artisans. ONDC is adding new categories like home and decor in addition to groceries, and food and beverages.
Most of the direct-to-customer (D2C) sellers will be able to leverage this initiative, he said.
ONDC will next conduct beta testing in select pin codes in Delhi in November.
Source: Economic Times
