Big offline mobile retailers eyeing ONDC storefronts

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

retailers are exploring entering the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), with around 50 of them looking to open storefronts on the government-backed ecommerce network that they expect will help them reduce cost and reach more consumers. A pan-India retailer association met top ONDC officials to understand how the platform works, and how they could be a part of it. Discussions are still in the early stages.

«ONDC is not charging any commission yet, and even when they will, it will be much lesser than the big ecommerce firms,» said Kailash Lakhyani, founder of the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA), which represents more than 200,000 offline retailers across the country. Opening online storefronts will help retailers reduce the cost of doing business, AIMRA general secretary Navneet Pathak said. «We will be in a position to reach a wider consumer base and also get the best prices for logistics.» He said compared with ecommerce, offline retailers have to bear higher costs for displaying products, which can be reduced once the platform matures.

However, a major roadblock for retailers to enter the ecommerce space is the agreements they have in place with smartphone brands which do not permit them to sell stocks outside of their brick and mortar stores. The ONDC platform, launched in 2022, currently has more than 39,000 sellers across nine domains, with a presence in 273 cities pan-India, according to its website. The major ecommerce firms charge around 5-30% commissions from sellers, Lakhyani said.