Can ONDC Level the eCommerce Playing Field?
India has already showcased its technological prowess by creating a protocol that allows for interoperability among payment platforms, now it’s doing the same with eCommerce
In early 2000, when start-ups discussed selling stuff online, customers found it to be the joke of the millennium, for none believed that the Indian mindset would accept products that they cannot touch and feel? Two decades on, eCommerce has spread its wings across the country and in multiple formats – from the big multinationals to the smallest of entrepreneurs.
Today, we are used to a different app for different types of product or service. And there’s already talk of super apps – in fact Tata’s launched the Neu to compete with Reliance’s Jio Marketplace. However, none of these bring a customer-first approach as neither can you hope to find all smartphones on Amazon nor would all the best clothing brands be on AJio.
The Super App Model
Super apps are an idea whose time has come, as China and Indonesia would tell you. However, the federal government in India has sought to buck this trend. In fact, they turned the concept on its head by creating a single protocol for all digital commerce where customers can browse across apps and acquire what they were looking for.
Why so? Because global experience has taught us that super apps tend to be super monopolistic in multiple ways. They could kill off competition by seeking a cut in the margins and also turn sellers themselves, something that Amazon in India has been accused of by the Confederation of All India Traders, a body comprising Indian traders. Suffice to say, they almost always decide the pricing of products and the number of sellers.
The Hyperlocal Model
This is what the Ministry of Commerce had in mind when they got […]
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