ONDC - the game changer

Open Network Digital Commerce, commonly called ONDC, can be a harbinger of a retail revolution in India which is currently valued at around $1 trillion. This initiative of the Government of India is aiming to ‘democratize and integrate’ digital commerce by increasing the seller’s digital visibility. According to a report, the Indian e-commerce market could become the third largest market in the world with US$360 billion in 2030.

Today, the new age technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Virtual Reality, and others are already playing an incremental role to pave the way for future-ready, progressive innovations within the new-age commerce and shopping ecosystem. Furthermore, such technological advances are also allowing for optimized product discovery,

ONDC, a non-profit initiative and platform backed by the Government of India with the aim to democratize new-age commerce, is a commendable endeavour wherein individual local sellers, vendors and small-to-medium- sized retail shop owners or merchants, can register themselves through a public digital infrastructure that will facilitate free flow of goods and services and then buyers can discover them across the nation easily.

The main purpose of ONDC is to create a level playing field for small and medium merchants and traders otherwise dominated by some of the big e-commerce players in India. ONDC will systematically work to integrate small and medium merchants into the digital network - who otherwise are bereft of the benefits of digital commerce and capture the larger market, finding new ways to deliver a smooth shopping experience.

With this there is significant increase in the visibility of the sellers, and allowing them to carry transactions irrespective of what platform they use, ONDC is bound to bring a plethora of opportunities for the local retail industry players in our country.

Business magnets like Amazon, Flipkart, Tata, and Reliance are already dominating the e-commerce market of India. ONDC aims to ‘curb digital monopolies’ by creating new opportunities as well as providing a direction for creating a platform that can be used by all online retailers. ONDC aims to provide equal opportunity for all players without challenging the existing e-commerce companies.

When it comes to the retail sector, ONDC will be working to make improvements across the value chain spectrum to help local retail stakeholders and tech startups – be it for product discovery or marketing, sales conversions, managing customer expectations, customer engagement and loyalty, or scaling up in terms of community engagement and so on.

There is a huge space for growth for more market players to be part of this tectonic shift as in India, the reach of digital commerce within the retail sector is just 4-5%. Going forward, ONDC and emerging-tech shall together form a powerful combination that can be helpful in overcoming these challenges and take rapid strides to revolutionize the retail ecosystem forever for the better.

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Editor-in-chief- VARINDIA