Mumbai: Coutloot, India’s largest non-grocery retail aggregator for non-branded products, has announced that it has joined the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a Government of India initiative to develop an open network for digital commerce.
ONDC is a freely accessible and inclusive platform that aims to democratize e-commerce. It is not owned or controlled by any single entity. It is also expected to benefit small merchants with more advanced technologies and better business mechanisms.
Jasmeet Thind, Co-founder of CoutLoot, said, “In a bid to enhance our customer outreach, we are joining hands with ONDC. Consumers will find us on the ONDC platform from December this year onwards. We will be launching in two phases, first with the sellers and then with the buyers with product categories like fashion, home, beauty and personal care. The idea is to step change Ecommerce penetration in India dramatically.”
There are about 12 million mom-and-pop stores in India, of which only about 0.12% is tech-enabled, while e-retail is only 4% of the total $800 billion retail market in India.
Thind said ONDC had been designed to solve key factors across the value chain holding back participation and added that by getting live on the platform, CoutLoot would be able to offer choices to sellers to be online, allow retailers and merchants to set their terms and conditions, enable discoverability for buyers and sellers beyond large eCommerce platforms and provide opportunities for small eCommerce players to overcome supply chain barriers.
Coutloot Seller Products will be available on the ONDC platform, through which its sellers will have a wider audience reach. For Buyers, if requested products are unavailable on our platform, CoutLoot will enlist the products received from the ONDC network to enhance buyer engagement and ensure fulfilment.
Founded by Jasmeet and Mahima Kaul, CoutLoot has successfully connected millions of sellers and merchants with small and medium manufacturers by eradicating the agents from the system.
More than seven-lakhs street shops and small businesses have gained customers and multiplied their profit margins with the help of CoutLoot.
CoutLoot believes that this association will mutually benefit the project’s stakeholders and strengthen the vision of ONDC of promoting open networks of all aspects of the exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks.
Coutloot is one of the fastest-growing non-grocery retail aggregators; while enabling online commerce, it also aggregates wholesale applications helping more than 5000 SKUs pick products from 240 SMEs across India. The app is actively helping sellers source smaller MoQs (Minimum Order Quantity) and work with smaller working capital. The Mumbai-based startup has raised over $12 million in funding from Ameba Capital, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, SOSV and AstarcVentures.
