Meesho Jumps On The ONDC Bandwagon To Boost Hyperlocal Businesses

Meesho has become the fourth unicorn to join the government’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) after Paytm, Dunzo and Shiprocket. The ecommerce unicorn has joined the network as a buyer-facing app. 

With this move, Meesho will “help connect buyers with hyperlocal sellers and support India’s vision of creating an inclusive ecommerce ecosystem,” the company said in a statement.

Vidit Aatrey, the founder and CEO of Meesho, said, “With a shared goal to empower small sellers and give a fillip to hyperlocal businesses, the integration will boost our efforts to democratise internet commerce for everyone.” 

Aatrey added that the government’s digital commerce initiative will play an important role in expanding India’s ecommerce sector by bringing more customers online. The founder added that the ecommerce unicorn and ONDC are working to ensure a seamless user experience.

Adding to Aatrey’s comments, T Koshy, the CEO of ONDC, said, “At ONDC, our aim is to create an open ecommerce ecosystem that caters to one and all. We are pleased to onboard Meesho as its deep capabilities in small towns will set the network flywheel in motion and take ONDC closer to our goals.”

Meesho is set to launch its pilot on ONDC in Bengaluru soon and will roll out across other locations, aligned with the overall ONDC rollout in the country.

ONDC is active in Bengaluru, averaging double-digit orders per day.

According to a recent statement by the Union Minister of commerce, Piyush Goyal, ONDC has already facilitated more than 2,200 transactions on the network. Goyal also said that the open ecommerce network could transform ecommerce across the globe and would open up more options for buyers and sellers.

Of the 2,200 transactions enabled by ONDC, it has fulfilled 60-80%, according to the network’s CEO. Around 70% of these orders were groceries while the rest 30% belonged to the food category, Koshy added. 

The digital commerce network is also coming to the nation’s capital by the end of this month, with media reports suggesting that the pilot will start on November 28.

Recently, SaaS major Zoho also announced a partnership with the digital commerce network, which will see the SaaS startup enable a seller to go online on the network in less than one hour.