#StartupVsCovid19: Quikr Launches StillOpen For Retail Consumers & HelpHospitals For Medical Supplies

Bengaluru-based online classifieds marketplace and hyperlocal services provider Quikr has launched two new listing platforms, StillOpen and HelpHospitals to keep the supply of all essential goods and services running.

HelpHospitals allows the medical community to connect with suppliers of medical equipment and other materials needed for the treatment of Covid-19 patients and the safety of the medical staff. The service is available across India and Quikr says that Helphospitals is already seeing traction in Telangana, Delhi, Karnataka.

Meanwhile, StillOpen allows consumers to keep track of all stores and essential services open near them. The company believes that this would help Indians in lockdown reduce time spent in searching for stores nearby. It will also list hospitals, pharmacies, ATMs, milk booths and Covid-19 testing centres.

StillOpen also allows consumers to add details such as the store’s hygienic conditions, stock and the crowd gathered in the store to help others in the same area. StillOpen is currently available for access in 23 cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Gwalior, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Lucknow, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Patna, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, and Secunderabad.

Besides Quikr, there have been several other smaller players have also rolled out new solutions to optimise retail availability of essential services and also aid in delivery of goods to customers.

For instance, marketing platform Limetray has launched a new tech-enabled platform that will allow neighbourhood stores or kirana stores to accept orders online. This will reduce the kirana’s dependency on third-party players such as Dunzo, BigBasket, Grofers, Swiggy and more to fulfil orders digitally.

The traditional stores can easily accept orders and process online payments through the app. The company is looking to target over 100 local groceries, meat and kirana stores across Tier 1 cities.

Meanwhile, several Indian unicorns have also joined in to help to streamline the process of accessing essential products and services. For instance, Zomato, Swiggy, Snapdeal and ShopClues have directly entered the grocery and essential delivery segment. Although the companies are running limited operations in certain cities, but have proved to be beneficial in terms of easing up the burden mainstream grocery delivery platforms like Grofers and BigBasket could have been subjected to.

Shared mobility platforms like Uber and Rapido have also been partnering with both online and offline grocery and essential delivery segments to ensure a smooth logistics network for the grocery delivery segment.