How offline vendors are going online to sell in lockdown ?

Last updated on February 9th, 2023 at 01:09 pm

The local kirana store is no more out of business, despite the fact that the lockdown is going to be reality till May 03. E-Commerce aggregators like Instamojo, Coutloot, and Shopmatic are not helping local kirana aka grocery stores to jump onto the aggregator bandwagon and continue to supply to needing customers.

All these aggregators work well for medicine shops, grocery and kirana store owners as well as small entrepreneurial business. Coutloot’s co-founder is Jasmeet Thind has now added the essential services category, which has over 50,000 registered vendors ready to sell groceries, medicines and vegetables. The platform allows customers within the radius of 3 kms to place orders for essential good and gives them the option home delivery too. The aggregator has also tied up with a logistics partner which can be roped in by the vendor and then facilitate a home delivery.

Aggregators have actually come to the rescue of these vendors who are primarily offline and are not hit hard due to the Corona Virus induced lockdown.

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Shopmatic is a Singapore based outfit with its current presence in India marking the advent of support to entrepreneurs, homepreneurs and solopreneurs too. Offline vendors are now signing up for as less as Rs. 50 a month and selling their bakery, organic foods, hygiene products and much more.

Instamojo is catering vendors dealing in perishables. So whether it’s a café latte or your favourite food, the offline vendor is making use of this online platform. While sanitizing challenges remain, this is an opportunity for kirana stores to continue to earn a living and also met the demands of people who are now finding it difficult to get regular supply of ration.