Dunzo joins hands with Grow with Google initiative to empower merchants

Bengaluru-based hyperlocal delivery platform Dunzo has announced that it has collaborated with 'Grow with Google' initiative to reach more merchants. The announcement was made during a press briefing held by Google at the online event 'Make Small Strong'.

As part of this initiative, local merchants will be able to enrol for free on the Dunzo platform. Dunzo said the focus is to get people to buy locally and help small businesses get more business and customers as part of the 'Make Small Strong' campaign.

As part of this, the Google-backed startup aims to help merchants digitise and help them become digital-first to improve their reach. Dunzo said it is also helping these small businesses with logistics support for the orders they receive directly.

Kartik Mishra, Head of Strategy and New Initiatives, said in the press briefing, “At Dunzo, we’re building for the growing digital adoption by Indian consumers. There already exists a strong network of local merchants in India, and we are enabling them to come online for the very first time and expand their footprint in ways that was not possible before."

"This collaboration will help us reach more local businesses and empower them with the best possible tools and resources to get started on their digital journey, with a helping hand along the way.”

Some of the other startups who have collaborated with the 'Grow with Google' initiative are Zoho, Instamojo, and Swiggy.

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The team believes in order to build a predictable experience for consumers, the merchants on the platform too need to work well with the delivery partners and customers, and understand the online ecosystem.

Kartik said that during the lockdown, several merchants faced challenges to reach customers. The pandemic has also put a lot of pressure on several general trade and merchant platforms to go online.

To handle the situation better, Dunzo took a few days to get into the flow and work with authorities to ensure smooth operations.

During the lockdown, issues like stock-outs, high walk-ins, and low bandwidth continued. But Dunzo said it has been able to work around that by talking to the store in advance and ensuring products are ready for pickup before the partner reaches. 

The platform also helped its top stores tie up with multiple suppliers and brands to ensure a larger supplier base and increased options. 

The team is now helping merchants with inventory management, supply chain, and in store operations to help them deal better with delivery platforms.

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Dunzo was also one of the few platforms that saw tremendous growth during the pandemic. The Google-backed startup’s average order value (AOV) saw 4x growth. The primary growth rate in perishable goods and food and beverages saw 3x growth, and essential goods share of orders on the platform also doubled. 

In a recent podcast with Prime Venture Partners, Kabeer Biswas, CEO and Co-founder, Dunzo, said, Dunzo experienced progress and became profitable at the EBITDA level in Bengaluru. It grew by 7X in the city in the last two and a half years.