Dunzo joins ONDC's seller network; to onboard 20,000 merchants in 45 days
Local merchants who join Dunzo's business-to-business vertical will have direct access to join ONDC, the company said.
Reliance Retail-backed ecommerce firm has joined the (ONDC) as a seller app. The move is expected to help small and medium-sized merchants gain access to ONDC's wide network of buyers.
More than 1,500 local merchants will be onboarded through the Dunzo seller app in the first week, and a total of 20,000 merchants across food, grocery, pharma, and other essentials are expected to be onboarded in the next 45 days, the quick commerce startup said on Thursday.
Dunzo's seller app is recording more than 3,000 grocery orders a day within two weeks of going live on ONDC, according to Dalvir Suri, Co-founder and Head of Dunzo Merchant Services.
"We have merchant partners who’ve also seen a 3X increase in their daily orders. Very soon, India’s ecommerce landscape will be marked by pre-ONDC and post-ONDC days, and we are happy to be one of the first to participate in this network and drive this change," Suri said.
Dunzo aims to onboard the largest number of local merchants on ONDC to further empower local commerce.
Going forward, local merchants who join Dunzo’s logistics platform Dunzo4Business (D4B) will have automatic access to join ONDC. Dunzo will also provide technology and customer support, along with last-mile logistics delivery support for merchants, the company said.
By making it a simple plug-and-play process for its merchants, Dunzo will accelerate ‘go to market’, helping them reap the benefits of accessing thousands of new customers online quickly and seamlessly, it noted.
"In a country like ours, where small and medium businesses keep the heart of commerce beating, any real progress must include them—that’s the core mission of ONDC Protocol. With Dunzo’s integration as a seller app, we will see thousands of new local merchants come online and grow their business while giving customers more choice and convenience," T Koshy, MD and CEO of ONDC, said.
The move marks an important milestone for Dunzo's B2B arm, Dunzo4Business, which in recent days has become a core focus for the Reliance Retail and Google-backed company.
In an interview with YourStory last year, Suri said that Dunzo is aiming to scale D4B to the top 20 cities this year, apart from adding mid-mile capabilities using different modes of delivery.
Dunzo has been in a pickle lately owing to a severe liquidity crisis resulting in the laying off of employees, deferring salary payouts, and scouting to raise money.
Dunzo had last raised $75 million in convertible notes, with the lion's share coming from returning investors, Google and Reliance Retail. Reliance Retail holds close to 25.56% share in the company while Google holds about 18.53%, according to Tracxn, making them the largest shareholders in the company.
Edited by Megha Reddy