Dunzo fully integrates seller app onto ONDC, will onboard 20k merchants

Quick commerce firm will provide merchants customer and last-mile logistics delivery support for joining network

Dunzo, the quick commerce firm backed by Reliance and Google, said on Thursday it has fully integrated its seller app with the state-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

The Bengaluru-based firm first integrated its B2B logistics arm, Dunzo For Business (D4B), with ONDC during the network’s pilot phase. The latest integration will enable 1,500 local merchants to board the network in a week. The target is to onboard 20,000 merchants in food, grocery, pharmaceuticals and other sectors in the next 45 days, Dunzo said.

ONDC is a non-profit platform set up by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as an alternative for online shopping. It is not an app, but a facilitative platform designed to “revolutionise” digital commerce.

“It’s been less than two weeks since we’ve been live on the network, and we’ve already hit peak order volumes of more than 3000 a day for groceries and other essential items through our local merchants,” said Dalvir Suri, Dunzo’s co-founder and head of Dunzo Merchant Services.

“We have merchant partners who’ve also seen a 3-fold increase in their daily orders. Very soon India’s e-comm 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,” he said.

Dunzo’s announcement comes a day after Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal at a stakeholder consultation meeting on e-commerce policy nudged companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy and Zomato to integrate with ONDC.

The department of consumer affairs recently sought data on seller patterns and private labels from quick commerce players to understand their business models, reports said.

"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,” said T Koshy, managing director, and chief executive officer, ONDC.

Local merchants who join D4B will have automatic access to join ONDC. Dunzo will provide them technology, customer and last-mile logistics delivery support, the company said.

Dunzo is facing a severe cash crunch and has reportedly reduced its scale of operations and deferred salaries of over 50 per cent of its employees, 'Business Standard' reported earlier.