Local traders unite to have their bite of e-commerce biz

The eight-month Covid lockdown restrictions have been a boom time for e-commerce companies with traditional traders seeing a worse-than-expected slide in business.

Now traditional traders have teamed up to developed their own e-commerce local application and reach out to consumers.

Sachin Nivangune, president, Pune district retail traders’ association, said, “We are developing e-commerce websites as well as applications to reach out to consumers and deliver products at their doorsteps, besides providing attractive discounts. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) is helping us to develop an application.”

Devendra Sarda, chief executive officer of online supermarket store Picodel said, “We cater to a wide range of products, including grocery, fruits, vegetables, sweets, chicken, cosmetics and medicines and deliver to customers’ doorsteps through 200 shops. At present, we are starting our service at Kharadi and Magarpatta areas on an experimental basis. Our order delivery time is within one and a half hours. We have decided to compete them major e-commerce firms by going online.”

Vijay Narela, trader and managing director of Bhartiya-Dukan (B-Dukan) application developed to bring traders under one roof, said, “E-commerce companies have badly affected our business. We are developing an app that will provide customers cash back, discounts and other offers like other e-commerce companies.”

Consumer database

CAIT, a leading advocate for small traders and business in country, has appealed to traders and their organisations to collect information from their respective areas, create database and connect to promote their businesses. The database should also cover various organisations, social, cultural and religious bodies, clubs, schools, colleges, hospitals, hotels, temples and nursing homes. The information will help traders reach out to their neighbourhood as per their needs and demands.

Seminar on e-commerce

Rajendra Batiya, executive chairman, Maharashtra wing of CAIT said, “We are collecting information on different types of organisations so that we can connect with them. In the coming days, we will provide training to traders on how to run e-commerce business. We will also organise a statewide seminar on e-commerce challenge and solutions.”

“Connecting traders with consumers in a cohesive manner and giving the latter a right to choose a product coupled with reasonable price and efficient delivery system will benefit the stakeholders,” said Batiya.