PhonePe is currently working on an as yet unnamed hyperlocal delivery service for grocery delivery
This fintech company is running an experiment for the same in Bengaluru
PhonePe plans to launch a buyer app that is expected to launch later this month.
The fintech owned by Walmart PhonePe intends to announce its entry into the federal government’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) by launching a consumer-facing application to help further its e-commerce goals. In this regard, PhonePe is working on an unnamed hyperlocal grocery delivery application.
The app is being tested through Bengaluru and PhonePe is expected to compete with the such brands as Zepto, Dunzo, Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and more important, Flipkart Quick.
The fintech company owned by Walmart expressed its desire to ease the sale of goods online during an ONDC meeting to February of 2022.
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Vivek Lohcheb, vice president of Offline business for PhonePe told us “PhonePe will be the primary player as a seller and buyer application for ONDC. In the initial section of ONDC’s launch we’ll allow Grocery as well as F&B to be able to accept payments from Bengaluru. Merchants from all over the world are set to profit from ONDC quickly.”
For sure, PhonePe has attempted its hand in the realm of online commerce twice. The first was with Switch that was loosely based on the idea of a super-app and Stores, designed to help facilitate the local discovery of merchants.
A separate buyer application will be released at the end of this month, Sameer Nigam, founder and CEO of PhonePe said to ET during an interview. Nigam said PhonePe has set aside as much as $15 million to be a part of the ONDC. The company will deploy this capital in an 18-month period.
The hyperlocal commerce app will function as an independent app and will not a part of the main PhonePe app. Nigam was quoted in the interview mentioned above in which he said that launching an app on its own will enable the company to differentiate between payments and customers who use the commerce app.
PhonePe’s parent company Walmart has discussed the growth of the fintech over the last few quarters on the company’s Q2 earnings conference yesterday (August 16, 2016).).
Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said, “…if you consider the biggest digital payment companies outside of China around the globe, PhonePe, after a short introduction is currently about two-thirds of the size (China) and what’s expected to be the largest market (India) around the globe. This is an exciting opportunity.”
The Bengaluru-based Fintech isn’t the first fintech company which is aiming for ONDC. Paytm might turn out to be the biggest rival since the platform of Vijay Shekhar Sharma plans to become a buyer app through it’s affiliate Paytm Mall.
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