PhonePe forays into e-commerce on ONDC, launches dedicated hyper-local app ‘Pincode’

Walmart-owned fintech company PhonePe has forayed into e-commerce with the launch of a new consumer application named ‘Pincode’. It will be a buyer-side application on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), which is a government-backed initiative to democratise e-commerce in India.

“PhonePe is launching a new consumer app because ONDC is such a vast ocean of promises. For the consumer, we believe a category or a tab will not solve the problem. We need a new shopping app that puts the store at the heart of the interaction,” Sameer Nigam, Co-founder and CEO of PhonePe, said at the app’s launch event in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

Pincode will be a pure hyper-local ecommerce app that will connect sellers on the ONDC network to consumers. The service is currently live only in Bangalore. The app is now available for download on Google Play Store and App Store.

“ONDC is created with a vision to allow every physical retail business and service provider in the country to participate in this ongoing digital revolution, the e-commerce revolution. We feel that the way to realize this vision is to connect local neighborhoods digitally in a way that both consumers and sellers find attractive, that both find convenient, and both find affordable,” he said.

Nigam said Pincode will remain a pure-play hyper-local player on ONDC and will not get into private labels, dark stores or logistics business.  

“We will list all sellers democratically and they will come through the seller platforms. We will make sure that there's a lot of data that is made available through the channel right back to the stores. We are not here to decide who the winner is. We actually want way more choice. Secondly, we will not be touching pricing. I think that's core to the spirit of OIDC,” he added.

The Pincode app will promote local shopkeepers and sellers and digitally connect each city’s consumers with all their neighborhood stores that they usually buy from offline. It is launched with six categories such as food, groceries, pharma, fashion, electronics and home decor. PhonePe expects to clock one lakh orders a day by the end of this year.

He said the fact that buyer platforms don’t influencing seller pricing would mean that buyer apps will have to differentiate on experience, search, and product. “It’s not a capital play and that’s where we fancy our chance,” he said.

Also Read: The ONDC way: How India's e-commerce sector is being disrupted

Also Read: Accel, Prosus lead $11 Mn Series A round in SaaS startup Spendflo

Watch: From Milk Company To Maggi Crisis: Time Travel Through The Nestlé Story