Meta, the prominent social media company, has teamed up with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in a collaborative effort to empower up to 500,000 small businesses through Google Maps and WhatsApp, to leverage the potential of digital commerce within the upcoming two years.
According to reports, Meta is integrating ONDC into WhatsApp, enabling small businesses to streamline their onboarding process on the platform. This integration will play a crucial role in Meta's strategy to monetize its Indian market in 2024, as stated by Sandhya Devanathan, the Head of India, during an interview on Tuesday.
As per the report, the Kochi Metro is being integrated as a mobility service on the Google Maps platform by ONDC. Through the ONDC framework, users now have the convenience of booking metro tickets directly within Google Maps.
Thampy Koshy, the Chief Executive Officer of ONDC, along with Sandhya Devanathan, the Vice-President of Meta India, have expressed their respective visions for assisting small businesses and their perspectives on the growing digital commerce in India.
Thampy Koshy, CEO of ONDC, Koshy emphasized the broader objective of ONDC to empower small enterprises with equal opportunities in the digital space instead of being overshadowed by a few large players. According to him, the implementation of the ONDC protocol helps unbundle different business building blocks and make them interoperable.
Echoing a similar sentiment, Devanathan from Meta expressed that their organization is dedicated to collaborating with ONDC to enhance the capabilities of small businesses as they join the network. She highlighted that Meta's Small Business Academy aims to provide training in digital marketing skills to up to five million small businesses within the next two years, to facilitate their growth.
“We will also provide engineering support for business solutions providers to build seamless buyer-seller experiences on WhatsApp integrated with ONDC. Additionally, we are working with ONDC on their Sahayak chatbot for easy seller onboarding,” said Devanathan. as quoted in Indian Express.
Koshy emphasized that digital commerce in India is still at a relatively low level, with approximately 7-8 per cent on the buying side and 2-3 per cent on the selling side. He pointed out that the current users mainly belong to the privileged sections of the population residing in towns and cities. “With ONDC’s vision to enable big and small players to coexist with equal opportunities and the right tools, we will see increased adoption in coming years,” he said.
According to Devanathan, Meta's platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, provide an affordable way for small businesses to experiment, improve, and expand their customer base. Additionally, generative AI can assist in developing personalized advertisements and campaigns, allowing small businesses to concentrate on their main products or services." Open networks like ONDC that democratise access will enable small sellers to make their catalogue available to wider sets of buyers. We are also focused on women-led small businesses through our skilling and enablement initiatives,” she said.
Small business owners venturing into digital commerce should take heed of her guidance. She emphasizes the importance of continuously "testing and iterating" to keep up with the ever-changing landscape. Additionally, she suggests utilizing a range of "skills, training, and policy initiatives" to stay ahead. Lastly, she recommends leveraging platforms to expand their reach to global audiences.
(With Input from agencies)
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