Customer-Centricity: The Secret To Success on ONDC Platform

At the stroke of midnight when the world was about to enter into 2023, India took a bold decision. A decision that could democratize the entire e-commerce setup for businesses and build a level-playing field for them and improve the product choice for customers. 

Given that this revolutionary platform is still in its early stages, it remains to be seen how to effectively capture the immense scope of business opportunities. 

In this edition of In-focus webinar series, Pradyumna Chowdhary, Vice President of Pre-Sales and AVP Product Management at Locus, will be discussing the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) revolution and how businesses can leverage Locus offerings for the hybrid last-mile fulfillment. Let’s dive in! 

For access to all the insights, watch the complete webinar on demand here! 

What is ONDC all about? 

With E-commerce user penetration in India expected to go up to 74% in 2027, there is a need to build a more level-playing field for businesses. And ONDC is one such attempt. With its single platform access to all domains aims to provide a broad exposure to an entire buyer universe, and lesser time to scale, ONDC is opening up new avenues for buyers, sellers, and technology companies. 

Leveraging The ONDC opportunity With a Hybrid Model

Anecdotal evidence suggests that post-purchase experience is yet to reach the level of maturity that users have become accustomed to. Poor search results, lack of clear returns policies, and lack of compatibility, interoperability, and differentiation are key challenges that need to be overcome.   

This is a unique opportunity for businesses by differentiating from the competition with an exceptional customer experience. To that end, fulfillment plays a big role as it allows for optimizing your fleet mix of captive fleets, contracted fleets and even outsourcing a significant chunk of operations. 

Looking to gain new learnings into the world of ONDC? Watch the webinar here!

The best bet to business growth is enabling a hybrid model that leverages the opportunities provided by Locus’ customer experience and dispatch management platform plays a . Let’s find out how the Locus offerings enable your business to plan hybrid last-mile fulfillment operations efficiently.

Read Also: In-house Vs. Outsourced Fleet Management

Exceptional Customer experience

With its real-time branded tracking capabilities, Locus provides end-to-end visibility in the value chain from purchase to delivery. It enables your business to provide timely alerts on order progress through multiple communication modes and digital proof of delivery. This helps your company provide a superior customer experience irrespective of the channels it receives the orders from or the fleet it delivers. 

Read Also: Last Mile Customer Experience: It is no longer about reaching destinations, it is about reaching people

Easy scalability of fulfillment 

Using Locus’ dispatch management platform, your business can choose a 3PL provider that suits your customer requirements and cost constraints from a vast network of delivery businesses. It enables your business to maintain adequate service levels and keep costs in check.

Logistics scheduling and routing 

With its advanced route planning,  Locus’ dispatch management platform enables companies in ONDC to create optimal routes based on 180+ real-world constraints. By enabling the drivers to make maximum deliveries traveling a minimal distance, it reduces the entire delivery costs and ensures an exceptional delivery experience for customers. 

Read Also: Unit Economics in Last-mile delivery 

Effective order management and capacity planning 

Your business can connect Locus’ order management system to the ONDC account of your business. It automatically captures orders from multiple sources like e-commerce websites, ONDC platforms, and call centers and puts them in a single location. It dynamically connects the fleet capacity to the preferred time slots of customers, which helps the fleet make full use of large order volumes at scale and reach customers at their preferred time windows.

Read Also: How Effective Capacity Planning is key to Success for Omnichannel Retailers

Advanced Analytics 

With its advanced analytical insights on capacity management, delivery performance, routing efficiency, and many other aspects, Locus’ dispatch management platform helps businesses make accurate delivery forecasts. This enables companies to make informed decisions on deliveries on an operational and strategic level. 

Read Also: 5 Signs You Need Advanced Supply Chain Analytics to Make Better Last-Mile Decisions

ONDC: An untapped market opportunity for businesses

With the Indian e-commerce business expected to expand to $350 billion by the end of this decade from gross merchandise of $55 billion in 2021, companies have a whole new opportunity to open themselves to a vast network of buyer universes in ONDC. 

We can see a massive uptick in B2B business participation. The fulfillment experience and logistics set a business apart from the vast competition in this ONDC network. 

To stand out in delivery fulfillment in a soon-to-be competitive ONDC network.

References:

hhttps://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/ecommerce/india
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/ettech-explainer-ondc-indias-bid-to-break-ecommerce-monopolies/articleshow/92181006.cms?from=mdr