Tired of paying high service charge on food aggregator apps? Order on Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC) to get your orders at lesser prices, many restaurateurs and hoteliers are saying now. With this e-commerce platform, consumers can save up to 20% of their cost when compared to other food aggregator apps. While around a dozen hotels and small eateries have onboarded the platform, many fast food chains are a part of it too.
What is ONDC?
Based on open-source methodology, ONDC is a communication platform backed by the Central government to ensure that regardless of the platforms on which they are registered, the buyers and sellers of goods in the e-market (like grocery, food, hotel rooms etc.) can have direct transactions.
As a result, the commission and service charges on this network is lesser when compared to other major food aggregating apps. For the hoteliers in Bengaluru, ONDC comes as a much-needed platform to break the monopoly of e-commerce giants.
“We are still in the preliminary stage of testing the platform. Currently, restaurants and fast food chains who have their own delivery agents have widely onboarded the platform while some standalone restaurants like us are working out the seller-logistic aggregator integrations and connectivity. We foresee a huge benefit from ONDC as it is an open network, and thus, there will not be any chance for monopoly,” said Arun Adiga, owner, Vidyarthi Bhavan in Gandhi Bazaar.
He further said that with commission charges coming down with ONDC even for restaurants, the benefits will be passed on to the end users with reduced prices of food items. “If the commission is high, then the cost for the end user will be high. But with this, they can get the food items for almost the same price as in restaurants,” Mr. Adiga said.
Difference in price
When this reporter compared the price of food items in certain restaurants in North Bengaluru on a major food aggregating app and ONDC, the difference of cost was between ₹10 and ₹30. For instance, the cost of cake was around ₹405 per kg on food delivery apps while it was just ₹395 per kg on ONDC.
Hoteliers are conducting several meetings to get more sellers to onboard the network while also trying to create awareness among customers. “After our meetings, we expect at least over a hundred hotels to be onboard the network by the end of June. This is a very good move by the Central government as the customers can see a difference of cost up to 20%,” said P.C. Rao, president, Bruhat Bengaluru Hoteliers Association.
He added: “We are also putting up posters on the walls of hotels and eateries so that walk-in customers can know about the network and avail the benefits.”
