Mumbai | 26th May 2020: In its bid to simplify ordering, payments and delivery of essentials during the lockdown, PayNearby, India’s fastest growing hyperlocal FinTech startup has now expanded its hyper local discovery and purchase application ‘BuyNearby’ for Pan India operations with IndusInd Bank as digital payment partner.
The app has helped over 2 lakh kirana shops across the country take their stores online. Besides local kiranas, the platform hosts a wide range of retailers including – grocery stores, pharmacies, sweet stores, supermarkets, milk & dairy products, branded specialty stores, gift shops, and meat shops, among others thus catering to a wide range of customer needs. This app, in addition to helping order from nearby retail stores, will also enable the citizens to make UPI, BHIM Aadhaar and other Digital payments on the platform built by PayNearby in partnership with IndusInd Bank.
In the wake of the lockdown, with social distancing being the new norm, access to daily essentials has been a huge challenge across the country. With BuyNearby, customers can now identify their nearest local kirana store and conveniently order anything while choosing from a wide range of products. Besides easy access to daily essentials, the interactive app allows customers to pre-order and pre-schedule deliveries, with the option to pay digitally, thus helping observe social distancing and also championing honorable Prime Minister’s vision for going local.
The offering which was initially introduced in Mumbai and Chennai on a pilot basis has now been expanded across over 2 lakh retail touch point’s Pan-India. BuyNearby aims to ramp up its presence significantly at a rapid scale in the near future.
Besides easy product discovery, it also offers 24X7 ordering facility whereby one can place an order on the BuyNearby app anytime even if the shop is closed. The tech enabled platform will also help customers to track their order and discover substitutes if the required item is not available. Digital payments come naturally on the backdrop of huge success of UPI since with help of “Intent Call” for all UPI Apps in the customers mobile, one can choose the option from where it is most convenient to pay.
Additionally, the platform enables consumers to confirm selection and changes before placing an order whilst supporting digital payments at the time of delivery or in advance. With a wide range of retailers on the platform, BuyNearby seeks to cater to the needs of variety of customer demands.
Retailers on the other hand can receive orders on their apps, and in turn, place bulk orders to their distributors from time to time, on the basis of prompts in the App for stock out possibility, creating a seamless supply chain connectivity. Since Retailers will be able to accept digital payments, they will be able to pay to their distributors digitally on the new age technology platform built by Nearby Technologies with IndusInd Bank. This will increase efficiency and enable them for digital commerce. The platform offers multiple payment options, allowing them to cater a wide range of customers and increase their consumer base. In cases where the Retailer intends to maintain Khata for credit to customers, the retail can use the Customer Khata feature in the App seamlessly with the orders. Customers coming to the store will also have an option to avail a wide range of financial services generating additional income for the retailers. Also, with the amount of transaction data generated for the Retailer, they will be able to avail loans from platform and partner Bank and NBFCs.
Distributors, too, receive real-time orders from retailers, further improving the delivery network, while the interface helps improve stock visibility. It also allows them to view team movement, analyze sales data and track stock with ease. Key benefit is that the app clubs all orders from a particular area so that aggregated orders can be delivered with ease of logistics, rather than delivering them separately, thereby saving on time and travel costs.
Mr. Anand Kumar Bajaj, MD & CEO, PayNearby said, “The kirana store has been a crucial part of the Indian economy as well as the social fabric. It enjoys a very high level of trust and familiarity for the citizen. Even through the pandemic lockdown, the humble kiranas in the neighborhood has stood tall offering seamless access to daily essentials like on National Duty. BuyNearby aims to empower our local kirana stores, by blending easy to use digital technology with last-mile connectivity. With the initiative we also aim to diligently drive our honorable PM’s vision of ‘Aatma-Nirbharta’ and his call for ‘local’ by supporting local businesses and helping them evolve into retail powerhouses. Retailing to the power of Digital Payments is a win-win for our partner IndusInd Bank, the FMCG, Citizen and the Retailers.”
PayNearby offers a host of financial and non-financial services to the underbanked and unbanked, through its 8.5 lakh retail touch points. The company for the past four years, has been working diligently to bridge the urban-rural divide in terms of accessibility to financial services. With the PM’s recent address, emphasizing on self-sufficiency and the importance of going local in the current scenario, BuyNearby is giving the local retail store a digital presence, and is all set to champion the way kirana stores are utilised in the country.
