ndhgo founder Kumar P. Saha speaks about the evolution of e-commerce and how his company is helping retail ecosystem players to make the most of the lucrative online opportunity
E-commerce is a 1.8 trillion ($25.75 billion) market in India with a CAGR of over 35%. It is anticipated to attract more than 300–350 million consumers over the next five years, bringing the online Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) to US$ 100–120 billion by 2025. Clearly, there is huge potential online, which retail brands can tap to thrive and grow.
The journey, however, has to be driven by technology. This is where technology enablers like ndhgo come into the picture.
ndhgo is a free no-code e-commerce platform that helps brands/retailers create an online store in minutes. The team provides retailers with everything they need to run an online business including ready-made themes, nationwide shipping, an integrated payment solution and customer support. In conversation with Kumar P. Saha, founder and chief executive officer, ndhgo (Senrysa Technologies) to understand how the company is helping thousands of brands make the best of the e-commerce opportunity.
What is the thought behind ndhgo?
We started with the simple goal of giving every brand universal access to e-commerce technology. We do not discriminate between brands and, for us, every size of business and brand is an opportunity. From day one, we are working towards defying the simple thought that technology adaption is a costly affair. It is not so when you have the right partner and that’s what ndhgo wants to be forthe whole retail ecosystem. Our motto is simple, help brands start seamlessly on their online journey and help them stay closer to their customer with every click.
Tell us a little more…
We are a leading cloud-based AI retail platform. We make it easy for any business to create a good-looking, professional online store and establish a web presence. Our AI-based platform has everything brands need to create a fully personalized online store, website, even on Android and iOS.
What sets you apart from the others?
Given my two decades of experience in the field of financial inclusion, our coree commerce expertise lies in financial inclusion and branchless banking solutions where we have simplified complex banking processes.
We were early adopters of the India Stack and have vehemently pioneered the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System. We have built systems that are highly scalable and yet secure.
Apart from that, we take special credit for offering end-to-end e-commerce solutions to our customers. So, whoever comes to us can throw their worries away and simply say yes to a connected e-commerce journey. From 24-assistance to specialised approaches and much more, we are always ready to help our ecosystem benefit from ndhgo in a pocket-friendly manner.
What is the business model? Basically, if the platform offers free online enablement, what is its revenue source?
ndhgo is designed to help small businesses get a level playing field to compete with online aggregators. Our Community Edition is free and helps millions of small Kirana Stores and solopreneurs to take leverage of the internet and grow their businesses.
ndhgo has Enterprise Editions for fairly large businesses and the revenue we earn from these subscriptions helps us continue supporting the small entrepreneurs’ community.
How many retailers does ndhgo have on its platform?
ndhgo started with a mission to empower local economies and give universal access to e-commerce technology to all. The Community Edition of ndhgo helps lakhs of small businesses to get an e-commerce website and take their business online for free. We also have 10,000+ D2C brands using our paid services that best suit their business requirements.
How do you enable payment and delivery?
ndhgo has an open API for delivery and payment collection so that any logistics company or payment gateway can integrate with our platform effortlessly.
Presently, more than 30 hyperlocal logistic companies and last-mile delivery partners like DTDC, Blue Dart, FedEx, Dunzo, Shadowfax and Delhivery, etc. have integrated with ndhgo.
Similarly, all the leading payment gateways are also integrated with our platform.
How has your business grown since inception?
Customers’ insights can make or break businesses. Our agile approach to development has helped us grow. Listening to our customers and giving them what they require is of utmost importance to us and has been our primary focus.
That’s why our growth largely depends on making our current customers happy with their experience. ndhgo is witnessing a steady 15% month-on-month growth.
What are the trends in e-commerce that will define 2023?
Online payments are going to get more seamless and agile in the time to come. Apart from that, e-commerce shopping will get more experiential and highly connected to the offline world. The idea of touchpoints and the separation which was already getting blurred will now become a thing of the past, pushing the boundaries of retail. The seamless, nimble world will now become the reality to embrace and we will confidently stand by the ecosystem to action this move.
