Start-ups partner with local retailers and distributors to supply essential goods

As the Covid-19-induced lockdown continues, start-ups are helping consumers buy essential goods through their platforms by tying up with kirana stores and offline retailers.

PhonePe, a payments app, for instance, has a ‘stores’ option on its platform that shows all the local retailers in and around the customer’s vicinity, ranging from grocery to healthcare to fuel. The platform has now introduced new filters such as ‘currently operational’ and ‘home delivery’ to make it easier for people looking to purchase essential goods.

Because people are not visiting shops fearing exposure to infection, these filters help them find out which shops are open and which provide home delivery services, said Vivek Lohcheb, VP, offline business development, PhonePe. Customers can then directly contact the shopkeepers from that list, he added.