Online buyers meet offline sellers

When a friendly neighbourhood store that has stood the test of time, having created for itself generations of loyal customers, finds itself losing patrons to a virtual store, it calls for action. Enter Goodbox, which is set to bridge this gap between online buyers and offline sellers with its ‘commerce-enabled internet’ model.

From departmental stores, restaurants to launderers and cabbies, the Goodbox app enables customers to locate vendors and communicate with them. A chat app-like interface on the app allows customers to engage with vendors directly to place orders, and discuss availability of products.

“Those people, who are adopting internet now, are getting used to it as an extension of the apps they use, primarily Whatsapp. Goodbox is like a commerce-enabled Whatsapp. And, by virtue of this, people already know how to use it,” says Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder, Goodbox.

Keeping it simple
Since its launch early last year, the platform has onboarded 1,600 vendors and has up to 48,000 registered users. “To appeal to the Indian audience, simplicity is key, next is customisation,” he said, adding “Pages on the app have been customised for each business, based on what it offers. Moreover, since customers can interact directly with the business via chat, it makes transactions much easier.”

“Both small and large businesses have realised the importance of technology, but face difficulty in implementing it. While consumers have already migrated to online payments, we want to help businesses with their online presence,”  he said. The company is currently focused on introducing more vendors on its platform, and believes that customer acquisition will take care of itself.

“Customers have already migrated to online payments. All that they lacked was their trusted vendor, and we are bringing in that element,” said Abey Zachariah, co-founder, Goodbox. Both, Bidawatka and Zacharaiah, who find that ‘daily-commerce’ is where the market needs technological intervention, have also been a part of the founding team at redBus.