Despite falling order numbers, the government’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has created a new incentive system for buyer and seller applications that caps discounts at INR 100 per order.
The new incentive system takes effect on Thursday (June 1) and will last through June 28.
To receive the INR 100 discount on ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), a user must place a minimum order of INR 200 for food and beverages, and INR 300 for all other products, including shipping expenses. The reductions are only available if the total order value, including delivery expenses, does not exceed 50%.
In addition, the ONDC stated that a buyer can only enjoy the discount for up to five purchases each month. A buyer app, on the other hand, can only provide up to 20 reduced offers per brand each day.
For example, if a user orders from a restaurant, they may discover that their discount is ineligible because 20 orders came before them.
In addition, if a buyer app’s number of discounted orders exceeds 1,000, the app must ensure that the number of orders for which it can claim an incentive in a week does not exceed 50% of the total delivered orders in the week.
The move comes as ONDC said that it is averaging roughly 9,000 orders per day, which is approximately 64% down from the peak of 25,000 orders obtained earlier this month.
The discount cap comes at a time when ONDC is being positioned as a genuine contender to Zomato and Swiggy, the two incumbents in India’s food delivery business.
Inc42 previously observed a significant pricing difference between products featured on the two foodtech majors and ONDC, which is mostly due to cheaper commissions on the government-backed digital commerce network.
However, with the discount cap going into effect tomorrow, the price disparity may narrow slightly.
ONDC’s Seller Onboarding Incentives
ONDC has also developed a new incentive regime to reward seller apps for onboarding merchants across six categories, including F&B, grocery, and health and wellness, in order to introduce more diversity of products on the network.
A seller app in the F&B sector will be eligible for an INR 1,000 per seller incentive for the number of sellers onboarded throughout the program’s term. The reward will be available if the sellers have at least 25 qualified SKUs.
A seller app will also receive up to INR 5,000 per seller onboarded in the grocery category between June 1 and June 28, depending on the number of relevant SKUs a seller has.
The reward for all other categories will continue at INR 1,000 for each new vendor onboarded during the program’s lifetime. Only the seller applications will be able to claim incentives for up to 1,000 new sellers.
