People often have this notion that online-shopping gets them authentic and genuine products at the cheapest available price. Well, what if they are told that, this isn't the case?
And this is very true as the buyers have no clue as to which shops nearby have their desired product in stock and which one is offering the best price. So, they eventually end up ordering online as it saves them time and they "assume" that ordering online saves them money! Also, many prefer ordering online for they want to save their precious time of roaming from one shop to another.
Well, not anymore! There is an app for the consumers to discover product availability and price in nearby markets and it's called PriceMap Buyer!
PriceMap - which has its tagline 'Dekh Ke Lo' & 'Sabse Sasta Kis Dukan Pe: Ghar Baithe Pata Kariye Pricemap App ke jariye' - aims at changing the prevalent shopping habits of Indian consumers.
With PriceMap the consumer can find the nearest shop beating online price on the product they wish wish to purchase, right on your smartphone, sitting in the convenience of their living room.
Suresh Kabra, Founder PriceMap, says, "Indian shopping habit is best described as dekho, parkho aur fir kharido i.e. physically see the product, check out the prices at few shops and get yourself the very best deal! But in this age when everyone is looking for convenience, hopping market-by-market just to find the shop offering best price is too tedious and time-consuming. So, people opt for online assuming they are getting a good deal."
"When it comes to convenience, there is no level playing field between online and offline, since there is no search engine which will show availability and price of the product you want to buy, at stores around you. This is the biggest challenge physical retail faces today. PriceMap Buyer app solves this problem," he adds further.
How does PriceMap work?
PriceMap is available in NCR on both Android/iOS platform, the app works on a very simple link-sharing concept.
All one need to do is search online, using Google, for what you wish to buy. Once you find your product on any website/e-commerce site (or app), share page link with PriceMap installed on your phone. Select the markets where you wish to search for this product. Shops from selected markets will revert back to you with availability and their best price. Sitting in the convenience of your home, you are able to discover and connect to the shop offering the best price on the product you wish to purchase.
The biggest impact of this app, which has already seen close to 1 lakh downloads, is that in more than 90% cases PriceMap users are able to get better than the online deal from a shop nearby.
Over thousands of transactions, PriceMap has delivered an average savings of 11% when compared to online. You not only save time & money but are also buying from a trusted retailer near you after physically checking the product.
Prevents the buyers from buying fake products:
One of the biggest challenges a buyer faces is that many online retailers are dispatching fake items to the customers after luring them with cheaper prices of branded products. A survey has revealed that every third online shopper is being sold fake products.
With the help of the PriceMap App, the users get a chance to contact real shopkeepers and checkout the product in real, instead of depending on online images, before making the purchase. This ensures the buyer gets 100% satisfaction that whatever he/she is buying is completely authentic.
100% Indian App, bridging the digital divide and aims at empowering the mom & pop stores:
Around 90% of Indian retail trade is happening from physical retail shops, also called mom & pop stores or brick and mortar stores. While the consumer has already moved up the technology ladder and is researching online before making a purchase, the mom & pop stores have no online presence. As a result, a digital divide is happening wherein these stores are not even getting discovered by consumer although they are very competitive in prices. This problem is very unique to India as no other country has such a fragmented retail market.
PriceMap bridges this digital divide!
Using PriceMap Seller app, any mom & pop store can start pulling online buyers to their shop in less than five minutes without investing a single penny on IT infrastructure and resources to. To create an online presence.
"PriceMap is the right e-commerce model for a country like India which has more than 40 million brick & mortar stores. They are the second largest contributor to GDP and employment generation. PriceMap enables each and every of these stores to reach an online buyer instead of a select few, as is the case with current marketplace model borrowed from western countries where retail is highly consolidated," says Suresh Kabra. "It's a 100% indigenous app, Made In India, build for India keeping in mind the dynamics of Indian retail trade ecosystem," he concludes.
.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)